Thrift Finance joins the Genius X Accelerator Program

Genius X, a revolutionary accelerator program and launchpad for ambitious web3 programs launching on Cardano, has onboarded Thrift Finance.

Thrift Finance is building a suite of RealFi products on Cardano for end users to take charge of their finances and communicate privately. Thrift Finance was incubated under Ariob, a program supported by, among other established firms, Input Output Global (IOG), the lead developer of Cardano.

Central to the platform is their web3 wallet that maps “real needs to technology”. This way, Thrift Finance helps users improve their financial health and build wealth by facilitating quick investment, secure savings, and cheap payments.

Their primary goal is to help bank the hundreds of millions of unbanked people in developing economies, especially in Africa. Their research discovered that 57 percent of the sub-Saharan population is unbanked. Moreover, for users who access financial services, their wealth is eroded because of high inflation. Even when they try for alternatives, exploring the blockchain, existing DeFi solutions are hard to use as they are not designed to tap into Africa’s unique economic ecosystem.

Thrift Finance has a peer-to-peer, secure fiat on/off ramp for users to purchase supported tokens, fund accounts, or withdraw quickly. The protocol allows users to save using stable currencies through non-custodial rails where they not only take charge of their data but also save while earning passively. As they save, users also receive rewards and NFTs.

In the future, Thrift Finance plans to roll out a hybrid P2P lending protocol to promote microloans and a saving culture in emerging economies using cryptocurrencies. In this system, Thrift Finance will disburse funds directly to borrowers who broadcast their loans in the lending market in exchange for yield. To realize their goal, they will integrate with Cardano’s Atala Prism to extract a digital credit history for lenders and borrowers. Atala Prism is a Cardano-based decentralized digital identity platform.

Using a decentralized blockchain for security means personal data cannot be shared with third parties without the owner’s express approval. The platform also has a solution for adopting users to make multiple payments from a single transaction, helping save fees and increasing convenience. This is possible because of Cardano’s unique EUTxO technology, where users can send and receive any native token without depending on smart contracts.

In early November 2022, Thrift Finance announced its partnership with Microsoft for Startups. Under the Africa Transformation Office (ATO), Microsoft plans to support 1,000 African startups and accelerate investment in the continent in the next five years.

Thrift Finance joins CurioDAO and Drasil, who were also onboarded into the Genius X Accelerator program, joining over a dozen other startups and established projects.

Projects under Genius X’s Accelerator Program are thoroughly vetted before being accepted. Once under the program, they actively receive mentorship and support, ensuring they come to the market successfully, utilizing all the benefits of Cardano.

Among other advantages, Cardano transaction fees are predictably low because of the platform’s unique architecture and developers’ inclination to release solutions that enhance user experience.

Startups interested in joining the Genius X Accelerator program can get in touch and apply here.

ADA Holders can check out our ongoing Genius X Multi-Token ISPO to get access to projects in the Genius X Accelerator Program. The Genius X Multi-Token Initial Stake Pool Offering (ISPO) is the first of its kind, furthering the innovation of the ISPO model by easing access to the tokens of multiple projects instead of a single project. The Multi-Token ISPO presents the opportunity for millions of ADA holders to receive the tokens of multiple projects in the Genius X Accelerator Program by delegating their ADA to a single ISPO. You can learn more about ISPOs here.

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