Decentralized Applications and Lending on the Blockchain

ETHLend is a ”fully decentralised P2P lending platform build on top of the Ethereum Blockchain using Smart Contracts”. So what does this actually mean? That is a great question, so lets break it down.

Decentralization refers to the degree of which power is taken from a central entity and, in case of blockchains, how this power is distributed into a network. In theory this means that there is no single entity that has decision making power, instead the whole network is responsible for the development of the project. This is a completely new paradigm shift, which is going to disrupt many industries and create completely new eco-systems with their own economics.

ETHLend will aim to be as decentralized as possible. This means that we are focused on building our community and not making all the decision by ourselves. Our goal in the long term is to shift our governance from the ETHLend Foundation to the community. In the blockchain space this is known as a DAO, Decentralized Autonomous Organization. This means that we will build in a governance model into the platform that will give our users the possibility to vote on new developments.

P2P, peer to peer, means that all exchanges of value happens directly between two people. In a normal environment, when we exchange value we want to have a 3rd party as a middleman to ensure ”safety and security”. With the blockchain this model becomes obsolete. We call this a trust-less environment, where any two people can transact with each other without trusting each other. The reason for this is that the blockchain will take care of the ”trust” part. We can always trust that the code works the same way and this way we do not need to trust the other party, just the fact that the blockchain will work.

ETHLend is a lending platform. We offer a platform that is accessible through you internet browser (Google Chrome + Metamask plug-in) and where you can request a loan in digital currencies. There are many use cases for this platform. One would be a speculative use case where traders want to increase their liquidity or swap in between tokens e.g. if your getting short squeezed.

But the bigger vision for our platform is to offer a financial service for the 2 billion unbanked people in the world. Especially in places where the government is oppressing people, corruption is present in the governing bodies, using unsuccessful monetary and fiscal policies and creating huge inflation. The list goes on and on… With the help of cryptocurrencies we can transact directly with each other in a democratic and decentralized manner. There’s no need for people to trust their banks and in some countries you most definitely shouldn’t. If we look at the interest rates between developed and developing countries, the differences are huge. Our goal is to offer a global and fair marketplace that gives everyone access to capital. Democratizing lending markets with the help of the blockchain.

The Ethereum blockchain. We’re building on top of the Ethereum blockchain. But we should probably start of by giving some kind of definition of what a blockchain is.

” A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions. Constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks (the most recent transactions) are recorded and added to it in chronological order, it allows market participants to keep track of digital currency transactions without central record keeping. Each node (a computer connected to the network) gets a copy of the blockchain, which is downloaded automatically.”

This pretty much summarizes what a blockchain is, but this description is more fitting for Bitcoin. What makes Ethereum different is that we can do Smart Contracts. This is a computer protocol that is specifically designed to facilitate, verify and enforce contracts. Negotiations and performance indicators will be specified in the code and the contract will execute when certain parameters are met.

In our use case we want to put the loan data on these smart contracts and this way ensure a secure and safe lending environment. There’s no involvement from third parties and there’s no way for anyone to ”hack” this system. Our loans are safe and secure by design and also democratic by nature.

This pretty much summarizes what ETHLend is. Stay tuned for updates or check out our social media for more details on the project. Doing lending in a decentralized environment and creating a credit rating or history is a big challenge. Our solution is already working, but this is only the beginning.

Br,
Martin Wichmann, Head of Token Sale, ETHLend

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