NuNet: DIDs for Components in NuNet Ecosystem // Nunet will provide a mechanism for providers, consumers, services and hardware devices to uniquely identify themselves using DID’s and securely attach them to KYC + KYB data and service providers.

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Ilija Radeljic

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

ilija.radeljic@nunet.io

Additional applicants

Yitbarek Yohannes, MSc CS

Lead researcher and developer

Umair Ahmed, BE Software Engineering

Security Engineer

Kabir Veitas, PhD

CEO and lead architect

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

12

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

No

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

Yes

[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.” .

For the development we shall use only open source frameworks including: 

• Toolkits for working with decentralized identifiers (DIDs), DID-to-DID communication frameworks in p2p networks (e.g. Aries Framework);
• W3C DID specifications and supporting documents;

These technical dependencies do not require permissions to use outside Open Source licensing and are taken into account in our feasibility study. Therefore, integrating these dependencies will not cause any delays.

Authentication, KYC and KYB integration will require interoperation project partner’s (IAMX) technology and solutions, which will be done leveraging

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

Yes

[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 in line with our licensing policy.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

Other

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG Goals

• 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries

SDG Subgoals

• 9.1 - Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all
• 9.5 - Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Problem:

One of the reasons why Web3 solutions lack wide adoption is the requirement for user authentication and identification via KYC/KYB solutions and metadata, which is a legitimate requirement for specific application logic and business models but is difficult to implement in decentralized systems.

Unique solution:

Our solution will enable unique identification of each hardware, software and user-related component with industry standard DIDs and relate them to securely stored KYC/KYB data via integration with third party providers. NuNet platform will not host private data or require user authentication / identification. However, our solution will provide the ability for developers to build using an authentication layer and for users to voluntarily authenticate themselves as needed for specific models. 

Some business models or use-cases may require verifiable credentials and NuNet will provide this functionality via integration to third party products (IAMX). These use cases might include hosting or providing computing resources to governmental, public, enterprise or other highly regulated bodies where anonymity of a provider is not allowed by law.

Furthermore, NuNet is developing a capability-security model intending to use a well established capability model and User Controlled Authorization Networks (UCAN) specification, ideally suited for decentralized computing system infrastructure.

 

Detailed approach:

This solution will add new features on the existing NuNet platform. These features will enable each newly joined platform component (hardware device, software container, user, data provider, etc.) to be identified by self-generated DIDs, stored locally on each component’s metadata and propagated to the network as needed for network communications.

Via its set of Open APIs, the project will build an API layer for relating in-platform generated DIDs with third party authentication, KYC/KYB and verified credential sharing platforms. NuNet will store only self-generated DIDs on the platform for component identification, while KYC/KYB and verifiable credentials will be provided only via third party solutions and voluntary for usage on NuNet network. This will enable users to remain pseudonymous when needed but also allow strict authentication and secure credential verification if required by business models and use-cases.

The solution will solve the security issues, including the aspect that no private keys of DIDs are accessible to anybody except their owners. Assigning DIDs to all NuNet components, allowing to authenticate them and integrating into overall NuNet’s capability-based security model will greatly enhance interaction of components within the platform as well as enable further development of advanced functionalities (e.g. reputation infrastructure and APIs).

Preliminary entity diagram of the solution

Preliminary sequence diagrams of the main process of the solution

Benefits for the Cardano ecosystem: 

The project seamlessly integrates two native Cardano projects and their ecosystems – NuNet’s decentralized network of computing resource providers and IAMX’s framework for secure storage and retrieval of verifiable credentials. Implementing this project will open the ability to build many applications that require authentication / KYC / KYB layer and thus has a great potential to increase Cardano ecosystem usage for business and public purposes.

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

The proposal addresses the following directions of the challenge:

• Developing common tools, frameworks, core infrastructures, or proof of concepts
• Collaboration to improve interoperability within the ecosystem

The project develops the pseudonymous identification framework for decentralized platforms on which basis are self-generated DIDs. This will enable users to use the platform (which requires identification) without revealing their identities. However, the project will provide API level interoperability with authentication, KYC and KYB providers in Cardano ecosystem, which will enable projects and applications which require user authentication and credential verification due to the nature of their business models. 

IAMX partnership

One of the direct project benefits is the usage of the secure KYC/KYB solution of project partner IAMX, which will serve for the first real-world usage and reference implementation of the pseudonymous identity management system on NuNet platform. IAMX is developing their own KYC/KYC solution on the Cardano blockchain and uses a Cardano native token IAMX for their processes.

This partnership between two Cardano native projects will be a direct benefit for the Cardano ecosystem. In addition, when live, this feature will enable Elasticsearch use cases to be used by the wider Cardano community as well as anybody willing to deploy it on decentralized systems - NuNet.

