Populous is a peer-to-peer invoice policy that makes use of blockchain's distributed ledger technology to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a more efficient way to participate in invoice financing.^[1]

Overview

Populous provides invoice finance on the Blockchain. Populous is an online platform that matchmakes invoice sellers to invoice buyers hosted on the blockchain. This enables the invoice buyers to receive interest on their invoice purchase while invoice sellers receive short-term cash flow.^[2]

According to the Populous website, "invoice finance is a form of funding that instantly unlocks the cash tied up in outstanding sales invoices. Business owners allow invoice buyers to buy invoices at a discounted rate in order to unlock their cash quicker. Once invoices are paid by the invoice debtor, the invoiced buyer receives the amount previously agreed upon."

Populous uses blockchain technology, XBRL data, and the Altman Z-score formula (more on this later) to expand invoice financing globally and create an overall improved system.^[3]

• Populous Workability

On Populous, buyers and sellers exchange invoices through auctions using smart contracts. To sell an invoice, user first needs to register their company. The user then has a hold on their account until they receive approval from the Populous administrator.

Once the administrator approves the user as a seller, they can submit an invoice and set a minimum sales goal. This also needs administrator approval.

History

The Populous online platform was founded in 2017. It is intended to enable P2P payment of invoices. Populous is the first and only Ethereum based platform specifically designed to cater to invoice and trade finance.

Populous is an invoice and trade platform with a profit-sharing token that introduces a trading environment for investors and invoice sellers, from all over the world. The company is a business with a model to generate profit.^[1]

Populous uses iXBRL, Smart Contracts, Stablecoins, and more to create a unique trading environment for investors, lenders, and SMEs. Stephen Williams, a commercial data expert, decided to launch a pre-ICO for Populous to develop the platform.^[3]

Populous Token

PPT can either be held or used as collateral to invest in Populous invoices. In exchange for collateralizing, users are given some amount of Tokens based on a percentage of market value. Currently, it’s the lesser of 50%, or a 30-day market average. These are automatically used to purchase an invoice. If the invoice is repaid, users receive both your PPT investment and Pokens profit.^[2]

Populous has three tokens on the Populous platform;

• Pokens

Pokens are the internal currency of the Populous platform. Each Poken is pegged directly to the equivalent amount of fiat currency (e.g. in the U.K., 1 GBP Poken equals 1 GBP). These ERC-20 tokens are what you use to purchase invoices. Users can purchase Pokens directly on Populous with GBP, USD, EUR, and Yen. Other currencies will be converted to GBP using the London Stock Exchange exchange rate before purchasing the Pokens. Active users also able to use supported cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to purchase Pokens. Pokens are an ERC-20 token and thus can be stored in any wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens.^[1]

• PPT (Populous Platform Token)

PPT tokens were distributed during the Populous ICO and are primarily used as investment vehicles. Only about 53 million PPT will ever be in circulation. Other than holding them, users can use your PPT to invest in invoices through Liquidity Pools. When active users invest in an invoice using PPT, their tokens are put up as collateral for the investment. In exchange, users can receive Pokens which Populous automatically uses to buy the invoice. Once the invoice is repaid, the user receives the Pokens profit and their original PPT investment.^[3]

• PXT (Populous XBRL Token)

PXT is new to Populous. It’s an ERC20 token that users spend to access Business Intelligence (BI) data on the Populous XBRL Platform (PXP). The PXP gives the user access to over one petabyte (that’s one quadrillion bytes) of business data that the network houses. The user can use this data to create customized reports regarding credit scores, business financial health, SWOT analyses, and potential customers among many other things.^[2]

Mechanism

The buy-back mechanism serves several purposes. First, the buyback mechanism serves as an indicator that the platform has produced sufficient working capital to redeem the coins and to use part of the cash and cash settlement. There are fewer coins available in circulation for the buyback, which makes it easier to make transactions with the PPTs in the platform, as there is less jam on the network.^[1]

Poken is a coin linked to fiat money. Populous starts with the GBP in the initial phase and the value of a token always corresponds to one GBP. Poken is the in-platform currency and is the only currency that can be used to pay bills. PPT tokens can be exchanged with Fiat currencies, depending on the exchange rate, or well-established cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum. It is planned to integrate other currency-driven tokens as part of Populous’s expansion plan.^[2]

Trading

The Populous team held their ICO in July 2017 in which they raised over $10 million. After the ICO, the PPT price remained relatively stagnant between $2.00-$4.00 (~0.0005-0.0007 BTC) until November. For the remainder of 2017 (and the start of 2018), it rose to hit an all-time high around $68.91 (~0.00595 BTC). PPT is a little bit tougher to purchase than most other large market cap cryptocurrencies. However, users can get it on Binance as a trading pair with Bitcoin and Ethereum.^[3]