I-Corps: Translation Potential of Blockchains for Peer-to-Peer Lending

This I-Corps project focuses on the development of a decentralized financial platform that enables peer-to-peer lending while eliminating interest-based transactions. This solution addresses the challenge faced by individuals and businesses who lack access to fair and transparent credit due to high interest rates and traditional financial barriers. Many borrowers, particularly in smaller communities, face limited financing options while lenders seek alternative ways to preserve value in an inflationary economy. By utilizing asset-backed digital tokens, particularly those backed by gold, this platform ensures that loans are collateralized and repaid based on the equivalent value of gold rather than fiat currency. This approach not only mitigates the risks of currency depreciation but also provides a more stable, transparent, and accessible credit alternative. The adoption of this technology has the potential to enhance financial access, promote economic stability, and provide a secure lending environment that benefits both borrowers and lenders. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of the technology. This solution is based on the development of a blockchain-powered lending infrastructure that enables the tokenization of real-world assets for collateralized loans. Unlike traditional lending systems, this platform leverages distributed ledger technology to ensure transaction transparency, enforceable smart contracts, and automated repayment mechanisms based on asset valuation. By using cryptographically secured digital representations of physical assets, lenders can provide credit with minimized counterparty risk, while borrowers can access capital without reliance on volatile fiat-based loan structures. This work contributes to advancements in decentralized finance and asset tokenization, offering a novel framework for secure, interest-free lending with applications in both consumer and institutional financial markets. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.