Looking far back into the earliest days of world history allows us to come to the ... The internet makes non-repayment o
Whitepaper Written by: Richard Ochieze Managing Director. Ledgermark LTD
Meridian Whitepaper
Contents 1.Three Pillars. The Meridian Ideology – User acquisition – User retention – User experience This is Meridian – Behavioural transactions
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2.Digital Collateral. The new Frontier – Less risk, more loans – Digital collateral. The solution Meridian Loans Platform Functionality
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3.Key Areas of Focus and Strategy Sustained Advertising Strategy – UserBase. Do they know we exist? – Awareness and Meridian. Marrying the two together User Experience – Performing one task, extremely well – Loan application procedure – Balance management – Loan repayments Supply and Demand. Establishing Value – Competition or combination? – Meridian grows in tandem with Bitcoin – Meridian. The fork in the road
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4.Data 24 Credit Rank: Putting Data to Use 25 – The Meridian Blockchain: A verification mechanism 26 5.Favourable World Trends Disintermediation Globalisation
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6.The Future of Digital Assets Ecosystem of Digital Currencies Currency as a Consumer Product
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Meridian: The Goals Sources
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Meridian Whitepaper
Three Pillars. The Meridian Ideology
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User acquisition
User retention
User experience
Read about our three pillars on pages 03 & 04
The core ideology behind the Meridian project places users at the centre of all of its affairs. It is upon this user-centric foundation that the Meridian services and assets are constructed. This core belief brings to the forefront the most important component of any digital asset – the people that use it. What reason does a person have to adopt the use of one digital currency instead of another? Further to the point, a better question: why should one digital currency compete with another – why aren’t users being presented with options that can be used in combination with each other? This touches upon another key ethos that underpins the Meridian proposal. Questions must be asked of any and all of the ideas that have grown to form the norms that exist in the digital asset market today. No matter how sacred and unchallenged, no idea is above becoming subject to the poking and prodding of those with opposing beliefs. It is in this way that growth can be forced upon the digital asset market to increase the size of the playing field. This document will explore the ideologies that form the foundation of the Meridian project. By reading, digesting and gaining a full understanding of these ideologies – you will have gained a stronger perception of the three pillars upon which the Meridian project stands. User acquisition is the first pillar.
Meridian Whitepaper
User acquisition
An asset is only valuable when there are many who seek to be in regular possession of it for reasons other than price speculation alone. This would suggest the presence of some form of intrinsic value, especially if people are seeking to be in possession of the asset irrespective of its price. In simple terms, without users – value cannot be established. So any development team that adopts the view that profits can be placed ahead of users in terms of importance, is adopting a strategy that is misguided. User-centricity is essential. Which is why our second pillar is User retention.
User retention
For instance a new currency is released, a brief round of funding is concluded – now what? It has long been argued that only thing that a person can do with an altcoin is to sell it for Bitcoin. With Meridian, we seek to provide service. Bringing forth a digital asset is not enough. Users must also be provided with a specific task that they can perform with the asset. A task that will cause them to become regular purchasers of said asset. This will be explored further into this document. The final pillar that is critical to the Meridian project is User experience.
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User experience
Let’s suggest that users have been acquired and for most part retained – how then do developers ensure that this remains true? Ease of use. Simplicity. These are the choice words of those who seek to remove the complicated steps and procedures that stand in front of a user and his end goal. This is what the Meridian team seeks to accomplish via all of its public offerings of services, platforms and digital assets. This paper is an introduction to the ideologies mentioned above – but also, it is an introduction to Meridian and its services.
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This is Meridian Meridian marks the shift into a new environment of Service based Digital Assets. A digital asset that is attached to a service has the unique characteristic of being able to maintain a certain level of demand in both an above or below value climate. This is made possible due to the attached Meridian service: Secured Bitcoin Loans. Users are able to pledge Meridian tokens as digital collateral in return for a Bitcoin Loan of higher value – up to a maximum of the Bitcoin (BTC) equivalent of One Thousand USD. Users that complete subsequent repayments are re-granted access to their Meridian tokens and rewarded with a boost in Credit Rank, which grants them wider access to loans in the future.
