Libra Credit review; the next generation PayPal on the blockchain
https://libracredit.io/
Wouldn't it be great to be able to spend some of your crypto assets without having to sell them because you are invested like me for the long term "hodl" ?
Sometimes we unfortunately find ourselves in unexpected "urgently in need of cash" situations when for example "the wash machine broke down", "brand new iPhone fell down the toilet", "car broke down". Thoughts like "Damn! Why now?" automatically come to mind. "I just bought into crypto, the market went full bear I and do not want to sell now, but I still have to wait 3 weeks before my paycheck arrives." Sounds familiar?
Perhaps, a more familiar situation to many crypto investors is when you want to invest in an ICO, but don’t want to sell your crypto’s yet for it… How many have passed those great ICOs because of that? Or you are one of those lifetime HODLERS with large bags and don't want to liquidate your holdings but want a loan to have some large purchases.
Now image desperately walking into a bank with that bag full of crypto, put on a smile and ask the bank employee if you can leave your crypto bag on the counter as collateral, because you are in need of some dollars right now. I think we all can agree traditional banks will laugh at our faces before they slam the door when we want to leave our bitcoins, ethers or whatever crypto behind as a "deposit". This is where Libra Credit comes in, offering a straightforward solution:
Libra Credit is a decentralized lending ecosystem that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime!
The Libra Credit offers a quick and seamless digital lending process that can be completed online or in a mobile app in 5 easy steps.
How does that work? Here is an illustrative example of a crypto-to-fiat loan on Libra Credit. Assume that Bob, a LBA community member and XYZ Token holder needs cash, and wants to pledge XYZ Tokens for a 30-day loan in US Dollars (USD).
Step 1: Application: As a LBA (Libra Credit) token holder and platform member, Bob fills in an online/mobile loan application form and submit digital documents (if required) to the Libra Credit.
Step 2: Verification & Credit Assessment: Libra Credit verifies the borrower’s identity after the application is submitted. In particular, to obtain more authorized and verified data of Bob, Libra Credit may make selective disclosure request to verification partners (e.g. uPort). Users with existing Identity Management Accounts at supported platforms may be able to bypass the KYC process. Once verified, an automated real-time credit assessment is conducted by proprietary big data and AI-based credit assessment engine. Based on Bob’s
credit score and collateral grade, Libra Credit will generate corresponding loan terms.
Step 3: Notification & Confirmation: Bob will be instantly notified via APP, SMS or email of the final loan terms in which he can immediately accept with simply one click.
Step 4: Collateral Deposit: Bob’s XYZ Token is deposited into Libra Credit’s e-wallet or exchange partners, depending on borrower’s preference. The collaterals will be securely stored for the entire loan period.
Step 5: Disbursement: USD will be instantly deposited from the lenders wallet to Bob’s. If Bob chooses to receive the loan in his digital wallet (e.g. Alipay, WeChat Pay), the whole process will be completed within minutes. If Bob prefers a bank account deposit, one working day will be required for loan disbursement. This is significantly faster than most digital lenders that require day(s) and traditional lending institutions which require at least 2-4 weeks to process.
During the loan period, Bob makes weekly payments (or any other frequency approved by Libra Credit). When the loan is repaid, Bob’s XYZ Token is returned.
(above and following Libra example and images source: Whitepaper Libra Credit, if you are interested in the complete technology behind it, I suggest to read the whole whitepaper, but since Libra credit will use the Ethereum blockchain, I prefer to focus on this example so we can all understand why Libra Credit can make our lives a little easier in 2018) https://www.libracredit.io/page/Libra%20Credit%20Whitepaper.pdf
In all fairness this crypto to fiat lending with "a touch of "paypal" concept is not completely new, and there are a few competitors on/or about to enter the market who offer a lending service like Nexo, Salt and Request Network. What makes Libra Credit better than these other projects? Their network!, but I will discuss that further on. What libracredit also offers; is that they will use their credit management capabilities to serve customers with NO crypto assets!
On paper the few projects that have a lending proposition, look kind of similar at the surface. Instead of focusing on differences between these projects, I look at these projects together in a very positive way. Because while the majority of the crypto projects are still for the most part fancy tech white papers with long road maps ahead, projects like Libra Credit actually have a real world use case, from the moment the platform goes live (Libra Credit will be operational Q3 2018!!! ). In my opinion real world use case is exactly what the whole crypto market needs so bad right now, that final step where block chain tech goes from theoretically changing the world on paper in 2022, to an actual crypto app on your phone that you are happy to use...yes.. like the PayPal app we all love! Projects like Nexo, Salt, Request Network and Libra Credit are pioneers in the "real world use journey" that crypto is facing right now, so I am very excited about these projects for that particular reason.
