Overview

What is Konkrete?

Konkrete is a decentralized credit protocol that allows for crypto borrowing without crypto collateral—with loans instead fully collateralized with Real Estate off-chain.

One key disadvantage of current crypto lending protocols is that they require crypto over-collateralization, which prevents the vast majority of potential borrowers from participating. This, in turn, blocks diversification opportunities for DeFi lenders.

Konkrete opens on-chain lending to real-world assets. Real estate has traditionally been one of the most sought-after asset classes for professional investors, with the power to deepen portfolio diversification, achieve higher return potential, and provide performance consistency when other markets are volatile. Now available to DeFi lenders. Investors invest in carefully selected and pre-vetted real estate investment opportunities and benefit from the greatest transparency on their investments. Lenders are regularly informed of the progress of their real estate investment, throughout its duration.

Konkrete stands out from countless lending protocols by opening DeFi lending to real estate projects, offering the unique opportunity to DeFi lenders to contribute directly in the Real Economy.

Participants

Konkrete protocol has four key roles: Investors, Borrowers, Asset Originators, and Strategists.

Investors are participants who provide USDC to the protocol to be utilized by Borrowers.

Borrowers are participants who seek financing from Konkrete, and they propose Pools to be assessed by the network. Pools are smart contracts that contain the terms a Borrower seeks for their loans, such as the interest rate and repayment schedule.

Asset Originators are indirect stakeholders with no link to the Konkrete protocol. Asset Originators are specialized real estate businesses responsible for sourcing, auditing real estate projects, and enabling the terms and conditions specified in the loans. They are usually brokers or investment platforms specialising in real estate. Asset Originators provide a thorough external assessment of investment opportunities.

Strategists are participants who are responsible for the creation, terms set up, and allocation of the pool’s funds. Strategists are working for the Konkrete protocol and the community in that their goal is to analyze sound investment opportunities and present them to the protocol. All the projects offered on Konkrete are carried out by real estate professionals. Strategists are for the moment composed of the dedicated real estate team at Konkrete, but will progressively allow for any qualified community member to participate as the protocol gradually introduces decentralization.

How Konkrete works

Strategists start by reviewing Asset Originators’ profiles and validate the ones that meet the goals and interests of Investors. Once an Asset Originator is validated by the Strategists, it is “Whitelisted” as a trusted partner to curate high-quality real estate investment opportunities for Investors and the Konkrete protocol.

The Asset Originator publishes a Deal, composed of a Borrower’s profile; a loan request with specific pre-agreed terms and conditions, and the corresponding real estate project overview.

Note that past this step, the Asset Originator is the guarantor of the trustworthiness of all information provided. The Asset Originator also is the guarantor of funds transiting by them respecting the proposed Deal and as backed by the loan agreement’s Terms and Conditions.

Strategists are constantly updated by their partners, Asset Originators, on any new opportunities introduced to their portfolios. Strategists assume the role of an audit division uniquely composed of real estate investment experts that analyze each Deal so that they meet the selection criteria specific to their offer. Once a Deal is selected, Strategists collaborate with the Konkrete protocol and arrange for the creation of a new Pool.

Konkrete’s community of Investors can then supply the capital to these credit lines (Pools), either directly to individual Pool (Fixed Pool being the main feature of Dapp V1 currently in Beta) or indirectly by automatically allocating capital across the protocol (Vault being the new feature of Dapp V2).

The Strategists use their credit lines to draw down stablecoins, specifically USDC, from their Pool. Strategists then exchange the USDC for fiat currency and place them in the hands of the Asset Originator, the trusted third party, to the Borrow who deploys it on the ground to end-borrowers in their local markets.

Not like your typical Lending protocol

Following the architecture detailed above, the protocol provides the utility of crypto—specifically, its global access to capital—while leaving the actual end-borrower loan origination and servicing to the real estate professionals best positioned to provide the best real estate opportunities.

Unlike any other lending protocol, the Konkrete protocol provides the highest quality of Real World Assets on the Blockchain, giving the DeFi community unlimited access to professional institutional quality Real Estate on chain.

Konkrete offers an alternative to traditional investment solutions in real estate through blockchain technology. Beyond the usefulness of blockchain for coordination, Konkrete produces assets that are interoperable with the world’s new digital infrastructure for finance.

In this manner, the protocol leverages the advantages of cryptocurrency, particularly its accessibility to global capital, while delegating the responsibilities of real estate origination and administration to specialized operators who possess the expertise to effectively manage these tasks.