Combining his background at running a pawnshop for four years in the early 1990s and his Internet expertise, Latona birthed the idea of creating a web location where webmasters can borrow money against digital assets such as domain names, trademarks and content.
Latona told XBiz that after only four hours of the website's official launch, he had already received more than 75 applications for loans.
"It's not a traditional loan," Latona told XBiz. "It's for someone who needs money fast, and they get it in a matter of hours."
The premise of DigiPawn, according to Latona, who co-owns the company with a silent partner from the online adult industry, is to provide web customers with quick cash for as short a period as 30 days, after which time loans are charged interest based on the amount borrowed.
Loans given out by DigiPawn range from between $100 to $1 million, although for maximum loan amounts, Latona says a webmaster needs to be borrowing against "one hell of a domain name, like Sex.com or Poker.com."
The loan process is rapid and does not include credit checks or applications, just a loan evaluation that includes a proprietary appraisal method Latona calls "the secret sauce. As part of the process, DigiPawn retains the use of the customer's assets during the period of the loan, allowing customers quick cash.
In addition to ownership of thousands of web domains, Latona is also the president and CEO of Dollars.com, Consumption Junctions and CJ Bucks.