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Behavioural transactions
Historically the use of digital assets has been restricted to price speculation alone. There has never been an overarching bigger picture of economic positioning behind a digital asset that could bring about natural and recurring patterns of behavioural transactions. Because of this it has been virtually impossible for investors to formulate long term strategies to draw benefits from price movements, because this lack of behavioural transactions has created an environment in which prices move at random and without obvious reason. By attaching a digital asset to a service, a climate is established in which users cannot interact with said service without first being in possession of the specified asset. This creates a reason other than price speculation for an individual to be in regular possession of the digital asset in question. In this environment behavioural transactions are allowed to occur, to be analysed and ultimately to be worked into an overall strategy and/or approach to the market.
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Digital Collateral. The new Frontier
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Many could argue that credit cards are the Holy Grail when it comes to providing consumer access to micro loans however, research is showing that consumers between the ages of 18 to 29 are saying no to credit cards. [1] Digging even deeper, statistics are starting to show that a staggering 63% of millennials do not own or use credit cards. [2] Looking far back into the earliest days of world history allows us to come to the conclusion that debt will always play a central role in the ways in which we transact with each other. The statistics revealed above highlights the failure of one form of debt issuance – but in the same token these stats shine light on the fact that the door is now open for other forms of debt issuance to be explored. One of the main philosophies behind the Meridian project is that tradition must always be questioned and challenged. No ideology is too sacred to be poked, prodded and picked apart. For example, in the financial industries it has long been held that loans below the value of One Thousand USD need not be secured or backed with any form of collateral. This idea was established in a world that was void of an asset that had properties which would allow it to be both easily transferable and easily liquidable. The introduction of the Blockchain has rendered this idea obsolete.
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Less risk, more loans
The way things are arranged today allows banking institutions to adopt the role of the universal creditor to the masses. These institutions are able to stretch their tentacles across borders and oceans as they use fractional reserve practices to lend money to whomever qualifies. After creating huge piles of debt obligations the tentacles retract as interest payments begin to pour in. This is the process that has been adopted by banking institutions since the 15th century. [3] As such, they have become so well versed in the art of ensuring that each and every time debt is issued – profit is achieved. However, the internet has de-monopolised the ability to conduct international trade and has granted this ability to the masses. So the question must be asked: why aren’t private individuals using the power of the internet to put their money to work via loan issuance? Put in simple terms – people are scared. The internet makes non-repayment of loans a marvellously simple task for borrowers and as such; organisations such as the Funding Circle: a peer-to-peer lending firm, are left wide open to have the profits of their retail investors depleted. Some Funding Circle lenders are reporting enduring severe losses after using the platform. [4] If more security was offered to individuals who lend money via the current crop of p2p platforms – one could only assume that more loans would be issued as a direct result. But since p2p lenders such as the Funding Circle offer nothing except unsecured loans – risk levels remain high. Through the introduction of Meridian, we propose to tackle this problem directly by removing a large portion of risk from the equation.
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Digital collateral. The solution
The loans that are distributed on platforms like the one mentioned above are unsecured, meaning defaults that occur in such an environment are allowed to force lenders to endure guaranteed losses. Using a digital asset as collateral to secure a micro loan has several unique implications. The main thing is digital assets have the unique behavioural trait of undergoing extreme surges in value. The opposite is also true. This is significant because it puts lenders in an uncommon position whereby they are potentially able to secure larger profits in the event of a default, then they’d procure from gaining full loan repayments. Thus in the event of a default the loan warps to adopt the form of a short sell, provided overall market conditions are favourable. Less risk means the table is laid to allow more private individuals, globally, to indulge in loan issuance and ultimately to adopt this behaviour as a staple of their personal financial regiment. Issuing debt will eventually become as common and normal to private individuals as it is today typical for a person to use their credit card to receive debt. Digital collateral will be the lubricant that allows this process to occur in a smooth and frictionless way.
