Centrifuge has been on my radar for several months. With the launch of Tinlake v3 this October the time to start investing finally has arrived. One of the biggest innovations of v3 is the introduction of revolving pools. The main idea behind revolving pools is as long as money flows into the pool from investors (the ones who provide liquidity through investments) and asset originators (those who provide and deposit assets) the pools stay open. This concept brings advantages for both asset originators and investors at the same time: investors who do not intend to withdraw their investment any time soon do not need to bother about their money and simply keep it as long as needed in the pool. The basic investment can be increased continuously and the risk is diversified through two tokens (DROP=gets paid back first and TIN=gets paid back last).
An asset originator on the other hand can provide assets continuously and adapt the size of the pool based on how the business is running. In addition a very attractive add-on for investors and asset originators is the Radial Rewards program where Centrifuge Radial Tokens (RAD) are earned for every DAI invested in the pool.
At the same time with Tinlake v3 the way of investor’s on-boarding has changed with Securitize ID. In the Securitize-account the whole process of KYC (“Know your customer”) to verify the identity is done step by step. The process is very well structured and self-explanatory and deals with all relevant information such as personal data, tax number and the Ethereum wallet address. In case of questions the Securitize-support responds real-time.
When the KYC is finished the favored investment pool needs to be chosen. I invested in the ConsolFreight series 4, a pool by a company which provides Freight Forwarding services. The last step which has to do with Securitize is to sign the subscription agreement. For me this was by far the most time-consuming part because I had to read the agreement very carefully and make sure that every information was thorough.
After the subscription agreement was signed and accepted by ConsolFreight I could finally invest into their pool.
The investment can only be done, when the KYC is finished and the subscription agreement is signed and accepted. It is done directly in the Tinlake app in a separate tab. As a basic requirement a web3-wallet (such as Metamask which I used) is needed. The whole technical requirements and a very helpful step-by-step guide is given in the Tinlake investor guide.
The actual investing in Tinlake is pretty simple. After the amount in DAI is entered, the total is locked (this takes up to 24h, during this period the order can get cancelled at any time) and when the order is successfully executed the DAI are converted into DROP-tokens (at the time of writing my pool ConsolFreight 4 offered DROP-tokens only). At the end interest finally started to accrue and I can track the progress of my investment in Tinlake any time I want.
This was the first time I had to go through KYC to verify my identity. Although this was an unfamiliar situation, with the help of Securitize and Centrifuge it wasn’t a big deal. For the actual investing in Tinlake a fundamental understanding of Crypto and how to deal with a web 3-wallet is beneficial. Nonetheless with the investor guide and the support of the team first-time investing is pretty simple.
My personal experience (so far) and persuasion is that Centrifuge will be successful in the long run because the team’s development and on-boarding of new investors is moving forwards continuously. The possibility to obtain Centrifuge Radial Tokens through the Radial Rewards Program was a huge benefit for me as an investor and a step forward to participate in the long-term success of Centrifuge.