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Financial education, accessibility and overall inclusion has improved as technology has advanced in the past decade but many consumers remain unbanked or underbanked. The term “unbanked” refers to people who don’t use any financial institution; “underbanked” refers to those with insufficient access to financial services, according to Merriam-Webster. Only 50% of the global population had […]
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Whitney McDonald
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Signature Bank of Arkansas has started a bilingual branch network called Banco Si to serve Spanish-speaking customers in-person and online, using CSI as the tech provider. “One of the main reasons we opened Banco Si was to provide equal financial opportunity to Hispanic and Latino community members in the region,” Brant Ward, president of Signature […]
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Whitney McDonald
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DMI Group (DMI), a pan-India financial services platform, has announced the acquisition of Buy Now Pay Later Startup ZestMoney (Zest). The transaction value of the fire sale deal was, however, not disclosed.
This acquisition announcement comes a month after ZestMoney announced that it would shut down all its operations on December 8. Zest also then announced the layoff of 150 employees from the startup last month amid failing profits and slow growth.
Those in the race for scooping up Zest included Aditya Birla Finance, Piramal and Hero Fincorp. However, Aditya Birla Finance and Piramal had recently backed out of the deal.
DMI Finance, the NBFC arm of DMI, will be a preferred lender on the Zest platform. Through this acquisition, DMI will have the exclusive right to use all Zest brands.
This acquisition will enable DMI to widen its engagement with current and potential customers by adding the ZestMoney checkout financing platform to its product suite.
Shivashish Chatterjee, Co-founder and Joint Managing Director of DMI, said: “ZestMoney has been a pioneering provider of checkout finance in India. We have been partnered with ZestMoney for 8+ years in various capacities. We firmly believe that this acquisition will be an important step in our journey to provide digital financial inclusion at scale across India.”
Mandar Satpute, Chief Operating Officer of Zest, said: “DMI has been at the forefront of digital lending in India. They bring strong capital support and deep expertise. DMI has been an early supporter of ZestMoney and we are very excited to take our partnership to a whole new level.”
Founded in 2015, Zest is a fully automated digital customer onboarding and servicing system, enabling customers to apply for and receive digital credit instantly at the point of sale.
It has over 80,000 merchants across India, including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, MakeMyTrip, Nykaa, Samsung, Apple, Vivo, Croma, and Reliance Digital.
Founded in 2008 and supported by a deeply experienced team across 40+ offices in India, DMI Finance is a pure-play digital lender with products including consumption, personal and MSME loans.
It leverages technology to optimize every step in the lending stack, from sales and underwriting to customer service and collections.
DMI will also bring its customer base, balance-sheet strength and significant risk-management experience to drive growth across Zest’s online and offline merchant network.
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Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.
Blockchain technology has long held the promise of decentralization, offering the potential to redefine how we interact with data, value, and trust. As this technology continues to emerge fast, the concept of “home staking” emerges as a powerful force that has the potential to reshape the landscape of blockchain networks.
This begs the question: How does home staking empower the masses, and why is it crucial for the web3 ecosystem in the present and future?
At its core, blockchain technology promises a decentralized future where power and control are distributed among a vast network of participants. However, the reality hasn’t always lived up to this promise. The barriers to entry for running a validator node on many blockchain networks can be daunting. It often requires substantial technical know-how, expensive hardware, and significant capital investment. These barriers create an unintentional hierarchy within the blockchain ecosystem, where only a select few can participate as validators.
Through Ethereum, storage inefficiencies and high synchronization times plague the ability of ordinary people to operate a full node, resulting in them having to rely on full node services. Additionally, service providers have to cover the cost of running a full node, meaning the cost for users will increase in the form of commissions—which is not ideal, to say the least. The solution? An efficient and accessible platform with autonomous applications to support what may be defined as complex by ordinary users.
When we talk about decentralization, we’re referring not only to the distribution of power but also to the resilience and security of the network. At Over Protocol, the approach to home staking strengthens decentralization by increasing the number of validators. More validators mean greater network security and a lower risk of centralisation—key for accessibility purposes.
By allowing anyone with a computer to participate in validation, we’re reducing the concentration of power and making the network more robust against potential attacks. It’s akin to creating a vast, decentralized army of validators, each contributing to the overall strength and security of the fast-growing Over Protocol network.
Decentralization isn’t just about technical aspects; it’s also about financial inclusion. Many people around the world lack access to traditional financial services, and the barriers to entry can be insurmountable. Over Protocol’s home staking removes these roadblocks by providing an avenue for individuals to earn rewards and participate in the blockchain economy without the need of expensive equipment or significant capital.
Home staking opens up a world of financial opportunities. It allows individuals to earn rewards for their participation, potentially improving their financial circumstances. It’s a gateway to a new financial ecosystem where anyone, regardless of their background, can participate and benefit.
All in all, home staking is not just a concept; it’s a fundamental shift in how we approach validation and participation in blockchain networks. It’s a step towards a more equitable and inclusive blockchain ecosystem—a crucial variable in creating a more adoption-friendly, next-generation web3 platform.
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