Meet Alexander Ray, CEO of CaaS Solution: Albus Protocol

 Tell us about the Albus Protocol

The Albus Protocol is a Compliance-as-a-Service solution for the DeFi industry on public blockchains. It uses Zero-Knowledge Proof cryptography to ensure compliance of every transaction with specific predefined requirements and restrictions.

Albus’s goal is to help DeFi protocols stay compliant with the evolving regulations. It offers unique functionality, highly sought-after by anyone looking to trade security tokens on public blockchains, and is a true necessity for every single DeFi market participant as soon as the new regulation enters into force.

How did you come up with the idea for the Albus Protocol?

First, we’ve talked to various DeFi companies that specialize in tokenizing real-world assets, specifically with CurioInvest. They shared their development plans with us, and it prompted us to explore the possibility of trading security tokens on Solana. However, we soon discovered that such an opportunity currently doesn’t exist.

To explore further, we started to network with different players from this industry at various events. We identified a significant demand for a regulatory framework. As we continued to have discussions with industry insiders, examine their needs, and study the market, we came to realize that there were no solutions in the market that adequately met the demand for regulatory compliance.

Then, at the Solana Breakpoint conference, we had a conversation with a representative from a company managing debt obligations worth around 50 billion dollars. He suggested the idea of trading these debts on the blockchain. Later on, I spoke with people who tokenize palladium, and issue security tokens. However, there is no viable way to trade these tokens on public blockchains, which is why they use a private blockchain, Hyperledger.

From these conversations, we realized there is no fundamental platform for trading tokenized assets, which form the basis of security tokens, on public blockchains: only local solutions exist. As we delved deeper into this subject, we learned that a new crypto regulation, Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA), would soon be enacted. The more we researched, the better we understood the market needs. As a result, we developed a product that meets these needs.

How has the company evolved over the last year?

Actually, the development started early this year, as soon as we received a grant from the Solana Foundation. Since then, we have signed LOIs with interested partners and have been named #1 DeFi startup in Switzerland by F6S (in May 2023). We are mentioned at conferences as a company that is addressing market needs, and we are getting confirmation from partners that we are doing the right thing.

What can we hope to see from Albus in the future?

We expect to receive confirmation from Swiss and European regulators that businesses can become complia with our help. We offer a Compliance-as-a-Service solution aiming to fill one of the leading niches in the market. We also hope that the new regulations coupled with our technical solution will drive mass adoption, and attract capital and users.

Why do we think so?

On the one hand, institutional players can only buy and hold tokens and cryptocurrencies, they are not allowed to provide liquidity to DeFi. Institutional players already operate in a regulated environment and cannot make their liquidity available to anonymous users. All tokenizers of real-world assets, commodities, and other illiquid assets, issuing security tokens subject to AML regulations, cannot use DeFi for similar reasons, either.

On the other hand, many regular, non-crypto users hesitate to use DeFi, as they don’t feel secure due to the lack of compliance.

We strongly believe that a comprehensive regulatory framework is the way to mass adoption.

Conservatively, we hope to gain a 5 to 10 percent market share for products that do what Albus does.