Fireblocks Integrates Astar Network to Provide Institutions with Secure Access to the Leading Japanese Blockchain

Fireblocks, an enterprise platform to manage digital asset operations and build innovative businesses on the blockchain, has integrated Astar Network. With this integration, more than 650 banks and institutional investors will be able to securely access their digital assets on Astar and tap into its DeFi ecosystem, as well as trade, swap, and lend digital assets on Astar through Fireblocks. This will also open up access to leading DeFi protocols on Astar, such as ArthSwap. Additionally, Fireblocks’ users can leverage its battle-tested MPC infrastructure to manage their own wallets in a secure fashion. 

Astar Network has quickly become a go-to-market chain in Japan, with its support for the popular EVM environment, as well as the addition of WASM, making it a multichain platform facilitating interoperable apps. 

"We are excited to add Astar to the Fireblocks Network and support the growth of Japan’s leading smart contract platform," said Stephen Richardson, Managing Director, Financial Markets and Head of APAC at Fireblocks. "Fireblocks has always focused on facilitating institutional adoption in the digital assets industry. By leveraging our highly secure network and MPC-based wallet infrastructure, banks, exchanges, OTCs, and hedge funds can now seamlessly access Astar's assets. We  look forward to further supporting digital assets adoption in Japan with this collaboration."

To celebrate the integration, Astar, Fireblocks, and bitbank held a special event during WebX in Tokyo, where over 200 guests attended and gained a deeper understanding of web3 technology in the corporate world. The event started with a panel discussion led by Sota Watanabe (Founder of Astar Network and CEO of Startale Labs), Atsushi Kuwabara (Head of Sales Division and Head of Business Development at bitbank), and Stephen Richardson (Managing Director, Financial Markets and Head of APAC at Fireblocks). They discussed the increasing importance enterprises play in web3, particularly in Japan where the government is aggressively developing ways to use web3.

Executives of global enterprises, web3 founders and VCs came together to network and engage in enriching discussions on how to begin using decentralized protocols and networks powered by blockchain technology to revolutionize business models. It was the first time executives from many Japanese companies learned how to use DeFi technology securely through an exclusive demo of the Fireblocks platform on Astar Network.

Fireblocks has grown rapidly over the past few years, and its deep commitment to security made it the first service provider to have its digital asset infrastructure system certified by the Cryptocurrency Certification Consortium (C4). Its multiparty computation (MPC) technology has earned it clients from traditional finance, such as BNY Mellon, ANZ Bank and NAB, as well as Japanese trading platforms, including CoinTrade.

"Fireblocks is a leading platform catering to institutional investors. We’re looking forward to leveraging this integration to enhance adoption while giving institutions looking to build on Astar a secure and robust way to safeguard their digital assets," added Maarten Henskens, CEO of Astar Foundation. 

About Fireblocks

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves thousands of financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $4 trillion in digital assets and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage and transit. Some of the biggest trading desks have switched to Fireblocks because it's the only solution that CISOs and Ops Teams both love. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

About Astar Network

Astar is Japan’s most popular smart contract platform, supporting both EVM and WebAssembly (Wasm) environments and interoperability between them using a Cross-Virtual Machine. Astar Network is friendly to all kinds of developers, and tools and languages they already know. Backed by the shared security of Polkadot, Astar shines brilliantly on its own within a vibrant and healthy ecosystem, and is a leading star in the blockchain industry overall, driving international corporate adoption, and consumer interest in web3 technologies.