Project Focus — Persistence

6 min readAug 30, 2021

Going down memory lane, we can see how technology has improved our lives and the many activities we try to carry out. The internet and so has blockchain technology. While it hasn’t gained enough traction, it is fair to say that all awareness for blockchain technology and use is increasing exponentially. One project, though, that catches the eye is Persistence. A top protocol that is powering next-gen financial products that would serve both traditional, institutional and crypto-native users. The focus, however, is around three basic concepts and they have tailored their project to meet these demands. We take a look at them and see how Persistence is perfectly placed to do this.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

The term, decentralized finance, is on everyone’s lips and you start to wonder why it is so. Why commit to decentralized finance? What is the point of the whole thing? How does it differ from the traditional finance models we are all used to? With decentralized finance you’re looking at a blockchain-based alternative finance model as opposed to the traditional models that doesn’t need a central financial authority or mediator to offer the regular financial services but rather works by using smart contracts on blockchain. This model is a lot more secure, transparent and even more efficient than the traditional models. With decentralized finance you can still carry out all the basic processes that you do with traditional financing models. People (users) can borrow or lend funds, invest in cryptocurrency assets (tokens or NFTs), trade their favourite cryptocurrencies or fiat, speculate prices and charts, earn interest on deposits through staking as well as getting insurance against the risk. It is basically the same process in traditional finance but without that central figure. Interactions within the decentralized finance space are done with the aid of decentralized applications (also known as DApps). The DApps are based on blockchain technology and so transactions between two users doesn’t have to get to a central authority first, but instead takes place between them via smart contracts.

Persistence and DeFi

Persistence is building an ecosystem where users can interact with both digital and traditional assets in an open and total context. As stated earlier, we are aware of this shift from traditional finance models to decentralized finance models and Persistence is keeping itself in good stead to partake and help users participate effortlessly. Among the suite of products include Comdex, pLEND and pSTAKE are there for this purpose.

Comdex

This Persistence flagship DApp is revolving around decentralized commodities trading and trade financing platform. This is actually the first use case for asset-based lending within the Persistence ecosystem. With Comdex, you are also looking at democratizing commodities through interchain synthetic assets. Users can borrow funds after putting their assets (invoice, inventory) down as collateral. Comdex is also all about actual trade where buyers of commodities (physical) are linked to settlers. Comdex is bringing transparency, speed and trust in commodities trade and trade finance.

pSTAKE

pSTAKE is a liquid staking platform by the Persistence ecosystem. With pSTAKE, users can stake their tokens (currently ATOM) and earn rewards just like in other staking platforms. It doesn’t end there however. With pSTAKE, the staked assets don’t remain locked. The users are issued staking representatives of their staked assets for use in the decentralized finance space. Persistence is bridging the staking ecosystem to decentralized finance and that is what you would love to see.

pLEND

This Persistence project is not yet out but will be revolving around debt financing. Let’s keep an eye out on that one.

Non Fungible Token (NFT)

It’s hard for anyone to say that they don’t see NFTs everywhere they turn to on the internet these days. A non-fungible token is actually a piece of data that is stored in a digital ledger. This piece of data can actually be a representation of an art, music, video or digital assets. The beauty of NFTs is that they are unique and so cannot be interchanged. NFT sales are on the rise and have pretty much changed the landscape in the art industry. People are converting the original art pieces into and NFTs that can be tracked on blockchain with the owner have a proof of ownership.

Persistence and NFT

While there is a whole lot of fuss going about in the NFT frenzy, Persistence is not leaving itself out of this and is ready to be a major player in this NFT space. The aim is to make real world and digital assets such as invoices, collectibles and art more accessible. Right now they are trying to do that through Assetmantle.

Assetmantle

Assetmantle is going to be an NFT marketplace framework. This DApp would help to implement the minimum clique of the PersistenceSDK models thus rendering culpable, interNFT definition, issuance, ownership and transfer. Within this framework, decentralized exchange would also be possible. We really can’t wait as Persistence builds this intergalactic universe of NFTs with assetmantle.

Proof of Stake (PoS)

The proof of stake consensus has gained serious recognition as the main consensus protocol. Rather than the energy consuming proof of work, the proof of stake just allows the user to commit a stake to secure the mainnet while earning rewards in the process. Almost everyone is staking their coins or tokens. The plus now is that projects are looking for better ways to make the staking process more secure, lucrative and rewarding.

Persistence and PoS

Persistence is right there pushing this narrative by creating products that would help provide opportunities as well as address some of the challenges revolving around the PoS. They have two DApps in the space currently.

Audit.One

Audit.One is one of Persistence products that offers staking as a service . Audit.One are top-tier validators in the proof of stake ecosystem and are part of the validator system of many top projects with the most recent being the integration into Elrond network.

pSTAKE

pSTAKE, as mentioned earlier, was launched a few weeks ago and it is amazing to see how the TVL surged upwards exponentially with a value well above $2,300,000. It solves the problem of liquidity which is a problem for staked assets. When you stake your assets are locked. With pSTAKE, you are issued representative tokens of your staked assets, thus effectively unlocking the liquidity.

All in all we have seen the focus of the Persistence ecosystem and why their group of next-gen financial products are top-notch. Let’s go.