Crypto-crediting

How SALT Lending Works

Using the coins of the service, users can give or take digital assets in debt. The role of collateral for the loan is played by their personal savings, expressed in virtual currency. The owners of cryptocurrency accounts using this platform will have access to personal funds minus taxes and payment of commission when converting. Thus, the resource allows you to make assets expressed in electronic money liquid, without selling them. To become a member of the project and receive money in debt, you need to buy SALT tokens.

The size of the loan amount depends on the number of tokens spent by the user. Such a concept as “credit rating” is not used in this system and has lost its meaning. The Salt platform provides favorable conditions for both borrowers and lenders. The latter also receive another source of an increase in equity capital that is safe from the volatility of virtual coins. Through the use of this resource, the risk of loss of savings in the event of a collapse in the cryptocurrency market is significantly reduced. Lenders can easily count on a twenty percent profit per year.

How Advanced Is the Project?

The project was conceived in 2016. In early 2017, the SALT completed a round of financing of initial capital, increasing more than 1 million USD. All executive team members and board members contributed personal funds to software development and the company.In March 2017, SALT created the first loan agreement enshrined in Lockchain. SALT launched the LB platform with Blockchain binding in 2017 Q4, as well as the development platform API and development tools in 2018 Q1.

Membership

Some of the tokens were already presold and the presale is now over. Now users of the SALT site have the opportunity to make membership dues through their personal account. To use the SALT credit platform, you must first pay for participation. There are three levels of membership:

• Base (1 SALT/year);
• Premier (10 SALT/year);
• Enterprise (100 SALT/year).

Since the submission of members has a clear sequence, there is a waiting list (usually the confirmation process takes up to 48 hours). After the user is approved as a member of the SALT community, he will receive a confirmation email to his email inbox. Membership is valid for 365 days from the start of the project. When SALT units appear in your personal account, they will become available for use. On the Salt platform, users will be able to get a loan, and the collateral for the loan will be their cryptocurrency savings. The project provides the opportunity to receive liquidity from their virtual savings without exchanging or selling them, as well as from traditional holdings (property rights, securities, real estate or value goods).

How Is a Loan Processed?

1. Participants acting as lenders determine the conditions under which loans will be issued. Platform users who intend to take a loan choose the most appropriate conditions from the options offered;
2. When applying for a loan, the mortgage blocking of the asset is recorded in the smart contract. That is, at the time of use of the loan, the collateral assets are securely stored and the owners do not have access to them;
3. The member of the network who issued the loan transfers monthly payments under the smart credit contract and after making the last payment, the lock is automatically removed from the pledged asset.

Creation History, Name, and Team

The project was launched in the summer of 2016 and in just a few months, the primary placement of tokens (ICO) raised over $1 million. The coins started at a cost of 3 USD and were constantly becoming more expensive. Several venture funds acted as sponsors, and in this way, more than 45 million US dollars were raised, as investments for the launch of the SALT platform.

The name of the project is translated from English as “SALT”. Why does the project have such a strange name? The creators say that for them this value has a special meaning, returning people to that historical period of humanity when ordinary table salt was of great value and became one of the first financial assets of people. It was exchanged for food, clothing and other everyday offers. Salt became a currency and ceased to fulfill only its intended purpose. SALT is an abbreviation for Secure Automated Lending Technology.

Some private projects such as SALT are controlled by US authorities. For the creation of loans that are placed on the resource, the adviser for investment is responsible. The company itself and the loans published under its platform must comply with international lending laws. These include, for example, the “Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights”, which regulates the confidentiality of the information provided and the protection of personal information. In addition, it prohibits low-quality or dishonest business practices.

To ensure compliance with all legal regulations, special measures have been created by the central office of the project company, as well as its subsidiary SALTPlatform. The securities consultant acts as the initiator of all loans and has the appropriate licenses to conduct such activities. On the part of the state authorities, over the infrastructure of the site, inspections, supervision, and other legal activities can be carried out.

Platform’s Cooperation with the Mauritius Bank

An agreement was signed between the Salt project team and the central bank of Mauritius to jointly test the use of tokens as a guarantor, providing funds for loans. The service, developed by a group of true professionals, will allow users to borrow fiat money in return for digital asset savings. The main financial institution of the country is interested in cooperation with the project and intends to test this proposal.

Mauritius is an island nation with a population of just over 1 million people. The local authorities have set themselves the task of making Mauritius a real Mecca for startups using blockchain technology. According to the country's finance minister, there is still a long way to go before it can achieve its goal. Currently, negotiations are at the initial stage. Mauritius Bank wants to explore the possibility of offering financial services using the above site. The representative office of the company expressed its willingness to invest in the project. The most attractive part of the partnership for him is one that can help in the provision of credit services.

Confirmation that the government really plans to turn the island into a technology center for the blockchain is also the arrival of representatives of the startup ConsenSys. They arrived on the island in the summer of this year, then having conducted a series of conversations with representatives of state bodies and private entrepreneurs. The delegation arrived in order to create the “Ethereum Island”, which could serve as a good ground for the promotion of new blockchain startups, in the interests of which regions such as Asia, Africa, and others fall.

How the SALT Project Works

To be able to become a member of the project, you must be the owner of SALT coins. This is a must for everyone. The sale of tokens began with a discount of 85%, gradually the size of the discount decreased:

• the first 2 million SALTs were sold at a 70 percent discount, at $3 per unit;
• the following 1.5 million SALTs were sold at a 50% discount ($5 per unit);
• a 25% discount was granted for the next 1 million tokens (their price was 7.5 dollars).

Without discount 1 SALT costs 10 US dollars. At the moment, the sale of bonus tokens is closed. A total of 120 million units will be issued. A cryptocurrency asset can be only that part of the coins, which is not under a pledge and is placed on the sale site.

The size of the user's loan amount depends on the number of SALT tokens purchased. Membership in the project has several categories:

• Beginner level gives you the opportunity to receive up to 25,000 units of the loan;
• the Premier category gives access to a 100,000 USD loan;
• becoming a member of the “Enterprise” level you can use $1 million.

Funds issued as loans can bring up to 20% of annual profits.

Pros and Cons

The following two lists clearly outline the main pros and cons of the SALT Lending platform.

Pros:

• Borrowing using digital asset as collateral is a big and growing need because cryptocurrency arises as a legal class of investment assets;
• Using a blockchain, SALT can automate many processes in an application and control loans, thereby reducing costs for borrowers;
• The network effect is present. The more SALT receives, the more lenders and borrowers of different coins/tokens, which provides the platform with more liquidity;
• The company has a strong team in place, including the Shapeshift CEO on board;
• SALT has already provided investment to venture capital firms, which means that the project has already been thoroughly tested by these institutional investors.

Cons:

• Two-level fees(fiat and SALT) can confuse some users, which makes the platform not so user-friendly;
• If SALT becomes successful, and many people use it, it can lead to the fact that cryptocurrency prices will be more volatile, because if the price is reduced, there will be more margin requests. This would create a stronger sale, and prices would drop further, creating a downward cycle;
• Margin call monitoring can be difficult to implement for cryptocurrency assets since there are different exchanges that trade the same asset. A “fat finger” can be a problem that can cause unwarranted calls for margin.

Where to Buy SALT

You can buy SALT coins not only on its own platform but also on exchange services sites: