Abstract

Disintermediated circulation of credits is an expression that potentially includes completely different scenarios, with very different degrees of «disintermediation». Actually we can speak of disintermediation (or «disintermediated circulation») only in the presence of a real process of elimination of the subjects who, in the investment phase, interpose themselves between the bidder (or issuer) and the final buyer. Therefore, securitisations do not fall within the scope of this investigation, while the purchase of credit portfolios through crowdfunding is certainly included in the field of the analysis. Among the various crowdfunding models, generally distinguished on the basis of the different remuneration of the lender, lending crowdfunding is by far the most used model to finance purchases of portfolios of non-performing loans. In the disintermediated circulation of credits, DLT can be the optimal technological solution, which allows the conservation over time of all the information relating to a specific debt position, with advantages that cannot be found in existing data storage systems. In fact, this technology allows the registration, validation, updating and archiving of data both unencrypted and further protected by encryption that can be verified by each participant, cannot be altered and cannot be modified. Alongside the obvious advantages in terms of document retention, a further opportunity offered by DLT technology is the use of the process known as tokenization, a technical tool that greatly facilitates the transmission of credits in a disintermediated manner. The token is an electronic writing within a DLT in favor of a specific subject. Being able to claim such registration in its favour, the holder of the token will be able to exercise a series of rights against the company that issued it; rights that may depend on the protocol of the reference blockchain or on a smart contract programmed to interact with the token