Our Story
You're about to read our founder's story – which is not only a story of success but also one of surprising symbology.
The year is 1998, I’m traveling around. The destination: Italy. I spend a day in Florence and, like any good tourist, I pay Palazzo Medici a visit and fall in love with the influence and abundance of the Medici saga. So, in order to have a souvenir back home, I purchase a commemorative coin for the 500th anniversary of the death of “Il Magnifico”, Lorenzo de’ Medici.
Innovation is truly a timeless game
At the time, of course, I didn’t realise that one day this experience would be foundational to the biggest start-up idea of my life. In 2018, I get introduced to crypto: a friend is doing the second-only initial coin offering (ICO) in the Netherlands. At this point, it’s not at all clear to me that there are symbolic parallels between this new technology and the Medici.
But first things first: In 2008 we all experienced what was considered the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression (apart from Covid, that is). Anyway – of the many consequences of this crisis, a number of events laid the foundation and led to the formation of Florence Finance.
There’s the advent of Bitcoin and the rise of distributed ledger technology in 2009. Then the Ethereum network comes up and smart contracts start flourishing. At this point, we can only imagine what the new trend means for the growing abandonment of small businesses and savers by TradFi – the banking establishment as we know it.
Based on those developments, an idea emerges: Why not take what is arguably the most positive consequence of the crisis and use it to help disadvantaged borrowers? And at the same time we provide an alternative for savers and holders. It all comes down to one magic word: “real-world yield”. The kind of outcome that’s not available in TradFi or even DeFi to date. Two birds, one stone.Starting from there, our “back to the future” story continues and I remember the Medici anniversary coin I bought as a keepsake. As a memory. As a token.
So, as simple as it sounds, in this very instant it becomes evident to me: DeFi will shape the next evolution of finance, just like the Medici did. I know Lorenzo “Il Magnifico” inspired me to come up with the MDC Token to kick off our evolution.
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
The proverbial “golden ticket” here is purpose. Satisfying work should always be about fixing real-world problems. About community involvement. About accessibility.
Who needs noble blood if you can be an esteemed pioneer?
We’re giddy to kick off change. We want to innovate and revolutionise the concept of banking altogether. We’re building a low-threshold marketplace that is truly for everyone, permission-free. The future of banking is inclusive – it ensures immutability, integrity, radical transparency, and openness for all.
Chaos creates opportunity. At least as far as markets go.
What sounds like anarchy at first, may at the end of the day be exactly that – an absence of government. Think hierarchies, power, and mutual aid. Think Proudhon’s “What is property?”. The Medici invented the so-called family pacts to preserve values. They managed the majority of great fortunes in Europe. They pioneered in writing rules about loans.
And we’re here to do the same.
%201.png)
