Nick Williamson – CEO of the fintech startup Qadre from the UK – reportedly believed that blockchain could provide a gateway to capital for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). 

Specifically, Williamson reportedly claimed that blockchain features can establish a gateway for SMEs to financial instruments whose use are restricted only to major companies. 

With interest rates near zero for the better part of a decade and no end in sight, capital has been desperately searching for returns, but has always overlooked one of the largest sectors of the economy, small and medium sized enterprises. One reason for this is that it’s really difficult to invest $10 billion in a diverse portfolio of corner bakeries! It’s currently much easier for a large investor to rely on reporting and governance standards to which large, public companies are held” Williamson reportedly remarked. 

Per Williamson, the initial move for this project is to provide certainty to cap tables and corporate actions, and make sure small business owner’s interest is in line with that of investors. 

“While SMEs have historically been the largest driving force in GDP growth and job creation, there has been a long term shift to larger companies over the past decades, partially due to the ability for large companies to access capital markets efficiently.”

Another task that needs to be done is how to provide certainty for investors, helping them enter an industry of the economy that have been kept away from them before, along with “realigning broader market incentives to support all of the economy, not just the part that is currently driving returns”.