BitFins: Augmented Reality Mobile App For Displaying & Interacting With Digital Assets

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Tyler Shavalier

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

tyler@bitfins.io

Additional applicants

N/A

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

2

[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?

No

[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?

No

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

Our main app will not be open source but we will be open-sourcing our method of displaying digital assets within game engines/mobile apps over time as we polish up our system to be more user and coder friendly. We would expect to get the first bits of open-sourced code out by end of 2023 while also collaborating with other game developers in the Cardano ecosystem as well as other chains to provide materials that allow for cross-chain asset interactions.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

NFTs

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Adoption of blockchain technology and digital assets is very strained in current form due to the lack of use-cases and interest from mainstream audiences. The general consensus is that the entire industry/concept is a scam or misleading and there is no value in it.

We have already built an aquarium app starting in late October 2021 that has given full user customization of digital worlds with all of their NFTs from 6 blockchains simultaneously (Arbitrum, Avalanche, Cardano, Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon.) Our developers are fully in-house alongside our artists, UI designers, and growth team members.

We view giving people a fun platform to utilize any digital collectible they own to create provides a way to show mainstream audiences that blockchain and crypto are:

1) not a scam

2) can be a useful alternative to traditional systems

3) allow families to connect across age gaps in a unique way anybody can enjoy without financial incentives being the basis.

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

Our platform, specifically this mobile app, gives us multiple ways for impacting Cardano:

• Our target audience outside of blockchain is the entire aquarium industry and aquarium enthusiasts. In just the EU and US, that is a population of over 30 million households with fish as pets, leaving a large amount of interested parties being possibly integrated into Cardano in some form.

• Some of the largest mobile games in the aquarium industry are very cartoon based graphics loaded with micro-transactions and limited design elements. The biggest of these is Fishdom, which generated over $350M in revenue in 2022 and had over 49,000 daily active users in the middle of 2022 as well. The market for both aquariums as a decorative aesthetic for consumers and as a "gaming" app are extremely large and the demand is high from current consumers not in blockchain.

• Our app gives use-cases to virtually every digital asset on Cardano in an entertainment aspect that anybody can then use to show to their family, friends, or random people they meet as they travel. It is an organic way to be creative with your assets while also showing how powerful blockchain ownership and interoperability can be for the average user. We have those active integrations of assets from 5 other blockchains as well, which allows us to provide an interoperable network between all the chains we integrate together alongside all of the people using those.

• We have already achieved a 52% 180-Day retention rate on our web app with almost 700 users logged in at least one time since March 2022. Mobile apps are far more accessible and user friendly than computer apps, and we estimate that as we market to the aquarium industry and build these blockchain integrations in, we will likely have close to 10,000+ registered/active users by 2025.

In conclusion, we feel we have a huge upside to gain traction in the aquarium market as the primary alternative to traditional aquariums and can lace in Cardano digital assets as a foundational piece, with users being rewarded in assets redeemable on the chain as well. This provides channels for us to bring users back into the ecosystem even if they are initially turned off by the idea of crypto or digital collectibles/NFTs by purely giving a fun and interactive experience.

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

As stated above, the markets are huge for aquarium mobile gaming apps and aquarium enthusiasts which we intend to provide a lot of products and marketing to.

We have a current team member in charge of aquarium industry growth named Brett Raymer, who ran a $10M+ ARR aquarium manufacturing company and is the star of the show Tanked on Animal Planet, one of the highest rated shows on the network of all time. He has provided deep connections with all of the top content creators in the aquarium industry, who we have already met face-to-face and discussed possible future collaborations.

Our deep network makes us feel confident we can bring on a lot of people interested in aquariums and fish tanks traditionally and this would translate to what we feel is at least 5% of that market's population by 2030. This would be roughly 1.5M user accounts (5% of 30M households in EU and US) integrated into both our mobile and web applications and, in turn, directed to Cardano for purchasing or redeeming digital assets we would be distributing.

In terms of blockchain adoption, as we expand with integrating more chains into our asset compatibility, all of those users would now be exposed to visiting Cardano users who have made aquariums with their assets, which would then direct them back to marketplaces and other outlets to look into those Cardano native projects displayed in user aquariums. Long-term we also plan to allow peer-to-peer offer making regardless of chain, so users visiting aquariums would then be allowed to attempt to buy any of your assets displayed in your aquariums if they like them.

We can measure everything above through our user stats which are tracked through PlayFab, download analytics, sales stats over time as we come out with new collections, and user feedback as we see more of our community sharing their aquariums and digital collectibles on social media.

