How Does a Strategic Partnership with Sentinel Protocol Work?

Author: Brian Yang, Head of Business, Sentinel Protocol

Even though Bitcoin had its 10th anniversary this year, blockchain technology still is at an early development and adoption stage. Challenges such as scalability and true decentralization using the most appropriate consensus algorithms require an overwhelming amount of trial and error. We, as an ecosystem, are still in the discussion, testing, and maturation phases.

The Advantage of Partnerships in the Blockchain Ecosystem

The difference with blockchain technology compared to other technologies is that it has core community members — some of which are users who want more control over their financial assets, and others who create smart contracts on the blockchain. Users are now acting as their own banks being in full possession of their digital assets. Smart contract creation has become a very important task for many use cases. Additionally, many blockchains are open source, which shows just how interdependent, connected, and resourceful the whole ecosystem is.

In the early stages, one major advantage is that you don’t have to be a lone player. Rather, you could join forces with other entities that share your goals and objectives, and thus lead the way to innovative and revolutionary solutions.

Although partnerships in the blockchain space vary by purpose, they mainly fall within two categories:

1) Entities that offer complementary solutions or those that can work together synergistically. Our partnerships with Bluzelle or Hacken are an example of this.

2) Entities or platforms that become main beneficiaries of the developed technologies by being early adopters. For instance, Sentinel Protocol offers products that benefit exchange partners like Bibox or GDAC.

As an extra example, the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), a national public broadcaster of South Korea, organized a live mobile quiz show on December 14 while partnering with Sentinel Protocol. They distributed prizes in UPP tokens to the winner of the quiz. Such events born from similar partnerships will create new business for payment services, wallet services, and crypto projects.

Sentinel Protocol’s Partnership Focus

The Community

In particular, Sentinel Protocol believes that partnerships enable early adopters to work in synergy to speed up the development process and deliver quality products to the market.

New technologies often mean unlimited possibilities. With the security solutions we already created this year, as well as those we are currently working on for future release, we were aware that traditional approaches of solving security issues was no longer viable.

We had to come with an innovative formula that integrates the crowdsourced characteristic into the backbone of our products: Threat Reputation Database (TRDB). Nothing can overcome the power of a community determined to fight against fraud and scams. From our point of view, every crypto user becomes our partner in the moment the user contributes to the TRDB through real-time reporting of malicious activities in the crypto space.

A few Sentinel Protocol partners that we can mention include Hacken from the security industry, Horangi for smart contracts, and exchanges such as Upbit, Bibox or GDAC.

The Crypto Ecosystem

We pioneered crowdsourced crypto security by developing products like the UPPward Chrome and Firefox Extensions, the Sentinel Portal and the ICF API (Interactive Cooperation Framework API).

The platform agnostic ICF API, provides every exchange, crypto wallet, and payment service the security advantage of having access to the Threat Reputation Database (TRDB). At this stage, we are strongly focused on strategic partnerships with exchanges, because our products achieve the most positive impact with exchanges due to high numbers of users.

By using the ICF API, exchanges and crypto projects have real-time access to the TRDB, enabling them to instantly block any transactions involving backlisted wallet addresses to prevent further financial damage. Through business partnerships, we can also leverage our end user solutions with the ultimate goal of creating a safer crypto space.

There are several ways to forge a new partnership with Sentinel Protocol, but the most common ways are:

• Through introductions by existing partners.
• By attending different events in the industry.
  By constantly researching and finding potential cooperation, as well as reaching out directly.
• By potential partners reaching out to us by email: info@uppsala.foundation.

The most important question to us while discussing a new partnership is: How will our new partnership benefit the decentralized ecosystem and the users of both parties over the long term?

What Does a Strategic Partnership with Sentinel Protocol Look Like?

We are determined to offer our full attention and proactivity when it comes to learning about each project with a trusted ally. We believe it is critical for the long-term security of the blockchain space to work together as partners.

The key is to understand the strengths as well as the challenges of each other’s businesses. At the same time, we let our potential partners know the principles that we stand by, as well as our mission to create a safer cryptocurrency ecosystem. There are certain characteristics that make Sentinel Protocol a strong partner in the space, such as:

• Being a pioneer in the industry (crypto and cybersecurity).
• Offering access to the TRDB.
• Sharing information about the latest cybersecurity innovations in crypto.
• Providing early access to Sentinel Protocol product releases.
• Opportunities to actively contribute to the innovation of cybersecurity solutions.
• Providing an extra layer of trust for new and existing crypto users.
• Enhanced user experience.
• Opportunity to become a member of a private network with access to the TRDB and updated security news directly from industry experts.

Beneficial outcomes of such partnerships and the opportunities they provide include the following:

• Mutual exchange of products and services.
• Quantitative and qualitative user adoption.
• Promotion across all channels including existing partners.
• Security regulation for exchanges, wallets, and even government bodies given that cybersecurity will become a bigger concern for everyone.

For any interested partners, please reach out to us at info@uppsala.foundation. Otherwise, please visit our website (https://sentinelprotocol.io) or our Twitter for the latest news and highlights!