Millicent receives Innovate UK SMART Award

Millicent, a UK-based distributed ledger company, has been awarded government funding in the form of a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Innovate UK SMART Award, Invezz learned from a press release. This is the most prestigious R&D grant in the UK. It will make it possible for the company to continue developing its groundbreaking digital finance network.

Company uses next-gen DLT  

Led by CEO Stella Dyer, a Wall Street veteran and a graduate of Harvard Business School, the company uses next-gen hybrid DLT (distributed ledger technology), which combines blockchain structure with Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) speeds.

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This can transform the traditional financial system into an open, borderless and interconnected digital network, running on the platform of a host of regulation-compliant stablecoins.

The first government-funded CBDC project  

Millicent is the first stablecoin and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project funded by the British government. The award shows a UK interest in taking stablecoin issuance and acceptance mainstream. 

Assessors from Innovate UK commented:

Millicent is a game-changing project that could change the way we bank and spend; [its] impact could be very significant to the UK, financially, socially and technically, as it can lead the way for a UK system backed by the Bank of England.

Integrating with banking frameworks across the globe

Millicent’s DeFi network integrates with existing frameworks, creating a universal financial system for the first time. Currencies can flow between on- and off-chain ecosystems and across borders easily.

Ultra-scalable ecosystem

The company’s highly-interoperable, ultra-scalable ecosystem will be capable of processing tens of thousands of transactions per second. It can transfer assets, data, and smart contract calls with major public and enterprise blockchain networks. 

Powerful social impact

The Millicent network’s social impact made a strong impact on the awarding body. Financial inclusion is all about creating open, instant, globally connected, low-fee infrastructure after all.

Stella Dyer commented:

In today’s system, it’s usually the people with the least money who pay the most for financial services. Millicent is designed to level the playing field for everyone, creating an ‘Internet of Value’ that is open and accessible to all.