Distributed Ledger Technology like blockchain has become exceedingly disruptive in today’s financial technology setup. The combined two-punch combination of the resilient security and the underlying peer 2 peer system has led to a growth that has surpassed the original plans for the distributed system.
Every day, new and newer blockchain platforms are being formed that cater for different segments of industries, commerce and finance sectors. Disruptive as they are, most of the platforms are just extensions of what is already being done. These platforms and fintechs are just improving upon set procedures and protocols of industries.
Block Stocks, More Than Just Disruption
Block Stocks is a Swiss based blockchain based fintech platform that is doing more than just providing more efficiencies and speed to financial technology sector. The platform developers carefully studied the current market scenario and were led to a conclusion that there is a huge market segment that, far from being benefited by a decentralized peer-to-peer ecosystem, had no extended financial market support at all.
The Small and Medium Enterprise sector, commonly known as SME is a worldwide market that is largely ignored by the financial and banking sector. A key sector in any country’s economy, the average makeup of the SME sector in a nation is estimated to amount to more than 99% of all enterprises that creates nearly 58% of value addition and accounts for approximately 67% of the employment sector. An estimate in 2016 put the count of SMEs to more than 23 million in Europe alone.
Financial Issues Faced by SMEs
Even with such large number, the small and medium enterprise sector faces a huge hurdle in securing funding. This is largely due to:
- Lack of Record: Since most SMEs are personal or family ventures with little excelled manpower, these setups do not have professionals keeping a detailed financial record and paperwork. Securing loans becomes difficult as banks and financial ventures required detailed verified past financial performances on paper which is usually not available.
- Market Risks: Even if SMEs have proper documentation, the existence of a small setup in an increasingly high global competitive market means that the enterprise has a high chance of failing or not generating enough revenues to give a positive return on investment.
- Investment Feasibility: Banks and financial institutions are all about making the most money. With the option to either invest in established and larger corporations, these institutions do not prefer to stake their finances in enterprises that would give them little return.
- Credit And Cash History: Even if the enterprises have a good cash flow and show good revenue and profit generation, the small scale that they work on means that most of the sales are done on cash basis. This makes investors a bit apprehensive since the numbers are not backed by a proper record and creates ambiguity in their assessments.
Block Stocks Changing The Face of SME Finances
Block Stocks, with its decentralized nature, is developing a platform that is designed to counter the issue faced by the SME sector and allow them to secure funding for their enterprises. The Peer 2 Peer ecosystem enables SMEs to have an all in one process that lets them raise capital without hurdles.
The platform allows SMEs to tokenize their startups and existing business, creating equity tokens that they can sell on the Block Stock marketplace, just like securities of corporations on major stock exchanges. The platform makes the process fairly simple and easy for small setups by taking care of the token generation, distribution and instant liquidity.
By creating a marketplace with tokens that are not just backed by a small enterprise, but is a collection of thousands of SMEs, the value and stability of the token will rise. This allows vary investors who would otherwise avoid investing in single or a few small-scale business, to invest with confidence on the tokens, thereby allowing SMEs to secure funds. This opens up the financial and investor sector to millions of dollars’ worth of market that is currently avoided and inaccessible.
Swiss Security Law Compliance
One of the biggest challenges faced by blockchain startups and companies is the legal status of the tokens issued. Most companies try to avoid declaring the tokens as securities. This absolves them of being responsible to comply with laws and avoid giving a “share” in the company’s ownership.
Block Stocks, as a professional organization, believes that compliance with regulations is the only way forward. As such, it has studied Swiss financial laws carefully and is proud to declare that their tokens fall within the category of proper securities and are legal compliant in all aspects.
This means that investors will not only be looking at the profits being made by investing, but would be happy to know that they are becoming a part of the SME they provide fund to.
Find out more on BlockStocks.com
