xSigma Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of ZK International, Recruits Leading Blockchain Engineer to Join xSigma DeFi

News provided by

Dec 21, 2020, 09:00 ET

WENZHOU, China, Dec. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ZK International Group Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: ZKIN) ("ZKIN", "ZK International" or the "Company"), a designer, engineer, manufacturer, and supplier of patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products primarily used for water and gas supplies, today announced that xSigma Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has appointed Jesse Brauner as Senior Engineer. Mr. Brauner joins xSigma with nearly a decade of experience in various technical capacities in the fields of finance, trading, digital payments and cryptocurrencies.

Prior to joining xSigma, Mr. Brauner was Senior Software Engineer to Ripple Labs, the parent company behind XRP, where he played an important role in scaling the On-Demand Liquidity product from a proof of concept to a platform supporting multiple fiat currencies and processing $500 million in XRP payments per month. Mr. Brauner's career includes experiences with top financial companies as SoFi, Abel Noser Solutions and JPMorgan Chase. He holds a BSE Degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.

xSigma has recruited some of the brightest people in blockchain to spearhead the development of its DeFi protocol, which is set for launch in early 2021. The xSigma team currently includes Alex Lebed, an engineer who previously served at Facebook, Amazon and 1inch. Kamal Obadd, a Harvard graduate and former Google engineer, is also on the team alongside former Ripple and Google engineer Daniel Garay. Together, these professionals are launching one of the first DeFi protocol backed by a publicly traded company. ZK International trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange (Nasdaq: ZKIN) and is a reporting company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These associations bring a new level of legitimacy and transparency to the DeFi sector.

It is anticipated that 2021 is going to be an exciting year for the DeFi sector as indicated by Dr. Iwa Salami, senior lecturer in financial law and regulation at the University of East London, has stated in the forkast that "DeFi is likely to continue to grow over the next 12 months for the following reasons: DeFi has the potential to facilitate financial inclusion by opening access to financial products to the world's 1.7 billion unbanked people as it allows just about anyone to get a loan"^[1]. xSigma is building a world-class team to deliver an innovative, user-friendly ecosystem for traders and liquidity providers.

"We are very excited to have Jesse join the xSigma family and we believe that his background in financial software development, combined with his hands-on experience at one of the world's largest cryptocurrency companies, will assist xSigma in building the most trusted decentralized products on the market today," said Mr. Jiancong Huang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ZK International.

About ZK International Group Co., Ltd.

ZK International Group Co., Ltd. is a China-based designer, engineer, manufacturer and supplier of patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products that require sophisticated water or gas pipeline systems. The Company owns 28 patents, 21 trademarks, 2 Technical Achievement Awards, and 10 National and Industry Standard Awards. ZK International is preparing to capitalize on the $850 Billion commitment made by the Chinese Government to improve the quality of water, which in its current supply state is 70% unfit for human contact. ZK International is Quality Management System Certified (ISO9001), Environmental Management System Certified (ISO1401), and a National Industrial Stainless Steel Production Licensee that is focused on supplying steel piping for the multi-billion dollar industries of Gas and Water sectors. ZK has supplied stainless steel pipelines for over 2,000 projects, which include the Beijing National Airport, the "Water Cube" and "Bird's Nest", which were venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Emphasizing superior properties and durability of its steel piping, ZK International is providing a solution for the delivery of high quality, highly sustainable, environmentally sound drinkable water to not only to the China market but to international markets such as Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia.

For more information please visit www.ZKInternationalGroup.com. Additionally, please follow the Company on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Weibo. For further information on the Company's SEC filings please visit www.sec.gov.

About XSigma Corporation

XSigma Corporation, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZK International Group Co., Ltd. Together with ZK International, has launched xSigma as a research and development lab back in 2018 to solve real-world infrastructure challenges. Its mandate was to explore new opportunities in smart contracts, supply chain management and other blockchain-based solutions. XSigma has since pivoted to decentralized finance, focusing on decentralized exchanges, stablecoins and lending protocols. The research lab is now actively working on its ecosystem of products beginning with its DeFi protocol. The ultimate objective is to build a range of financial tools and products for the flourishing decentralized finance industry. The xSigma team that are being assembled are on the leading edge of blockchain research and development that intersects decentralized finance, supply chain management, IoT, and infrastructure. The DeFi protocol is one of many decentralized finance projects xSigma plans to launch over the next 12 months. It will feed into a growing network of DeFi products for enterprise and consumer markets. Any blockchain protocol is subject to a degree of risk; xSigma's DeFi protocol has implemented tamper-resistant programming, but is still subject to potential hacks.For further information about xSigma, please visit its website at www.xsigma." www.xsigma.com and www.xsigma.fi

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "estimate" or "continue" or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of ZK International. Actual results may differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties, as well as other risk factors that are included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ZK International believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in forward-looking statements will be realized. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by ZK International or any other person that their objectives or plans will be achieved. ZK International does not undertake any obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Investor Contact:

Sherry Zheng
Weitian Group LLC
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 718-213-7386

^{1. https://forkast.news/bitcoin-ethereum-defi-forecast-finder-cryptocurrency-predictions-report/}

SOURCE ZK International Group Co., Ltd.