Why P2P Lending Platforms are the Future

You may have heard of person-to-person (P2P) lending, where a service connects lenders to borrowers, typically using a digital platform. Perhaps you’re aware of two of the traditional P2P lending networks, Lending Club and Prosper. Over the last decade, these companies have become successful facilitators of P2P investing and borrowing, primarily for personal loans.

But if you thought P2P lending was just a hot trend from a few years ago, think again. This type of lending is now poised to take a big leap into the future, as a new platform leverages cryptocurrency assets like bitcoin for the purpose of lending and borrowing.

Why cryptocurrencies create opportunities for P2P lending

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that use cryptography to secure transactions, transfer assets and create new currency. They use a technology called blockchain as a distributed ledger that records data in blocks that are chained together, and they’re accessible by anyone with the appropriate permissions. Unlike traditional currencies, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies makes investors independent from both traditional banks and governments.

As of November 2017, there are more than 13 million users of Coinbase, the most widely used platform to exchange cryptocurrencies — like bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum and litecoin — with traditional state-backed, or fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar. And this is just one of many exchanges that are experiencing explosive growth, highlighting the increasingly wide adoption of cryptocurrencies. And even though the value of cryptocurrencies has fallen since its January 2018 peak, the total market capitalization still hovers around a half a trillion dollars worldwide.

With this scale of assets tied up, there’s now a demand for financial services that utilize existing cryptocurrency reserves as assets to be borrowed against. And since cryptocurrencies are independent of banks and traditional lending products, there’s an opportunity for an emerging P2P lending platform to meet that demand.

Ways P2P lending will benefit the cryptocurrency ecosystem

When it comes to the emerging cryptocurrency financial sector, there are several types of individuals and businesses that can benefit from an emerging P2P lending system.

• Individual cryptocurrency investors. Investors who are trying to manage their cryptocurrency holdings in the face of market volatility often need to borrow against their digital assets in order to manage their cash flow during market downturns. Individual investors may also want to tap into some of the value of their assets without giving up a piece of their long-term cryptocurrency investments.
• Individual borrowers. There are many qualified borrowers who have substantial cash flow but lack the credit history needed to secure a personal loan from a bank or another traditional lender. These individual borrowers could use a cryptocurrency-backed personal loan or even a cryptocurrency-backed credit card if it became available.
• Cryptocurrency businesses. Just as individual investors will want access to funds in their cryptocurrency holdings, companies that work in the cryptocurrency ecosystem may also wish to take out business loans against their crypto assets in order to fund their operations. These post-ICO (initial coin offering) phase companies often have large cryptocurrency assets, but they lack the fiat currency necessary to stay solvent.
• Cryptocurrency miners. If you aren’t familiar with this term, cryptocurrency mining is a business that generates cryptocurrency assets. Theses businesses may have a need to utilize its cryptocurrency assets to receive business loans and cash flow loans help grow its business.
• Cryptocurrency exchanges and traders. This is another type of small business that may have substantial cryptocurrency holdings, which they could utilize as assets toward margin funding or an investment loan.
• Traditional investors. Even those who are not part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem could take advantage of funding capital for P2P lending. This offers traditional investors good returns on secure investments that can fund loans and credit products through a cryptocurrency-enabled P2P lending platform.

The RAD peer-to-peer lending platform

RAD Lending is a startup that’s developing one of the first P2P lending platforms that utilizes crypto-secured assets for lending and borrowing. We envision a family of RAD credit products including personal and business loans and even a credit card.

The platform that RAD Lending is building will leverage the power of both blockchain technology and smart contracts. Smart contracts are digital agreements that use automated enforcement. Instead of using legal language, smart contracts are written with computer code and recorded using blockchain technology.

This platform will connect fiat money investors with crypto-asset holders. It’s being designed to offer traditional investors a predictable yield, while giving cryptocurrency holders the opportunity to take out a loan in spendable, fiat currency. Its use of blockchain and smart contract technology is the key to reducing risk for both investors and lenders. And in doing so, it could bring billions of dollars in idle cryptocurrency assets back into the traditional economy.

The RAD Lending platform will also help the so-called underbanked, and others without a traditional credit history, obtain new loans. This will create new opportunities for people who are digital nomads and individuals without permanent residency status.

The proposed RAD Lending credit card

Credit cards are the most popular method of borrowing in the U.S., and RAD Lending is working to extend its P2P platform to include a cryptocurrency-backed credit card. Credit cards are also the most secure and convenient method of payment, and its transactions are backed by a robust federal law that limits consumer liability to $50 in the event of fraud. In practice, all the credit cards that belong to major credit payment networks such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover waive this amount by offering $0 fraud liability guarantees.

A crypto-secured P2P-based credit card could potentially be part of the a major payment network, like Visa or Mastercard, and it would act like a traditional credit card in nearly every respect. For example, it would have a grace period that would allow you to avoid interest charges by paying your statement balance in full. A credit card can also offer valuable cardholder benefits such as travel insurance and purchase protection policies.

Bottom line

The tremendous growth of the cryptocurrency sector has drawn the attention of nearly everyone in the traditional economy, but there’s still a huge gap between the two. And while the phrase “crypto-secured P2P lending” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it has the potential to bridge the gap between these two largely separate economies, helping both.

The original article can be read on our website’s blog section.