Points (PTS) Raises $8M for Blockchain Data Sharing Protocol, Tackling Problem of 1.7 Billion Unbanked People

Points (PTS), the first truly scalable blockchain data collaboration protocol, is announcing $8 million in seed funding from investors including DHVC, Cherubic Ventures, Ce Yuan, Ontology Foundation, Nest. Bio Ventures, and China Chengxin Credit. The funds will go toward further expanding the team and securing new partnerships while continuing to build out its protocol.

“With the support of our VCs and partners, we’re excited to be able to launch the first and most accurate market-ready blockchain-based credit network,” said Sarah Zhang, Founder of Points.

Co-founded Sarah Zhang, who previously was the COO at Ninebot/Segway and Kate Shen, a former Hulu and Microsoft program manager, the first product developed from the protocol is a blockchain-based credit scoring platform. The company says that this protocol is aimed at providing highly accurate credit scores, which ultimately will give underrepresented banking customers – namely the unbanked – with more favorable financial products.

How this works is that the protocol enables multiple trustless institutions to share sensitive data, including names or social security numbers) with each other, but don’t risk having their data exposed to their competitors, even if they’re all plugged into Points. As a result, with more data shared through Points, combined with its AI capabilities, the more accurate the credit scores become and the more favorable banking products that institutions are able to provide to their customers. Ultimately this can mean favorable loans or other financial products for the 1.7 billion unbanked population. In return for the institutions sharing their data, Points offers an incentive through the compensation of PTS tokens.

“Our vision is to serve the underrepresented community, and with blockchain as a core technology for Points, we’re able to incentivize partners to participate in risk-free data sharing, which combined with AI, means truly accurate credit scores,” said Zhang.

Although the company sees itself competing with traditional banks and institutions, what’s sets itself apart is that Points has managed to achieve a market-ready protocol that can handle up to 10,000 transactions per second, while being able to analyze and output a result in under one second – a requirement for the company to be immediately deployable to its institutional partners in China.

To fulfill the need for data, Points is partnered with Chengxin Credit and Teleinfo, owned by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, giving Points access to 500 million credit profiles and one billion identity profiles.

“Among the few practical use cases for blockchain technology, Points has demonstrated a groundbreaking solution with its data collaboration protocol that can contribute to a solution for the world’s credit problems for the unbanked, but this is just the beginning,” said Bin Zhang, CEO and Chairman of the Board at China Cheng Xin International Credit Rating and advisor of Points. “We’re excited to be partnered with and invested in this cause.”