College Loans Are Going Crypto
Back in 2018, a group of students and advisers from various universities created Student Coin, a blockchain framework designed with the goal of teaching college students how crypto works.
After languishing in obscurity, their subreddit saw a spike of new membership during their initial coin offering (ICO), landing it on the list of the 50 fastest-growing communities this month, according to Subreddit Stats.
Student Coin makes it possible for students and colleges to create their own tokens, trade crypto, and even issue loans via cryptocurrency.
Now, they aim to be the future of education financing, and with support from players like Harvard University and the London School of Economics, as well as $21m in new funding, this team may just pull it off.
This points to opportunities in a few key areas:
- Student-oriented businesses that accept crypto (e.g., university swag stores, book rentals, etc.).
- Crypto consulting services for schools. Student Coin currently supports 500 universities worldwide, but there are 5k+ colleges in the US alone, and each will need to understand how to navigate this brave new world.
- Loan comparison sites like NerdWallet make millions of dollars each month in affiliate income by helping people compare loan options. Reboot that model with free/paid content educating parents and students on crypto, Student Coin, and other emerging DeFi loan options.
One request: If we’re going to rebuild the student loan industry, can we puh-LEASE do a better job educating students on what it really means to borrow?
Did we just sneak another Suez Canal meme in here? That’s 2 weeks in a row!
People Are Vibin’ on Viridian
The deep forest-green color known as “viridian” is the latest craze to explode on Pinterest.
Searches for “viridian aesthetic” sprouted back in February, and are growing like a weed on Google too, according to Keywords Everywhere.
You can also make some green of your own by combining this insight with one of our past Signals to help people bring this look into their own space:
- Online Interior Design: It ain’t easy being green. Help clients figure out how to pull off this look in their own homes without going overboard.
- Collage Decor: The term “wall collage pictures” still gets 18k searches per month on Google, and this set of framed botanical prints does $11k/mo. on Amazon, according to Jungle Scout.
- TikTok Lights: This term is still getting 49.5k searches per month on Google, according to Keywords Everywhere.
There’s also an opportunity to capitalize on these aesthetic trends by making wallpapers for computers or smartphones. You could sell them (NFTs, anyone?), but the bigger play might be to use them as marketing for another product you sell.
We’re Calling It: Buyers Will Go Bananas for Bananatex
The Swiss design firm QWSTION has designed a new performance fabric called Bananatex, made from abaca plants, a cousin of the banana tree.
The beauty of Bananatex is that it’s super strong and waterproof, making it perfect for clothes, shoes, and outdoor gear. It’s also completely biodegradable, and requires no pesticides or fertilizers to produce.
While Bananatex hasn’t hit the mainstream yet, we see lots of opportunity for forward-thinking sustainable brands to create products using the fabric (similar to the fashion opportunities in our Mushroom Signal). According to Keywords Everywhere, people already search for:
- Sustainable clothing (18.1k/mo)
- Sustainable shoes (5.4k/mo)
- Sustainable backpacks (2.4k/mo)
The last major development in waterproof fabrics -- Gore-Tex -- was invented in 1976 and has enjoyed a strong market position ever since. But Gore-Tex is made from DuPont’s Teflon, which is bad news for the environment.
With consumer demand for sustainable goods skyrocketing, it may not be long before Gore-Tex is Gore-Toast.
H&M just did one of the first major collaborations with Bananatex, paving the way for that banana breaddd. Who’s next?
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