Jacob Shiach, CEO of Union Finance, introduced Union Finance’s permissionless credit protocol, which aims to facilitate decentralized lending by leveraging trust and coordination among individuals, DAOs, and contracts.
Shiach presented a speech on uncollateralized lending and leveraging friendships for fun and profit at the ETHBarcelona conference.
During the conference, Shiach discussed various aspects of credit and its role in financial and real economies. He emphasized the importance of time travel, scalability, technology, and lifeline credit in driving economic growth and making more efficient decisions. He also highlighted the complexities of credit underwriting and the need to consider trustworthiness and repayment capabilities when assessing borrowers.
Shiach introduced Union Finance’s permissionless credit protocol, which allows individuals and entities to deposit money into a smart contract and extend credit to trusted borrowers. The protocol enables coordination among multiple lenders, facilitating fair repayment and reducing coordination costs. Different credit networks can merge and create more complex credit structures by utilizing on-chain networks.
Furthermore, Shiach addressed the potential for credit scoring within the protocol, mentioning the availability of on-chain data that could be leveraged for statistical analysis and underwriting models. However, he emphasized that trust should not be transitive and that the protocol does not allow unlimited trust propagation to maintain a user-friendly experience.
Union Finance’s permissionless credit protocol has been live on the Optimism network for approximately two months, allowing individuals and communities to participate in decentralized lending. Shiach expressed excitement about the future possibilities of the protocol and invited further exploration and experimentation within the Union Finance ecosystem.
The presentation by Jacob Shiach shed light on the innovative approach of Union Finance in revolutionizing lending practices through its permissionless credit protocol. With its focus on trust, coordination, and decentralized decision-making, the protocol has the potential to unlock new opportunities for borrowers and lenders in the blockchain space.
