Smart contract-managed decentralized lending processes using collateral tokens

Abstract

A loan process smart contract manages a collateralized loan process for a loan against a collateralized item, the collateralized loan process including tokenizing and locking a collateral token that tokenizes the collateral item, executing a loan process workflow that includes a series of loan process workflow stages that are facilitated by decentralized guilds, monitoring terms of the loan, and detecting an unlocking event of the loan for unlocking the collateral token.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processing devices, a request to initiate a loan process from a user device, the request indicating a collateral item of a borrower;   executing, by the one or more processing devices, a loan process smart contract instance that includes computer-readable instructions that are configured to manage a loan process in accordance with a loan process workflow of stages facilitated by stage-specific guilds, wherein the loan process smart contract instance is configured to execute the loan process workflow that includes:
 instantiating an appraisal smart contract instance that includes computer readable instructions that are configured to facilitate an appraisal task that is performed by one or more appraisers that are members of an appraisal guild, to appraise the collateral item and to issue an appraisal notification upon confirming an appraisal report indicating an appraised value determined by the one or more appraisers; 
 instantiating an authentication smart contract instance that includes computer readable instructions that are configured to manage an authentication task that is performed by one or more authenticators, who are members of an authentication guild, to authenticate the collateral item and to issue an authentication notification upon confirming receipt of an authentication report generated by the one or more authenticators; 
 instantiating a safekeeper smart contract instance that includes computer readable instructions that are configured to manage a safekeeping task of the collateral item by a safekeeper that is a member of a safekeeper guild, and to issue a safekeeping notification upon confirming receipt of a safekeeper report from the safekeeper of the safekeeping of the collateral item; 
 initiating tokenization of the collateral item, wherein tokenization of the collateral item includes:
 generating a virtual representation of the collateral item, wherein the virtual representation includes the appraised value and at least one of a description of the collateral item and one or more media contents that respectively depict at least a portion of the collateral item; 
 generating, by the one or more processing devices, a collateral token corresponding to the collateral item, the collateral token cryptographically linked to the virtual representation of the item, wherein the collateral token is a digital token that is stored on a distributed ledger and is redeemable for the collateral item; and 
 assigning the collateral token to a first user account of the borrower on the distributed ledger; and 
 
 receiving a loan agreement notification indicating one or more loan term parameters of a loan agreement that was agreed to by a lender and the borrower, wherein the loan term parameters include a loan amount and a set of unlocking events, wherein the set of unlocking events include:
 a loan repayment event that defines a first set of electronically verifiable conditions that must be met to determine that the loan has been fully repaid; and 
 a loan default event that defines a second set of electronically verifiable conditions that must be met to determine that the borrower has defaulted on the loan; and 
 
   locking, by the one or more processing devices, the collateral token by assigning the collateral token from the first user account to an escrow account on the distributed ledger, the collateral token remaining assigned to the escrow account until an unlocking event of the set of unlocking events is detected, whereby the collateral token is prevented from being redeemed or assigned to another account while the collateral token is locked in the escrow account;   monitoring, by the one or more processing devices, a repayment status of the loan in accordance with the loan term parameters to detect an occurrence of the unlocking event;   in response to detecting an occurrence of the loan repayment event, unlocking the collateral token and assigning the token to the first user account of the borrower; and   in response to detecting an occurrence of the loan default event, unlocking the collateral token and initiating a loan default workflow.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stage-specific guilds are formed from stage participants based on a common expertise in an area in accordance with a set of governances that are defined in association with the loan process. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the stage-specific guilds are formed from individuals based on the common expertise. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stage-specific guilds comprise sets of entities made up of members who perform stage-specific tasks and wherein the entities of the guild adhere to a set of governances. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the set of governances includes one or more of a system-level governance, a stage-level governance corresponding to a stage in which the guild members participate, a guild-level governance of the guild to which the guild members belong, or a sub-guild-level governance. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the stage-level governance defines a set of rules or regulations for performing one or more tasks of a corresponding stage. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the stage-level governance is defined in part by a corresponding stage-specific guild. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the stage-level governance defines one or more aspects of a corresponding stage-specific guild including creating a stage-specific guild, a manner by which guild members are added to the stage-specific guild, a manner by which a guild member is removed from the stage-specific guild, a manner by which guild members vote on amending stage-level governance. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein amending stage-level governance includes one or more of amending workflows, smart contracts, or stage-specific documents. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a stage-specific guild is managed by a guild governance smart contract that defines one or more aspects of a corresponding stage-specific guild including creating a stage-specific guild, a manner by which guild members are added to the stage-specific guild, a manner by which a guild member is removed from the stage-specific guild, a manner by which guild members vote on amending stage-level governance. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a stage-specific guild is managed by a guild governance smart contract that defines formation of one or more sub-guilds of the stage-specific guild. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein appraisal stage-level governance is at least partially defined by the appraisal guild. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the appraisal guild includes a plurality of different specialized appraisal sub-guilds, wherein each specialized appraisal sub-guild specializes in appraising a respective type of collateral item. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein authentication stage-level governance is at least partially defined by the authentication guild. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the authentication guild includes a plurality of different specialized authentication sub-guilds, wherein each specialized authentication sub-guild specializes in authenticating a respective type of collateral item. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein safekeeping stage-level governance is at least partially defined by the safekeeping guild. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the safekeeping guild includes a plurality of different specialized safekeeping sub-guilds, wherein each specialized safekeeping sub-guild specializes in safekeeping a respective type of collateral item. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more appraisers are assigned the appraisal task based on a correlation between an item type of the collateral item and an appraisal specialization of a specialized appraisal sub-guild of which the one or more appraisers are members. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more authenticators are assigned the authentication task based on a correlation between an item type of the collateral item and an authentication specialization of a specialized authentication sub-guild of which the one or more authenticators are members. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more safekeepers are assigned the safekeeping task based on a correlation between an item type of the collateral item and a safekeeping specialization of a specialized safekeeping sub-guild of which the one or more safekeepers are members. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the loan process smart contract instance is executed at by a set of node devices that store the distributed ledger.