LTO Network & Florence Finance Community Hub Recap.
For everyone who missed our latest Community Hub AMA— We made a recap just for you!
Introduction
Florence Finance have partnered with LTO Network as the first user of Proofi, Proofi is our new identity solution that can support dApps across multiple chains to solve KYC problems for DeFi protocols, Proofi is powered by Chainlink.
Innovative DeFi protocol, Florence Finance have tapped into our blockchain, to use Proofi software and Decentralized Identities tech to usher in a second coming of the decentralized financial revolution. Florence Finance possess a strong protocol which helps connect DeFi and real-world assets together, this makes them a great partner.
The AMA was focused on what the future holds for Proofi.
🎙 Speakers:
Andre - (Developer, LTO Network)
Chiel Ruiter - (Co-Founder and Head of the Florence Finance team).
The AMA started with an Introductory remark by Chiel Ruiter - (Co-Founder and Head of the Florence Finance team).
He gave some background information about himself.
He is a Mechanical Engineer by training and spent most of his career in investment banking running businesses for Goldman, Credit Suisse, BNPP and UBS consecutively.
He also gave some insights about Florence Finance:
Florence Finance is a B2B lending platform bridging stable coin liquidity to existing real-world SME lending platforms, to generate real-world and uncorrelated (to crypto) yield from Euro-denominated SME loans to crypto deposits. The lending pool/vault-tokens will ultimately become the basis for a EUR stable coin alternative.
Furthermore, Florence Finance have raised over $3 Million in funding for the protocol and have over $7 Million of funding for the pools lined up. They are currently deploying that initial funding through SME lending partners (Swish Fund and Caple), although it’s still in closed/private mode for now, but hopefully, it will be opened up to third-party liquidity.
One of the things that is needed to solve in order to enable this third-party liquidity entering their protocol is KYC/AML, as its not an entirely decentralized/on-chain protocol. The fundraising will be done on-chain (through DeFi / Curve Pool) but the lending is (partly) through TradFi (FIAT) payment rails, hence Florence Finance needs KYC/AML compliance to a degree.
He explained further that it is only natural that LTO Network works together with Florence Finance to help build/test a commercially viable product, vitally important for the future of Florence Finance as well as to drive traffic and adoption of the LTO blockchain.
QUESTIONS AND RESPONSE.
Q: What is the actual use of Proofi in Florence Finance ecosystem?
As we do B2B lending we are an unregulated business but as we use tradfi payment rails, we have to abode by their rules (KYC/AML), we are looking to use Proofi to do that in an innovative manner”- Chiel Ruiter
So being Florence finance mostly business to business, an integration of Proofi would require a third-party software to verify the companies (like infido for the users), allowing companies to connect KYC information to an on-chain wallet, allowing projects to verify if the wallet is allowed to participate, without exposing personal data”- Andre
Q: Does Florence have clients already? In which scale/sector?
We have two SME lending platforms that we are funding (SwishFund & Caple) and a number of private/whitelisted funders at this moment”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Can you shine some light on the integration timeline of Proofi?
Regarding the Proofi timeline, from next week we'll start the testing phase from a third-party point of view, we're getting closer “- Andre
Q: How are your connections to other businesses and in that sense can you help enlarge the ecosystem and use of both networks?
As we grow our lending business and show people Proofi is a viable solution for KYC/AML that should drive adoption”- Chiel Ruiter
Q:Does Florence have its own token? Who is going to finance those loans? Is it going to be some type of p2p?
Yes we have a native token and loan pool/vault receipt tokens as well.....it is expressly not meant to be P2P...it is more like a liquidity pool/vault”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: As a lender, is it compulsory for me to undergo KYC before lending? If yes, how rigorous will the KYC be?
This is what we are going to work through with Proofi....but third parties can enter through Curve pool without KYC and whitelisted parties that do primary funding will have to be fully doxxed”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Is it possible to lend with LTO or is lending possible only with Florence token?
Funding is done in stable coins only.... rewards can be chosen to be MDC tokens or actual stable coin yield”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Smart Contracts are effectively irritated by numerous bugs and is really defenseless. What security do you need to forestall these sorts of episodes and to protect the resources of clients?
Good coding practices (testing) and open source”- Andre
There are no assets in custody in our protocol so although one can only be hacked, as long as the loans are good the funds cannot be stolen/hacked”- Chiel Ruiter
Q:What is the ultimate mission that Florence Finance is trying to achieve in crypto field?, Obviously crypto market will experience huge growth in upcoming years, so which role would you like to play in this Sector?
We think that connecting crypto to real world use cases is the next frontier of DeFi....SME lending is a small/narrow use case in which I have a lot of experience knowledge so that's where we are starting....but the goal is banking 2.0”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: What is your plan for global expansion? At present, which regions are you focusing on or is it focused on building and growing to gain customers, users and partners?
