Libra Credit is a decentralized lending ecosystem that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime based on the Ethereum blockchain. Libra Credit is a global initiative with a mission to provide financial inclusion and lower the cost of financial services. Powered by its proprietary big data, AI-based credit assessment technology and existing global partnership networks, Libra Credit has the expertise and capabilities to realize its mission. Libra Credit aims to offer a seamless digital lending process that can be completed in 5 steps: application, verification and credit assessment, confirmation, collateral deposit, and disbursement. The Libra Credit platform will focus on a dual-credit risk scoring mechanism that considers the creditworthiness of the pledged collateral as well as the credit information of the borrower. Borrowers will be able to pledge any crypto-assets as collateral and receive loans in their desired asset. Using smart contracts and a proprietary collateral valuation and liquidation system, Libra Credit will lock in agreed terms between borrows, lenders, custodians, guarantors and liquidators. Libra Credit was founded in 2017 and operates out of San Francisco, USA. They are backed by investors such as FBG Capital, GBIC, DHVC, Dekypt Capital, Crypto Parency, and others. Lu Hua, Co-Founder & CEO has experience in the payments, financing, and risk management industries. He was previously the CEO of moKredit, one of China’s top digital credit servicing companies. Lu was also the Head of Core Payments for PayPal China and the Head of Global Banking Platform for PayPal US. Dan Schatt, Co-Founder & COO has previously worked as the Chief Commercial Officer at Stockpile Inc., a leading fintech company, and as General Manager of Financial Innovations at PayPal. Howard Wu, Chief Scientist, he is a blockchain and cryptography expert who is a Founding Partner of Dekrypt Capital, Advisor of Blockchain at Berkeley, and Software Engineer at Google. He advises the project in a technical capacity and has received a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley. There are already quite a few blockchain lending projects, so competition is stiff. Libra Credit’s development progress is rather early compared to its competitors. The crypto-to-crypto lending part seems to be well thought out. However, not so much with the crypto-to-fiat part. According to the roadmap, crypto-to-fiat lending is scheduled to launch in 2018 Q3. With details lacking in the weekly blog update about crypto-to-fiat lending, it is difficult to gauge whether the proposed timeline is reasonable.
iExec is an open-source, decentralized cloud computing platform, running on Ethereum blockchain. iExec allows decentralized applications (dApps) an on-demand access to computing resources and technologies on iExec cloud. iExec has built a blockchain network where dApps can take advantage of cost effective and high-performance resources such as servers, databases, SaaS applications, web hosting and computer farms. iExec’s native cryptocurrency — The RLC token is the primary asset used to access services in iExec infrastructure. RLC is short for “Run on Lots of Computers.” iExec is headquartered at Lyon, France. It was founded by Gilles Fedak and Haiwu He, both are serving as Chief Executive Officer and Head of Asian-Pacific Region of iExec, respectively. Oleg Lodygensky is the Chief Technical Officer. Gilles Fedak received his PhD from the University of Paris Sud in 2003, and has been working as INRIA (Inventeurs du Monde Numerique) research scientist at ENS in Lyon, France. Similarly, Haiwu completed his M.Sc. and PhD from the University of Sciences and Technologies of Lille, France. On April 19, 2017, iExec launched its token sale and raised more than $12 million in exchange for 86,999,784 RLC. In order to support dApps, smart contracts, and their platforms, iExec takes processing-intensive computations off-chain so as to keep a blockchain’s on-chain functions running smoothly. To do this, iExec makes use of XtremWeb-HEP, an open-sourced Desktop Grid Software. Desktop Grid computing (also known as Volunteer Computing) pools unused computing resources to be used by applications and platforms, and according to iExec’s whitepaper, XtremWeb-HEP “implements all the needed features” to make this possible on a global scale, including “fault-tolerance, multi-applications, multi-users, hybrid public/private infrastructure, deployment of virtual images, data management, security and accountability, and many more.” Essentially, with this software, dApps can utilize any computing resource in the iExec framework to run their programs. In their whitepaper, the iExec team lays out the project’s competitive landscape and explains these competitors in relation to iExec. They’re quick to note that decentralized cloud storage providers like Filecoin, Storj, and Siacoin are not direct competitors, and it’s easy to see why. While iExec could theoretically take a step in this direction as it matures, it’s not a storage platform; it’s a computing platform. This does put it in competition with other decentralized computing protocols like Golem and SONM. Both of these, however, are taking aim at a different animal. Essentially, they’re both building a decentralized supercomputer on blockchain technology, while iExec is targeting dApp development and sustainability. Both look towards a future of a blockchain-powered, decentralized internet, but their functions, while sometimes similar, are more complementary than conflicting.