Updated: May 27, 2022
Categories
Creating and Submitting a New Listing
Active Loans (Borrower Perspective)
General
1. What is flowty?
Flowty can be thought of as a peer-to-peer (P2P) pawn shop for NFTs. NFT owners can secure a personal loan using their NFTs as collateral. Anyone can fund loans and generate a return on capital with the downside protection of securing an NFT.
A full overview of the platform can be found here — Flowty Primer.
2. What NFTs does flowty support?
We support NBA Top Shot and Ballerz (and the associated Sneakerz airdrop) but plan to add many more Flow projects in the near future. As of March 17, 2022, all NBA Top Shot moments have transitioned to non-custodial, meaning any NBA Top Shot moment can be used on flowty. You can read more about what “non-custodial” means here.
3. I’m new to flowty (or need a refresher), where can I learn more?
Please visit our Medium where we have published a series of posts about flowty. We recommend starting with the Flowty Primer. We also encourage users to engage with flowty team members and other community members on Discord.
4. How does the flowty team communicate with the community?
We post all important announcements in our Discord. We will also post updates on our Twitter page, but likely less often and less comprehensive. Our Discord is the primary line of communication. There have been a number of Discord hacks recently. Please use caution when interacting with any links in our discord. When in doubt, please submit a ticket via our support ticketing system in Discord.
Marketplace
1. What fees are assessed to users?
Please see our post on flowty’s fees for a comprehensive overview of the fees and collection royalties on the platform.
2. If a Borrower repays a loan early (before the end of the loan), will the interest expense be lower to reflect the shorter loan duration?
No, the repayment is the same amount regardless of repayment date.
3. Can my NFT be listed for sale on another marketplace while a listing with the same NFT as collateral is outstanding in the flowty Marketplace?
Yes, but if the collateral is transferred out of your wallet, your flowty listing will be invalid and will not be able to be funded by a Lender. We have mechanics in place to remove invalid listings from the marketplace, but, for the avoidance of doubt, a Lender cannot fund an invalid listing. The transaction will be rejected, so there is no way to unintentionally fund an invalid listing.
NOTE: If you list a loan on flowty, then transfer the collateral out of your wallet, then transfer the collateral back into the same wallet, your flowty listing will be active again.
4. Where is collateral held during an active (funded) loan?
When a listing is funded, the collateral is transferred from the Borrower’s wallet to flowty’s smart contract, where it remains until the earlier of full repayment by the Borrower or automatic loan settlement (following the end of the loan’s duration).
Importantly, the flowty team cannot retrieve collateral from the smart contract. If a Borrower loses access to his or her wallet during the loan term or needs a few extra days to repay a loan, we will not be able to assist.
5. What crypto tokens or fiat currencies does Flowty support?
Flowty supports the following Flow-based tokens: USDC (Flow version), tUSDT, FLOW (Flow blockchain’s native token) and FUSD (Flow’s stablecoin). We will be adding more options in the future.
6. How do I acquire the tokens mentioned above?
Please visit our post that details how to acquire FUSD from various starting points (crypto tokens or fiat).
7. What are the tax implications of using flowty?
Flowty does not provide tax, legal, financial, or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for tax, legal or accounting advice. Users should consult your own tax, legal and accounting professionals before engaging in any transaction.
8. Does a Lender or Borrower need to claim the collateral after a loan is repaid (for a Borrower) or defaulted (for a Lender)?
No, the collateral is automatically transferred to the Borrower’s wallet (if Borrower has repaid the loan) or the Lender’s wallet (if the Borrower fails to repay by loan maturity).
9. How are loan terms set?
Borrowers set terms when listing a loan in the Marketplace.
10. What do you mean by collateral?
Collateral is an asset (NFT(s) in our case), that a Borrower offers as security on a loan. On flowty, if a Borrower defaults, the Lender will automatically be sent the collateral. The collateral provides a level of security for Lenders that Borrowers will, subject to the value of the collateral, be incentivized to repay the loan. In more familiar terms, a mortgage on one’s home uses the home itself as collateral.
11. Can there ever be a margin call or a liquidation on a flowty loan?
No, a flowty loan will only end when a Borrower repays or when the loan matures and is settled by our smart contract. Regardless of what happens to the value of the underlying collateral during the term of the loan, there are no forced liquidation or margin call events.
12. Can Flowty be used to rent NFTs (for the purposes of NBA Top Shot challenges or any other “point-in-time ownership” utility)?
Yes! We introduced the feature on May 30, 2022 — learn more here.
13. Do Flowty team members participate in the ecosystem?
We have decided to permit flowty team members to actively participate (as Borrower or Lender) on the platform during beta (read more about beta here). It is important for the development of the platform that we are able to share in the user experience and make improvements on the basis of what we learn. We are conscious of the fact that some users likely prefer that we do not participate out of concern of impropriety.
