Bitcoin Credit Union?
I would love to see a Bitcoin service where people can post how much money they want to borrow, then people who want to lend to that person can basically crowdsource the lending. I imagine there would be a rating system for borrowers (like eBay) so that people can know what they're getting into. A lower rating would result in higher interest rates.
So I imagine the listing would be like “Joe Schmoe wants to borrow 2,000btc. Lend him 5btc at 5% interest per year? YES/NO”
This could be very valuable in helping people escape credit problems, such as people who cannot pay more than their interest rate because they're being charged 20%+. If it got big, it could even help people secure financing for cars and homes.
Maybe something like this already exists. If it does, please point me to it. If it doesn't, we should try to make it happen. Maybe a kickstarter?
Read the original: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/va83i/bitcoin_credit_union/
1 comment
You make a great point. It is strange: as long as Bitcoins are not legally defined as currency, many of the laws relating to the use of currency do not apply to Bitcoins. I am not a veterean of the financial services industry. However, the service that you have described seems to be more like peer-to-peer lending along the lines of Lending Club.com than the services of a typical American credit union. I would guess that there are federal regulations that prevent American credit unions from engaging in peer-to-peer lending, regardless of whether the loans are denoiminated in US dollars, or Bitcoins, or bags of coffee beans. I don’t know. State governments might have the power to charter a Bitcoin credit union, but few states would. Could you, theoretically, open one outside the US, or ‘offshore’(even Canada or the Bahamas)? I don’t know. The potential for crowd-funding seems to be huge. Your best bet might be to work with existing credit unions to create a service that would be similar to Dwolla that would accept Bitcoins. To try to start a new credit union in the US, you would need a ‘field of membership.’ I think the criterion is anachronistic and otherwise obsolete. I also do not think that it is fairly applied. Nevertheless, it is on the books. Again, if Bitcoins function as a payment system, then I think that any credit union aught to be able to use them. As far as savings are concerned, I think it would have to be described and defined as a process of accumulating ‘points,’ such as frequent flier miles. Again, I don’t know.
Good luck!