The 200,000-euro pool will finance small coffee-producing communities that are currently unbanked, through the use of stable cryptocurrencies backed by Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology are coming to the real and productive economy thanks to the Rootstock and EthicHub platforms. The objective of the alliance is to favor the financial inclusion of hundreds of unbanked agriculturists in Mexico and to give them new finance tools at cheaper and more accessible rates than what they are getting currently.
This first collaborative impact investment has an initial contribution of 200,000 euros and is led by RootstockLabs. As well as contributing capital, RootstockLabs will be providing the technical and developmental support necessary for the execution of this original initiative. Rootstock Blockchain, developed on top of Bitcoin is the world’s most secure smart contract platform. Its objective is to add value and functionality to the Bitcoin ecosystem by making smart contracts, almost instant payments, and greater scalability possible, all the while providing extraordinary security, transparency and minimal usage costs.
For its part, EthicHub will provide its experience and good practices in the selection of the communities and will channel the fund’s contributions through its P2P platform. In its more than 3 years of existence, EthicHub has succeeded in financing 15 coffee-producing communities. It has delivered more than 500,000 euros with 0% non-payments in more than 150 financed projects. For EthicHub, the fund also represents a first step toward scaling up its model in 2021, and reaching many other communities, and getting a foothold in other countries.
For Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, cofounder of Rootstock: “The purpose of our organization is to sow the seeds for the construction of a new worldwide financial system, one that is more just and inclusive, based on Bitcoin. EthicHub is an initiative that is totally aligned with this purpose; it provides fair and accessible finance tools based on cryptocurrencies. We are proud to be a part of this project that allows for putting the cryptocurrency economy at the service of those who need it the most.”
For Jori Armbruster, CEO of EthicHub, “this collaboration demonstrates that we are capable of landing the world of cryptocurrency on the real economy.” Armbruster believes this initiative with Rootstock is wonderful news, because both companies “share the shared vision and the common purpose of proving that this new financial system can and must reach the base of the pyramid.”
The project will have a duration of six months, with a stipulated return of 8%, and it is the first of many that will arrive in the future, for, as Armbruster has said, “the world of impact investment has an extraordinary opportunity in Blockchain, which, among other advantages, is inherently extraordinarily transparent, something that is very in-demand by investors with social sensibilities.”
About RootstockLabs
RootstockLabs develops the blockchain technologies needed for a new global financial ecosystem that fosters opportunity, transparency, and trust. The organization currently develops the Rootstock Rootstock blockchain, and RSK Infrastructure Framework.
Rootstock is the first, biggest, and longest lasting Bitcoin sidechain. It is the only Bitcoin layer 2 that combines the security of Bitcoin’s proof-of-work, with Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities.
Rootstock is open-source, EVM-compatible, and secured by over 60% of Bitcoin’s hashing power, which makes it a gateway to a vibrant ecosystem of dApps that continues to evolve to become fully trustless.