RSK announces enterprise spin-off to focus on blockchain integration tools

A new enterprise initiative launched by IOVLabs, the company behind the RSK Bitcoin sidechain, seeks to simplify blockchain development for governments and enterprises.

The joint venture, called Extrimian, was established with Argentinian software provider Grupo Sabra to create the RSK Enterprise Cloud platform.

The blockchain-as-a-service platform is designed to allow governments and businesses to develop decentralized solutions and set up permissioned networks with ease. The platform is said to help integrate blockchain DApps into existing infrastructure used by enterprise and government entities.

Guillermo Villanueva, the CEO of Extrimian and co-founder of Grupo Sabra, told Cointelegraph that the focus of the initiative differs from existing offerings:

“There are many Blockchain-as-a-Service offers, but they focus on solving the problem of deploying permissioned networks. Our vision is that the key problem to solve is the connection and integration of the systems that the Enterprise already has to these new technologies.”

Villanueva believes that existing companies have a narrow focus on their niche — cloud providers focused on cloud-based solutions, while blockchain companies focus solely on the blockchain stack. He continued:

“After many years of dealing with the complexity of developing real world applications for the Enterprise segment using the blockchain technological stack, we realized that there was a missing piece, something that facilitates the development and operation of decentralized apps, that easily integrate to the rest of the technology that enterprises and governments already have.”

Villanueva clarified that Extrimian is not seeking to create a separate blockchain platform. Its users would be able to choose between a few existing enterprise blockchains, including RSK, Ethereum and Hyperledger Besu. The toolset will be usable on cloud platforms like Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon Web Services, with more integrations expected later.

Due to the nature of the software, Villanueva explained that its focus is not on convincing companies to make the initial foray in blockchain. “Our platform is intended for big, medium and small enterprises and governments who have a problem, have researched possible solutions and have selected blockchain as a platform for their solution,” he said.

The idea for the platform was apparently driven by RSK’s own experience in designing enterprise applications. The project participated in several pilot projects, including a blockchain-based payments service for Argentinian banks and an energy trading initiative.

“The Argentinean Central Bank pilot was one of multiple implementations we’ve delivered that gave us a clear understanding of the real requirements of the enterprise segment,” Villanueva explained.

In addition to enterprise, RSK is currently pushing for decentralized finance use cases on its smart contract blockchain with integrations of Chainlink oracles and an Ethereum bridge.