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Vault Research
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[Would You Lend $1,000 to Your Online Friend?] Society is formed based on the trust between its members. With the trust that others won't harm you, we live daily lives in peace. However, blockchain was designed to eliminate the need for the trust, with the motto "Don't trust, verify." While this trade-off helped secure financial systems, it left an entire area of human interaction - under-collateralized trust-based credit - largely unexplored.
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Today, we have a few under-collateralized/credit-based lending protocols these days - but they limit participants by requiring KYC, a license, or a legal entity (e.g., 3Jane, @wildcat). These restrictions are adopted to avoid defaults, which is understandable since there have been many such cases (e.g., Maple Finance). But it sounds very web3, huh? Remember the word "permissionlessness"?
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On the other hand, another motto of blockchain is "Banking the unbanked", which is one of the reasons I became interested in web3. We are seeing a surge in demand for stablecoins in developing countries. If you haven’t heard of it, watch below by @unchainedcrypto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yII9c4239nk
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However, they still are lack of financial infrastructure. They have to go to the bank for hours just to get cash. They get robbed when they store physical cash in their house or shop because it's difficult to go to the bank. That's why they adopted e-money so quickly; they all have mobile phones. These communities need better access to digital financial tools, yet they are excluded from the current models that rely on traditional credentials. Would they have a proper license or "legal entity" to get a crypto loan? They don't even have sufficient financial records with banks! (Fun fact: There was a Korean crypto project that claimed to solve this issue with crypto. But now they are launching a satellite with a new coin lol)
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Fortunately, we see evidence that many people in developing countries are already in web3, including those in Nigeria, Kenya, the Philippines, Argentina, and more. Africa is also one of the most promising geographical areas in terms of demographic structure. Shouldn't we address these needs?
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[Trust built on online] How do we build trust with each other? By spending time together. If one does what they said, trust score +1. If one acts against common sense, trust score -1. Then how much time do you spend online? You don't have to check your screen time. You know that you spend a lot of time watching and talking to strangers on social media. They're no longer strangers once you've spent enough time to build intimacy. Many such cases. If you were into MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, you'd understand. People build very strong relationships through many occasions, from talking about small things in real life ("I hate my roommate!"), to raiding a boss with time attack, becoming a "comrade in arms." One of my close friends recently got married, and many guests from her gaming guild attended the wedding. Hard to believe? Watch The Remarkable Life of Ibelin on Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/81759420 Online life is already a real life.
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Getting back to the web3 context, we meet a lot of "anons" at offline events. Not only just bumping into, but by making an appointment. Some companies hire anons while they remain anonymous. We already trust online figures. Would people lend based on the trust built online? Some definitely would. Trust based on micro-lending within the community has a long history globally. “Gye (계)” in Korea. “Chama” in Kyena. “Tanda” in LATAM. See ROSCA (Rotating savings and credit association) for examples. These systems work based on trust and social forces within the community. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_savings_and_credit_association
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Now we have web3-native platforms that we build trust on, and have integrated crypto wallets: @farcaster and Lens. I recently found the miniapp feature on Farcaster, and saw people are giving money away when they like, repost, or comment, calling it tipping on @noiceapp. If you can give money to strangers, why not "lend" it in the hope of getting back? You might earn interest on top of the principal!
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[Q: Solvency? A: Let's start with p2p] I agree that there's a high risk of default when there's no collateral or way to collect by force. And it's also very early to build a safe credit scoring model based solely on on-chain or online data. But if we don't try because of the worry, there's no progress. So, let's start with peer-to-peer lending. People can freely choose whom to lend their money to. Borrowers who want a loan register their requests, which appear on a list. Lenders can see the borrowers' name and online activities. Reputation. Lenders will lend money if they feel comfortable.
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