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

We usually share on social media and in video interviews our stat milestones like users of the app, holder stats for our collections, etc.

We would continue to provide that as well as in the future providing quarterly updates of project development updates and goals we hit/would like to hit in future months.

Our results directly contribute to features people would like us to integrate, which would also allow us to continually update this app for the entire Cardano community.

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

We missed on Catalyst funding in Fund 9, which was an ask of $20K USD to integrate the 5 other blockchain NFTs alongside Cardano in our app. After missing out on the funding vote, we received a private equity investment for that same amount and made the integrations live for the public in less than 1 month of development from gaining that funding. We are, as far as I know, one of the only application platforms live in the entire industry that has fully customizable 3D worlds with interactive elements that allow users to simultaneously access all of their NFTs from that many chains at once (especially with a Cardano integration.)

Our team has already estimated the timeline to make our mobile app with simple features would be about 1 month, so we feel in 2 months we could have it fleshed out, beta tested, polish the experience, and even get community feedback for additional features if we are funded for this proposal.

Even if we don't get funding from this Fund, we anticipate having the mobile app live by end of year for the entire Cardano community to enjoy.

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

Our long-term goal is to be one of the most user-friendly apps in the blockchain space as well as the primary alternative to traditional aquariums as a digital option.

Becoming the main digital alternative to the aquarium industry is a great target for us as there isn't currently another option available outside of cheap games that don't allow you to actually own or use assets.

As stated above in our metrics targets for Cardano, we anticipate striving for over 1 million users by 2030 latest, alongside forming strategic partnerships with large corporate businesses to provide custom branded aquariums for innovative advertising and branding.

[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.

• UI design and implementation

(already started concepts, planned to be finished by end of July/early August)

(cost of $1000 USD- 3600 ADA at current prices)

• 1 month of app development, feature testing, and beta launching for feedback (BitFins holders)

(would be within 1 month of funding received)

(estimated $10,000 USD - 36,000 ADA at current prices for dev work/time)

• 1 month of public beta launching (holders of select projects in Cardano) who will give feedback,

allow us to bug fix, add new features, and fix UI issues

(estimated $10,000 USD - 36,000 ADA at current prices for dev work/time)

• Fully public launch after those 2 months, final money received going towards additional bug fixes, feature requests, marketing and special add-ons/in-app reward items for early Cardano community member users. Full public launch is expected to be live roughly 8-9 weeks post-funding.

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

Each phase we would be publicly announcing releases of the app to the announced users during those stages, keeping it a low amount of users gated by specific communities first so we can get valuable feedback from dedicated users, and then finally ending with a full public launch to the broader Cardano community.

Our long-term intended outcome of this app is to provide an ultimate use-case for all digital asset collectors and a way to integrate people who are not in our brand/blockchain through the app itself by targeting users from mainstream audiences. We can track progress by just functionality working at each stage as intended and then allowing the rest of the community outside of our team to use it.

We will measure this through user growth in our app analytics, social media engagement, etc for impact on the chain long-term and announce our findings when capable. We will also market it through tutorials and fun feature updates to potential users.

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

UI/UX Design Additions & Revisions - $1K-1.5K USD (estimated max of about 5,500 ADA)

Dev Work/Labor - $23K USD (estimated max of about 82,000 ADA)

3D Asset Design (NFT Frame displays, Free special assets for Cardano Wallet users) - $2K USD

(estimated max of about 7,150 ADA)

Marketing - $1,500 USD (estimated max of about 5,350 ADA)

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

A mobile gaming app on average can cost around $21,000 to produce.

Our team is paid hourly ranging between $30-65 USD depending on their roles and these are based on fairly average industry standards for quality UI/UX designers and game developers. Essentially all of the money in this proposal is going towards paying our team to make the designs and for their time implementing code, with the rest going to marketing plans.

We are adding in a bit extra in case of price fluctuations between now and when funding would be received to compensate for ADA possibly dropping and also for possible extra development time needed in case of delays. We are providing a fairly innovative app, especially in the blockchain space, so it is slightly more technical than a typical mobile game app.

In return, if we achieve our userbase goals or even 1% of the aquarium industry as users, that would be over 300,000 active users. If on average each person only spent $5 as a consumer that would reflect as a possible value of $1.5M USD flowing through the Cardano ecosystem in some form returned from the initial money given to us to build this app through Catalyst. Whether users or monetary value, we provide possibility for huge growth in both through our applications and development work.

[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