https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*LdZ52BvO6zOYUNdvowdFng.jpegMicroMoney is an innovative fintech company which is already providing small loans to previously unbanked clients in 5 different countries. Recently the firm announced an ICO crowdsale in order to fund the development of a decentralized and open source credit bureau, and to expand their operations into many more key territories.
The ProblemLack of access to modern financial services is a major problem for residents of the world’s developing economies. Everything from the lack of official documents among potential customers to lack of incentives for a bloated and inefficient finance sector to service these people leaves many without access to banking and related services such as loans. This, in turn, limits economic growth within these countries, preventing would-be entrepreneurs from capitalizing on their potential.
According to the World Bank, as many as 2 billion people have been left without access to a bank account. These people are unable to build a credit score, unable to access personal loans and unable to finance their small business ideas.
The SolutionMicroMoney are building a solution to these problems. The aim of the project is to provide financial inclusion to the unbanked by skipping straight past legacy banking systems and bringing them into the burgeoning global crypto economy.
By using ‘big data’ analytics and sophisticated ‘neural scoring’ software the system is able to assess the credit worthiness of individuals who have no prior credit history. This is done by gathering and assessing 10,000 different data points taken from the individual’s mobile phone.
This system is already being used successfully in 5 different countries to provide small loans to unbanked individuals. An impressive 9 out of 10 customers use MicroMoney to get their first ever loan, and with 73% of loans going to repeat customers it appears that the vast majority are happy with their experience.
Through the development of a more complete decentralized credit bureau this can be extended even further, opening up new possibilities for existing customers and the possibility of offering services to even more unbanked individuals. The new software will create a whole new economic model based around its native crypto token (AMM), which can be purchased in advance by investors during the ICO sale (details below).
Once a customer has begun repaying their first loan they will begin to build up a credit history for the first time, which will be stored on the blockchain along with the ‘big data’ collected by the company.
Timely loan repayments will earn AMM rewards, giving an additional incentive to keep up with payments. Co-signing on a loan which is repaid on time will also earn tokens, encouraging a network of guarantors who can extend the availability of the company’s services even further. Customers may also choose to share some of their personal data with third parties, earning additional AMM token rewards.
These tokens can be used as collateral for further loans, saved to improve credit scores, or used for premium services such as instant loan approval. As crypto tokens, they can also be traded for bitcoin or other currencies on the open market.
Additional value is added to the token by the fact that it is required by companies wishing to access the data shared by customers, their credit histories and credit scores.