Celsius subsidiary GK8 integrates with Polygon while looking for new owner
“This integration affords our customers more agility in managing their crypto assets, which is key to creating new revenue streams.”
Digital asset custody platform GK8 has integrated with Polygon, the blockchain development platform that leverages Ethereum’s ecosystem in what it claims to be a “more scalable, secure, and powerful manner”.
Polygon has over 37,000 dApps in production and is arguably an integral member of the Ethereum community. Polygon is the latest protocol to be integrated by GK8, which will provide . From this day forward, GK8 customers retain the agility and flexibility needed to seamlessly provide custody and services on top of Polygon blockchain and the $MATIC token.
Access staking, cold staking and DeFi protocols directly from GK8
Arjun Kalsy, VP of Growth at Polygon, commented: “We are excited to be integrated into GK8’s infrastructure. This integration gives GK8 customers added agility and the flexibility they need to manage the diversity of their portfolio, all without any additional R&D or integrations. Institutions can now access staking, cold staking and DeFi protocols directly from GK8’s digital asset custody solution. At Polygon we will continue to build our ecosystem and ensure that our builders have access to the best in class infrastructure.”
Lior Lamesh, CEO and Co-Founder of GK8, said: “We are happy to offer our customers ‘out of the box’ support for the Polygon’s layer-1 protocol, including Polygon’s layer-2 smart contracts, ERC20 tokens on top of Polygon, dApps, DeFi and $MATIC cold staking. Polygon is yet another example of GK8’s ‘out of the box’ support of EVM protocols. This integration affords our customers more agility in managing their crypto assets, which is key to creating new revenue streams.”
GK8 offers a “regulation-ready solution” that includes both a Cold Vault – “the only solution on the market that can create, sign, and send blockchain transactions without being connected to the internet” – as well as a patented MPC used for high-frequency automatic transactions.
The solution supports the tokenization of traditional assets, features general support of all Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer-1 blockchains (such as Polygon), and grants users instant access to all layer-2 smart contracts on supported chains, the firm announced.
The platform says it has an arrangement with AON for customers to quickly and seamlessly access insurance of up to $750 million per Vault.
Bankrupt Celsius to sell GK8
GK8, which supports staking, NFT, and tokenization, is expected to change hands as its parent company, Celsius Network, sells its assets as part of its bankruptcy process.
Celsius acquired GK8 for $115 million in 2021 and has sought initial bids for its digital asset custody subsidiary GK8 Ltd. by August 15, according to court papers, which noted that potential bidders include “strategic parties, other companies in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, scaled fintech companies, and traditional financial institutions”.
Celsius Network has been under fire for claiming $750 million in insurance, $500 million of which through GK8 and its insurance policy with AON. An attorney defending investors has called those claims a sham because GK8 was never integrated into Celsius operations, according to Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.
