The digitalization of money and the innovative reinvention of its transfer through newly introduced technologies like the blockchain technology has marked the beginning of a new financial era; generation of peer-to-peer transactions and financial networks.
In that, peer-to-peer lending is becoming a FinTech trend in both the blockchain and FinTech market.
More options for low-tier entrepreneurs and employees
Over the past few years, after the introduction of the blockchain technology and its wide range of use cases, entrepreneurs and FinTech startups have begun looking into the possibility of implementing the technology into platforms that could grant the underbanked users access to funds.
The way banks collaborate with investors to lend money to an average person is fairly transparent. Thus, the fact that this traditional method takes advantage of poor people is familiar, because of the banks’ business model of providing a solid return to their investors.
Economically and conceptually, this model of banks have worked against top-tier or high class investors, because of the beneficial returns they have received.
However, this meant that low-tier entrepreneurs, employees, and other individuals that are looking to loan money from banks are limited with their options.
Venture capital starts coming in
The birth of FinTech, Bitcoin, and the blockchain technology has begun to revolutionize and disrupt this tradition of loaning and recently, this has become a trend in many countries.
Since the beginning of 2016, a number of blockchain and FinTech startups have received venture capital funding and attention from financial investors because of their business model of offering opportunities to average people to loan money, while still providing the same advantages investors received by funding or granting banks with their money.
Companies like easyMarkets, and MarketInvoice, which received millions of dollars in funding in the past week, to provide methods for businesses and entrepreneurs a way to access funds without having to deal with the complex settlements and processes of banks.
MarketInvoice for instance, has achieved a market share of around 13% in the P2P alternative financing market, growing rapidly in their industry.
Their growth led to a surge in interest in investors, enabling the company to secure a US$10 million funding round earlier this week.
With investors and entrepreneurs gearing towards P2P lending, a new FinTech trend may be set, especially in financial hubs including London, and New York.