Republic Crypto Denies Shopping for 10M ASTRA Tokens, Says Astra Gave Tokens to It as A part of a ‘Free Trial’

CORRECT (March 9, 2023, 19:20 UTC): Revises complete story to mirror the truth that Republic says Astra Protocol’s assertion, which CoinDesk primarily based a March 7 story on, was inaccurate and contained an unauthorized quote from a Republic government.

Funding agency Republic Crypto has denied buying 10 million of Astra Protocol’s native tokens, asserting that – opposite to an announcement this week from Astra – Republic was merely given pre-loaded wallets containing ASTRA with a purpose to take a look at whether or not the compliance platform can be appropriate for its ecosystem.

Republic mentioned it doesn’t know what number of tokens it was given as Republic wasn’t concerned with the pre-loaded wallets.

CoinDesk, citing a press launch from Astra Protocol, reported on March 7 that Republic bought the tokens. A Republic spokesperson subsequently mentioned the agency had considered and objected to the small print within the draft press launch, which was despatched out regardless, and mentioned the discharge contained an unauthorized quote from Republic crypto head Andrew Durgee, which Durgee didn’t draft.

“Republic shouldn’t be paying for these tokens and isn’t distributing the tokens. ASTRA is chargeable for the monetary and administration issues concerned on this free trial,” Durgee instructed CoinDesk in a March 9 Telegram message.

“Republic as a complete is exploring the feasibility of utilizing Astra Protocol for KYC with no commitments to interact. Republic is starting to introduce Astra to issuers (firms who increase by Republic) who would enable these issuers to strive their protocol for KYC functions,” he added within the dialog with a CoinDesk journalist. “As you want ASTRA to make use of Astra Protocol, issuers would obtain pre-loaded wallets that will enable them to check drive the protocol.”

“Republic shouldn’t be paying for these tokens and isn’t distributing the tokens. Republic can be not setting apart tokens for compliance functions. Astra is chargeable for the monetary and administration issues concerned on this free trial,” he continued. “A fund of Republic Capital, Republic’s VC arm, invested in Astra Protocol in 2021. This was the latest token transaction. No additional funding offers in Astra have taken place since that point.” Republic participated in a $9 million Astra funding spherical that was introduced in March 2022.

Switzerland-based decentralized platform Astra Protocol provides know-your-customer (KYC), know-your-business (KYB) and anti-money laundering (AML) options. The native ASTRA token is required to make the most of the platform.

CoinDesk reached out to Astra earlier than publishing Republic’s repudiation, however has not acquired a response by publication time.