MAV100: Opening access of the Cardano Blockchain to students through our Stake Pool Incubator Program.

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Cameron Smith

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

shaffalahien@hotmail.com

Additional applicants

Chris Geren

[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.” .

Yepple Labs has agreed to provide professional stake pool coaching for students, parents, and teachers to help decentralize the Cardano Network and make each stake pool more robust.

[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."

[METADATA] Category of proposal

SPOs

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

How you perceive the problem you are solving:

Students who want to use any of the potential tools of a blockchain have a severe problem. They have a very difficult time getting ADA. They can't buy it off of the shrinking list of exchanges unless they are over 18 and the number of alternative on-boarding tools has shrunk to almost nothing. Without ADA they cannot perform transactions, and therefore their is no ability to reap the rewards of this amazing network.

Please describe your proposed solution:

When the equipment and accounts for stake pools are donated to an ASB Club by MAV100, it immediately creates a channel for blockchain assets to be distributed to students throughout a school district in a variety of ways. ASB (Associated Student Body) Clubs are not for profit organizations that can engage in business related activities for the benefit of the students. For example: If we donated a chili cooker to a club so they can sell it at a school sporting event like a basketball game, they can keep the proceeds that they make and use them for a variety of student initiatives. The proceeds could go towards new computers in the computer lab, school supplies, scholarships for students, or for lunch on school field trips. All we need is delegation to student pools and the services of the blockchain can be accessed by thousands of students in any community around the world.

Your reasons for approaching it in the way that you have:

In this scenario the students are learning about a powerful new technology, becoming a solution for budget shortfalls in the school district, and earning their own ability to transact on this network by helping secure it. The amazing inclusivity of the Cardano proof of stake mechanism needs to be leveraged more to improve adoption by distributing ADA to more potential users. This model can distribute ADA to millions of students over the next few years, and we as a community just have to decide that greater adoption is the most important thing we can support with our delegation.

How will you demonstrate or prove your impact?

We will work with the ASB Clubs to show on-chain the ADA earned by ASB Clubs, and all use of ASB funds is public record, which we will detail on our website. As examples students will be able to use ADA to buy ice-cream from a local shop, or rent a paddle board at the State Park through partnerships with local vendors that are already in the works.

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

By supporting students to build their own stake pools inside of ASB Clubs MAV100 will be empowering thousands of students to earn their own ADA. The benefits to the Cardano ecosystem from thousands of young students gaining access to the blockchain would be enormous and this model can distribute ADA to millions of students over the next few years as we start more chapters of MAV100 around the world

What impact will this project have for Cardano besides funding the project team, and what value does it bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

We will be raising a generation of students around the world that will lead their communities and parents into a decentralized future. It will enable a vast new user base to engage with the blockchain as a payment rail system, a security layer for their own community telecommunication system, or even as base layer of their own personal ASB Club sponsored metaverse campus. Cardano is a network of many things, and the value of ADA needs to transform from a speculative store of value, to a gateway asset for transacting on the most powerful network in the world. We think that distributing ADA to the next generation will help usher in this critical transformation.

Please qualify or quantify the impact you believe your project will bring to the Cardano ecosystem.

We currently have 17,000+ students in 5 school districts earning ADA through ASB clubs in Chelan County, WA. We will start involving more districts as delegation grows in WA, with clubs in the Seattle Metropolitan area, Spokane Valley, and Yakima Valleys on the horizon this year, which could push us into the hundreds of thousands of students. We have interest in starting new chapters of MAV100 in Oregon, California, Idaho, Florida, New York, Alabama, and the Dominican Republic. This model could spread very quickly, and will only be limited by delegation to student run stake pools.

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

We have numerous measurable metrics. We are going to know the number of Stake-Pools we start in those schools, and we are determined to get 10 stake pools supporting ASB Clubs with Catalyst funds. We are going to know how much ADA is delegated to those Stake-Pools of which we will track local community delegations. We are going to know how many new wallets are created in each student stake pool alliance by students and their families. We will also keep track of ADA earned and distributed by ASB clubs. We intend for ASB Clubs to generate at least 150,000 ADA over the 12 month period, enabling transactions by thousands of students.

