DocQ-mint: A secure option for onchain document storage and sharing

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Randall D'Souza

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co proposers and Additional applicants

AIDEV is a team of freelance blockchain developers managed by Eric Tsai. They specialize in providing contract services, with a particular focus on backend functionality. Our collaboration with AIDEV has a proven track record, including the successful development of the NFT-moments tool. As we move forward, we anticipate their valuable contributions to our upcoming projects.

[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] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

By building a secure upload-to-mint system paired with multisig/smart contract based sharing features, we will encourage the conversion of personal/private documents to NFTs on-chain.

[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] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Personal funds have gone into the MVP and research work for this project. This is expected to be become a central portion of our business model as we reach out to industry partners. We will provide limited periods of promotional access but this will eventuate to a pay to access service.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

The current issue is that NFTs have become pigeonholed as artwork or means for content creators to generate revenue and a follower base. Unfortunately this has also meant a lot of scams, copycats and imitators have been operating under the banner of NFTs constantly giving them a bad reputation. There is however, an obvious under-appreciation for the technology that underpins these immutable pieces of data. NFT's can be utilised for so much more than many of the current use cases.

 

We have already built a functioning MVP, a successful end user minter whereby individuals can convert a range of file types to NFT. This has been set up for personal use with no resale value (https://nft-moments.com/). We will extend the underlying technology to facilitate the minting of NFT's like any other NFT. However, the focus will be ensuring that even the NFT is stored on-chain, accessibility will be via mutlisignatory access or via smart contract whereby express permission to view embedded content will be given. The solution called DocQmint will be hosted at docqmint.io

 

This currently proposed solution is on the forefront of NFT technology currently available to the blockchain and would rapidly create the NEED or WANT for people to use blockchain. We intend to specifically establish this system on the Cardano blockchain simply because we intend for the system to become used globally.  The low minting and TX fees of Cardano makes it the blockchain of choice.

 

The solution is aimed at every single person who have personal documents and intend to create electronic records. Currently, storage to cloud servers and other similar solutions still have a greater possibility of failure, along with on-going fees to retain access. We aim to have a single upfront fee while only holding onto the content while the image is pinned. The user’s content will not be stored on our cloud or servers, further protecting their content from potential third parties. The goal being that only the owner or creator of the NFT has access to it’s content and they can choose to share this with individuals as they chose. We envision that such a system would not only work as a long term record store but also a pathway to sharing documents in an official capacity for example CV's, report cards, university certification, and passports, the list is almost endless.

 

We will initially reach out to schools and other small scale groups to incorporate personal NFT’s as progress reports. Similarly, we will reach out to law firms to supply minted contracts in addition to paper contracts to clients as a way to further remove paper trails while having a simple way to collate information in a single location.

 

In addition to volume of uptake for such a facility we will also measure success via the achievement of such a functionality. We purport that while the blockchain is great for transactional transparency, movement of personal information requires a degree of security that is critical to support movement of REAL WORLD information onto the blockchain. The project aims to blur the line between Web 2 and Web 3 onboarding users with low levels of complexity.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

The mission for this project is to onboard as many users into a truly novel use case for NFT’s within and outside of the Cardano ecosystem but also the general non-crypto enthusiastic portions of the population.

 

Quantitatively, we will be able to provide numbers of NFT’s minted through this system with frequent posts on our socials and to the wider community. The specific impact we expect this to have will be tied closely into the above. Furthermore, we expect this system to be incorporated into a range of functionalities. On the private back end we hope to also secure contracted partners to opt into bulk use of this service. This would mark the beginnings of a industry benchmark for how important documentation ought to be created, store and circulated.

 

Success will allow recruitment of 1-2 full time staff to ensure smooth running with ongoing upgrades and promotional usage packages.

