DEFY Federal Credit Union: a crypto-friendly credit union

[pmbug]

BankSocial®, in collaboration with industry partners and advisors, today announces the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union - the first digital native, self-custody credit union powered by distributed ledger technology and the ethos of credit unions. Based in Texas and powered by BankSocial® open banking features, the proposed DEFY FCU has a mission to serve its members and the larger Web3 community across the world with financial services that have been difficult to provide in the past. Built with a backbone of not-for-profit financial cooperative relationships, the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union takes advantage of new tools that can empower every domestic credit union for an open banking future.

"As Vice Chair of the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union board, I'm excited to help lead a movement where open banking forms our core,” said Michael Jackson. “Our mission is to empower member voices, driving our future collectively. We're committed to a democratic approach in digital spaces, leveraging partnerships and distributed ledger technology to pioneer services beyond traditional banking. Our focus on transparency, security, and efficiency marks a new era in personal finance, one that empowers and innovates with our members."

The BankSocial® App is the heart of the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union’s self-sovereign, open banking for all model. BankSocial® open banking products come together here to give members self-custody control of their money and digital assets, combined.

BankSocial® Verifiied® is where trust and security meet. This powerful “Know Your Customer” verification tool provides confidence in all self-custody environments. Behind the scenes, a Real Time Payment solution allows payments using both standard payment rails and the Rivia stablecoin rUSD on the Hedera ledger, providing swift and secure fund transfers.

BankSocial® Secura™ Decentralized Recovery (“DeRec”) is the evolution of self-custody key management and protection. Even experts have concerns about seed phrase security. With Secura™, each member’s key is divided into pieces and mathematically protected at trusted partner credit unions. No one but the customer ever has control of their keys.

BankSocial collaborated with and built upon the transformational DeRec work of Dr. Leemon Baird of Swirlds Labs to create this unique solution. Dr. Baird explains how decentralized recovery works: “When you have enough “helpers”, your key—your secret—is shared among all of them in pieces. None of them can individually see your secret.” BankSocial®-affiliated credit unions are candidates to participate in decentralized key recovery.

To learn more about the proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union and to show your support, visit defy.coop.

BankSocial® Announces proposed DEFY Federal Credit Union at North American Blockchain Summit

New Capabilities to Integrate Web3 Community Needs

www.einnews.com

...
Wingate was inspired by the similarities between the ownership structure of credit unions and "the ethos of decentralized finance" to begin the campaign for a federal credit union charter under the National Credit Union Administration at the beginning of last year. ...
...
The proposed Defy Federal Credit Union, which was announced publicly last month, would offer members access to BankSocial's platform which includes its self-custody crypto exchange for buying and selling currencies like bitcoin and ether, in addition to a deposit account. Eligibility would be extended to the roughly 4,000 members of both Block Advocates, a nonprofit organization founded by Wingate to help promote the adoption of distributed ledger technology as well as the Texas Blockchain Council, which includes firms like Riot Platforms and Genesis Digital Assets.

Members interested in services like loans not offered by the credit union would be referred to BankSocial's growing network of more than 50 vetted credit union partners. No other details were made publicly available.

Payments and other operations of the institution, including records of member deposits, would be kept on the Hedera public ledger, which records the data across its nodes by allowing each participant to vet and approve the information before it's unilaterally approved for committing to the ledger. Personal member data such as Social Security numbers and home addresses will be stored separately from the ledger.
...

BankSocial's plan to create a crypto-friendly credit union

Leaders of the Dallas-based crypto services platform BankSocial hope to further decentralized finance concepts throughout the industry by using distributed ledger technology to support the proposed Defy Federal Credit Union's offerings of a deposit account and cryptocurrency services.

www.americanbanker.com

I can't tell if is this is an elaborate ruse or pure genius vis a vis America's War on Crypto and Operation Choke point 2.0. I want to believe, but I need more info.