BitNize

A platform that brings liquidity and investment opportunities to small and medium businesses, enabling equity tokenization and offering investors a secure, direct way to invest without a third-party!

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Inspiration

My inspiration comes from a friend at university who wanted to start a computer training center but lacked the funds to buy equipment and rent a place. He couldn't get a loan due to a lack of collateral and had to pause his plans. I believe there should be a better way. That better way is BitNize. A legitimate entrepreneur or business owner with a solid and feasible business plan can now access the liquidity needed to get their business running. To become an investor, you don’t have to be extremely rich; you can invest a small amount in a company whose vision you share and reap the profits when they come!

What it does

BitNize is a tokenization platform specifically built for tokenizing equity for small and medium-sized businesses. It provides a way for businesses to get liquidity and attract investors, offering them an opportunity to invest and gain returns. Investors can also sell the equity they buy to other investors on the platform or back to the company if they wish. It's a win-win for everybody.

Registration and Tokenization Process

  1. Company Registration: Companies indicate their business name, location, and start date, among other details.
  2. Document Submission: Before equity is tokenized, business owners must provide documents about the business, including its valuation and expected profits.
  3. Token Value Update: The value of tokens is updated as specified in the documents or whenever agreed upon.

Investment and Ownership

  1. Buying Equity Tokens: When an investor wants to buy equity tokens, the company provides a document outlining the terms of the agreement. If both parties agree, the equity tokens are transferred to the investor’s wallet, and the value of tokens bought is transferred to the company’s wallet.
  2. Selling Equity Tokens: Documents indicating the transfer/proof of ownership are provided when investors want to sell their equity. Companies are notified of the change in ownership and must give their consent. These documents are stored on the blockchain, making them indestructible.
  3. Restricted Transfers: Assets cannot be moved from wallet to wallet outside of the platform.

How we built it

  1. Frontend: The user interface was created using React and styled with PrimeReact. I used Thridweb library for wallet connection and management. Ethers.js was also used for blockchain interaction.
  2. Backend: For the backend, I used Node.js to handle application logic. For data management and storage, I used MongoDB and Redis (for caching) and exposed APIs consumed in the frontend.
  3. Smart Contract and Blockchain Integration: I used Solidity to write the smart contracts and deployed them to the Rootstock sidechain using Hardhat.

Challenges we ran into

  1. Prior Engagement: The hackathon clashed with my final software engineering graduation project, making it challenging to balance both. This is my first hackathon, so I had to work extra hard. I decided to work alone to avoid slowing down teammates and couldn’t implement all desired features due to time constraints.

  2. Limited Knowledge of Web3 and Solidity: My knowledge of Web3 and smart contracts was limited. I learned the basics during a summer internship with Bitcoin but had no prior experience with Solidity. I learned what I could on this project through trial and error.

  3. Technical Challenges: I faced several technical issues, especially with the Web3.js library. It took time to realize that the version I was using had problems, which delayed my progress. Switching to Ethers.js eventually solved these issues.

  4. Infrastructure Constraints: In my part of the world, we lack a steady power supply and stable internet connection. I work on the project at night when there is electricity and sleep during the day.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

This project has the potential to strengthens the Bitcoin ecosystem by driving innovation, increasing network activity, and promoting adoption. It showcases Bitcoin's versatility beyond just digital gold.

What we learned

Through this project, I learned more about blockchain technology, smart contracts, and tokenization. I also learned Solidity syntax and how to create, deploy, and interact with smart contracts on Bitcoin sidechains (Rootstock and Alys in this case).

What's next for BitNize

  1. Fixing of some errors.
  2. Proper code testing.
  3. Integration with other sidechains especially Anduro Alys 4) We are open to other great ideas

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