Open Source ReFi protocol & USDM with Plastic Credit

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Daniel Garcia

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

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Plastiks (Nozama Tech Ltd) is the main applicant and is represented by its CTO, Daniel Garcia and its CEO, André Vanyi-Robin. 

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

198000

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

7

[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)

We will build an open source ReFi protocol provide a mechanism for funding the Plastiks recovery entities that can be used for any other regenerative finance project. 

[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?

Yes

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

The whole project will be open source and available for everybody to use

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation 

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth 

SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure 

SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities 

SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production 

SDG 13: Climate action 

SDG 14: Life below water 

SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

About Plastiks: 

 

Link to the Corporate presentation HERE 

 

Plastic waste in the environment is a 350 million ton per year problem and downstream collection systems and recycling infrastructure needs to be improved and, in many countries, built out.  

 

Plastiks.io provides is a plastic waste recovery tracking platform that includes (currently the solution is built & working on the CELO blockchain): 

• Verifies the recovery and recycling of plastic from the environment. 
• Traces plastic waste from recovery to recycling. 
• Converts the waste recovery data into PLASTIC CREDITs that ensure transparency. 
• Offers companies and individuals the opportunity to sponsor plastic waste recovery. 

Plastiks certifies Plastic Recovery Entities in 20 locations around the world, enabling them to issue PLASTIC CREDITs on the platform. 

These entities recover and/or prevent plastic from reaching the environment. Once the plastic is recovered, they sell it to recyclers for its reintroduction in the industry or they use different solutions to give it a second life. 

Mission and Objectives 

Plastiks’ mission is to include plastic recovery in every economic transaction taking place during everyday life and business. 

  

The value for companies: 

Plastiks’ objectives for companies is to provide them with the ability to: 

• Take immediate and verified actions against plastic pollution to meet their ESG and CSR goals. 
• Incorporate environmental stewardship into their offering to meet customer needs. 
• Share the positive impact with their customers and increase their engagement. 
• Empower their customers to be part of the solution to tackle plastic pollution. 
• As plastic regulation increase, help companies be compliance and pay less taxes 

  

The value for Plastic Recovery Entities 

Plastiks’ objectives for Recovery Entities are: 

• To grow their positive environmental impact by increasing their activity. 
• To implement social goals, such as employing more people with low job opportunities, bring social dignity and inclusion to the community, and provide education about recycling and circularity. 

The Plastic Credit currently on CELO 

PLASTIC CREDITs are single count guarantees for recovering or preventing leakage and recycling a certain quantity of plastic from the environment. 

They are issued by certified Plastic Recovery Entities and approved by Plastiks. 

The proceeds from the sale of PLASTIC CREDITs are used to carry out a roadmap, providing measurable social and environmental impact on additional plastic recovery and recycling. 

 

A roadmap can consist of acquiring new machinery or equipment, hiring more waste pickers, increasing its salaries, opening new geographical areas, deploying medical camps to provide medical care for the waste pickers, and any other approved activity that provides a measurable impact on the recovery and recycling of additional plastic waste. 

 In practice, the core of the PLASTIC CREDIT on the Plastiks platform is the invoice that has been generated when the Plastic Recovery Entity has sold the recovered plastic waste to the recycler. The Proof of Payment, the Waybill and the Receipt from the recycler serve to verify the authenticity of the plastic recovery and recycling at various stages and locations. 

These documents are verified, and relevant information is uploaded on the blockchain. 

Technically, the PLASTIC CREDIT on the Plastiks platform is a Non-Fungible Token. 

A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on the blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, ensuring that PLASTIC CREDITs cannot be traded once they have been bought, as they represent an immutable amount of plastic recovered from the environment and put back into the industry. 

The positive environmental impact of the current solution is measured in terms of plastic waste recovered and all of the following key performance indicators: 

• Increase in employment for waste pickers 
• Improvement in work conditions for waste pickers 
• Improvement in living conditions for families of waste pickers 
• Increase in biodiversity resulting from the recovery of plastic waste from the environment.  

 

The focus of this proposal: 

This proposal will describe the needs for a REFI protocol based on the Plastiks activities. While we describe in details the plastiks usecase (build over several years of operation), this could be applied to many other RWA (real world assets) applications.  