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Meridian Loans Platform Functionality Pledge Meridian tokens (MDN) as collateral for Bitcoin Loans
Through the Meridian Loans Platform, users are able to exchange units of Meridian tokens as collateral to secure a Bitcoin Loan. After requesting a specific loan amount, users are presented with collateral requirements and repayment terms. Upon accepting these terms, the Bitcoin Loan is automatically released to the user and the required amount of MDN is automatically debited from the user’s account and held as collateral. Automated loan repayments
Each borrower is presented with unique repayment terms based on the size of their loan request. These repayment terms specify the interest rate the borrower is required to pay. They also list four repayment dates, along with the repayment amounts. To initiate repayments, all users need to do is top up their Bitcoin balance – and push the repay button. User accounts will be debited automatically on each of the four repayment dates specified in their repayment terms. Loan repayments database verified by the Meridian Blockchain
The goal of the Meridian service is to create and populate a database of credit history for each user registered on the Platform. Once the valuable borrowers have been separated from high risk borrowers via proof of positive repayment history (good credit) – the stage becomes set to open the system up to third party lenders. To achieve this – each completed, late and/or missed repayment is logged into our database to build lending profiles for each user registered on the platform. The Meridian Blockchain will be used extensively as the verification mechanism to validate these records.
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Credit rank
As our database builds, users will gradually become separated into categories as a direct consequence of their repayment history. This will have both positive and negative implications as far as future interest rates, repayment dates and collateral requirements go. Lending profiles for each user will be formed in direct correlation with their use of the platform, frequency of loan requests, and ability to adhere to repayment terms. This data will amalgamate into a Credit Rank for each user – based on their own behavioural patterns when using the platform.
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Key Areas of Focus and Strategy
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Sustained Advertising Strategy A practice that is commonplace in the digital asset market, is for developers to prioritize the marketing and promotion of an initial crowd funding campaign instead of the actual underlying service and/or asset that they are bringing to the table. This gives rise to the question – are digital asset developers interested in getting their asset off the ground or instead, are they focused purely on the promotion of an initial crowd funding campaign alone? Observers will note the drastic decline in advertising that systematically occurs post crowd fund – which would suggest to any person of reason that the goal of most developers in this industry is purely to raise funds, and these particular developers seem to be using their digital assets as a decoy to allow them to achieve this objective. As a result of this it is rare to continue to see a sustained marketing push promoting the existence of a digital asset once its initial crowd fund has concluded. This creates a number of adverse implications. Firstly, the occurrence of this decline in advertising creates an environment that breeds failure in regards to the continued viability of a digital asset. It suggests that the developers do not take into account the fact that the digital asset market itself is one that is undergoing massive surges of growth on a yearly basis – the implication being that new market participants are being created daily: so why wouldn’t a development team wish for these new market participants to become users of their asset? Perhaps the current crop of developers are not interested in building a user base for their assets, but rather their one and only focus is to attract initial crowd fund participants – which is a different task all together.
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The failure of developers to continue to advertise their assets leaves the door wide open for their user base to be poached and picked apart by upcoming development teams. Which is what creates this revolving door of currencies and assets that come and go – because most developers simply do not take into account the importance of sustaining their marketing push, even after the conclusion of an initial round of fund raising. Frankly, there shouldn’t be a reason for an investor to participate in any more than one initial crowd funding campaign. The fact that investors participate in several different campaigns of this nature (sometimes simultaneously) suggests that there is an underlying feeling of distrust among investors – who feel that they must place their eggs in several different baskets to avoid achieving financial ruin. This feeling has been brought about due to this lack of ability for developers to bring an asset to the table that is purpose built to stand the test of the market – and also purpose built to endure the test of time. Building a digital asset that rests on a foundation of growth requires several ingredients to be present. One these ingredients is a continued and sustained advertising strategy. UserBase. Do they know we exist?
There are many telling examples of how important a sustained marketing push is when it comes to generating users. Take AOL for example. By 1993 America Online (AOL) had amassed 300,000 users. [5] At this point, if it were a digital asset its developers would have made celebratory laps, patted each other on the back and moved on to their next ventures – leaving 300,000 users to disintegrate into 0 users within the space of a month. But of course, that isn’t what happened in the case of AOL.