Still, the nr. 1 question that keeps popping up is probably; "cool story bro, but if there are a few similar projects in this crypto niche, which one is the best and which one should I invest in?"
As you can see there are a few major differences that sets Libra Credit apart from competitors. Worth mentioning are the facts that Libra has partnerships with crypto exchanges, stablecoin providers (e.g. Maker DAO, https://makerdao.com/), third-party identity verification data providers (e.g. uPort) and financial institutions (banks & asset managers). Libra Credit is in that sense, in contrary to others, a complete solution, especially their partnerships with stable coins like "Maker DAO" and other financial institutions sets this ecosystem apart from the others, while offering a max level of security for both borrowers and lenders.
This image portraits an up and running Libra Credit network, with partnership on all possible sides (borrowers, lenders, crypto exchanges, wallets, KYC networks, banks and stablecoins), and the truly extensive nature of the Libra Credit ecosystem becomes visible.
These network partnerships are not semi-fake promises on paper, the network will be up and running in Q3 2018!!
Taking all of this into account, I have high expectations for Libra Credit because they have a huge edge compared to the other lending products. But at the same time I think it's probably too soon to announce the big winner yet. While Libra Credit seems to offer the most complete service, I also like to think that all of the above mentioned similar projects can be winners in their own way, the public demand and use case is already there.
Maybe we should try to avoid answering questions like "which one is the best?" for now. The market probably already is or will be big enough soon to support several "winners" in the crypto to crypto / crypto to fiat lending niche. Remember that there is a pretty big world out there, and while PayPal is definitely a winner in online payments, even PayPal has a fair and healthy amount of competitors like Alipay, Skrill, Wepay etc. All big and very successful companies. There is absolutely no reason why people can not use more than one financial service, for example; I personally use Paypal, but also minimal 6 similar payment platforms that I can think of right now, so therefor there is actually no / a lot less reason to be worried about competitors.
But... if we are discussing "this coin will be the PayPal of blockchain", a title that all of these platforms would love to claim, there is only one project that actually deserves to use that title over the other projects: Libra Credit; the next generation PayPal on the blockchain.
Why will Libra credit become the undisputed next generation Paypal of blockchain? Well, let's look at the team behind Libra Credit for a moment...
Team:
Lu Hua - Co-Founder & CEO, CEO of moKredit
Paypal China head of core payment
Paypal US head of global banking platform
https://www.linkedin.com/in/luhua/
Dan Schatt - Co-Founder & COO Chief Commercial Officer at Stockpile Inc.
General manager of financial innovations at PayPal
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danschatt/
Scott Thompson - Advisor CEO of Tuition.io
CEO of Yahoo
President at PayPal
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thompcal/
So we have Mr Hua, a former head of core payment PayPal China, former PayPal US head of global banking platform, and CEO of payment service provider Mokredit! Mr Schatt, former General manager of financial innovations at PayPal! Mr Thompson, former CEO of Yahoo, former President at PayPal! Do you see a PayPal connection already?
Shuoji Zhou - Advisor Founding partner of FBG Capital
Early investor of a broad spectrum of
blockchain companies
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuojizhou/
Howard Wu - Chief Scientist Managing partner of Dekrypt Capital
Advisor of Blockchain at Berkeley
Software engineer of Google
https://www.linkedin.com/in/1howardwu/
Kenneth Oh - Advisor Senior partner with Dentons Rodyk & Davidson’s Corporate Practice
20 years of legal advisory experience
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-oh-840117158/
Shoucheng Zhang - Advisor CEO of Danhua Capital
Stanford University tenured professor of Physics,
Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoucheng-zhang-ba49a174/
Combine these payment solution heavyweights with blockchain experts like mr Wu, Software engineer of Google, Mr Oh who is there to advice all legal matters and last but certainly NOT least, Mr Zhou and Mr Zhang, huge names and pioneers in the blockchain world. Personally, I am super impressed with this team, just image the experience and the combined connections these guys bring to the Libra Credit table! Where other similar projects might fail, Libra Credit has all the connections needed in-house to make a decentralized financial service a success.
In my opinion the biggest difference and leading edge Libra Credit has over other similar projects; their experience and their connections in the financial online industry. The Libra team members have already done it before at Paypal, and will do it again with Libra Credit!
