Ethereum Co-founder Invests Millions in Former Competitor’s Company

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin has announced a partnership with a company founded by some of Ethereum’s biggest competitors, according to Forbes.

Lubin is set to invest $6.5 million into Bermuda-based stealth startup DrumG. ConsenSys will take a minority stake in the company, and Lubin will become the only one outside the company to sit on DrumG’s board of directors.

During the fireside chat at the #Bermuda @consensys with @ethereumJoseph, @BermudaPremier spoke about #FinTech opportunities for young people – all you need is an idea and a laptop to create the world’s next billion dollar company. pic.twitter.com/GFeptgxBCF

— Bermuda Government (@BdaGovernment) October 1, 2018

The reason this partnership may seem odd to some is that several high-level members of a company called R3, a main competitor of Ethereum, are the ones who founded it. Nonetheless, Lubin seems excited to work with DrumG, according to the official release, where he states:

“We are excited to partner with DrumG Technologies as a strategic investor and as a part of our broad portfolio of activity in the enterprise distributed ledger space. The team’s proven experience in delivering enterprise solutions to regulated capital markets, combined with its deep knowledge of the blockchain technologies makes it a valuable part of the ConsenSys global financial services offering.” 

The ‘rapidly evolving blockchain ecosystem’

Forbes says this pairing is a result of a shift in the blockchain ‘ecosystem’ resulting in aligned interests between the two creators of opposing platforms. Namely, the people that helped build blockchain networks like the Ethereal network are moving on to build newer applications that can capitalize on those networks. Such is the case with DrumG and ConsenSys.

The picture moving forward

In the release, DrumG states its main goal moving forward will be building a new network for the transfer of over the counter (OTC) trading data to financial institutions on the Ethereum blockchain. Called the Titanium Network, the company touts it as a “faster, more capable and significantly cheaper option” for getting this information to banks.

Currently, according to Forbes, banks have to compile OTC data with a third party, then compare it with data from other institutions in order to determine any insights from the data. The Titanium Network is set to eliminate middlemen from the equation.

According to the company, Credit Suisse will be a founding member of the network, and DrumG hopes to deploy it live in the second fiscal quarter of 2019.