Payblok: Taking the Kinks Out of Supply Chain Financing

I ran into something you hardly ever see in the wild today. A token on the Ethereum network that is a true utility token from a company that is not doing an ICO.

Who is InstaSupply?

InstaSupply has already been in the supply chain business for 4 years, streamlining the paperwork between product suppliers and the product buyers. Their platform handles purchase ordering, approval workflows, budget control, delivery tracking, supplier management, product management, secure invoice storage, credit document storage, data collection, payment control, and accounting reconciliation. Currently, over 2000 businesses use InstaSupply.

The one part of their system that wasn’t in place was payment processing. Their clients still handled payments manually. InstaSupply’s vision included payment processing in their system. And along came Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens. It was the perfect solution. So InstaSupply got to work on a token of their own, PayBlok.

A Token for the B2B Payment Cycle

Image via Flickr by photographingtravis

B2B buyers and suppliers go through a payment cycle. The buyer creates and approves a purchase order. The supplier receives the order and ships the products. Then the buyer has a period of time to make the payment, like 30 days. And many buyers pay late, almost 50% in some countries. This slows down the entire process.

The PayBlok token and smart contract platform will add an Investor to this formula. The investor will pay these not only on time but as soon as the buyer approves the shipment of products, taking advantage of discounts on early payment. Then when the buyer pays the bill at full price in 30 days, InstaSupply, the network and the investor share in the profits created by that discount.

The seller gets paid sooner and can use the money to reinvest in their company. The buyer gets access to credit, which he may not get through a standard bank. It is harder for small, medium, or new businesses to get loans. And the investors in the PayBlok system take these traditional banks out of the equation. And anyone that has the money to stake and invest in the system can do so. The entire community in the PayBlok system benefits through its use. For a very detailed breakdown of how this works, read the PayBlock white paper. I have to tell you I was so used to the fluffy, vague and abstract quality of most white papers, the details surprised me in this one.

A Business Model that Fits

InstaSupply definitely has their ducks in a row. They were a company waiting for someone to invent smart contracts that already had a business model. And the over 2000 customers that have already signed up proves that their model works. It is refreshing to see a blockchain project that doesn’t have a single hint of a cash grab.

So InstaSupply did not need an ICO to raise money to create their technology. They will sell their tokens to buyers, sellers and investors in their system. I only scratch the surface here. To learn more, visit PayBlok. And to get even more details, check out the PayBlock white paper.