More about IAMX: https://iamx.id/

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

This proposal is an implementation and can be measured with the increase of total number of consumers and providers using DID identification, total number of applications running on NuNet which integrate authentication, KYC and KYB solutions, as well as the number of users using these solutions.

NuNet will be monitoring the adoption of the solution and reporting direct interest and users during the project milestones. We anticipate at least 1 partner to be onboarded.

Some of the direct benefits to the Cardano ecosystem are:

• Computing resources used in the processes will be compensated in NTX, which is a Cardano Native Token
• Each exchange of value will be done as a Smart Contract on Cardano
• Currently over 2000+ people are in NuNet Discord testing the various builds of the NuNet platform

The indirect benefits to the Cardano ecosystem is:

• Other projects in the Cardano ecosystem will be able to develop applications which involve authentication, KYC/KYB and credential verification solutions and increase ecosystem usage;
• Since both NuNet and IAMX have Native Cardano Tokens, increased usage of their respective platforms through this integration will increase adoption and the number of users on Cardano network.

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

Spreading Outputs Over a Timescale

Our project plan includes clear milestones and deliverables, which will be shared publicly as they are completed. This incremental release of outputs will ensure a continuous stream of updates for the community.

This approach lets us provide updates on a regular basis, and offers users the chance to provide feedback that we can use to guide subsequent development.

Sharing Outputs, Impacts, and Opportunities

We intend to leverage various communication channels to share our project's outputs, impacts, and opportunities:

1. GitLab: The primary hub for our technical work, hosting our codebase, documentation, and issue tracking. This will be the main point of reference for the details of our project.
2. Social Platforms: We plan to regularly post updates on our progress on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit. This will include major milestones, bug fixes, and insights from our development work.
3. Technical Discussions: We will continue to hold weekly technical discussion where we discuss the technical aspects of our work. This provides a forum for live Q&A and discussion with our community.
4. Blogs: A regular blogs to summarize the progress we have made, highlighting key achievements and outlining the next steps in our project.

Testing and further research

As an open-source project, our outputs will be freely accessible for further research and development. We encourage the community's involvement in testing our solutions to enhance their real-world performance.

Community Testing: We'll invite our users to participate in alpha and beta testing phases, where they can help identify bugs and suggest improvements. We'll use GitLab's issue tracking for managing feedback and provide guidelines for issue reporting and feature suggestions.

Internally, we'll use project insights and community feedback to guide our future work, optimize performance, and prioritize new features. Our aim is to foster a collaborative development ecosystem that is robust, relevant, and of high quality.

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

Illustration of Capacity:

Our organization comes with a history of successfully bringing intricate technology projects to fruition. The pillars of our success lie in our deep-rooted technical understanding, stringent project management practices, and an unwavering focus on transparency and responsibility.

Our team is populated with seasoned software engineers with excellent skills to leverage containerization (Docker), and peer-to-peer networking (Go), Aries Framework, UCAN, GO, Python, Javascript. NuNet past work includes the implementation of projects similar to the one proposed here, showcasing our readiness to tackle the unique challenges this project poses.

NuNet is committed to Open Source Software development from the inception. Therefore, all our development and progress is available for public scrutiny at all times as well as open collaboration with the community. We actively invite and work with the community in regards to contribution, usage, work and testing of the platform codebase.

Link: https://gitlab.com/nunet

NuNet licencing policy:

https://docs.nunet.io/nunet-licensing-policy/

Openness and Responsibility:

We have established a robust framework to ensure openness and responsibility in the execution of the project and the management of finances:

1. Elaborate Budgeting: We present an exhaustive budget layout at the start of the project that details the fund allocation across various tasks. This leaves no room for ambiguity regarding the utilization of funds.

2. Periodic Reporting: Regular updates regarding the project and financial statements will be shared, offering complete transparency into the progression of the project and the use of funds.

3. External Auditing: We are open to audits conducted by independent third parties at regular intervals. This ensures responsibility and openness in our financial management.

4. Escrow Mechanisms: To further reassure proper use of funds, we can utilize an escrow service. This arrangement ensures that the project funds are held by a third party and released according to pre-set milestones. This provides an extra layer of assurance for the funds.

5. Payment Based on Milestones: Our payment structure is built around specific, agreed-upon milestones. This ensures that funds are released as we achieve these milestones. The completion of each milestone can be verified, ensuring you pay only for verifiable progress.

These measures reflect our commitment to openness, responsibility, and proper management of funds. We believe that these factors, along with our technical capabilities, make us an ideal choice to successfully execute this project.

We understand that not all steps we have implemented are valid for the Catalyst proposal but it demonstrates the internal working procedures we have in place.

