What is Polytrade?

PolyTrade is a blockchain-based Trade Finance platform that helps small businesses (a.k.a. SMEs – Small and Medium Enterprises) by funding their short-term financial needs (a.k.a. Working Capital Requirements).

Let’s say John has a furniture manufacturing business. He sells this furniture to IKEA with a three months credit period. This means that once John ships an order to IKEA, it would take three months for him to receive the sale proceeds. During these three months, John would need to pay his employees, pay the electricity bill, buy raw materials for future orders, and whatnot. This is where Polytrade comes in handy.

Polytrade simply purchases this invoice and pays John immediately. Let’s say Polytrade pays 95% to John. After three months, Polytrade would collect the proceeds of this invoice from IKEA. The 5% differential is Polytrade’s income for taking a risk by giving money instantly to John.

Further, SMEs like John’s are funded with the help of investors who deposit their crypto assets on Polytrade. Polytrade finances these businesses with these funds and, in return, pays a regular interest to the investors.

Thus, Polytrade serves as the bridge between Investors and SMEs. This helps SMEs meet their short-term financial requirements in a timely and efficient manner. It also allows an investor to help these SMEs and gives them a viable, safe, and secure investment opportunity.

Before transitioning itself into a blockchain-based platform, Polytrade was known as Riqueza Capital. The company was established in 2014 in Hong Kong. By 2020, the company had financed onboarded 5,000 sellers and funded 250 of them. This accounted for $500 million worth of invoices globally.

In early 2021, Polytrade was ideated and its blueprint was finalized. By the end of 2021, the platform launched its Liquidity Pools.