Accenture Ventures is making a strategic investment in British/Brazilian web3 firm Parfin. the consulting firm is using Parfin’s institutional digital asset solution for its clients.
One of the startup’s key early customers is B3 Digitas, the digital asset arm of the Brazilian stock exchange. Last year as part of the Brazilian central bank digital currency (CBDC) LIFT Challenge, Santander used Parfin’s technology for auto and real estate transactions.
With these big names under its belt, Accenture wants to use Parfin’s technology. In Brazil, the central bank has now progressed its CBDC work by launching wholesale CBDC pilots last month, aiming to support bank tokens to settle tokenized transactions on chain. Parfin is participating directly in one of the 14 pilots, and Santander and B3 are each running a pilot as well.
“Web3, new forms of digital identity and end-to-end digital asset platforms like Parfin’s are challenging global financial services organizations to rethink their digital asset strategies,” said Mauricio Barbosa, Financial Services group lead, Accenture Brazil. “Powered by Parfin’s enterprise-grade digital assets and blockchain infrastructure, Accenture is accelerating and enabling Brazil’s largest financial services institutions to leverage digital asset transactions with a compliant, secure technology platform.”
Parfin offers solutions for crypto custody, crypto trading and digital asset tokenization. It is developing a public permissioned Ethereum compatible Layer 0 blockchain. Where most blockchains such as Ethereum or Hyperledger Besu are Layer 1, Layer 0 refers to providing an interoperability layer with other blockchains, something that’s critical to create a network of networks to enable the digital real to be used for settlement.
While the amount of the Accenture investment was not mentioned, Parfin announced a $15 million funding round in January led by Framework Ventures.
