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Blockchain technology is still trying to make a foot in terms of providing real-world utility.

Roughly a year ago, the cryptocurrency market was enjoying a phenomenal bull run: exchanges were signing up record numbers, Bitcoin price was soaring, and innovative ICOs were closing their hard cap one after the other. That bull run is long gone.

The majority of 2018 has been characterized by a bear phase as market prices have plummeted severely.

2017 saw cryptocurrencies first major leg in a large-scale adoption. Now, cryptocurrencies might have already exhausted the ability to penetrate the world's early adopters, a demographic that is the first to pick up new developments. However, when it comes to adopting new technologies, most of the world's population is not only slow, but also reluctant, especially when the technology is so raw.

Most blockchain projects to date have had a core focus on advancing the underlying technology and to further the security of the throughput, its scalability, and sustainability. Meanwhile, the utility this technology may provide has had a severe lack of strategic advancement. Recently, a number of projects have taken on the task to introduce the benefits of the blockchain to the masses; these efforts are of paramount in the road to taking blockchain to the masses.

One of the projects that is paving a powerful utility of blockchain technology is Vena Network.

Attracting a Market

Vena Network is decentralizing the lending markets. It creates a protocol that allows qualified individuals and entities to issue loans, while opening up the opportunity to borrow capital to anyone, anywhere--as long as the borrower can provide collateral.

A vast portion of the world's population is either already a part of the debt market or will be at some point. One thing most of them collectively share is that they do not get the optimal deals from financial institutions. Trillions of dollars sit in savings account gathering dust-like returns even though credit card interest rates, for example, can easily cross an APR of 18%. The masses, collectively, can get a better opportunity, with respect to the debt market, through the blockchain-enabled Vena Protocol.

Vena Protocol enables the removal of middlemen in the debt system and connects the lender directly with the borrower. It does so without sacrificing a mechanism to provide dispute arbitration, which is a common factor in loans. Debt is a complex matter and many off-chain factors can come into play and smart contracts cannot have an oracle for everything. Thus, Vena Protocol provides a network of jurors who work to resolute debt issues. This provides a level of confidence in the system which rivals the one available in the real world; people know that the judicial system will work to assist them in case a lender is overtly deceptive--at least they hope so.

Vena Protocol allows contract conditions to be set in a smart contract, thus records are blockchain-confirmed. The jurors can easily view the terms and know the reality of the situation, thereby making arbitration easy. This is a level of trustlessness that is not possible in the traditional system and can play an important factor in showing the masses a benefit of the blockchain, and that too in an industry most people are or will be a part of.

Vena Network gives people the opportunity to earn a greater return on their savings and lower costs on their debt; this benefit is coupled with the fact that loans on the blockchain will be trustless mechanisms and contract terms will be viewed and pressed by a concensys from a jury that stakes must stake tokens. By providing confidence and convenience in its service while offering people monetary incentives, Vena Network could help the Crypto market extends its penetration into a greater population.