Winter Protocol: Open-Source Traceability & Real World Asset Tokenization

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

Additional applicants

Sam Lambert: Co-Founder of zenGate Global. Previously, worked as a management consultant at Oliver Wyman and helped set up the Global Digital Assets practice. Worked with some of the largest banks, insurance and telecommunications companies around the world.

Luca D'Angelo: Co-lead developer of the Winter Protocol (zenGate dev team). Deep expertise in smart contract development including roles as the Founder / Lead Developer of GuapSwap, Founder of Lilium, Ergo Script Developer for ErgoPad (leading launchpad platform), Phoenix Finance, Blitz TCG and EXLE. Background in Computer Science and Physics from McGill University.

Shishir Pai: Co-lead developer of the Winter Protocol (zenGate dev team). Experienced back-end and smart contract developer with roles such as the Founder of Lilium and ErgoSapiens, and development support for Phoenix Finance and ErgoNames (decentralised DNS platform). Shishir also created Ergpy (a python jvm wrapper for interacting with the Ergo blockchain) as well as Slaternie's Capsule (a web 3 focused camera project).

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source

[METADATA] Category of proposal

[METADATA] SDG rating

Traceability is becoming more demanded by businesses as upcoming regulation and compliance requirements creep up (e.g the FDA in the US and EU Deforestation requirements). Traceability can capture this data and as such meets a number of the UN's SDG initiatives.

• Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Goal 9) - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Reduced inequalities (Goal 10) - Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12) - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Partnership for the Goals (Goal 17) - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The opportunity and demand for these tools:

Traceability and tokenization has become a dominant use-case for blockchain technology for businesses, governments and consumers all around the world. In some cases, governments are beginning to request businesses to comply with traceability rules (e.g FDA in the United States for Food Safety or the EU for deforestation compliance).

Further, the world of NFTs has been long dominated by use cases that have been mostly linked to intellectual property. However, the NFT is a much more powerful tool in the blockchain arsenal. Originally intended for tokenizing assets, it is only natural for this tool to be utilized in such a way to tokenize real world assets and immutably assign various information like traceability data to them, making them a highly valuable tool for various businesses dealing with real world assets and commodities.

The solution:

A simple open-source turn-key solution is not available for Cardano developers and projects that want to support the growing demand for traceability and tokenization technology. We believe that deploying an open-source toolkit will accelerate the broader vision of Cardano mass adoption and usher a wave of new players into the ecosystem.

This toolkit will include various APIs and toolsets aimed at customizing traceability and tokenization solutions various applications. Some use-cases that we see being deployed using this technology ranges from sectors such as agricultural to manufacturing and many more.

Originally developed to be utilized by the Palmyra Commodity platform, the Winter Protocol will expanded to utilize Cardano and other cross-chain assets in order to tokenize and trace real world assets.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Increasing the suite of open-source tools for developers to leverage

Projects in the Cardano ecosystem will not have to guess about how they will be able to interact with real world assets if their project calls for it. This modular tool kit will give any project the power to tokenize and trace assets - removing any existing barriers for developers looking to utilize this kind of technology.

Laying down the pillars required for enterprise level mass adoption

Many enterprises are looking for blockchain use-cases to improve their business model. Especially with compliance requirements coming around the corner, tools like traceability become more and more important. At zenGate, we believe that traceability should be utilized for many different purposes (some of which lie outside of the scope of the platforms we are building), as such open-sourcing the tools will enable developers and projects to build solutions to meet such demands.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

In the short to medium term, more projects will be able to build bigger and better systems without utilizing as many resources they would have to have before these toolkits were available. Additionally, projects from the outside looking in to see which ecosystem is best for them to build their products on will see that this toolkit enables them to roll out traceability and tokenization solutions on cardano with great ease. 

Some of the quantitative and qualitative metrics in the short to medium term include:

• How many real world tokenization projects utilize these modules instead of building their own bespoke solutions?
• How frequently are community developers evolving the toolkit?
• Do we see an increase in tokenization and trace-related projects within the Cardano ecosystem?

In the long-term, our north star for success is seeing an increase of projects looking to build on Cardano and within Cardano that are leveraging more real world use cases and broadening mass adoption for the ecosystem. This includes metrics such as :

• Increasing TVL from tokenized real world assets
• New libraries and modules being developed outside of the scope of this proposal
• Other projects, developers and businesses from outside the Cardano ecosystem leveraging the Winter Protocol as the preferred trace and tokenization protocol.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Github updates:

The project will be fully open source, with any changes visible through the Winter Protocol Cardano Github.

Regular communication and initiatives:

The project will share regular updates with the community regarding which modules are available and which modules will be available.

The project will also come with documentation and a playbook aimed at seamless roll-out in such a way that others can contribute to the playbook, making sure that the project evolves beyond its initial conception.