Currently, Plastiks is manually conducting the recovery entity payments in Plastiks tokens. Specifically, this proposal consists of building on CARDANO the Plastiks ReFi protocol to ensure a more efficient process and in order to safeguard the entities working on the ground from price volatilityof the Plastic Credits.  

The Plastiks’ ReFi protocol is a mechanism that offers solutions to the challenges faced by those involved in the purchase and sale of PLASTIC CREDITs. It provides Plastic Recovery Entities and Holders opportunities to ensure revenue and contribute to market stability. 

The Challenges exist because Plastiks has been operating its platform since January of 2022 and is currently working with Plastic Recovery Entities in the following countries: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Greece, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Thailand. 

The challenges faced by the Plastic Recovery Entities: 

Plastic Recovery Entities, having sold their PLASTIC CREDITs and received payment in PLASTIK tokens, have found that the volatility of the crypto market affects their ability to secure funds in USD to execute their roadmaps. 

The social and environmental impact that Plastic Recovery Entities aim to achieve through its roadmap is at risk. Additionally, more plastic may not be recovered and recycled from the environment if the necessary funds cannot be secured. 

The token's price is subject to volatility and fluctuation due to factors such as supply and demand, investor and user sentiments, government regulations, and media hype. 

Challenges faced by the Token Holders: 

Since the PLASTIK token is a utility token, not a security token, Token Holders are unable to determine whether the underlying economic activity related to the buying and selling of the PLASTIC CREDIT is increasing or decreasing, other than the token's price. 

The decision-making process for Token Holders regarding whether to hold or sell is very limited. The exchanges where the token is currently freely tradeable (Lbank, Bitmart, Coinstore, Uniswap, and Ubeswap) lack fundamental publicly available information about the platform's economic activity. 

 

 

Challenges caused by Market Dynamics: 

The PLASTIK token, currently supported by the CELO blockchain, tracks the payment of PLASTIC CREDITs on the Plastiks’ platform and funds plastic waste recovery. However, beyond traditional indicators like liquidity, trading volume, and price, data on the 'adoption rate of the PLASTIK token' is missing. This absence of information creates uncertainty regarding the token's overall footprint and its true value. 

 

The Solution 

Background: 

Employ the CARDANO stable coin USDM as a store of value to combine the benefits of cryptocurrencies, including fast transactions and decentralization, with stability that mitigates the price volatility seen with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. 

The USDM fiat-backed stablecoin, an essential tool for Cardano. USDM serves as a base asset for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and enables instant on-chain payments. Our vision is to be a scalable catalyst for the growth and adoption of the entire Cardano ecosystem. 

Users can swiftly send and receive payments using CARDANO´s USDM stable coins with minimal fees, making them apt for remittances and everyday transactions.  

How the solution should work: 

• Each time a PLASTIC CREDIT is sold on the Plastiks platform: 
• Twenty percent (20%) is sent to Nozama Tech Ltd, owner of the Plastiks platform and technology. 
• Eighty percent (80%) is sent to the Plastic Recovery Entity, issuer of the PLASTIC CREDIT. 

The ReFi Protocol establishes a payment mechanism of 80% of the PLASTIC CREDIT sale value to the Recovery Entities. The steps to activate it are the following: 

 

1. A transaction for PLASTIC CREDITs is made on the Plastiks platform. 
2. A holder of CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) lends seventy-two percent (72%) of the sale value to the Smart Contract, expecting to earn interest. 
3. A holder of the PLASTIK token lends seventy-eight percent (78%) of the sale value to the Smart Contract, expecting to position their tokens for a sale at a specific price and to earn an interest. 
4. The Plastiks ReFi Smart Contract uses the lent CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) from holders to purchase two percent (2%) of PLASTIK tokens in the market. 

 

In summary, the payment of eighty percent (80%) received by the Plastic Recovery Entity in PLASTIK Tokens at the moment of selling its Plastic Credit comprises: 

• Seventy-eight percent (78%) from PLASTIK holders who lent their tokens. 
• Two percent (2%) of PLASTIK Tokens purchased in the market with the lent CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM). 

Eighty percent (80%) of the PLASTIC CREDIT sale value is transferred to the Plastiks ReFi Smart Contract, which converts the PLASTIK tokens into CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) and locks them for forty-five days (45). 

