This paper dives into the economic theory behind credit and lending markets to uncover the driving forces behind financial exclusion in modern finance. It breaks down the market size and demographic of the unbanked population in the United States and highlights the market failures and bad actors responsible for causing financial exclusion in credit markets. Finally, it introduces Zivoe Finance, a new approach to financial inclusion that is designed to expand affordable credit access across the globe. Zivoe is a decentralized credit protocol started in part by the authors of this paper that empowers anyone to fund affordable, inclusive loans in underserved financial sectors. The remainder of this paper is dedicated to understanding Zivoe Finance, how it works, the challenges the authors faced in building it, and how one can participate in its mission moving forward.

This paper dives into the economic theory behind credit and lending markets to uncover the driving forces behind financial exclusion in modern finance. It breaks down the market size and demographic of the unbanked population in the United States and highlights the market failures and bad actors responsible for causing financial exclusion in credit markets. Finally, it introduces Zivoe Finance, a new approach to financial inclusion that is designed to expand affordable credit access across the globe. Zivoe is a decentralized credit protocol started in part by the authors of this paper that empowers anyone to fund affordable, inclusive loans in underserved financial sectors. The remainder of this paper is dedicated to understanding Zivoe Finance, how it works, the challenges the authors faced in building it, and how one can participate in its mission moving forward.