DLA Piper partners with Shyft Network through TOKO platform

TOKO, the digital asset creation engine empowering value creation and delivered in collaboration with DLA Piper, has entered into an engagement with the Shyft Network to join the Shyft Network Federation and attest virtual asset provider (VASP) data on its blockchain.

The engagement establishes participation in the Shyft Network Federation, including the operation of a node on the Shyft Network and acting as a trust anchor. As a trust anchor, DLA Piper will receive data from VASPs; and review, confirm, and attest to its validity.

Scott Thiel, Hong Kong-based Intellectual Property and Technology partner at DLA Piper, said: “This is a particularly exciting time in the blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital assets journey as the industry completes development of robust systems, processes and protocols that allow for a maturation on a par with fiat and digital banking. Working in collaboration with DLA Piper, the TOKO engine is helping to solve the inefficiencies of today’s capital markets by leveraging the best of distributed ledger technology.”

Shyft Network is the leading blockchain-based digital identity ecosystem. It acts as a trusted source of verified data on its FATF (Financial Action Task Force) Travel Rule, KYC and AML compliant solution.

Acting as a node means TOKO provides a key building block to the Shyft ecosystem providing due diligence attestation verifications required for entities to make tokenized transactions with the same level of safety and security as banks operating through the global SWIFT network.

Joseph Weinberg, co-founder of the Shyft Network, said: “The Shyft team sets out to bridge the gap that exists in the intersection between crypto and the traditional world. In order to fully enable decentralised systems into the global economy we need trust networks across all participants in the global economy. Working alongside TOKO in collaboration with DLA Piper, we are enabling the most critical verification layer for the digital economy.”

In addition, TOKO is acting as a federation member for Shyft Network’s open-source Veriscope solution, which enables parties to establish data sharing rules and meet the multi-jurisdictional requirements necessary to fulfil global compliance standards including the AML/KYC requirements of the FATF Travel Rule, while simultaneously adhering to GDPR and other data privacy guidelines.

DLA Piper will build additional trust verification layers by providing on chain due diligence verification for VASPs, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, financial institutions, governments and merchants which join the Shyft Network.

DLA Piper was recently named winner of the “Moving the Market Forward” category of the Financial Times Asia Pacific Innovative Law Firm Awards for its work with TOKO, recognising the engine’s uniqueness among law firms and its role in empowering value creation. TOKO was also recently announced as the winner of the Organisational Transformation award at the 2021 Enterprise Blockchain Awards.