Ape now, pay later.
'Buy now pay later' (BNPL), isn't exactly a new concept.
In the nineties & noughties, we had in-store lay away.
Nowadays, we have AfterPay, ZipPay, Klarna, Affirm - hell, even PayPal has BNPL functionality.
But in Web3, BNPL is not widely supported (if at all?).
The DeFi lending platform, Teller, has just launched a service to fill that void - specifically, in the NFT space.
They're calling it ‘Ape Now, Pay Later’.
(Not a joke).
Here’s how it’s unique:
It’s only available for 10 notable NFT projects.
It runs on Polygon - a Layer-2 scaling solution - built on top of Ethereum.
Potential buyers give a down payment, through Teller.
Teller has a network of lenders, who provide the rest of the funding, that they match with buyers.
The NFT is then fully paid for by Teller and placed in a holding account, during the repayment cycle.
Once it’s paid off, the NFT is transferred to the buyer (and the lender is paid back, with interest).
If the borrower defaults on their loan, the NFT is transferred to the lender who may keep it, or attempt to sell it to recoup their losses.
It's an interesting concept.
Here’s why it's important:
Ape Now, Pay Later is just one of a whole series of Web3 financial innovations.
Some, like NFTfi and Arcade, allow NFT owners to take out crypto loans - using their NFTs as collateral.
Teller’s platform, on the other hand, facilitates the purchase of NFTs via loans.
Money is often a blocker for people trying to ‘get into’ Web3.
And while these solutions need to be implemented in a way that is safe for consumers (they’ve gotta know what they’re getting into); reducing this barrier is sure to push the adoption of Web3 forwards.
Neat!