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Instead of claiming victory at the first check point, Steve Case, the chairman of AOL at the time, decided to embark on a long and extensive marketing push. He decided to deposit huge portions of AOL revenue into the hands of his marketing team led by Jan Brandt. [6] Jan Brandt went on to launch one of the most audacious and relentless marketing campaigns in history – mailing free AOL software to each and every computer user whose address she could get her hands on. [7] By 1995, just two years into this strategy of relentless user acquisition, she had overseen the addition of 4 million new users. [8] In fact, this intense and focused strategy of user acquisition continued even after AOL’s infamous merger with Time Warner. The overall point being, establishing a small user base is only the first step in cementing an asset into the fabric of a market. It makes absolutely zero sense to abandon one’s advertising strategy after building what can only be referred to as a temporary ‘buzz’. Marketing is the fuel that is necessary to pump into the wagon that will carry an asset through the valleys of continued growth. Awareness and Meridian. Marrying the two together
For Meridian to endure both the test of the market, and the test of time – it is an absolute necessity to employ an intense strategy of user acquisition. In short, the most important aspect of Meridian is its users. So, focused effort must be taken both to provide utility to the already established user base – and to tweak, twist and adjust the Meridian service in such a way as to continue to attract a stream of new users. To achieve this the service must always be flexible and never too rigid to modify – and more important than that, intense effort must be made to construct a marketing team that will be charged with the objective of maintaining a certain level of awareness for Meridian and its services, over a long, sustained and indefinite period of time.
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User Experience Part of ensuring the retention rate of users once they are acquired is providing quality user experience. To reduce the amount of steps required to achieve a specific task, and to create a universal sense of simplicity is the act of providing users with both a beneficial and a high quality experience. This is very important especially when bringing a new platform to the table. Users must be able to adopt the use of a new platform, system and/or asset – without there being any extensive period of consumer education. This can only be achieved via the implementation of a deliberately designed interface that promotes ease of use through simplification. There have been many instances where development teams focus on attempting to pile too much food on the plate – they attempt to shoot down several different birds with only one bullet, and often fail miserably. Development teams that suffer failures in the ways mentioned above do not fail due to the lack of skill, but rather they fail due to the lack of ability to commit to perfecting and achieving one specific task. Too often, digital asset developers elect to attempt to bring the most outlandish offerings to the table. A digital currency that is designed to be used by self-driving cars, that runs on top of a protocol that can also be used to create automated hedge funds – which can be managed by the currency itself while the end user sits back and does nothing. An interesting proposal, but one that is unrealistic and almost impossible to build and roll out all at once. But this doesn’t prevent digital asset developers from bringing such offerings to the table.
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The main issue here is the unachievable grandeur and excess that digital currency developers apply to their projects – knowing that they’ll never be able to fulfil these promises. Performing one task, extremely well
The Meridian proposal is not one of grandeur or excess. In fact there is but one task that we are vying to accomplish, and that is the delivery of Bitcoin Loans. It is as simple as that. There aren’t any bells and whistles. No smoke machines. Just one task that we wish to perform at the highest possible level. To achieve this, we believe that an unrestrained amount of resources must be allocated toward creating immaculate user experience. This is mission critical. User acquisition is only the first step. Once these users are acquired, they must be retained – and this can only be achieved if we commit to never reaching satisfaction as far as user experience goes. With the user experience that we tailor on our loans platform, there must never be an end goal or destination – the platform must continue to learn, grow and adapt to the ever changing needs, wants and habits of its users. For this to be possible, a dedicated user experience team must be formed and charged with the specific role of continuously tending the Meridian loans platform in ways that will boost user retention.
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Loan application procedure
The loan application procedure should be one that is both swift and seamless. Users should not be required to conduct unnecessary manual labour such as filling out dreadfully long and monotonous forms. The process should be one that is more inviting than it is daunting. Strenuous research must continue to be carried out in such a way as to learn from users and to respond to their innermost needs. The loan application process should take no longer than 3 minutes from start to finish. This is something that is achievable through the implementation of an intelligent interface. Balance management
The Meridian service is one that allows users to exchange Meridian tokens (MDN) as collateral to secure a Bitcoin Loan. So users are extremely reliant on the statistics and information that we provide in relation to their account balances. Attention must be lent to ensuring that users are not left in a state of confusion as they attempt to account for the amount of collateral that they are owed, the value of said collateral… their Bitcoin balance and/or debt that they themselves owe, and so on. This information must be conveyed in such a clean cut way, that confusion becomes obsolete. By being deliberate about how the interface is constructed, we can create an enriching experience for users – by ensuring that of all the information and data that they require is always right at their fingertips.
