# Introduction
## **Bringing real-world investment to DeFi**
Goldfinch is a decentralized, globally accessible credit protocol, with a mission to bring the world’s credit activity on-chain while expanding access to capital and fostering financial inclusion.
The protocol makes crypto loans without requiring crypto collateral—the missing piece that finally unlocks access to cryptocurrency capital for most people in the world. By incorporating the principle of trust through consensus Goldfinch creates a way for borrowers to show creditworthiness based on the collective assessment of other participants, rather than based on over-collateralizing with crypto assets.
This provides the basis for establishing an immutable, on-chain credit history, a core foundation of any scalable lending model and a primitive that is missing in a meaningful way for many growing markets globally.
The protocol then uses this collective assessment as a signal for allocating capital. The decentralized community of Goldfinch investors make loans to businesses who drive economic growth in their regions, starting with those in emerging markets. Currently, all loans on Goldfinch are fully collateralized with off-chain assets.
By removing the need for crypto collateral and providing a means for automatically distributed yield, the protocol dramatically expands both the potential borrowers who can access crypto and the potential investors who can gain exposure.
### Starting with emerging markets
From the beginning, Goldfinch wanted to build for the borrowers who can benefit most and where crypto can have the greatest impact. That meant starting with lending businesses in emerging markets. Demand for crypto’s liquid, multinational nature is high in those regions, as businesses stand to gain many benefits from using crypto due to the inefficiencies and barriers of traditional finance limiting the capital that can flow into these regions.
Goldfinch is currently expanding financial access for thousands of individuals around the world via its Borrowers, spanning over 28 countries. Some of Goldfinch’s Borrowers include [PayJoy](https://www.payjoy.com/) in Mexico, [QuickCheck](https://quickcheck.ng/) in Nigeria, [Divibank](https://divibank.co/home) and [Addem Capital](https://addem-capital.com/) in LatAm, [Greenway](https://www.greenwayappliances.com/#:~:text=Greenway%20Smart%20Stove%20is%20a,for%204%2D5%20member%20households) through [Almavest](https://www.almavest.com/) in India, and [Cauris](https://www.caurisfinance.com/) in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. You can view more Borrower Pools[ here](https://app.goldfinch.finance/earn).
Read on to the [Goldfinch Overview](/goldfinch/goldfinch-v1/goldfinch-overview.md) for a more detailed explanation of the protocol and how it works. You can learn more about Goldfinch’s mission and vision in [The Goldfinch Manifesto](https://medium.com/goldfinch-fi/the-goldfinch-manifesto-36410494e1a).
*For a deeper technical dive into Goldfinch’s code, smart contract configuration, security, and other technical features, view the* [*Goldfinch Developer Documentation site.*](https://dev.goldfinch.finance/)
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