The potential for DeFi to revolutionize financial services is clear, but much of the infrastructure is only the construction stages with current services only offering a smattering of the true potential of defi platforms. However, there is much to look forward to as projects are now making rapid advancements in the development of protocols that allow for more sophisticated and streamlined investment.
Jarvis Network is one such project, a collection of protocols for derivatives vehicles and synthetic assets, two elements of the defi space that are seeing a remarkable increase in volume since the start of 2020.
What is Jarvis Network?
Jarvis Network is a suite of protocols and applications built on Ethereum that allows anyone to " uberize and universalize finance and investing.” The protocols permit any entity to become a broker by funding and maintaining liquidity pools, which users can then use for various investment purposes.
Keen to stress that it is not simply another exchange, Jarvis envisions itself as a gateway to numerous financial services via one entry point. Or, as the team themselves describe, the platform is more akin to an escrow wallet that connects various applications and a hybrid exchange. This lets users manage their funds and access various financial services from a convenient and user-friendly interface that can run on any device.
As an example, the team says that a user could deposit Litecoin into the wallet for Forex trading, and then take those earnings to purchase a product off of Amazon. Jarvis Network unifies these processes for easy access on one platform.
The two applications that facilitate Jarvis' interoperable services. Source.
The team has made it a point to simplify participation in the network, which can be daunting for the newcomer. In a space that it is trying to bring financial market participation to the masses, this is imperative. To that end, the team has designed two applications that streamline the process, the Jarvis Market and Jarvis Wallet, detailed below.
Currently, Jarvis Network features two major protocols, one for margin trading (leveraged positions) and another for synthetic assets (typically representing real-world assets.) The two protocols are worth describing in greater detail, as they make for some of the most interesting possibilities within the defi space.
This is accompanied by the Jarvis Reward Token (JRT), a deflationary multi-utility token that is available on decentralized platforms Bancor, Paraswap and Uniswap. The JRT token simultaneously serves as governance, staking, and rewards token.
Use Cases and Features
Some of the benefits of the Jarvis Network. Source.
Jarvis Network supports both fiat and crypto assets, and these are fully fungible and interoperable. This means that crypto can be swapped for the equivalent amount in stocks or any other available asset. As the platform has a host of applications, these fungible assets can seamlessly be used to access those services (like being traded in for the aforementioned Amazon purchase.)
All of this will be possible through the Jarvis Market and Jarvis Wallet, the two applications that the team has so far developed. The Market is a trading platform and portfolio management systems, and the wallet is self-explanatory, allowing users to manage their assets and access services.
Several interesting use cases have been highlighted by the team, including charity, more flexible investment opportunities, and of course - payments. Investing in real-world assets is a large part of the attraction, and Jarvis touts investing in art as a good opportunity.
It is worth noting that the platform has been designed to be simple enough for anyone to use. Defi platforms at the moment, with few exceptions, can be quite obtuse to all but the most tech-savvy of individuals. However, Jarvis is fiat-based and features human-readable addresses, no private keys, and gasless transactions.
Easy linking to bank accounts means that users can quickly deposit funds and begin generating passive income. Whether fiat or crypto, users can earn interest on their assets, and swap them for another when necessary.
The History of Jarvis Network and Its Team
Development progress for Jarvis Network in 2020. Source.
Headquartered in Bulgaria, Jarvis Network was founded in 2016 by Pascal Tallarida, who also serves as the company’s CEO. Stressing the importance of a new way of finance built on the blockchain that co-exists with traditional finance services, Tallarida believes that Jarvis will serve as a gateway into investing for many individuals while filling the gaps in traditional finance.
The Jarvis team has a dozen team members, including an office mascot. Executive members of the team include Petar Kirov as the project’s CTO, Stefani Todorova as PR Manager and Iliyan Iliev as the Product Manager. The full list of employees can be viewed here.
While the idea for the platform was conceived in 2016, early development work began a few years later, with the initial testnet being released in Q3 2019. The following quarters focused on security audits and further testing, the success of which led to the launch of the mainnet, ‘Venezia’, in Q1 2020. This version of the network focused on a single liquidity pool and provider for the margin protocol.
The next part of the network, ‘Bled’, is a synthetic protocol that brings interest-bearing synthetic euros, pounds and swiss francs using Chainlink (LINK) and UMA. Bled is expected to launch in Q2 2020.
The last of 2020 will bring new testnet trials: Opatija and Sozopol. Both of these will be trialled in Q3 2020, with the first being a synthetic protocol that features multi sponsor, atomic swaps between synthetic assets and the second bringing enhancements to the margin protocol with multiple liquidity pools and more assets. The team will conduct security audits for the two in Q4 2020.
Partnerships
Jarvis Network has formed a handful of significant partnerships since its launch, the most notable of which have been described below.
The highlight among all of the project’s partnerships is that with Celsius Network, a prominent lending platform that allows users to generate income on their deposits. Announced in February 2019, the partnership will focus on “remunerating the deposits of thousands of Forex traders, CFDs, and crypto, and allow them to borrow money instantly and without a record using their assets as collateral.”
In other words, Jarvis integration with Celsius Network allows users can earn interest on their funds.
Announced in March 2019, Jarvis Network’s partnership with Uptrennd allowed them to capture trading analysts and financial professionals on the Jarvis platform to monetize their knowledge.
In January 2019, Jarvis also partnered with the Blackmoon Financial Group, a blockchain fintech firm, with the goal of creating Exchange Traded Indexes (ETx). Blackmoon issues these indexes on behalf of partner brands, and partnering with Jarvis gives the fintech company additional investors for its unique investment vehicles.
Lastly, Jarvis has partnered with Daneel, a blockchain-focused platform that makes use of AI. Daneel will make navigating Jarvis’ internal systems easier, capable of answering users’ questions about the markets and make it possible to navigate the app via voice commands. Daneel’s token DAN will also be listed on the Jarvis Exchange.
Conclusion
Defi is no doubt offers one of the biggest value propositions for blockchain technology and recent advances have underscored that belief. While it may still be in the early stages, there is much to look forward to in the coming years.
The services that Jarvis Network provides are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of scope, and Jarvis itself has planned much into the future. Decentralized financial services, whether margin trading or for the simple act of generating passive income, provide irresistible earning opportunities to anyone, anywhere.
In that regard, Jarvis Network remains well worth keeping an eye on.