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Loan repayments
Our philosophy is centred on our belief that simplicity is the most important piece of the Meridian puzzle. Just as loan applications are to be non-strenuous, then so too should be the loan repayments. Why not allow users to accomplish all of these tasks on the same page? We want to do away with the traditional procedures that have been allowed to float through our collective consciousness in an unquestioned way. Automation is the key. The more automation we can add to this equation – the better. To make huge strides to enhance user experience requires one to challenge many unwritten rules – this can lead to the betterment of the Meridian service as a whole.
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Supply and Demand. Establishing Value The limited understanding of digital assets that existed after the origination of the Blockchain lead us toward the creation, pageantry and pursuit of potential Bitcoin alternatives. This ideology has proven to be non-beneficial since Bitcoin has continued to flourish and grow. Today Bitcoin enjoys a huge share of all dollars invested into the digital asset market. This signifies the immensely important role that Bitcoin actually performs in this industry. Bitcoin is one of the main doorways through which everyone who wishes to participate in the digital asset market must pass – this is made clear by the obvious fact that to use and/or speculate on any digital asset requires one to first purchase an amount of Bitcoin. Altcoins have been incorrectly placed into the role of Bitcoin alternatives, when actually it may serve us better to see altcoins more as assets that are symbiotically linked with Bitcoin. In this light the door is opened for a different kind of innovation to occur – one that seeks to amplify this relationship. Competition or combination?
Fundamentally altcoins are assets that give you something to do with your Bitcoins. But then, what do you do with the altcoin that you have purchased? Altcoins typically find sustenance from price speculation. As such, once the speculative value of a particular alternative currency begins to wane, its user base deteriorates at a fast rate. This idea that an altcoin should be positioned in such a way as to compete with Bitcoin only hastens this process of abandonment once it loses speculative value because, perception wise, it has failed to “replace” Bitcoin as the leading digital asset.
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Observing this, it could be suggested that the notion of a Bitcoin alternative should be revaluated. Since competing with Bitcoin is an expedition toward failure and abandonment, efforts should no longer be lent to moving in this direction. Instead it might be wiser to lend more energy to developing use case scenarios for digital assets – in essence, providing better and more beneficial things that people can do with these assets. Meridian grows in tandem with Bitcoin
Meridian is not a Bitcoin alternative that is positioned to compete with Bitcoin for market share. Instead Meridian is designed to be used in combination with Bitcoin. Simply, Meridian is designed to serve a niche purpose and therefore to tackle a specific task: the provision of Bitcoin Loans. The overall goal of the Meridian project is to make it easier for Bitcoin Loans to be circulated and tracked on a global scale. This relationship creates several implications in regards to supply and demand. For example, in the United States, the price of wheat is quoted in US Dollars. When the US Dollar weakens in value against the Euro, observers notice that US Wheat exports into European nations rise sharply. This is because a weakened US Dollar decreases the cost of and increases the demand for US commodities and services abroad. This relationship only exists due to the multitude of use case scenarios attached to the US Dollar. As such, the US Dollar, and similar assets, enjoy widespread usage on a global scale – whilst digital assets with no clearly defined economic usability are failing to achieve widespread usage.
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Meridian. The fork in the road
Meridian’s link to our Bitcoin Loans service is not just one that is suggested or implied, it is one that we want to build in to the Meridian infrastructure in an inseparable way. As such Meridian is not designed to be an alternative to Bitcoin, but rather it is designed to be used in tandem with Bitcoin.
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Data
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Credit Rank: Putting Data to Use The Meridian service is one that will enable us to build data, to analyse this data and then to utilise this data in ways that will bring benefit to users. One of the more important strains of data that we wish to collect is repayment history. There are several other elements that stand underneath this umbrella of repayment history – such as loan request frequency, the size of loan requests, Meridian balance levels and other important elements. What we want to do is to form a profile for each user based on their own behaviour on the platform. We wish to then amalgamate this data into one metric which can be displayed on the front end of the platform. This metric is called: Credit Rank. In short, users will be effected either positively or negatively as a direct consequence of their own behavioural patterns. A user who frequently adheres to their repayment terms will be rewarded and given access to repayment terms that are more relaxed and less stringent. This is our desired user – and as such they are rewarded with an increased Credit Rank each time they fulfil repayment terms. This ability for us to separate users into categories of high or low value borrowers allows us to set the stage for the introduction to the platform of third party lenders – who we can then present with a troop of users that habitually repay their loans. Of course, an extensive period of time must be devoted to first collecting our data and separating users into these categories – during this period the Meridian team is the sole lender on the platform.
