Peer-to-peer lending could provide a lifeline to struggling markets in a time where credit for borrowers and returns for investors are hard to come by. As banks are reducing lending, P2P lenders are offering alternatives that benefit both sides of the transaction.
This doesn’t just go for consumer lending, but business lending as well. UK business lender Archover sees this as a great opportunity to inject capital into businesses. The company’s managing director Charlotte Marsh notes that their company can serve a great deal of businesses seeking capital:
“We’re seeing opportunities pick up,” she said. “There’s a good opportunity for ArchOver and other P2P lenders to support those businesses they lend to and continue to lend to.
“Banks are being tied up allocating CBILS, so we’ve had more enquiries. Loans for working capital to businesses that need it are being met with strong interest from investors in the crowd. It’s continuing to support the economy.
“There’s opportunity there to serve clients who need money.”
Around the world interest rates are at or near-zero, with some countries exploring the idea of negative interest rates to jumpstart a recovery. This makes traditional types of investment like CDs and bonds extremely unattractive, and could mean that P2P investing will jump in demand over the coming years.
Thanks to Power Ledger, Thailand is testing out peer-to-peer renewable energy technology. The Australian company has already run several successful programs at home, and is now branching out to offer similar services abroad. Power Ledger partnered with Thai Digital Energy Development (TDED) on the initiative, which is set to help the country hit its goal of 25% renewable energy by 2037.
Vinod Tiwari, the head of business development at Power Ledger, notes that the trial in Thailand was a resounding success in proving a P2P sharing model for solar energy in the country:
“The platform acts as an operating system and innovative facilitator in the transformation of energy markets from centralised to hybrid, distributed energy markets underpinned by renewable energy and distributed energy resources. This unique market-based approach acts as an incentive to accelerate distributed energy resources and renewable energy deployment in communities and helps in achieving a country’s national renewable energy targets.”
Power Ledger has its own competition in the P2P energy space. Another firm, Power Transition, recently raised over £125,000 in a crowdfunding sale to create a P2P power grid and tokenize each kilowatt-hour of energy produced on that grid to enable power sharing.
In the world of betting, gamblers generally play against “the house”, or, a centralized institution that takes in bets and distributes winnings. With P2P gambling, gamblers make bets against each other, creating a more interactive and fun environment. This is why Golden Matrix is creating a new eSports betting app with peer-to-peer betting, pitting players against one another.
The company’s CEO Brian Goodman sees the potential for exponential growth as a result of this new idea:
“There are over 1.2 billion gamers worldwide, and popularity for E-sports continues to increase rapidly,” said Golden Matrix CEO Brian Goodman. “We believe this new E-sports offering would not only allow GMGI to generate additional revenues from our existing distribution base, but also provide an opening for us to expand beyond the Asia-Pacific region and enter the U.S. and other markets.
Some believe that P2P sports betting will revolutionize the $104 billion industry. It would create new opportunities for businesses to innovate on their already existing businesses, while giving users new and creative ways to play.
The Aeternity blockchain announced its latest project, dubbed “Superhero”, to allow for peer-to-peer sharing, tipping, and sponsoring of user content and digital goods. This will allow consumers to directly fund their favorite content creators without any third-party collecting fees on the transaction.
The company has an idealistic view of content, and believes in putting the power back in the hands of creators themselves:
“Now more than ever, we believe in the mission of empowering people to support other people,” said Yanislav Malahov, founder of Aeternity.
“Content monetization has historically been a tug-of-war between third party advertisers, data thieves, host platforms and lastly the creators themselves. Superhero is putting the control back in the hands of the people, making it easier than ever to support creators from every industry,” Malahov said.
In a report titled Blockchain @ Media, Deloitte notes that introducing P2P blockchain networks will be able to solve many of the content industries biggest problems, such as: copyright infringements and piracy, micropayment solutions, and new streams of monetization for content creators.