Cumberland Labs, the incubator arm of Chicago-based crypto trading firm Cumberland, has launched a beta version of a new API tool that simplifies the daunting task of connecting to blockchain and decentralized finance protocols.
Cumberland Labs told Cointelegraph that Cumberland, the trading arm of DRW Holdings LCC, used to spend a lot of time manually connecting to various protocols, one at a time. The company couldn't find tools to simplify these tasks, and ended up creating its own API service, expand.network, using developers and engineers from its incubator division. The tool has been in testing since November and is available to the public in beta form.
API stands for Application Programming Interface and is used when one type of programming needs to communicate with another. “We were exploring DeFi transactions and were looking for a tool similar to the ccxt library for centralized exchanges that could connect to any DeFi protocol or blockchain. To our surprise, no such tool exists,” Tama Churchoususe, Chief Operating Officer, Cumberland Labs. The newly released solution aims to provide read-write connectivity to major public blockchains and DeFi protocols, helping developers interact across multiple protocols APIs and software development kits (SDKs).
Web3 startups seek to solve an aging crypto problem: the inefficiency of cross-chain communication. However, it is far from solving the same problems as cross-chain solutions. According to its CEO Demetrios Skalkotos, while the two "appear similar on the s surface ," they serve different purposes. "Cross-chain solutions mainly facilitate the transfer of messages and tokens between different chains. In contrast, expand.network provides connectivity to chains and protocols, providing a more comprehensive and general solution for navigating the DeFi space, ” he said explained.
The low-code tool will support Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains, including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, Cronos, Arbitrum, and Optimism, as well as non-EVM compatible chains, such as Solana, Tron, Near , and Algorand . Support for Aptos, Sui, Lido, LayerZero, and StarkNet is coming soon.
The platform was conceived and built by Cumberland Labs, providing funding, resources and consulting. The startup could seek funding later this year if market conditions permit. “In terms of seeking funding, our strategy is to target crypto seed and Series A technology in framework investors , as well as potential strategic investors,” Skalkotos noted. As the crypto space grows, more and more money is flowing into developer-oriented and interoperability solutions. In April, cross-chain messaging protocol developer LayerZero Labs raised $120 million to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. It had previously raised $135 million in March 2022.
