OKCoin Group's OK Fintech launches new product "Haoyouqian" to explore blockchain applications

OK Fintech, a subsidiary of OKCoin Group, recently announced the launch of a new product called "Haoyouqian" that combines technology and social finance, and will explore the application of blockchain in the financial field in the future.

OK Fintech spokesperson said, "The application of Bitcoin and blockchain technology is a social experiment. The social financial product Haoyouqian will continue to deepen this social experiment with an innovative spirit and explore the many possibilities of combining with blockchain technology. The Internet + era has brought us unlimited imagination and new opportunities."

For Chinese people, the term Bitcoin should be familiar to them. According to Goldman Sachs, by the end of 2014, the RMB accounted for about 77% of global Bitcoin trading volume, followed by the US dollar at 19%, and the rest were the Euro and the Japanese Yen; China's three major Bitcoin exchanges, including OKCoin, accounted for about 80% of the global total trading volume.

Undoubtedly, OKCoin is at the forefront of the Bitcoin trading industry. Even so, as an ambitious technology company, OKCoin Group's OK Fintech is still exploring new possibilities in financial technology. Its breakthrough is the recently launched social financial product "Hao You Qian" and the concept of blockchain that is closely related to Bitcoin.

"Hao You Qian" is committed to allowing acquaintances with social connections to conduct loan transactions through the platform. Since the borrowers and lenders are friends, they negotiate details such as the loan amount, interest, and repayment date based on the trust between acquaintances, realizing the free flow of money between acquaintances. In addition to the free flow of capital, "Hao You Qian" also provides security: loans will have electronic receipts and video evidence, and default information will also be publicized in the circle of friends, leaving the defaulter nowhere to hide. In addition, "Hao You Qian" also provides relevant legal services, leaving "deadbeats" nowhere to escape.

For borrowers, "being rich" does not mean losing face, owing favors to others, or damaging reputation. Lending money to acquaintances no longer requires hidden costs and is now an equal business. For lenders, "being rich" is an efficient channel for financial management. Through notarization, debt collection and legal services, it solves the problems of lending money to friends without interest, without receipts, and being embarrassed to ask for money when the money is due. Debtors are no longer "bosses".

It is worth mentioning that "Hao You Qian" does not rely on big data credit investigation, but on the trust between acquaintances. China's existing credit system is still imperfect, and the only bank big data credit investigation has insufficient coverage, so many borrowing needs cannot be effectively met. It is also in this context that in recent years, illegal lending organizations such as private loan sharks have been like psoriasis in the city, under the banner of meeting people's borrowing needs, bringing unconventional financial pressure. Many people's borrowing needs cannot be met in banks, and it is difficult to get fair and reasonable treatment among the public, so they have only one way to ask for help from acquaintances.

OK Fintech spokesperson pointed out that the company is exploring the combination of "Haoyouqian" products and blockchain: "Blockchain technology maximizes 'decentralization' through consensus-based autonomous protocols, sustainable incentive mechanisms, and open systems, ensuring that the system is neutral and trustworthy to any user, and establishing a trust environment for the economic activities of all parties involved in the transaction. The trust economy also exists in the credit and financial field. As a low-cost trust solution, blockchain technology has room for application in social financial products, which will greatly reduce the credit cost of the entire society."

In the view of Melanie Swan, author of "Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy", Bitcoin and blockchain technology, as a typical decentralized technology, are likely to become the fifth disruptive innovation in the next round of major, global computing paradigms, the first four being: mainframes, personal computers, the Internet, social networks, and mobile phones. As the most cutting-edge technology, blockchain has the potential to completely reshape the form of human social activities like WEB websites.

At the same time, venture capitalists have also seen the potential for widespread application of blockchain in the future. According to Coindesk statistics, the world's top venture capital firms, including Silicon Valley venture capital funds, the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Goldman Sachs, and IDG Capital, a representative of China, have all participated in the investment of new companies related to Bitcoin and blockchain applications. The investment amount in the first half of 2015 has exceeded the total of 2014, approaching $400 million.