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The Meridian Blockchain: A verification mechanism
After having built an arsenal of data one must be able to then verify the authenticity of this data. The Blockchain will allow us to achieve this. In order for a user to receive a Bitcoin Loan, they must pledge the required amount of Meridian tokens as collateral to secure the loan. Upon completing scheduled repayments these Meridian tokens are then released back to the user. Each time this release of collateral transaction occurs, a special log is created on the Meridian Blockchain verifying the repayment. The same is true for instances where users fail to complete scheduled repayments. Their Meridian tokens are absorbed into our reserves. This transaction is also logged into the Meridian chain, verifying non-repayment. For users, Credit Rank is perhaps the most important metric as it can augment their experience on the platform for the better, or for the worse. With this being the case, extensive work must be carried out to ensure that users are properly advised on the practices that will enable them to maintain a suitable credit ranking.
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Favourable World Trends
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Disintermediation Disintermediation is the reality made possible by the globalised nature of the internet. There are more than 3 billion internet users in the world, this is nearly half of the world’s entire population. [9] The creation of networks and platforms that allow the removal process of third parties from both personal and business related transactions is on the increase. Through this process of disintermediation, third party interlopers are being made redundant as people become better able to conduct direct, person-to-person transactions through the use of new and disruptive technologies. Services like UpWork allow businesses to bypass recruitment agencies and connect directly with independent professionals based around the globe. This same process is taking place in the digital asset industry. The long-term goal of the Meridian project is to build infrastructure that will allow our Bitcoin Loans platform to match borrowers and third party lenders, with Meridian tokens underpinning the security of each loan that is delivered on the platform. Not only will this lead to the expansion in financial capability of those that participate in the Bitcoin market, but this will also establish a constant stream of transactions occurring on the Meridian Blockchain.
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Globalisation Globalisation is another trend that is creating a major shift in how we do business with each other. Traditionally, international business has been an activity open mainly to major transnational corporations that have sufficient resources, regulatory support, and the financial capability to conduct business across international borders. But today, these powers have been de-monopolised by the internet and are now available to regular people. Because of this, small businesses have been able to move from operating within small local economies to operating within one interconnected global economy. Just 25 years ago small retailers were restricted to mainly serving customers who lived within walking or driving distance from them. This restricted pool of clientele placed a glass ceiling above the earning potential of small and medium sized businesses. Simply, their earning potential was equal to the size of their local economy. Today, over 300 million users are able to buy and sell new and used goods globally via platforms such as Amazon.com. [10] Due to the increase in global trade that is made possible via the internet, the earning capacity of small and medium sized businesses continues to increase. In terms of lending, there are a lot more people in the world that can lend micro loans on a regular basis than there are organisations that can regularly furnish loans above the value of a thousand dollars.
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With this being true it becomes more apparent that a network of independent lenders committed to furnishing micro loans could potentially rival already established financial organisations, in terms of the amalgamated value of loans serviced to borrowers on a world wide scale. A network such as described above can directly bring increased financial capability to more people than a traditional lending organisation is able to, via a peer-to-peer mode of operation – that is made possible due to globalisation.