Catalyst Experience

NuNet also has received the funding for proposals in Fund7 and Fund8. One proposal is successfully closed and the other is close to completion with one technical obstacle left to be solved. Overall, the funds were spent as intended on the development which can be monitored on Gitlab with daily commits since the award.

https://gitlab.com/groups/nunet/-/milestones/19#tab-issues

https://gitlab.com/groups/nunet/-/milestones/20#tab-issues

Financial Stability

As a 28+ strong team, we have independent funding to develop the core platform with a cash runway for at least 1-1.5 years. Cardano Catalyst proposals are used to extend the functionality and add features to the platform in order to enrich the possible use cases.

The financial report is publicly available and can be reviewed here:

https://medium.com/nunet/nunet-financial-report-2022-and-outlook-for-2023-405d38397629

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

Main goals:

1. Creation of DIDs for component’s unique identification and communication: The paramount target of this research is to formulate a structure for creation of DIDs and their usage for uniquely identifying the components across ecosystems. In addition to that we will research and develop integration of UCAN standards for providing capability-based secure communications in peer to peer network;

2. KYC and IAMX Integration: Provide the API to consumers, compute providers and users of the system to request, register and validate the KYC/verifiable identity for any component. Provide ability for application developers to build in KYC/KYB solutions into their dApps.

3. Improvement of User Interactions: We aspire to enhance the user interactions by integrating more computational capabilities into the Cardano ecosystem. This will unlock novel opportunities for developers and end-users, including the ability to execute sophisticated computational tasks on NuNet’s peer-to-peer platform.

4. Transparent Open Source Development: The endeavor will be pursued as a transparent OS initiative, advocating for community involvement and openness.

Feasibility Validation:

1. Operational Examination: The successful implementation of the DIDs and KYC will be validated via a series of operational examinations. These examinations will assess the capability of the framework to distribute computational tasks and execute them using shared resources.

2. Performance Indicators: To validate the adoption of the aforementioned system, we will assess several performance indicators, such as task completion duration and resource utilization, pre and post the implementation of the framework.

3. User Engagement: Improvement in user interactions will be validated through user feedback and user engagement indicators. User surveys will be conducted and feedback on the enhanced capabilities provided by the distributed resource augmentation framework will be collected. The organization of this is done via the NuNet Community Developer program accessible via public Discord server.

4. Transparent Open Source contributions: The transparent OS nature of the research will be validated by the public accessibility of the research code repository and the number of contributions from the community.

[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.

Milestone 1: Project Commencement and detailed architecture design

• Main Tasks / Activities: 
• Forming the squad, building communication platforms, conducting weekly brainstorming sessions for comprehensive understanding of the Cardano universe and its latest computational offerings, identifying the prerequisites for a DID, KYC/KYB on IAMX solution implementation and UCAN research, drafting a comprehensive project blueprint and architecture design, and conducting a practicability study based on the specified prerequisites and available resources.
• Understanding IAMX and its capabilities and implementation details.
• Expected Delivery Time: 2.5-8 Weeks

Milestone 2: DIDs implementation as defined in architectural design

• Main Tasks / Activities:
• Implement solutions outlined in architectural design for assigning DIDs for each component of the platform;
• Update core platform components and communication protocols accordingly, considering IAMX integration and future pseudonymous identity management system and capability-based security architecture;
• Expected Delivery Time: 4.5-11 Weeks

Milestone 3: Implementation of integration with KYC/KYB solution offered by IAMX as defined in architectural design

• Main Tasks / Activities:
• Based on the results of Milestone 2, implement API level integration with third party KYC/KYB provider IAMX;
• Develop NuNet APIs for allowing compute providers and users to verify their credentials via IAMX KYC/KYB procedures;
• Develop NuNet APIs for service providers to request credential verification from users as required by their business models
• Expected Delivery Time: 4.5-12 Weeks

Milestone 4: Internal, external (IAMX integration) community testing and resolving additional issues

• Main Tasks / Activities: 
• Internal testing on closed testing network;
• Testing in cooperation with partner IAMX by deploying the service and their specific processes;
• Large scale community testing on testnet/preprod;
• Resolving bug reports and implement identified additional features;
• Expected Delivery Time: 4.5-12 Weeks

Milestone 5: Production release

• Main Tasks / Activities: 
• Release of the tested solution and features on the Cardano mainnet;
• Expected Delivery Time: 1.2-4 Weeks

Milestone 6: Technical documentation and result dissemination

• Main Tasks / Activities: 
• Crafting and releasing comprehensive documentation, conducting training sessions for users, providing initial support.
• Expected Delivery Time: 2.5-4 Weeks

Each milestone’s progress will be tracked through the completion of the stated expected results and the achievement of the anticipated impact. Regular project update meetings and reports will provide visibility into the project's progress, and any issues or delays will be addressed through the project's risk management process. The overall project management methodology will be agile, with regular sprint planning, daily stand-up meetings, and retrospective meetings. Key performance indicators will be defined to track the progress and success of the project. The team will regularly communicate with stakeholders and the Cardano community to keep them updated on the progress and gather feedback.

