Pledge Finance, an algorithm-driven, multi-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, is announcing the launch of an NFT-powered structured collateralized lending platform targeted at the traditional financial sector. The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) based platform will be fully interoperable with other public chains, meaning other DeFi platforms will be able to interact with Pledge’s numerous product and service offerings.
Pledge Bridges the Gap Between DeFi and Finance
Pledge Finance will include liquidity pools which will act as money markets so that users can exchange cryptocurrencies without the need for a centralized exchange. The interest rate for staking to provide liquidity to these money markets will be algorithmically fixed and determined by the supply and demand for the cryptocurrencies in each pool.
Initially, these pools will be denominated by Pledge’s native token, PLGR, meaning users will need to purchase PLGR to make exchanges between stablecoins and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The algorithm will ensure that Pledge users can exchange cryptocurrencies with PLGR at fair value with little friction.
In addition to using PLGR to facilitate exchanges between cryptocurrencies, Pledge’s native token will provide holders with a fixed interest rate payment if they choose to use their crypto-assets to provide liquidity for Pledge’s money, lending or derivatives markets. Moreover, unlike other lending protocols, Pledge users can create a variety of liquidity pools with different maturities for a given crypto-asset, each featuring fixed lending terms for the loans issued by the pool.
PLGR will have a total supply of 3 billion PLGR.
Pledge’s derivatives market is powered by unique derivative smart contracts, which swap fixed-rate interest payments for floating-rate interest payments, providing an essential tool for DeFi traders who might use them to hedge against speculative investments made in other pools. Owing to Pledge’s cross-chain interoperability, these pools could also exist on other decentralized platforms.
The Future is Bright for Pledge
Pledge Finance is leveraging NFTs to further differentiate itself from other DeFi protocols. Pledge will initially mint 50 NFTs, each representing a fixed-rate bond. These will be fully exchangeable in an NFT-based bond market, with each NFT representing the ownership, obligations and yield for a financial instrument. Financial institutions can use this tool to execute refinancing operations, swapping in and out of credit obligations.
This approach capitalizes on the current excitement for NFTs, repurposing it to make financial products such as bonds, loans, and derivatives more accessible to the DeFi world. Pledge’s ultimate aim is to serve the trillion-dollar financial supply chain market, bringing the legacy financial sector closer to the innovative and new decentralized ledger space. This mission is further supported by the success of Pledge’s first private round which raised $3 million in December 2020.