- Watr, a blockchain protocol specialized for financing and trading ethical commodities, is collaborating with Parity Technologies
- Watr’s platform is built using the Substrate framework, and the project is planning to connect the platform to Polkadot as a parachain
- Parity Technologies will assist Watr with development of the protocol and other R&D initiatives
Watr announces collaboration with Parity Technologies
Watr, a blockchain protocol specialized for the financing and trading of ethical commodities, has announced a collaboration with prominent blockchain development firm Parity Technologies. Watr is leveraging blockchain technology in an effort to make responsible supply chains more economically viable.
According to a press release from Watr, Parity Technologies with assist them in developing the Watr protocol and key applications built on top of it. The two will also be working on research and development initiatives to develop bespoke functionality for the commodities industry.
Some of the applications that are being worked on for the Watr ecosystem include decentralized identity and KYC (know your customer) solutions, provenance tracing for the purposes of ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance), tokenization of assets, and more.
Parity Technologies first made its name as one of the biggest developers in the Ethereum ecosystem, but their focus has since shifted over to Polkadot and the Substrate framework that underpins it. The founder of Parity Labs is Gavin Wood, who is also the creator of Polkadot.
Watr and Parity Technologies are a natural fit for a collaboration since the Watr blockchain is built on the Substrate protocol. It also sports compatibility with the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), providing a familiar environment for smart contracts and decentralized application development, which has mostly been focused around the Ethereum ecosystem.
The Watr project plans to join the Polkadot network as a parachain in the future. Parachains are specialized blockchains built with the Substrate framework that benefit from the security of the Polkadot Relay Chain, and can interoperate with all the other parachains connected to the network. The project will be connecting to Rococo, a testnet for Polkadot, by early September.
Maryam Ayati, the president of the Watr Foundation Council, commented on the project’s collaboration with Parity Technologies:
“The opportunity to create new classes of ethical commodities and traded supply chains is tremendous. We are thrilled to have the legendary team at Parity join us and our existing partners in enabling commodities’ transition to Web3 business models and liquidity while safeguarding the security and decentralized ethos of a public blockchain servicing both retail and regulated institutional users.”
Meanwhile, Parity Technologies’ head of ecosystem growth and business development Omar Elassar highlighted the collaboration as a step forward for the adoption of Web3 in the commodities industry:
“This collaboration will bring Watr’s deep commodities’ expertise to the Polkadot ecosystem and kick-start a platform for Web3-enabled solutions that solve pressing industry issues. This is a big first step on the path towards greater adoption of Web3 within a massive industry that’s crucial to the global economy.”
