Decentralized Secured Loans Network Enables Borrowers and Lenders to Set Their Own Terms

A decentralized peer-to-peer network is aiming to streamline the experience crypto holders have when borrowing and lending their assets — and give them the chance to strike up loan agreements on their own terms.

Nitrogen says its aim is to help crypto enthusiasts increase liquidity and hedge risks in a secure and simple way, enabling them to leverage assets for their benefit.

Alice Stork, the company representative, told Cointelegraph that “Nitrogen’s goals are to stimulate interest in cryptocurrencies and their markets […] and to act in the general interests of the professional trader community.”

Through its network, users can lend their assets to others with the intention to earn interest, or borrow assets against their current portfolio.

Nitrogen hopes to increase market liquidity by unlocking diversity in investments across various crypto assets.

Trustlessness and security

Nitrogen is compatible with Chrome, Opera and Firefox, and uses the MetaMask plugin. The network says it is designed for trustlessness, meaning that it does not have the ability to access a user’s private keys under any circumstances. MetaMask saves these keys on the user’s behalf and acts as a bridge to connect them to Nitrogen’s smart contracts. Nitrogen developers are also working on the integration of other popular wallets, such as Ledger and Trezor.

According to Nitrogen’s website, the project’s blockchain is a standalone infrastructure. This means that users can interact with the network’s smart contracts through any blockchain interface they choose — Parity and MyEtherWallet, for example — even in the event of a system crash or a hacking attack. As a result, their ability to perform critical business functions, such as withdrawing assets or completing a trade, would be unaffected.

Loans agreed upon through the Nitrogen network are backed by collateral, which a lender would receive if the borrower defaults or a critical level of collateralization is reached. Meanwhile, borrowers benefit from an informative notification system that provides them with warnings through the platform and via email when necessary. This enables them to keep track of the status of their application, as well as when payments are due, even if they do not have access to their account. Customers also benefit from a dedicated support team on Telegram, who can help them with their queries and concerns.

“Relevant to all crypto users”

Nitrogen says that its product has relevance for crypto users of all backgrounds, whether they are casual users, investors, professional traders, businesses or venture capitalists.

At present, the network only users Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens, but the team is developing a cross-chain solution based on atomic swaps so that users can choose assets from other blockchains — including Bitcoin and EOS.

Upbeat that its offering will attract a broad range of market participants, with an infrastructure that suits the needs of users from diverse backgrounds, the team added: “With the crypto market inevitably moving towards a growth phase, the popularity and prospects of lending networks like Nitrogen will only increase.”