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

Displayed on the MAV100 website and announced through social media (Discord/Twitter/others) we will share the following results:

1) # of Student SPO's

2) # of Student Wallets

3) ADA earned by Student ASB Clubs

4) Use of Student ASB Club ADA

5) Delegation by local community members

6) Student use of other Cardano Projects and integrations with them

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

MAV100 is a WA non-profit operating with different school districts in a rigid regulatory environment. Everything we do financially is not only open on the blockchain, but open to the public in local jurisdictions. Concerning management of funds the founder of MAV100, Cameron Smith, has been successfully running businesses in WA state for over 20 years. All these businesses have been in full compliance with the law, and he has been involved with most WA state regulatory entities throughout his time as an entrepreneur.

Multiple ASB Clubs are already functioning, and a block has already been minted for students from the MAV100 stake pool. The students have generated over 100,000 ADA in local delegation to their stake pool and we have only just begun.

Yepple Labs has solid experience with running stake pools, and is capable of teaching the parents and students (4) already prepared to build their back-up and testnet nodes.

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

The main goals are:

1) Get 10 block producing nodes generating consistent rewards for ASB Clubs.

This will require roughly 10 million ADA in delegation. With a combination of Optim liquidity Bonds, Cardano Community Delegation, and local delegation we will be able to reach this mark by the end of the project timeline.

2) Assist in getting 10 ASB SPOs capable of running a stake pool competently and decentralize the network.

Through our Incubator Program, which uses Yepple's expertise to walk students/teachers/parents through the process of setting up a stake pool step-by-step, we will have capable operators who can support their school stake pools.

3) Enable students to generate over 100,000 ADA over the project period.

With 10 block producing stake pools students should be able to easily earn this amount within the project timeline. The number could be much higher, dependent on the speed of delegation, and the availability of Optim liquidity bonds.

[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 Months 1-3

Begin Stake Pool Incubator Program

(2) Total ASB SPOs created [52,000 ADA]

Milestone #2 Months 4-5

(4) Total ASB SPOs created [52,000 ADA]

(2) Total Student testnet nodes running from the Stake Pool Incubator Program.

Milestone #3 Months 6-7

(6) ASB SPOs created [52,000 ADA]

(3) Total Student testnet nodes running from the Stake Pool Incubator Program.

Milestone #4 Months 8-9

(8) ASB SPOs created [52,000 ADA]

(4) Total Student testnet nodes running from the Stake Pool Incubator Program.

Milestone #5 Months 10-12

(10) ASB SPOs created [52,000 ADA]

(5) Total Student testnet nodes running from the Stake Pool Incubator Program.

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

Each block producing stake pool should produce conservatively 2000 ADA per month to the associated stake pool alliance. Based on this:

Milestone #1 will begin the Stake Pool Incubator Program, and should be producing 4000 ADA / month for ASB Clubs.

Milestone #2 Will have added two new SPOs, and should be producing 8000 ADA / month for ASB Clubs.

Milestone #3 Will have added three total new SPOs, and should be producing 12000 ADA / month for ASB Clubs.

Milestone #4 Will have added four total new SPOs, and should be producing 12000 ADA / month for ASB Clubs.

Milestone #5 Will have added five total new SPOs, and should be producing 16000 ADA / month for ASB Clubs.

As a result we will have developed an inclusive way of bringing thousands of students who had little to no access into the Cardano ecosystem. Thousands of students will have ADA to perform transactions on the blockchain. All of this will be documented for use in new MAV100 chapters wherever there is demand.

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

120,000 ADA for one project manager. This person will travel to schools, start clubs, organize volunteers, and get students signed up for stake pool formation and maintenance classes. They will also go to school board meetings and have conferences with parents and promote parent delegation to student stake pools.  

30,000 ADA for remote hosting services so we can help students get these SPO’s started as easily as possible. ~1000$ a year per Stake Pool for remote hosting services. The most efficient way to start and run stake pools is to host them on remote services. Then for each alliance we will start a back-up block producing node on a local machine to help provide decentralization. 

90,000 ADA for Optim Finance liquidity bonds. For each SPO we start we are working out a deal with institutional investors who are interested in supporting our project. 

10,000 ADA for bare metal testnet nodes students can practice with and use as backups for block producers if remote services go down. 

40,000 ADA for a website and documentation on the projects we are working with. This documentation and the guides will be created and made for non-technical users. Having user friendly guides and information is one of the biggest roadblocks Cardano faces. 

We are asking for 290,000 ADA total.

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

Adding thousands of users of ADA in schools and the community as a whole is already happening using this model in our pilot region. Funding will accelerate this on-boarding effort across the state and across borders giving volunteers the ability to make adoption of the Cardano ecosystem the focus of their professional lives.

[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