CORE MAGAZINE February 2017 | Page 19

WeTrust

WeTrust

Rotating savings and credits associations (ROSCA), have been in existence for thousands of years, playing the role of financial institutions from the grassroots. Usually, they are a group of individuals who come together in agreement to meet for a defined period with the sole purpose of borrowing and lending together. This can be seen as a peer to peer form of banking and lending as they are normally built along geographical areas and clans, social networks and status or professional networks. ROSCA is present and thriving in developing countries of the world where the unbanked are located. Like most peer to peer systems, ROSCAs have worked well and continue to do in many countries.

WeTrust, which is a ROSCA on the blockchain network, is built to reduce the weaknesses of the traditional ROSCAs such as low liquidity, potential fraud from the organizer, accounting records and high fees. It is also set to automate what is proven to be an effective system for thousands of years.

The WeTrust ecosystem is comprised of three essential parties such as the sponsors, forepersons and referral partners. The application token known as Trust Coin is used to motivate the parties so as to foster growth and integrity on the system. Any member of the network can perform any of these three roles.

The WeTrust ROSCA application can be downloaded by users, who will then be prompted to create an account, the user is then given a unique deposit address. Periodic installment can be made directly into the platform and the group will be notified if a member misses payment. The participant will be able to view fund movements, bid information and audit funds in escrow.

Users will be able to deposit from their own wallet to the unique address during each round and receive payment to the address of their choice. The token to use is determined by the foreperson and WeTrust will provide recommendation on where and how users can get the token of choice.

With the presence of ROSCAs on the blockchain, the unbanked can be certain that they can assess credit and achieve their saving and investment goals with ease and speed, being connected to a peer-to-peer network of users that are trying to do the same and can share information and advices, making WeTrust a truly community-driven project.

To learn more about WeTrust, check out their whitepaper here! If you have any questions, comments, theories or suggestions, visit the official Slack channel.

INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE LI AND PATRICK LONG FROM WETRUST (NEXT PAGE)

George Li

STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS

Patrick Long

PRODUCT MANAGER