XEND FINANCE | AU21 CAPITAL SPOTLIGHT
Xend Finance is delighted to invite AU21, a renowned investment capital firm, in our investor spotlight series. AU21 backs the most brilliant founders in Blockchain and has invested in some of the biggest projects in the crypto industry including Polkadot, Covalent, Plasm, Reef, Injective Protocol, Tidal, UniLend, etc. They have decided to invest in Xend Finance, broadening their horizons into a newer market and the African region.
Here’s a brief interview with the CEO of AU21 Capital:
- What factors drove you to invest in Xend Finance?
Our investment in Xend Finance was predicated on their unique ability to offer liquidity and stability within developing economies through a transparent interface. With inflation remaining a key cause for concern in the global recovery, services like Xend Finance will provide access to investment opportunities that serve as a vital important vehicle for credit unions and cooperatives to store their long-term assets.
2. What are your predictions for DeFi throughout 2021?
Decentralized protocols are in a unique position to become a prominent component of the global financial system. With the growing bullish sentiment surrounding digital assets in the industry, we believe that DeFi will increasingly be adopted in the place of traditional commercial and retail banking services. It is not so much a matter of if, but when, DeFi growth will reach an inflection point, and we believe that 2021 will be the catalyzing year for greater mainstream adoption as economic output and consumption levels return to normal.
3. What are some things that you think that must be changed to usher in mainstream adoption?
DeFi can accelerate the process of achieving mainstream adoption by meeting or outperforming traditional offerings in these three areas:
- Safety of Principal and Purchasing Power, through insurance products and access to macro-hedging opportunities, like Xend Finance.
- Risk Identification, by developing quantitative measures of creditworthiness and principal risk.
- Simplification, DeFi has unintentionally entered into a technological arms race, and the over-complication of literature and lingo repels unsophisticated and unaccredited investors.
4. What are your thoughts surrounding Crypto and Africa?
Decentralized Finance and Cryptocurrencies have the opportunity to markedly increase the rate of economic development occurring in Africa. As the second-largest and second-most populous continent, traditional centralized banking has failed to exhibit any benefit for the majority of its inhabitants. While African nations consistently rank among the most under-banked in the world, the continent increasingly thrives with the use of cellular and smart phones to conduct economic transactions. We believe that the advantageous aspects of conducting business on the blockchain will further strengthen the trajectory of the African continent, and will allow for a more inclusive and equitable global financial system.
5. What is your thesis on the Binance Smart Chain?
We are interested in the rise of projects built upon the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and believe that the dual-blockchain architecture will serve as an important tool for creating more expeditious and consistent transactions in crypto. As many widely used blockchains have become overwhelmed with the growing number of Crypto users, we have turned a newfound focus to scalability, and are impressed with what developers have been able to achieve on BSC.
