We’re (/u/panther2k and /u/michwill) working on a decentralized crowdlending network called LoanCoin:

- As a saver, you buy LoanCoin, a crytpoasset giving you a claim on a portfolio of loans. Interest and principal repaments are reinvested into new loans with the goal of generating consistent and stable increases in value.

- When you borrow money, you can collateralize your loan with digital assets (loancoin or bitcoin for now, more exotic smart property in the future). This collateral can be posted by you or co-signers (people or groups who trust you).

- Loan officers are individuals or groups responsible for finding borrowers and selecting who will receive loans from the capital pool. For fiat-denominated loans, they would also be responsible for exchanging BTC into the desired fiat.

- If a borrower does not have appropriate digital collateral, loan officers can either vouch/cosign for the borrower or take possession of physical collateral from said borrower and post digital collateral as a proxy.

- All economically relevant data (terms, interest rate, repayment schedule, etc.) is hashed and put on the blockchain for public review.

The goal is to make credit scalable without spending tons of money on “bank branches”. Anybody can be a “branch” and make money on it, without any one node having the ability to systematically defraud the system.

We have some more info on our website: http://getloancoin.com/

A white paper: https://s3.amazonaws.com/loancoin/whitepaper.pdf

And a high-level infographic: http://getloancoin.com/img/LoanCoinInfographic.png

Assuming we can navigate the recent FinCen/SEC hubbub (http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/pdf/FIN-2014-R012.pdf), do you think something like this could work? What problems/obstacles do you see?