According to the announcement, partners seek to break down technological bottlenecks while also gaining more control over the information they publish via Holepunch. The financing for the development of the Holepunch platform came from Tether and Bitfinex, respectively. Paolo Ardoino, who is now the chief technological officer of both Tether and Bitfinex, will serve in the capacity of chief strategy officer for the new venture.
Ardoino, representing the interests of Tether and Bitfinex, highlighted the need of finding a solution to the growing number of privacy concerns, pointing out:
“It [Tether and Bitfinex] thinks that freedom of choice, interactions, and economics are the essence of the approaching years, and that anything that would reinforce these principles is worthy of amplification,” Tether and Bitfinex said in a joint statement.
At the moment, Holepunch is in the alpha or pre-release stage, during which it functions as a closed source mechanism. However, by the end of this year, it will be changed into an open source protocol. In the process of accomplishing this goal, Holepunch will not make use of blockchain technology as its foundation but will instead transition to an in-house settlement API that is powered by the Lightning Network.
For all Holepunch-based systems, the default micropayment currency will be USDT, and it will be used for all transactions. However, the company has not disclosed whether or not it will support new cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as of yet.
The Open Metaverse Association for Web3 (OMA3) is a collaboration with a primary emphasis on the following four principles: democracy, decentralization, inclusiveness, and transparency. Blockchain-based metaverses and Web3 platforms were the driving forces behind its inception.
The alliance will focus its efforts on resolving certain issues that are connected to the metaverse. These issues include establishing guidelines for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), developing protocols, establishing transferable identities, mapping and classifying digital environments, and connecting gateways between them.