Distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain hold the potential to create an open, globally accessible, and transparent financial ecosystem. Massive efficiencies and innovations can be unleashed by migrating transactions from a centralized hub-and-spoke model controlled by third-party intermediaries to a peer-to-peer system. While many financial institutions and tech companies are working diligently to establish this new architecture, major problems regarding scalability, ease of use, and access to these new systems remain.

While multiple projects pursue decentralized solutions to the pressing issues surrounding volatility, liquidity, and speed, the rate of adoption within the broader financial world will continue to significantly lag behind the pace of innovation. The reality is that we need a middle ground between the full-scale decentralization envisioned by early bitcoiners and the tightly controlled networks managed by financial institutions and their regulators. By offering a suite of traditional financial services that are integrated with blockchain-powered applications we can construct a banking platform that serves the needs of forward-looking businesses that still need to operate within the confines of legacy systems.