We will be as transparent as possible about our transactions, and as soon as we have emerged from beta, flowty team members will no longer be able to participate on the platform outside of nominal transactions for testing purposes. If you are not comfortable with flowty team member participation, we ask that you wait until we have emerged from beta before engaging with the platform.
14. How do I withdraw NBA Top Shot moments or other Flow-based NFTs from my Dapper wallet to my Blocto wallet?
Please see this article published by the Dapper team. The same process can be used to withdraw Ballerz from your Dapper wallet to your Blocto wallet.
15. It is a huge pain to find the right NFT to withdraw from my Dapper wallet — any tips?
One of our favorite NBA Top Shot community members, Steve Veerman, built a fantastic tool that can be used to easily withdraw a specific asset from your Dapper wallet. The tool can be found here.
If you use the tool, please send Steve a thank you!
16. Are there gas fees for transactions on the Flow Blockchain?
As of the time of writing, there are no gas fees assessed for interacting with flowty. There are very small gas fees (below one cent at current FLOW prices, read more here) for transactions on the Flow Blockchain, but Blocto subsidizes the fee as of now. Gas fees and Blocto’s willingness to subsidize transactions going forward are subject to change.
17. Why are there so many “unrealistic” listings in the Marketplace?
By design, flowty does not control loan listing terms and does not determine what can or cannot be added to the Marketplace. Our users are free to add listings with any terms.
We understand that this can lead to a suboptimal experience for Lenders who are browsing the Marketplace. To improve the Lender experience, we have added filter and sort tools and are working on more navigation enhancements and customization options.
We will also be implementing a listing fee in the future. The listing fee will act as an incentive for users to post realistic listings and, we believe, will limit the number of unrealistic listings that lead to a cluttered marketplace.
Creating and Submitting a New Listing
1. What loan terms would you recommend I use for my listing?
We will never provide recommendations on specific loan listings. In an effort to assist our users in determining appropriate inputs, however, we did publish a post providing some general data and commentary around loans across various industries. We will also be sharing platform data once we have sufficient transaction history.
In addition, users can navigate to several analytical platforms around the Top Shot ecosystem for information on historical sales, valuation estimates, trends, and more. Some of our favorites: MomentRanks, Own the Moment (OTM), Evaluate Market, and LiveToken. Please note that the preceding are third-party, independent platforms and flowty cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information and analytics.
On March 25, 2022, flowty added a MR LTV to the listing modal to provide some additional information to Borrowers as they consider appropriate loan terms. Read more about MR LTV and how to think of the metric here.
Note: we will add links to platforms that support Ballerz and other Flow-based NFT valuations as soon as we have the information available to us
2. Why is there a collection royalty and how does it work?
Flowty supports creators and builders and wants to ensure that the platform is not used as a way to circumvent royalties that would be assessed when transacting through traditional marketplaces. As such, in a default scenario (Borrower does not repay loan), when there is a transfer of ownership, flowty will remit a royalty to the collection’s creator.
The royalty is collected from the Lender’s initial funding of a loan and held in trustless escrow (flowty never takes custody). If a loan is repaid by Borrower (no transfer of ownership), the royalty is returned to Lender. If the loan is not repaid and there is a transfer of ownership (collateral sent to Lender), the royalty is automatically sent to the collection’s creator. The royalty is set by the issuer / creator of an NFT (NBA Top Shot’s royalty is 5%, for example) and represents a % of the loan amount from the Borrower’s perspective. For additional detail, please review our post on fees.
3. How do I opt in for auto repayment?
Borrowers can opt in for auto repayment when creating a new listing by checking the box.
4. How does auto repayment work?
If a Borrower has opted in for auto repayment AND has a sufficient balance (of the same token as the loan and in the same wallet as the one used to post the listing), the flowty smart contract will automatically repay your loan for you at (or soon after) maturity.
5. Why is the Loan Amount on my loan listing (in Marketplace) different from the amount I will be receiving if a Lender fills my loan? Is that an error?
The Loan Amount in a loan listing (as seen in the Marketplace) is inclusive of the flowty fee and collection royalty. Please visit our overview of flowty fees for more information and details on the process.
6. Can the same collateral be included in more than one Marketplace listing?
Yes.
7. Why can’t I see my NFT in my wallet when creating a new listing?
If an NFT does not appear in your wallet, it is likely from a project that flowty does not yet support on the platform. If the NFT is from a supported project or collection, please file a support ticket on Discord.
8. Will my Marketplace listing ever expire?
Yes. To protect our users, incentivize users to post realistic listings, and ensure the Marketplace is not bogged down by stale listings, all listings will automatically be removed from the Marketplace after 30 days.
9. Why is there a listing fee?
Note: at the time of writing, we have waived the listing fee and will notify our users via Discord if that changes
As discussed, there are effectively no gas fees to transact on flowty. If we were to offer free listings, we may be subject to malicious attacks from users who list hundreds or thousands of loans at unrealistic prices, which would clog our Marketplace or make the filter / sort / search functions ineffective.