As an Open Source project all progress will be publicly visible with commits on Gitlab.

https://gitlab.com/nunet

Anticipated Challenges in implementation:

1. Integration Hurdles: Since our systems tech stack is vibrant we will have to use different libraries for DID creation and which we will have to synchronize across the platform.

2. Performance Tuning: Guaranteeing the system's optimal performance when dealing with distributed computational tasks will be a key challenge to overcome.

Risk mitigation will be done by constant monitoring and ensuring that the bugs and code is fixed in a timely manner. Visibility via dashboards and Gitlab commits.

3. Security: This system has Assumption: Orchestration and metadata involved in that regarding the machine is validated beforehand or we can use the following to make sure the person claiming to be providing the identity proof is the same person.

• We can use DIDcom
• OIDC

Furthermore, the communication for Orchestration is secure and not prone to MITM

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

Milestone 1: Project Commencement and detailed architecture design

• Deliverables:
• Project blueprint, general architecture and applied research, practicability analysis, project roadmap, defining risk management strategy and resource allocation plan.
• Outcomes:
• Detailed documents of all strategies, including a timeline, resource distribution, and dependencies.

Milestone 2: DIDs implementation as defined in architectural design

• Deliverables: 
• Implementation of DID architecture as defined in design on NuNet and Cardano testnet;
• All core platform components updated as needed;
• Outcomes:
• DID Solution deployed on the NuNet and Cardano testnets and ready for community testing, feedback and improvement;

Milestone 3: Implementation of integration with KYC/KYB solution offered by IAMX as defined in architectural design

• Deliverables: 
• Implementation of KYC/KYB integration with NuNet partner’s IAMX solution as defined in architectural design on NuNet and Cardano testnet;
• All core platform components updated as needed;
• Outcomes:
• KYC/KYB solution and IAMX integration are deployed on the NuNet and Cardano testnets and ready for community testing, feedback and improvement;

Milestone 4: Internal, external (IAMX integration) community testing and resolving additional issues

• Deliverables:
• Extensive testing of the system under different conditions and gathering feedback to make improvements to the system specified in a documented format; fixes based on the community testing
• Outcomes:
• A reliable and robust system that meets the defined requirements and delivers the desired functionality; community testing will involve both NuNet, IAMX and possibly larger Cardano community

Milestone 5: Production release

• Deliverables:
• Deployment of the finalized and tested system on the Cardano mainnet.
• Outcomes:
• A live, functioning system on the Cardano mainnet enabling customers, computer providers and users to identify themselves with DIDs and provide verifiable credentials via integrated KYC/KYB solution of project partners IAMX.

Milestone 6: Technical documentation and result dissemination

• Deliverables: 
• Prepared comprehensive technical and usage documentation for users and community developers;
• Outcomes:
• Users are trained and informed on how to effectively use the system, self-generate and securely store their DIDs, verify via KYC/KYB integration with IAMX and request verifiable credentials as needed for applications and business models

Each milestone’s progress will be tracked through the completion of the stated expected results and the achievement of the anticipated impact. Regular project update meetings and reports will provide visibility into the project's progress, and any issues or delays will be addressed through the project's risk management process. The overall project management methodology will be agile, with regular sprint planning, daily stand-up meetings, and retrospective meetings. Key performance indicators will be defined to track the progress and success of the project. The team will regularly communicate with stakeholders and the Cardano community to keep them updated on the progress and gather feedback.

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

Each project is examined in great detail which can be seen in the proposed budgeting sheet. This results in pre-feasibility and feasibility studies which minimize the risk of budget overruns.

Project management in NuNet is on a high level with employed techniques such as Agile, Scrum, CCPM and others resulting in a good daily overview of the project progress.

The project is complex and involves research and development uncertainties however, NuNet is a well funded deep tech startup and in case of budget overruns will continue to develop until delivered due to this being a critical part of the overall NuNet development plan. This is evidenced by the funding received in Cardano Catalyst Fund 7 and 8 where NuNet has continued the work despite the substantial unexpected technical roadblocks and time impact.

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

The costs of the project are based on the average salary levels of engineers currently employed by NuNet. Since the team is fully distributed and remote, it is challenging to have an suitable median cost that covers the range of countries (India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Brasil, Egypt, UAE, UK, Italy and others).

We believe that the costs are reasonable and reflect the seniority and knowledge of various positions involved in the delivering of the proposal.

In line of full openness, in the budget table can be seen the very granular distribution of costs, all the way to the hours of each position for each milestone.

In addition, fully remote workers can compete for jobs in Western countries driving the individual compensation levels much higher than in their native countries.

[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.

I Accept