Australian Payments Plus (AP+) is the national organization responsible for Australia's core payment infrastructure. It was formed by the merger of three key entities: BPAY Group, the operator of the ubiquitous BPAY bill payment service; eftpos, the national debit card system for point-of-sale transactions; and NPP Australia, which runs the New Payments Platform (NPP). In its infrastructure capacity, AP+ processes over 7.5 billion transactions annually and is central to the daily economic activity of the country.
AP+ is also an active researcher organization that is constantly exploring the capabilities of distributed ledger technology and a member of the Hedera Council.
The relationship with Hedera provides AP+ with a framework for developing and testing new solutions that could one day integrate with or enhance its established portfolio of payment services. This involvement complements its research into other future-focused technologies, including its participation in the Reserve Bank of Australia's CBDC pilot program.
Project Information
Related Projects
Union Finance is a non-KYC peer-to-peer permissionless protection marketplace that allows users to mitigate risks associated with decentralized finance (DeFi) through the purchase of downside protection services. It also offers users the option to provide liquidity to the platform for the purpose of earning premiums from those seeking protection. Union’s state-of-the-art protocol has integrated capabilities built to secure multi-layer risks across smart contracts and protocols in a single-stop scalable system.
Union Finance’s platform offers distinct products to address different risk scenarios. These include C-OP (collateral optimization and volatility protection), a service aimed at mitigating the risks associated with holding cryptocurrencies over extended periods, and U-CDS (Union crypto default swaps), which provide protection against specific adverse events such as smart contract exploits and oracle attacks.
The firm’s services are targeted towards individuals and entities involved in the DeFi space who require tools to safeguard their investments and strategies over both short and long-term programs.
Union Finance has established a range of partnerships across the blockchain and DeFi ecosystem, including UniLend, Waves, Avalanche, BlockScience, Kleros, and Router, as well as the Hedera blockchain network.
Hashport is an interoperability solution designed to connect the Hedera network with other major blockchain ecosystems and enable the transfer of digital assets across distributed ledgers. It functions as a public utility, facilitating bidirectional token bridging, which allows users to move assets from one network to another.
The platform supports connections between the Hedera blockchain network and other prominent blockchains such as Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Chain. The process involves users locking their original assets on the source chain to facilitate “porting” of newly-minted, wrapped versions of the original asset to the destination chain. Upon retrieval, the ported asset version is burned on the destination network thus unlocking the original tokens on their native chain.
Hashport utilizes a consortium of independent and reputable validators verify and authorize transactions in order to ensure end-to-end security. These validators monitor events on the connected chains to ensure the integrity of the bridging process. By enabling seamless cross-chain transfers, Hashport plays a vital role in expanding the reach of decentralized applications (dApps) and assets within the Hedera ecosystem.
Datahash, formerly known as Entrust, is Australia's pioneering full-service agricultural supply chain platform. Focused on combating the estimated $3 billion annual global wine fraud, Datahash leverages distributed ledger technology (DLT) to ensure the authenticity and traceability of agricultural products from origin to consumer.
Datahash utilizes the Hedera Consensus Service to log supply chain events immutably. Each update is recorded to a defined topic on Hedera, requiring a signature and receiving a consensus timestamp. This approach provides a complete and verifiable history of the supply chain, enhancing transparency and trust among stakeholders.
Shift Markets is a financial technology company that provides "Crypto-as-a-Service" solutions for businesses operating in the digital asset and forex markets. Headquartered in New York, the it has a global presence, helping clients launch and manage their own trading platforms.
The company's core services revolve around providing the infrastructure and technology needed to operate a digital asset exchange. Their flagship product is a white-label crypto exchange platform, which allows businesses to quickly launch their own spot and derivatives trading venues. This includes a customizable front-end interface, a full-featured back-office for managing operations, and access to deep liquidity through their proprietary engine, Nexus.
Shift Markets is directly integrated with the Hedera ecosystem through a partnership with the Hedera Foundation. The company has incorporated Hedera-based assets into its Shift Dashboard and the Nexus liquidity engine. This integration makes HBAR and other Hedera-native assets available across its network of over 70 exchanges and institutional clients.