Kii, a development team in the Kaspa ecosystem, has officially applied to join the European Central Bank’s Pontes Market Contact Group. The Pontes initiative is designed as the ECB’s “short-term track” for connecting distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms with the existing financial system.
At the center of Kii’s pitch is WarpCore, an ISO 20022-compliant bridge aimed at linking traditional finance rails to Kaspa’s BlockDAG. ISO 20022 has become the global messaging standard for payments and securities, and it is also the backbone of the ECB’s evolving settlement framework. By aligning with this standard, Kii positions Kaspa as a candidate for interaction with wholesale settlement infrastructures.
What this means in practice:
- Institutional access: A standards-based integration layer could allow banks, settlement institutions, and payment providers to connect with Kaspa in a way that meets regulatory and operational requirements.
- Stablecoin issuance: If the ECB framework accepts ISO 20022-driven interoperability, stablecoins and tokenized deposits on Kaspa could settle in ways that align with Europe’s monetary infrastructure.
- Carbon and energy markets: Although still at the design stage, Kii has signaled its intent to use Kaspa’s architecture for high-volume applications like carbon credit registries and energy settlement systems.
For now, the immediate focus is clear: ISO 20022 connectivity. Without this foundational bridge, higher-level use cases — whether stablecoins or carbon credits — cannot easily link to the financial system. If Kii secures a place in the Pontes group, it will gain both a seat at the table and a clearer path to embedding Kaspa in Europe’s future settlement landscape.
The application is only a first step, and there are no guarantees of acceptance. Still, it signals a shift: Kaspa, traditionally known as a fair-launched proof-of-work network, is being positioned not just as a niche asset but as potential infrastructure in regulated European markets.