Separately, a listing fee helps ensure that Borrowers have an incentive to list loans with realistic terms, which is important for the Lender experience. We will likely introduce ways for users to unlock free listings over time.
10. Are there any restrictions on listing inputs?
Yes. When a Borrower is creating a new listing, the listing must meet the following ranges:
Loan Amount: $25-$50,000 (we will continue to increase the upper limit over time)
APR: 1%-9,999%
Duration: 7–150 Days
11. Will my collateral still be in my wallet after I have submitted a new listing?
Yes. Up until the time a Lender funds a listing, your collateral will remain in your full possession and control. You can transfer it to another wallet, list it on a marketplace or even add another flowty listing with the same collateral.
Active Loans (Borrower Perspective)
1. When am I eligible to repay a loan?
A loan can be repaid any time before maturity.
2. How do I repay an active (funded) loan?
Ensure you have sufficient funds to repay the loan. Navigate to Wallet > Activity > Borrower. If a loan status is “FUNDED” — it is outstanding. Click the loan and select repay on the next page. To help with navigation, users can filter by FUNDED to only see outstanding loans.
3. Can I pay back a portion of my loan?
No, Borrowers can only repay in full.
4. Will I receive notifications about outstanding loans?
Yes. Unless we have technical issues, you will receive notifications regarding listings, funded loans (for Borrowers and Lenders), upcoming loan maturities, repayments, defaults and more.
Please monitor your listings and loans and do not solely rely on flowty’s notifications.
5. If my collateral is part of an active (funded) loan, will the collateral still be in my wallet for the purposes of airdrops, Collector Score, challenges, or otherwise?
No, the collateral is transferred out of a Borrower’s account when the loan is funded. If a Borrower needs to retrieve collateral, he can fully repay the loan at any time, which will automatically send the collateral back to the Borrower’s wallet.
6. I can no longer access the wallet I used to make my listing, can I repay the loan from another wallet?
No, the same wallet must be used from beginning to end of a loan.
7. Can I edit an existing listing?
Not at this time, but we are looking into it.
8. Can I extend an active (funded but not expired) loan?
No. Loan duration cannot be extended during the course of an active loan.
Lender
1. How do I know whether a listing is a good deal?
While we cannot provide advice on any specific listing, two of our posts may be helpful to review while analyzing a listing: How to Value and Price Loan Listings on Flowty and Lender Use Cases and Potential Strategies. The NBA Top Shot ecosystem also benefits from having some fantastic analytical platforms supporting the collection.
For information on historical sales, valuation estimates, trends, and more, check out: MomentRanks, Own the Moment (OTM), Evaluate Market, or LiveToken. Please note that the preceding are third-party, independent platforms and flowty cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information and analytics.
On March 25, 2022, flowty added a “MR LTV” as a metric in the marketplace, which can be a useful tool for Lenders. Read more about MR LTV here.
Note: we will add links to platforms that support Ballerz and other Flow-based NFT valuations as soon as we have the information available to us
2. What is the best way to see my outstanding loans?
Navigate to Wallet > Activity > Lender. Loans classified as “FUNDED” are active loans. Users can filter by FUNDED to more easily see outstanding loans.
3. Is it possible to receive my capital back before a Borrower repays?
No, you will not have access to the capital until the Borrower repays the loan. Please ensure that you consider potential liquidity needs between funding and loan maturity. In addition, please remember that if the Borrower defaults, you will receive collateral in lieu of repayment.
4. How do I claim collateral following a defaulted loan?
The collateral is automatically sent to your connected wallet. There is no need for any action.
5. Will I receive notifications about outstanding loans?
Yes. Unless we have technical issues, you will receive several notifications during the course of a loan. Please monitor your listings and loans and do not solely rely on flowty’s notifications.
6. The value of the collateral fell below the loan amount during the loan term, is there anything I can do?
Unfortunately, a Lender may experience a loss on defaulted loans in which the collateral value fell below the loan amount during the loan term. There is no way to reclaim capital if a Borrower defaults.
7. The Borrower has defaulted and I received collateral instead of a repayment. How do I sell the collateral?
There are a number of marketplaces on Flow, including VIV3 and BloctoBay, that support NBA Top Shot and other Flow-based NFTs. Users can also transfer Top Shot moments back to their Dapper wallet to sell in Top Shot’s marketplace.
8. What is the best way to add funds to my Blocto wallet?
Please see our post on moving between fiat and various cryptocurrencies.
9. Is there a Borrower credit score or flowty score available?
Flowty does not offer any score or rating based on a Borrowers’ history. Given the nature of the platform, if we did offer some sort of credit score, it would be fairly simple for a malicious Borrower to manipulate the score by issuing and repaying loans to himself.
We will organize and synthesize publicly available data and information about Borrowers and Lenders, but, based on the aforementioned concerns regarding validity of a user’s transaction history, we encourage users to focus on the underlying collateral rather than the counterparty when considering a loan.
Where to Find Us
