Shamba – Parametric DeFi Solutions Platform
Decentralized Finance has exploded in the last few years, from a market cap of $1 billion USD in 2020 to $88 billion USD by mid 2021. Most of the growth has so far happened within the digital realm of cryptocurrency and NFT protocols. The launch of more blockchain platforms with smart contract functionality has driven the pace of innovation in the DeFi space, but real world applications have just started catching up. One of the next frontiers in the DeFi space is in parametric DeFi solutions driven by geospatial data. These products relate to real world events as sensed from the environment by a variety of sensors, from satellites to IoT devices.
Perhaps the most successful example of a real-world DeFi solution is parametric decentralized crop insurance. This implementation of crop insurance in the DeFi paradigm confers significant benefits, making the insurance policy cheaper and more efficiently executed than in traditional crop insurance. Studies suggest parametric crop insurance could be over 40% cheaper than traditional insurance, with the speed of payouts being a matter of days and not months as is the norm traditionally. These innovations in the insurance space are but a small part of the revolution that DeFi heralds for the wider world of finance. Innovations that allow new value models and products to be created for under-served market segments. Innovations that will overhaul the way certain financial products are designed and sold.
Shamba is a web3 company developing a platform for creating real world parametric DeFi solutions. There are certain key aspects every real world parametric DeFi solution has. They all rely on data oracles that serve the kind of data they need to trigger the parametric DeFi products. They all rely on smart contracts that drives the parametric product which often need interfaces for user interaction. They also typically need external payment rails allowing off-chain payment to bank accounts and mobile wallets. These three pieces of infrastructure are integral to all parametric DeFi solutions designed for the mass market. However, the development of these complex components from scratch and their integration to create a full DeFi solution is a difficult and expensive task.
Shamba provides a platform that integrates all the underlying technologies needed to build real-world parametric DeFi products. Through the Shamba platform, developers can easily generate modules that plug into their existing DeFi applications and allow them to use the Shamba infrastructure. This allows them to build sophisticated decentralized applications for the real-world with minimum effort since most of the technical pipeline is already implemented. Developers can focus on the unique features and logic of their DeFi products and use our technical plumbing for the generic tasks.
Conversely, enterprises get a powerful API through which they can create and deploy mass market financial products based on parametric DeFi technology. The Shamba platform provides the tools needed for end-to-end DeFi product management, from design to creation and market deployment. Through Shamba enterprises can quickly start innovating on value models and creating new products without having to think about the underlying intricacies. This opens up real world DeFi technology for use by enterprises by eliminating major technical barriers to its adoption.
Ultimately parametric real world DeFi powered by geospatial data promises to usher in a new generation of financial products which will democratize access to finance particularly for marginalized groups. This includes smallholder farmers in the developing world who need financial risk products such as crop insurance but are currently priced out of affording them due to the inefficiencies of the current financial system. Shamba is building a platform to facilitate various applications of real-world DeFi that will open new markets for enterprises, while channeling new capital into the agricultural sector and towards marginalized communities.
This will have a positive effect on smallholder farmer’s livelihoods, economic prosperity and food security in a world where uncertainties from climate change are increasingly affecting such communities. It will also unlock a world of opportunities for institutional first movers able to use some of these new technologies to reinvent their financial products and become DeFi pioneers in the market.
If you are interested in learning how your organization can begin using our platform to create real-world DeFi solutions, please get in touch with us. Fill out this form to reach out.
Developers looking to leverage our infrastructure are invited to join our Discord Server where they can get approved for access. Shamba Discord Server link: discord.gg/jwMysGu7g4