These initiatives include:

1. Create an early adopter Pioneers group to implement the the protocol
2. Create a developer group to audit and evolve the code
3. Have projects looking to build already building traceability and tokenization framework utilize the sandbox
4. Work with other projects using tokenization and traceability to create more specific templates for use with winter protocol

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Subject matter experts deploying enterprise grade traceability and tokenization technology

The zenGate team has successfully conducted a number of pilots including a trace and tokenization pilot with one of the largest gold wholesalers in Thailand. This involved building a custom traceability workflows using the Winter Protocol Modules. We are in the process of piloting some of this technology on the ground in Sri Lanka working closely with small producers and factories.

We believe that we have the unique expertise and understanding regarding compliance, technology and customer requirements for delivering traceability and tokenization solutions.

Demonstrated traction to date, delivering open-source projects

The team as well have a strong track record delivering project. Some of the open source projects team members on this proposal have completed or currently working on include:

• Lilium
• GuapSwap
• Phoenix Finance
• ErgoNames
• Ergpy
• Rosen Bridge

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Project goals:

Build the following features:

• NFT tokenization and traceability toolkit aimed for a virtually plug and play solution.
• NFT collection and traceability workflow creator.
• Minting utility optimized for creating traceability specific NFT collections and NFT workflows.
• API toolkit for easy integration with any front end.
• Developer and adopter sandbox

Validation of approach:

• Delivery of the MVP. 
• Delivery of modular upgrades and updates. 
• Creation of a community auditor group.
• Creation of an early adopter group.
• Delivery of the most relevant template suite. 
• Delivery of knowledge base and roadmap.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Workstream 1: Modular Open Source Library | Weeks 1-12

• Create github library under open-source standards
• Define the scope and requirements for the modular components library
• Identify and design tokenization schemas
• Identify and design traceability schemas
• Develop tokenization and traceability tooling
• Create an explorer and viewer for on-chain assets
• Test and iterate on the modular components
• Document the usage and integration of the library

Workstream 2: Building APIs for easy front end integration | Weeks 6-12

• Determine the required functionalities for the APIs
• Design and develop APIs for server-side integration
• Design and develop APIs for client-side integration
• Ensure compatibility with languages such as Scala, TypeScript, and React
• Test the APIs for functionality and compatibility
• Provide documentation and examples for API usage

Workstream 3: Building example template libraries | Weeks 6-12

• Identify key use cases for template libraries
• Develop templates and prototype projects for each use case
• Document the templates and provide usage guidelines
• Test and refine the templates based on feedback

Workstream 4: Traceability solutions | Weeks 10-14

• Test and validate the plug and play solution

Workstream 5: Documentation and knowledge base development | Weeks 10 - 16

• Provide comprehensive documentation for the code libraries
• Document developer resources and best practices
• Provide deployment resources and guidelines
• Organize the documentation in a user-friendly manner
• Establish a knowledge base for common questions and issues

Workstream 6: Integration playbook and community education| Weeks 10 - 16

• Create a step-by-step sandboxing manual for project integration
• Create a community early adopters group
• Create a community auditor group
• Develop educational materials to explain the toolkit's features
• Gather feedback and address common challenges in the integration process

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Workstream 1: Modular Open Source Library

• Build a library with various modular components that can be used separately or in concert.
• These components will include:
• Tokenization schemas,
• Traceability schemas
• Tokenization and traceability tooling
• Explorer and viewer for on-chain assets

Workstream 2: Building APIs for easy front end integration

• Develop components that will be available to use server side or client side.
• Create APIs capable of being used with languages such as Scala, typescript and react

Workstream 3: Building example template libraries

• Develop templates and prototype projects aim for various key use cases so that projects don't have to start from scratch when creating their solution
• Develop documentation and explanation for the various templates than can be leveraged.

Workstream 4: Traceability plug and play solution

• Develop a plug and play, easy to use version of the protocol which will create solutions with limited coding requirements

Workstream 5: Documentation and knowledge base development

• Full documentation suite including information on code libraries, developer resources and deployment resources

Workstream 6: Integration playbook and community education

• Create a simple sandboxing manual aimed at creating step by step instructions for projects looking to utilize the solution
• Engage the community and provide some educational materials on the toolkit available

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Developer costs - 185,000 ADA

Majority of the total proposal funds will be allocated to the development of the various modules and toolkit. We anticipate this will require 3 full time developers over 4 months:

• 1x Senior Architect for 3 months: 40,000 ADA
• 1x Senior back end developer for 4 months: 85,000 ADA
• 1x Junior back end developer for 4 months: 60,000 ADA

Documentation and community education costs - 15,000 ADA

The remaining 15,000 ADA will be allocated to ensuring the documentation is completed and accompanied with digestible educational material to ensure the community and other developers are able to learn about the toolkit and the types of use-cases available.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The creation of this toolkit will essentially create a very low barrier of entry for businesses looking to utilize tokenization and traceability technology. There will be no additional costs for projects except for internal developing resources. This will allow for Cardano to have open source tooling that is aimed for large-scale mass adoption.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.