Universal Protocol Alliance announces new members and Chairman ahead of groundbreaking new Tokens

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Universal Protocol Alliance, a coalition of leading blockchain organizations including Bittrex Global, Certik, Ledger, and Uphold, today announces that Infinigold, issuer of the world's first government-backed gold token on a public blockchain, has joined the Alliance as a full member, together with Silicon Valley investment firms Hard Yaka and Fifth Era.

At the same time, the UP Alliance is announcing  the appointment of its new Chairman.
Matthew Le Merle is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era, Keiretsu Capital and Blockchain Coinvestors; the world's leading decentralized-ledger venture fund of funds. An expert on corporate growth, innovation and business transformations, he has advised leading companies including Amazon, Cisco, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, and PayPal.

"I am thrilled to join the UP Alliance as Chairman, especially at a time of such extraordinary opportunity," said Mr. Le Merle. "Now is the moment when the promise of blockchain technology is finally crystallizing into significant institutional adoption and there is a growing realization of its enormous potential to transform the way financial services are provided worldwide."

A significant new member of the UP Alliance, InfiniGold allows investors to buy, sell and hold physical gold stored at The Perth Mint, the largest refiner of new gold in the world, in digital form. The company aims to democratize gold investing by overcoming virtually all of the traditional drawbacks: its digital GoldPass Certificates represent physical, government-backed gold and offer zero custody costs and digital portability.

GoldPass Certificates back each Universal Gold Token [UPXAU], the UP Alliance's most recent and successful ERC20 stablecoin that represents 1 troy oz (31.10348 grams) of pure gold held at the Perth Mint in Australia.

"We're delighted to join the UP Alliance and to support its goal of helping blockchain technology achieve mainstream adoption," said Infinigold CEO, Jon Deane. "The industry needs such technology to build trust and transparency, and the platform the Alliance has built should help to drive mass utility and adoption."

Another important new UP Alliance member is Hard Yaka, the investment vehicle of Greg Kidd, a storied Silicon Valley Investor who was the initial investor and advisor at Twitter and Square and who has invested in more than 100 financial technology companies. 

On December 1st and December 8th 2020, the UP Alliance will launch two new Tokens that will break new ground and, respectively, address some of the biggest challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry - and the future of our planet. Watch this space.

About the Universal Protocol Alliance
Our vision is that every asset class will be digitized and tokenized. We are a coalition of like-minded cryptocurrency companies and blockchain pioneers, including Bittrex Global, CertiK, Fifth Era, Hard Yaka, Infinigold, Ledger, and Uphold. We know how to tokenize and transparently substantiate virtually any asset. Our mission is to build out the world's leading tokenization platform, ushering in a new era in finance. Learn more at www.universalprotocol.io.

About Uphold
A digital money platform serving more than 3 million customers in more than 150 countries. Uphold has powered almost $7 billion in transactions since its inception in 2014. The Silicon Valley firm opens around 10,000 accounts a day as consumers seek a more versatile and cost-effective home for their financial lives. Leveraging blockchain technology, the platform provides both consumers and businesses with easy access to 36 digital assets, 27 national currencies, four precious metals and 50 fractional U.S. equities. Uphold's unique trading experience - 'Anything-to-Anything' - allows customers to trade directly between asset classes, saving time and money. Uphold supports financial inclusion by enabling customers virtually anywhere to open an account in less than a minute and trade with no minimum investment amounts. Customers can send money to virtually anyone with an email address free of charge. To learn more, please visit https://uphold.com/en-us/.

CONTACT: Lexi Wangler, [email protected]

SOURCE Uphold