Bridging Transactions Between Chains with Kevin Chan of UMA and Across Protocol

In this episode, the yWhales team is joined by Allan Matheson to speak with Kevin Chan, Treasurer for Risk Labs (UMA). Kevin is also the project lead for Across Protocol, a cross-chain bridging solution that supports fast, secure and cost-efficient transfers. Across recently unveiled the ACX token and announced an airdrop and official plans for the Across DAO. Kevin shares how tradFi can benefit from blockchain adoption, how bridges work and why we will need them. 

 

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Kevin Chan’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kevin-chan-a58768141

Across Website: across.to

Medium: medium.com/across-protocol

Twitter: twitter.com/AcrossProtocol

Discord: discord.com/invite/across

GitHub: github.com/across-protocol

UMA Website: umaproject.org

Twitter: twitter.com/UMAprotocol

 

Allan Matheson’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/goldenpearcapital

Email: allan@goldenpear.capital

Golden Pear Capital Website: goldenpear.capital

 

About Guests

Kevin is currently the Treasurer of Risk Labs, the primary entity that serves the decentralized finance protocol, UMA. Over the last two years, he has managed the growth of the assets that drive the project and community and has directed the strategy of the protocol to support the mission of UMA. Kevin is also the project lead for Across Protocol, a cross chain bridge developed by Risk Labs.

Prior to that, Kevin was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and was responsible for managing the US Government Bond Trading Business. He enjoyed 15 years at the firm trading USD interest rate products in New York and London. He completed his undergraduate degree in Commerce at the University of British Columbia in 2001 and specialized in Finance. Kevin now lives in Vancouver with his wife and three children.

 

You’ll learn about:

• UMA, an oracle system that provides data for projects including a cross-chain bridge, insurance protocols, custom derivatives and prediction markets
• UMA’s proposed solution to handle manipulation and malicious activity
• Across, a novel bridging method that combines an optimistic oracle, bonded relayers and single-sided liquidity pools to provide decentralized instant transactions between chains
• How the UMA team is working on the Across protocol
• How the Across protocol is handing security
• The recently announced ACX token and establishment of a DAO

 

Timestamps

[01:39] Allan’s Background

[02:30] Kevin’s intro to the crypto world

[06:11] The application of crypto in finance

[12:16] The building blocks of deFi

[17:35] About Across

[22:20] How bridges work

[28:50] Relation between UMA and Across

[31:13] Managing security and speed of update

[34:09] Outlook on the future

[38:42] Establishing a DAO

[45:30] Next steps for Across 

[50:38] Allan’s outlook on the current market

[53:41] How to contact Kevin and Allan

 

DISCLAIMER: yWhales is not affiliated with YPO but at this time only allow for YPO, YPO Gold, and YNG members due to privacy & confidentiality. Support and production for today’s episode was done by Truth Work Media. Nothing in the podcast constitutes professional and/or financial advice, nor does any information on the podcast constitute a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto.