Cake DeFi launches a $50M global R&D hub in Singapore to develop best-in-class blockchain and digital asset technologies

While the news of the crypto bear market dominates the headlines, one fintech continues to focus on the long-term view by building alliances and investing in the R&D and technology required to build the next phase of the digital asset ecosystems.

Today, Cake DeFi, a Singapore-based crypto fintech startup, announced the launch of Birthday Research, a global R&D hub that will focus on developing best-in-class blockchain and digital asset technologies. The new hub will be located in Singapore and will focus on developing best-in-class blockchain and digital asset technologies through open-source blockchain research and development.

The announcement comes two months after Cake DeFi partnered with Razer Silver to provide gamers access to crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and DeFiChain. Razer Silver is a loyalty rewards program for gamers, backed by the world’s leading gamer lifestyle brand Razer.

In addition, Cake DeFi also said it has committed to investing US$50M in R&D over the next 4 years to develop new products and innovations for fintech and financial institutions within the digital asset ecosystem. Currently, the company has over 50 R&D staff within its product and engineering teams. Cake DeFi plans to double this figure while consolidating its R&D operations in Singapore.

“The launch of our global R&D hub, Birthday Research, in Singapore supports the Singapore Government’s direction on digital asset innovation. We are committed to building the B2B digital asset infrastructure and uplifting Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem to drive innovations in fintech,” said Dr. Julian Hosp, Co-Founder and CEO of Cake DeFi.

Aligning with the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) direction to grow all aspects of the digital asset ecosystem, Birthday Research will centralize all of Cake DeFi’s product innovation and development in its technology stack for B2B solutions. The establishment of Birthday Research will create job opportunities in the emerging technology and fintech sector in Singapore.

Birthday Research will focus on powering institutions with blockchain technology infrastructure such as node, custody and keys management as well as a “SWIFT” for decentralized finance. In addition, Birthday Research also looks to solve existing problems faced by the traditional finance sectors, such as slow and erroneous payment transactions, lack of trust and transparency, and unequal access to financial services across markets.

U-Zyn Chua, Co-Founder and CTO of Cake DeFi, added, “The launch of Birthday Research is an exciting milestone for us at Cake DeFi. Cake DeFi is built on the solid foundation of blockchain technology that enables global decentralized finance. Birthday Research’s R&D on blockchain technology dives deep into cryptography, financial liquidity, and more, with the aim of allowing decentralized finance to be leveraged by enterprises like us in a trustworthy, safe and compliant manner.

In the near future, the Birthday Research team will continue working on projects that tackle the challenges of the financial sector through research and building blockchain innovation, aiming to become a leading blockchain R&D hub in the global blockchain ecosystem.

Founded in 2019 by Julian Hosp and U-Zyn Chua, Cake DeFi is a fintech platform for growing cryptocurrency assets. Through its partnership with an internationally compliant and advanced fiat-to-crypto gateway solutions provider, Cake also provides support for swapping 13 major currencies into crypto.

The startup is focused on providing access to decentralized financial services and applications by enabling users to generate returns from their crypto and digital assets. It is operated and registered in Singapore and is subject to applicable laws and regulations in Singapore.