This is a financial dream team and if we have to crown one project with the title "PayPal of blockchain", there is no doubt in my mind it has to be Libra Credit.
Investors:
FBG Capital is a Singapore based blockchain and digital asset investment firm. FBG is one of the biggest names is Asia's blockchain land, and in general, having FBG Capital on your side is seen as a highly valued strategic partnership. CEO Shuoji Zhou is even an advisor for Libra Credit!
A few projects that FBG has backed include Zilliqa, Eximchain, IoT Chain, Aelf, LoopRing, Nebulas and now we can add Libra Credit to that impressive list. In an early investment round led by FBG Capital, Libra Credit received 2 million USD. FBG chooses their projects very carefully, so any project that FBG Capital is vested in, is a project you should put on your list as well!
GBIC acts like a global hub for blockchain projects, an investment firm that not only backs blockchain projects with money, GBIC brings tons of strategic value as they really look after their investments, backing the projects they vested in with marketing, PR and development.
GBIC also has a really impressive portfolio including Mainframe, Iot Chain, Eximchain, Nebulas, Aelf, WePower, Quantstamp and Libra Credit. You can bet your ass that if these guys are involved in a project, the western world will know about it!
Marketing:
No matter how great a crypto project might look on paper, without proper marketing, the road to success will be very long and lonely one. Libra Credit knows this and therefore hired Block 72 to handle their marketing and ICO! (http://block72.io/)
Block 72 is a leading blockchain consulting service. They offer a wide range of comprehensive consulting services for promising blockchain projects and traditional technology companies. These services include overall ICO guidance, corporate structure & compliance advisory, design of token economics, community management, public relations, marketing, and global partnership development.
Block 72's portfolio include Data, Aelf, Eximchain, Iot chain, Wepower, all successful projects (Eximchain is not on the exchange yet at the moment of writing but the expectations for Eximchain are really, really high), and now Block 72 will focus on Libra Credit! Having these marketing gurus onboard is obviously a big, big plus.
Final thoughts:
Libra Credit fortunately does not offer yet another "new blockchain technological revolution". There are already tons of whitepaper projects that claim that…. What does it offer then?
- They fill a real life need with a blockchain solution, operational in Q3 2018!
- They offer a huge network of partners practically unmatched by any of the current blockchain projects. Note that I’m not talking about semi-fake partnerships on paper. The team of Libra Credit IS ALREADY PART OF THE NETWORK. Hence, Libra Credit looks as one of the first blockchain projects that will enter the much needed adoption phase for blockchain. Most other projects will need years to reach adoption phase, if ever…
- Strong backing of important blockchain Venture Capitalist firms with a long term vision on projects.
- It doesn’t depend on a technological alpha/beta-test phases. Libra Credit strength lies in the combination of a top tier banking-lending network and already working blockchain solutions.
ICO info:
Libra Credit is listed on ICOdrops: https://icodrops.com/libra-credit/
The private sale was heavily oversubscribed, so I think chances are small of getting in there, but fortunately the public ICO has yet to come. Fortunately, the private sale was with only 20% bonus ($0.08 / token) compared to crowd sale ($0.10 / token). While private/strategic investors do have a small discount, this is too little for whales to enter the private sale pure for the purpose of dumping!
Worth mentioning: the Libra Credit team will receive 20% of the tokens, these tokens will be locked for 2 years! The advisors receive 10%, also locked for 1 year.
If interested, I suggest to "Subscribe to Newsletter" @ https://libracredit.io/ (scroll down to the bottom of page)
Follow Libra Credits Twitter: https://twitter.com/LibraCredit
Email the Team: [email protected]
Disclaimer:
I have a successful internet marketing company, which I have run for years with my team. Because of my previous investments and company, I currently enjoy my life on the sunny side of the world! I have been trading cryptocurrencies since 2013. I am particularly interested in the innovation blockchain technology could bring to our daily life. However, I also have witnessed how manipulated this market is from the trader and project sides. I’m less of a gambler and certainly not a blind believer in technology. What blockchains technology needs before it will really impact our daily live, is projects that are less hyped whitepapers; but solutions that enter adoption phase. Projects with realistic solutions, timetables and most importantly, a team that is entrenched hipdeep, or even better shoulderdeep, in the market that they are trying to enter.
I am not getting paid by any of the above mentioned entities for writing this article. I spend a lot of my free time doing crypto research. Recently I signed up for steemit and started putting my thoughts on "paper" here.
This article is not written as investment advice, just my personal opinion, and while I hope it helps; please also do your own research. Feel free to share, resteem and upvote & follow if you like this article.
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