 

Cardano is the SAFEST blockchain with the most ROBUST smart contract system with the lowest minting and TX fees. We are building this use case specifically on Cardano to contribute to the long-term success of the chain, both in adoption and utility.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Dr. D'Souza works in a funding based environment and is perfectly equipped to manage teams and ensure the delivery of products. To this end, he has collaborated and built a team of highly responsible and skilled individuals within the Trifecta management (a newly formed alliance of three NFT projects (Elysium Titans, Secret Bulls Society and Non Fungible Devils)). We have already built our own smart contract NFT marketplace which we tested for three months. While it worked perfectly the limited funds we were working with forced us to pause it. We take pride in our:

 

1) Professionalism: We have managed to pull in a highly dedicated core community and have successfully built high quality end user products - an example is nftmoments.xyz

 

2) Breakthrough technologies: We have alpha tested a tokengated arcade system that allows players to interact with old school arcade games IF they hold the eligible NFTs

 

3) Passion: We constantly seek partnerships and work hard to get seen. While the whole team currently holds down real world jobs we work extremely hard to ensure we can contribute to not only our communities but to the development of the blockchain as well.

 

4) Transparency: We have members from the community who constantly provide feedback on our operations and ensure we are building in a manner that puts people in front of ourselves.

 

Our main goals are to:

 

1) Refocus the narrative around NFT’s toward the potential they represent rather than using them for art pieces alone.

 

2) Establish a novel system for smart contract based permission based access to NFT content there by promoting the storage of personal and confidential documents on chain.

 

3) Onboard new users to Cardano via this pipeline of events, even via VISA or non native asset purchases.

 

4) To incorporate such a system in the generation of official documentation (alongside) paper copies as a pathway to long-term solutions of storage.

We have already perform extensive research into the outlined work and have developed a series of milestones to achieve successful completion of this project. Within each step we have also identified redundancies to ensure no single milestone would be a limiting factor toward completion of this project.

Furthermore, we have engage with a reputable team to build specific portions in tandem with in-house developers to best streamline the build process.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Step1: Basic web design and systematic layout of minting system. (0-4 month) (build out from https://nft-moments.com/)

• Completed, yet offline webpage for easy navigation and systematic layouts for consumer use.
• Market research around fee structure will also begin here.
• The webpage and streamlining of users experience alone will be a determinants of this step 

Step 2: Setup payment and NFT pinning to transient cloud storage (2-5 months).

• Link payment methods for smart contract minting to ensure NFT is created as soon as a transaction is signed (sent to designated address).
• Transient pinning usually takes longer for the NFT content to display but the data is also only stored in the could server while the content is pinned. Once pinned it will be deleted to ensure only the creator has access to the content.
• Established mint function with both Ada and Visa Pay options will determine success of this step.

Step 3: Establish two tier token privacy system (4-9 months)

• We have already conducted research around how this would work.
• Firstly a multisig option allowing both parties to sign for access resulting in a permanent access option. This could be used for sharing specific documents long terms.
• Secondly a smart contract sharing option will be established whereby the permissions of sharing will be set to a fixed period based on the duration we establish (likely 72 hours)
• Completion of both tiers of this token system will be required for the successful achievement of this milestone

Step 4: Create off chain/non native asset converter to allow minting (8-9 months)

• Integrate wallet connect options for other major chains whereby payment will be accepted
• NFT will be sent to a user defined Cardano address.
• This non-native asset function will be critical for onboarding new wallets and users to Cardano and will be the determinant for the successful completion of this milestone.

Step 5: Establish a partnership with 2-3 services who provide certification (6-12 months)

• Within the current funding we will also absorb the cost to provide ~1500 free NFTs to partners who standardly issue paper documents to also create NFT versions.
• This will be a great proof-of-principle and market test to establish the robustness of the service.
• At least one 3rd party partner or 500 minted NFTS will set as the benchmark of success on this milestone

Step 6: Large scale marketing and written documentation

• Being the first blockchain based service for such a use case, we will publish a Gitbook to describe the functionality and point of this tool.
• We will at this point also engage with larger institutions aiming to secure annual contracts in the range of 10-100k NFT documents minted per year. 
• The success of this aim will be abstract, but every added contract/partner will be considered a positive outcome.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Dr Randall F. D'Souza - Founder and Ideation.

