zLend

Demo

About

Why are you participating for Based Africa? We are participating in the Based Africa Hackathon because zLend was built with African borrowers in mind. The current lending landscape in decentralized finance (DeFi) often focuses on overcollateralized loans, which exclude many potential borrowers who don't have large crypto assets upfront. In Africa, most people rely on monthly cash flow rather than significant assets, making it difficult to access traditional loans. zLend offers a solution by allowing users to increase their borrowing capacity over time through Zero Knowledge Proofs, based on their cash flow, Web3 interactions, and other financial behaviors. Our connection to Africa stems from this understanding of the financial challenges faced by local borrowers. Many small business owners and individuals have a steady cash flow but lack the upfront collateral to access loans. By leveraging decentralized technology and integrating alternative ways to prove creditworthiness—such as Gitcoin Passport, Twitter history, and on-chain activity—zLend can empower African borrowers who have been excluded from traditional DeFi lending. We believe the Base blockchain’s scalability and low-cost transaction environment will be a critical enabler of our platform, making lending more affordable and accessible to users across Africa. This hackathon offers us a unique opportunity to demonstrate how zLend can bridge the gap between traditional overcollateralized loans and the real-world financial conditions many African borrowers face. Additional Features Almost everything. LTV calculations using Zero Knowledge proofs Everything pertaining to Micro Loans LTV integration into the lending pool smart contract A whole rewrite of the smart contracts UI for Micro Loans UI overhaul

How it's made

What challenges are you focusing on? One of the biggest challenges in African communities is access to fair and affordable credit. Trad-fi systems, as well as existing DeFi platforms, rely on collateral-heavy lending models that assume borrowers already have significant assets. However, most African borrowers, especially small business owners and individuals, operate with limited assets but maintain a consistent cash flow. This disqualifies them from securing loans, leaving many underserved. zLend addresses this challenge by creating a lending model that values cash flow and financial activity over large collateral. Borrowers can prove their creditworthiness by submitting various forms of digital and real-world financial data—such as on-chain activity, bank deposits, Gitcoin Passport, and social media presence—using Zero Knowledge Proofs to maintain privacy. With Base’s affordable and efficient infrastructure, we are able to make transactions low-cost and scalable, which is crucial for the micro-lending services we provide. This not only helps borrowers access funds but also helps to build a trusted and decentralized lending ecosystem for African communities, where both individuals and businesses can grow. So in summary, Reducing the cost and friction associated with loan processes and Improving access to finance for most Africans is what we are aboout How does your submission address this challenge? zLend addresses the challenge of limited access to credit in African communities by offering two loan types: collateralized and uncollateralized micro loans. For collateralized loans, users deposit crypto assets and borrow based on their Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio. The innovative aspect of zLend is that it allows borrowers to improve their LTV over time by providing verifiable proofs of their financial behaviors through Zero Knowledge Proofs. Borrowers can increase their LTV by submitting data such as bank account statements, on-chain activity, Gitcoin Passport information, and social media history. This not only helps borrowers with limited initial collateral but also creates a fairer system that recognizes the financial activity and cash flow that many African borrowers depend on. In addition to collateralized loans, zLend offers micro loans that don’t require collateral, making them accessible to users with a higher LTV ratio (above 60%). These micro-loan requests are subject to voting by zLend token holders, adding a community-governed layer of trust and fairness. This creates a flexible, scalable, and privacy-respecting solution to credit access, empowering underserved African communities to access much-needed capital for personal and business growth. Base’s low-cost and scalable infrastructure is critical to ensuring that zLend’s services remain accessible, even for small-scale borrowers looking for micro-loans, by keeping transaction fees low and the lending process decentralized and efficient. Challenges we ran into Implementing ZK Proof was slightly challenging as i have not used Zokrates in an angular environment before. Also, merging all the different parts of the system together in the short time we had was a little challenging too