Today, we’re looking at a unique opportunity. We have the chance to get free equity in a promising startup called Linen, courtesy of our friends at Republic.
This is the first offering I’ve seen where a startup is giving away free equity (aka stock) in its company. It’s called a “sharedrop” (similar to an airdrop in the crypto world).
Linen
Linen is a cryptocurrency-based app that lets users deposit funds and earn up to 4% yields (currently) on their cash. The startup has received investments from some of the best investors in the cryptocurrency world, including Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital and HashKey Capital.
How does Linen offer up to 4% yields? In essence, you lend people cash in the form of a stablecoin called USD Coin (created by Coinbase). The people you lend to put up cryptocurrency as collateral.
Linen takes advantage of the Compound protocol to allow users to lend cash, which is collateralized by cryptocurrency. Compound is a fascinating project that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Borrowers on Compound are mostly crypto traders. They pledge cryptocurrency and receive digital dollars (in the form of USD Coin). Learn more about Compound here.
Linen’s business model seems a little complex and confusing at first, but you can think of the company as a sort of crypto-based bank. I highly recommend viewing the FAQs on Linen’s site.
Linen eventually plans to let users spend their cash using a Linen credit card. For now, it’s more like a savings app where you can earn a high yield on spare cash.
The great news about this opportunity is that there’s no downside (other than the time it takes to participate). Anyone can earn $10 worth of equity (stock) in Linen simply by downloading the Linen app and signing up. You can also refer friends and receive $2 in equity for each signup.
I think it’s a smart approach. Giving thousands of users a small stake in its business should help Linen grow significantly faster than it would otherwise. If Linen does succeed and becomes a large financial firm, even a $10 stake could be worth a substantial amount.
You can learn more about how earning yields works on Linen’s website here.
How to Get Your Free Equity in Linen
You’ll need a Republic account. If you don’t have one yet, you can sign up for one here.
Then go to Linen’s page on Republic. Click the “Participate” button and Republic will guide you through the process. It doesn’t take long, but it does require you to download the Linen app to receive the $10 in equity.
I believe sharedrops could be a very powerful tool for startup growth. And I hope to share more of these types of offers with you in the future.