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The Future of Digital Assets
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Ecosystem of Digital Currencies Our global economy is comprised of a series of transactions, made possible via an ecosystem of fiat currencies. Looking ahead into the future, current trends suggest that an ecosystem of digital currencies is in its earliest stages of formation and will eventually play both a necessary and vital role in the global economy. Historically, we have come to realise that once the world makes a decision on which direction it is going – entities that oppose this direction end up fading away and thereby classifying themselves as obsolete. As an example, Kodak was once the market leader of the consumer photography industry. [11] Kodak dominated this industry for more than a century, controlling 85 percent of all camera sales and 90 percent of all sales of film in the United States. [12] Simply, Kodak was one of the most successful consumer product companies of all time. But all of this changed when digital cameras came to the forefront. Despite having invented the digital camera in 1975, [13] Kodak chose not to adapt to the overall shift into the digital age in order to preserve the more than 75 percent profit margin earned from its film distribution and printing services. They ignored the fact that the world was entering a phase of digitisation, and elected instead to go in the opposite direction: a recipe for disaster. By 2003 digital cameras surpassed film cameras in sales and by 2010 the film camera market was dead. Thus, in 2012 Kodak was forced into filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [14]
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The failure of Kodak to respond to the inevitable led them towards failure. This same thing occurred when Blockbuster, once a video distribution giant, fell to the wayside after having its market share swallowed up by digital distributors such as Netflix. [15] This procedure of old, analogue processes being replaced by digital alternatives occurs again and again. The Sony Walkman displaced by Apple’s iPod. Printed media (newspapers, magazines) casted out by blogs and social media. Cable television rendered obsolete by services such as YouTube. The list goes on. Overall, digitisation is a process that makes life simpler by removing several complicated layers and steps involved in achieving a certain result. This brings heightened levels of convenience into the equation, and often leads to the wide scale abandonment of previous non-digital iterations of a product or service. Now that a more technologically sound digital payment alternative exists, it is only a matter of time before the more traditional payment systems cease to exist at the level that they do today. Eventually digital alternatives like Bitcoin and/or similar technologies will undergo a period of exponential and accelerated adoption.
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Currency as a Consumer Product Similar to the present day fiat currency system, current trends suggest that digital assets and currencies will eventually form an ecosystem in which all participants draw mutual benefits. This ecosystem will be composed of corporate digital currencies, service based digital currencies and/or video game compatible digital currencies all cross transferable and tradeable against each other and all exchangeable on purpose built web based exchanges. Digital currencies and assets will be developed to tailor to a specific need, and then deployed with a view to making a specific task or process easier for the end user. This ecosystem may not displace the current fiat system. Instead it will create a system in which currencies bear more of a resemblance to consumer products than to traditional financial assets. This will create niche segments of currencies and assets, in much the same way as there are varying music or movie genres. As it stands today, individuals that are fond of adventure based films make up the largest portion of the market for such films. As such, these films are heavily tailored to suit the tastes, needs, habits and behaviours of this specific variety of consumer. It is in this way that the market for digital currencies may evolve.
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Meridian: The Goals Bringing peer-to-peer loans into the age of Blockchain
Our goal is to bring about efficiency in international lending through the use of Blockchain technology. Meridian is the first step in this direction. We hope to use the capabilities of the Blockchain to provide online lenders with an increased sense of security when delivering loans. For the reasons mentioned in this paper, we believe that Meridian is a logical solution to the problems that exist in today’s online lending market. Service. Utility. Efficiency
We hope to bring about a change in the ideologies behind digital assets in a way that causes more service based assets to be brought into existence. The Meridian proposal is not one of grandeur and excess. We do not have a huge list of futuristic applications that we are pledging to spawn into existence. But there is one simple and specific service that we want to deliver extraordinarily well: the distribution of Bitcoin Loans. As service providers we seek to serve the consumer, not the other way around. We want to take a step forward from purely speculative assets, to add a new dimension of utility to the equation. As such, Meridian is not designed as a Bitcoin alternative, but to be used together with Bitcoin by users who are seeking to accomplish a simple task: securing a Bitcoin Loan.
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Meridian Whitepaper
Sources 1. http://uk.businessinsider.com/a-shocking-percentage-of-millennialsdont-own-credit-cards-2016-6?r=US&IR=T 2. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/more-millennials-say-noto-credit-cards-1.aspx 3. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories. asp?ParagraphID=idu 4. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jun/03/peer-to-peer-lendingfunding-circle-promised-returns-losing-money 5. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-12-22/business/9712220011_1_ internet-world-aol-internet-analyst-gary-arlen 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Brandt 7. http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2014/08/she-gave-the-world-abillion-aol-cds-an-interview-with-marketing-legend-jan-brandt/ 8. https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/aol-boasts-4-5-million-subscribers/ 9. http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/ 10. https://www.statista.com/statistics/237810/number-of-active-amazoncustomer-accounts-worldwide/ 11. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/ retailandconsumer/9024539/Kodak-130-years-of-history.html 12. http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/chapter-11-filing-final-kodakmoment/article/1112972 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Sasson 14. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16625725 15. http://bigthink.com/think-tank/ken-auletta-on-how-blockbuster-killednetflix
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LEDGERMARK LIMITED,
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