Xend Finance, the first decentralized finance (DeFi) platform for credit unions and cooperatives, today announced their mainnet launch, opening up the ability for credit unions to be able to access DeFi for their members.
Xend Finance, the first DeFi company to launch out of Africa and the first to be built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), will also allow individuals to create cooperatives and Esusu groups, a traditional African way of rotating savings, regardless of geographic location and home country currency.
“Africa is one of the most important continents, representing the future and emergence of DeFi and blockchain capabilities,” said CZ, CEO of Binance. “We are very excited about the mainnet launch of Xend Finance, with a team we backed early on that has a strong foothold in Africa and have been strong advocates for what Binance Smart Chain can accomplish. With their platform, they are able to bring stable currency and DeFi investment opportunities to those who normally wouldn’t have them.”
DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, provides peer-to-peer alternatives to traditional financial services and institutions. The platform brings DeFi and higher APYs (Annual Percentage Yields) to members by eliminating intermediaries, central oversight, and removing technical knowledge, making financial markets more accessible to underserved communities. Along with the mainnet launch, Xend Finance is also introducing the $XEND token through a Token Generation Event (TGE) on Balancer that launches today. The $XEND token rewards users with different operations in the protocol, as well as allows a decentralized governance of the Xend Finance ecosystem.
“The problem for the citizens of many countries in Africa is that their currency valuations fluctuate wildly, often devaluing greatly compared to other regions,” said Ugochukwu Aronu, CEO of Xend Finance. “Through our platform and Binance Smart Chain, people can channel their savings into stable currencies, without worry that their money will devalue overnight, and earn higher interest rates through DeFi. We are very excited that blockchain will have a positive impact on the people of Africa.”
Last year, the startup raised $1.5 million from Binance Labs, Google Developers Launchpad, AU21 Capital, Ampifi VC, JUN Capital, TRG Capital, and Sandeep Nailwal, among others to give users access to the global money market so they can trade and save or invest in stable currencies and as well create their own credit unions and cooperatives on the platform.