In our backyard NL first and then broader EU .... Before we attempt to cross the pond or go to Asia....but we have big US & Asian backers so could be sooner than you think”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: What are your plans for Florence Finance to move towards a more decentralized, permissionless and trustless solution?
Good question / ideally the sooner the better.... difficult though, as long as our ultimate customers (the borrowers) still not crypto native”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Many new projects make a good impression at first but are suddenly abandoned. My question is, how will you manage the project and the token to get a position in the market and become the best project in the crypto world?
Think of Florence as the utility function that banks should fulfill .... a bridge between asset owners and borrowers.... without the overhead, the cost and hopefully through Proofi super-efficient KYC, if we focus on product market fit and building the TVL and the community the token will take care of itself” - Chiel Ruiter
Q: And who is your target customers? Do you have plans to reach potential crypto countries in Southeast Asia such as some countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, etc.?
We lend to existing SME lending platforms (i.e., leverage existing credit assessments & distribution) and we will definitely look to expand internationally once we have proven our concept and subject to regulatory constraints”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Can you indicate a feature or features that you like best about the platform so that it can compete with other competitors? What are you most confident about for your platform? Do you have plans to get users to choose your platform
No specific features there are actually plenty of competitors already.... it’s about the quality of the credits sources and community but there will be plenty of competition and that's a good thing.... the world needs choice/diversity when it comes to banking services”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Can you explain Florence Finance’s Revenue Model? In which ways do you generate revenue/profit? So many projects just like to speak about the long-term vision and mission but what are your short terms objectives? What is your focus right now?
Deposit stable coins for real world yield or native token (your choice) with the least amount of friction/frills.... pretty simple really, we take small percentage of yield on the loan portfolio to pay for cost/growth of platform and rest is distributed to funders of loan pools.... idea is to maximize distribution and growth of platform” - Chiel Ruiter
Q: In terms of relational database: What is the maximum number of customers PROOFI can hope to satisfy? What’s the expected capacity of PROOFI and would it always increase in respect to those using it? Or it has a fixed capacity.
There is no fixed capacity since it can also be implemented as a white label solution, the more adoption, the merrier”- Andre
Q: What’s the expected timeframe for the first proofi transactions? Q4 2022 or planned somewhere 2023?
Proofi is being built by Arnold- (Lead Architect, LTO Network), and team as we speak.... testing in next couple of weeks then we will need to see how we can integrate but Q4 sounds like a good milestone for proof of concept”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: Is Florence Finance’s target audience SMEs? Can you tell us about your risk assessment models? How do you ensure the security of lenders?
We lend to existing SME lending platforms (i.e. leverage existing credit assessments & distribution infrastructure of parties like SwishFund & Caple)”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: What amount of usage / Tx of Proofi are we talking about for Florence finance? Any target? Like 10x a day, perhaps 100x a day or more?
Our TX volumes are very low in the current private mode (a couple per month) so ideal for testing.... once we open for 3rd party funding and grow the TVL that will increase”- Chiel Ruiter
Q: To use Florence platform, do users have to do KYC?, and are there any premium features in Florence that allow KYC users to take advantage of all the amazing premium features of the Platform?
Yes primary / whitelisted funders need to be fully KYC-ed..... people who enter through secondary market / curve pool can remain undoxxed Defi Degen’s but connecting wallets will be scanned for OFAC lists etc.”- Chiel Ruiter
The importance of Proofi
Proofi allows DeFi to evolve under stricter regulations posed by world governments and other regulatory bodies. Proofi opens up new ways forward for exchanges, launchpads, and marketplaces to ensure they are dealing with real people and allows these structures to accept users within certain requirements (such as nationality and age) without the need for the user to send their private information to every platform they want access to.
Conclusion
That concludes our Community Hub AMA recap!
A big thank you to the Co-founder and Head of the Florence Finance team- Chiel Ruiter, and our wonderful Dev Team Representatives- Andre, for joining us and providing their valuable insights on what the future holds for Proofi.
About Proofi by LTO Network
Proofi by LTO Network is a new service built by the team that is behind award winning Dutch blockchain LTO Network and fellow Dutch legal team, Firm 24.
Using LTO Network’s experience with world leading enterprises such as United Nations, IBM and Dutch Government along with their proven capabilities in complex regulatory and privacy-aware blockchain applications, it aims to become an industry leading cross-chain layer-1 solution to solve KYC problems and allow DeFi projects to operate in an increasingly regulatory heavy world.
About Florence Finance
Florence Finance acts as a bridge between cryptocurrency lenders and real-world borrowers, allowing them to interact in a transparent and mutually beneficial fashion.
Learn more:
https://blog.ltonetwork.com/proofi-chainlink-lto/
Visit: proofi.com
Stay up to date with LTO Network -
Twitter | Telegram | Reddit | YouTube
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Github