💰Platform 3: Affluence with Halal Profits

Digital Asset Marketplace Platform

Affluence is a unique NFT marketplace with auction, buy-now-pay-later and collateral-based financing options, launched by IBF Net amid the growing traction of NFTs as an emerging asset class. This platform is essentially an extension of Credence that provides for a marketplace for NFTs where sellers can offer their NFTs either at a known price or via an auction mechanism. The platform also provides a unique interest-free borrowing-lending (Qard) facility through which buyers can seek financing for new purchases by offering their existing holdings as collateral

NFTs are not just pictures of bored apes or pirates with golden guns on the blockchain. NFTs or non-fungible tokens are the future of the creator economy. These tokens are used to digitally transform unique assets that include objects of creation, such as art and design, collectibles, books, and manuscripts. With some imagination, they may even include plants and trees, livestock, and other physical and economic assets that may be provided a digital identity. The blockchain verifies the authenticity of an NFT. The “non-fungible” nature of such tokens implies that they are unique, highly differentiated and not interchangeable. The commercial value of an NFT lies in its ability to prove ownership and authenticity of the asset which it represents.

So, what are all things you may do with NFTs on the Affluence platform?

1. You may convert your physical assets into digital ones (NFTs);

2. You may create and sell your NFTs in single or multiple copies;

3. You may collectively, as a member of a group or community, hold a digital high-value asset;

4. You may showcase all your NFT holdings in one place;

5. You may sell your NFTs at a fixed price;

6. You may carry out an auction of your NFTs for correct price discovery;

7. You may buy NFTs on cash or credit at no additional financial cost; and

8. You may unlock the value in your existing NFTs by offering them as collateral.

As noted above, Affluence may be seen as an extension to the Credence platform that facilitates the initial four of the eight operations stated above. Credence essentially focuses on preserving an asset that may be, for instance, the evidence of your ownership of a property. You may also find it useful to preserve important records and documents, such as financial contracts, marriage contracts, waqf deeds, Shariah pronouncements, documents in evidence of academic credentials and acquisition and enhancement of skills and competencies etc. Credence by placing the records on the blockchain makes them tamper-proof, immutable, and fully transparent, inducing greater trust among the stakeholders.

Beyond preservation, Affluence ensures that the value contained in the assets is made transferable, liquid, and exchangeable at a fair price. The possibility of offering the assets as collateral helps unlock their value without losing ownership. What sets Affluence apart from other NFT marketplaces is a set of unique features, such as “zero-interest” buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) or Shariah-compliant leverage that improves asset liquidity; and the process of auction that helps accurate price discovery. The possibility of collateralization of assets held by a buyer opens the possibility of financing new purchases by mitigating default risk for the seller. With some imagination, the platform can be used to address major economic challenges like financial inclusion. For instance, small-holder farmers may now be able to unlock the collateral value in their land and livestock holdings once these are digitized with verifiable data.

Indeed, the range of possible use cases are further enhanced with the deployment of smart contracts in the creator economy. Smart contracts that are automatically executed facilitate transparent and uninterrupted payments from one party to another — for example, of royalties to the author/creator with every sale of the NFT representing a piece of art and design, book, or any other creation of value. In the initial phase, Affluence plans to be a major game-changer in the digital publishing space by addressing some major pain points for the authors/ creators, e.g., low and exploitative royalties, under-reporting of volumes sold, and a significant revenue share for the middle-men.

Now let us look into the flow of activities and processes as you seek to use the Affluence platform. We will divide these into three categories based on your role as the seller, buyer and borrower.

Seller of NFTs

1. As a seller you have the option of starting from the Credence module or from the Affluence module. Either way, your NFTs are available “in the vault” for onward sale.

2. You also have the option to sell at a fixed specified price or sell through an auction process that discovers the price through bidding.

3. If you opt for “fixed price” you need to select this option. Your selection ensures that the NFT is now available for sale.

4. You should then add information on the price, quantity (if available in multiple copies or for multiple ownership) and any unlockable content (such as, details of original creator, date and other desirable details on the asset that has been digitized now)

5. You should then proceed to pay relevant fees, such as platform fee.

6. A smart contract would ensure that as the NFT is sold at the stipulated price, the funds would be transferred to your account.

7. If you opt for and select “auction”, you should then proceed to add information on the opening bid, quantity, auction period plus any unlockable content. The latter is optional, of course.

8. You should then proceed to pay relevant fees, such as platform fee.

9. Your NFT listing would be made available for auction, once you "create" the listing slot and "activate" the same. This process ensures that only a subset of your entire portfolio of NFTs is made available for auction.

10. You have two options. You may wait till the auction period is over, which would ensure that the NFT is sold to the highest bidder.

11. You also have the option of “accepting” a specific bid before the auction period is over, which would ensure that the NFT is sold to the given bidder.

12. A smart contract ensures that the price is transferred to your account and the NFT is moved from your “vault” to that of the buyer.

Buyer of NFTs

1. As a buyer you have the option to buy at the fixed specified price or buy through an auction process where you may bid with your offer price.

2. You begin by browsing the marketplace and selecting the NFT you intend to buy

3. If the NFT has a stipulated price, you proceed to buy and make the payment.

4. Upon payment success, the NFT is added to your "vault".

5. If the NFT is available for sale without a stipulated price, this implies that you may bid for this with your offer price.

6. You place your bid amount (along with possible bids by other users)

7. When the auction period ends, the highest bidder gets the NFT. So, you need to be the highest bidder to be able to acquire the NFT.

8. However, if the seller accepts your bid even before the auction period ends, you get the NFT.

9. A smart contract ensures that the money is transferred to the seller's account and the NFT is added to your “vault”.

Borrower of funds to finance purchase of NFTs

1. Once you select your NFT at the marketplace, you may avail the “pay later” option.

2. Under this option, you request for a short-term credit from the seller.

3. You specify the credit amount and the duration.

4. The seller may accept this with or without requiring a collateral from you.

5. If the seller requires a collateral, it specifies the minimum value of collateral as a percentage of the credit amount.

6. You select the NFTs from your vault and offer them as collateral; these NFTs are now frozen through the credit/loan period.

7. You receive credit in your wallet and the sale transaction is completed.

8. At any time, you may check your “My Loans” page and see the loans outstanding and their repayment dates.

9. You may repay any outstanding loan before the repayment date and settle it.

10. Alternatively, you may request the seller (lender) an extension of time. This request can be made only once.

11. If the repayment date is over and you have failed to repay (and there is no extension of time allowed by the seller), the NFT(s) you offered as collateral would be listed on the marketplace for sale.

12. The collateral is sold.

13. Out of the money received, the exact loan amount would be transferred to the wallet of the seller (lender) as a priority.

14. The balance if positive would be transferred to your wallet.

15. You would be marked as a defaulter, should the realized price of collateral fall short of the loan amount.