Startups Evolving Traditional Finance With Blockchain Technology

The Genesis of blockchain and crypto have drastically turned the world upside down. Every existing sector is on the verge of a complete overhaul. The biggest transformation struck traditional lending.

Blockchain decentralized databases helped emerge DeFi (Decentralized Finance). It’s simply financial tools built on Ethereum blockchain network to facilitate creation and issuing of digital assets.

Get it this way, you want to buy a house or a new car, now usually you’d go to a bank for a loan, but with DeFi in scene, bank isn’t your only option for borrowing. Let’s take a look at one more example: You can save or deposit into your wallet and then shop with debit or credit cards supplied by crypto vendors while also enjoying massive rewards.

ETHlend

ETHlend is a Decentralized Finance platform built over Ethereum blockchain network. Its USP is to create a space where both lenders and borrowers around the world can generate P2P agreements. Its similar
to many other startups but is more decentralized, if compared, and is available globally.

The established agreement aka Smart Contract acts as ‘in effect official loan agreement.’ Digital currency is kept as collateral and in the event a borrower fails to repay or breach the terms of agreement, the collateral will be forfeited.

Salt

Salt is as simple as wiping the floor. It came out from cryptocurrency. When a user is looking for a loan, its digital asset or crypto coin will be kept as security and when the borrowed amount is repaid, all the assets are returned.

Its shining because a user can leverage its investment in crypto to borrow and yet stay invested. The only delay comes in the process of KYC and AML formalities, otherwise the borrowing process is quick and easy.

Plutus

Plutus was designed to bridge the gap between fiat currencies and crypto. Due to the legacy system, most banks are unable to provide the same functionalities offered by Plutus which is why their CEO, Danial Daychopan, often claims to be “better than a bank”.

Plutus allows users to manage their crypto and fiat in a single app. The company also includes a built-in peer-to-peer conversion tool so members can easily exchange their crypto for fiat and vice versa. These features coupled with a Visa debit card allow users to utilise their crypto-assets at everyday retailers by easily converting their crypto into a spendable debit card balance; effectively making crypto usable at over 400 million merchants worldwide (both online and in-store).

Users will earn up to 3% of spending back in Pluton (PLU), a loyalty token that works similar to Air Miles or cash-back programmes. Pluton can later be redeemed for perks or exchanged for additional spending balance.

Qiibee

Qiibee is redefining traditional loyalty programs with its permission-based cross chain bridge ethereum blockchain. Business operating around loyalty programs can connect with qiibee to setup QBX based loyalty programs where users get rewarded in cryptocurrency.

To get started, merchants need to buy a Qiibee token and then they can use qiibee token to back their branded token. When a user buys item with partnered store, they are offered a code, which users can enter in a web app allowing them to open a wallet.

Where We Going with Blockchain

Startups have only started to innovate with the application of blockchain. The real world scenario might not be as large as the traditional means, but the products are being tested and getting more and more positive response more than ever.

Not all the users globally can expect decentralised finance to overtake previously established banking system overnight or in the immediate future. However, if we trace back to the beginning, P2P was the only means of getting loans before bank even started crawling properly. Seems like history is about to repeat, only this time, a more transparent, secure and stable technology is underneath.

That said, the regulations, policies and the complex procedure involved have made everything a bit complicated and far from being user-friendly.