At the Lead, Dr. D'Souza works as a real world academic and has been successful in securing >$2m USD in grant funding. The result of this funding has been 50+ peer review research articles that have informed not only funding bodies and scientific communities but also had a translation into everyday real-world knowledge.

• Responsible for overall project direction, strategy, and leadership.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-d-souza-710472133/ (LinkedIn)

 

Naeri Adam Fernandez - Full Stack Developer

• She is the CTO of Elysium Titans and Dev who built our marketplace alone. She will work on reopening the marketplace.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/naeri-adam-fernandez/ -

 

Matt Stephens: AI artist and graphic designer

• He works in law enforcement and is transitioning to AI art and graphic design.
• He also works on wireframes and user experences while pairing with the front end dev Naeri.
• http://linkedin.com/in/matt-stephens-34b3a5150

 

Eric Tsai - Contract backend developer from AIDEV (private consortium of developers)

• Built out the backend of https://nft-moments.com/ and will be the main dev to building security aspects of the service.
• Eric works with a team of 3 other developers who will assist the transactional and wallet connect systems required for this service.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-tsai-331baa20a/

 

Audie Martin - Full Stack Developer

• Audie works under the Elysium Titans banner and works in an integrated fashion between the front work and the backend work while also managing sprint reporting.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/audie-martin-659a83183/

 

 

Nathan Barkell - Marketing Lead

• Nate is the CEO of the NFDevils project and is one of the trifecta project founders.
• He is a school teacher who brings a passion and energy to the space that many want
• He has a strong twitter presence making himself available and often a speaker in many X spaces
• He will be Marketing lead on this project and will manage a portion of funds to run strategic campaigns during the various phases of the project.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-barkell-4879b62a1/

 

 

Monique Bercx - Legal advisor

• She is a long-term industry legal advisor and has been serving as a legal advisor to the Elysium Titans project for an extended period of time.
• She will help generate contracts between parties to ensure smooth completion of each partys' role per legal requirements.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/monique-bercx-6ab04027/

 

All software tools required will be purchased within the budget.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Step 1: $8,000

$4000 front end devs and wireframe for UI/UX

$2000 marketing and outreach for consumer feedback

$2000 software and tools.

Step 2: $20000

$7000 back end dev work to establish payment systems, address linkages and minting setup.

$7000 in house server set up for guaranteed clearance of uploaded info for guaranteed content security.

$2000 initial user-flow integration from back and front end

$2000 consumer alpha test and feedback

$2000 marketing

Step 3 $37,000

$9000 establishment of multisig mint functionality for docu-sharing but also option for safe doc storage if required.

$13000 smart contract NFT minting and content sharing.

$4000 UI/UX integration for easy of use

$4500 Alpha test and single partner onboard and testing

$2500 marketing to reach out to further customers.

$4000 legal contracts setup

Step 4-5 $27,000

$5500 linkage for all native fungible assest to be used for mint

$7000 establish non native asset functionality (conversion step to ADA via back-end)

$5500 2-3 industry partners for a round of testing mints plus onboarding users and associated outreach

$3000x3 - $9000 legal contracts for each partner

Step 6 $38,000

In house team salaries. Commensurate per time and experience.

All salaries and contract quotes are in line with US salary standards and fair pay systems.

Please note the prices of these services may change slightly and we will use either other grants or other cashflow options to try bridge the gap in the event we exceed our planned costs.

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

Cardano as a chain has very little to low users + interest in NFTs particularly due to low volumes. This indicates that in terms of a chain for circulating and encouraging content creation it is lagging.

Using the proposal we aim to refocus to the true intrinsic value of what NFTs truly are and what they can be used for. To leverage this there is no better chain due to the basic foundational values that have it setup for mass scale adoption.

We have requested quotes from a few external team while also using our internal resources. The prices presented reflect the best pricing but also the most ethically sound team we could find. This is based on our previous working relationship together.

Costings and salaries are quoted based on the standard bands expected in the respective line of work for each individual proportional to the expected time that will go into the specific nuances to complete this work. Our contract development team are amongst the best priced while also being established contributors to products in the space.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund 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