 

Over a 45-day period, the Recovery Entities, after receiving PLASTIK tokens from the sale of their PLASTIC CREDITs, have the option to trade all their PLASTIK tokens and secure a guaranteed seventy percent (70%) in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM). Alternatively, they can sell their PLASTIK tokens on any of the exchanges where it is traded, such as Lbank, Bitmart, Coinstore, or any exchange where the token is listed. 

 

This ensures the execution of the roadmap and the achievement of social and environmental goals, independent of the price and market conditions of the PLASTIK token. 

 

SCENARIO 1 

If the Plastic Recovery Entity returns the tokens before 45 days to the Smart Contract: 

1. Eighty percent (80%) of the sale value in PLASTIK tokens is returned by the Recovery Entity to the Plastiks ReFi Smart Contract. 
2. Seventy percent (70%) of the sale value is paid to the Recovery Entity in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) from the locked funds in the Smart Contract. 
3. Seventy-two percent (72%) of the sale value in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) is returned to the CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) Holder from the locked funds in the Smart Contract 
4. Half a percent (0.50%) of the sale value is paid in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) as an interest to the CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) Holder from the locked funds in the Smart Contract. 
5. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of the sale value is returned to the PLASTIK Holder who lent their tokens to the Plastic Recovery Entity 
6. Five percent (5%) of the sale value is paid in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) as an interest to the PLASTIK Holder from the locked funds in the Smart Contract 
7. Half a percent (0.50%) of the sale value is sent in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) to Nozama Tech Ltd. as a license fee from the locked funds in the Smart Contract 
8. Two percent (2%) of the sale value is used to purchase PLASTIK tokens on the market through tradeable exchanges (Lbank, Bitmart, Coinstore, Uniswap, and Ubeswap) using the locked CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) in the Smart Contract. 

 

This additional market purchase of PLASTIK tokens complements the earlier two percent (2%) purchase, made when the eighty percent (80%) of the sale value in PLASTIK tokens is sent to the Smart Contract for conversion and locking in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM). 

 

SCENARIO 2 

If the Plastic Recovery Entity chooses not to return its PLASTIK tokens to the Smart Contract during the 45-day period, and instead sell them on the market through tradeable exchanges: 

1. Eighty percent (80%) of the sale value in PLASTIK tokens is sold by the Plastic Recovery Entity on the market through tradeable exchanges (Lbank, Bitmart, Coinstore, or any exchange where the token is listed). 
2. Seventy-two percent (72%) of the sale value in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) is returned to the cUSD Holder from the locked funds in the Smart Contract. The CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) Holder earns an interest based on how much PLASTIK tokens the ReFi Smart Contract has from all the two percent (2%) of tokens when the Plastic Recovery Entities return the tokens. 
3. The PLASTIK Holder has sold its tokens at the desired price and obtains seventy-eight percent (78%) of the sale value in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM). 

 

WHO USES THE REFI PROTOCOL? 

The Plastiks’ ReFi Protocol is to be used by Plastic Recovery Entities to guarantee their income from the sale of their PLASTIC CREDITs whilst ensuring the traceability and transparency of payment for the activity of plastic waste recovery. 

 

Plastiks’ ReFi Protocol is to be used by holders of PLASTIK tokens to earn an interest and put their tokens for sale at specific prices. 

BENEFITS OF THE REFI PROTOCOL 

For Plastic Recovery Entities  

Guaranteeing seventy percent (70%) of the PLASTIC CREDIT's sale value over a period of forty-five days, regardless of crypto market conditions, thereby hedging their revenues against market volatility. 

This ensures that the Plastic Recovery Entities can collect the necessary funds in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) to execute their roadmaps and to provide social and environmental impact. 

 

For PLASTIK token holders  

The ability to earn interest in CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) without risking their token capital. 

They can set their desired selling price for their tokens without impacting the market price. Their tokens are staked in the smart contract, ready to be paid out to the Plastic Recovery Entities at the Holder's chosen lending or selling price. 

With the Smart Contract central to the payment process for Plastic Recovery Entities, Holders can monitor the underlying economic activity associated with the buying and selling of PLASTIC CREDIT. This access to transparent information enables them to make informed decisions about whether to hold or sell their tokens. 

 

For the market and crypto traders 

To have access to information, found on the Smart Contract, which shows the growth of the adoption rate of the PLASTIK token' through the amount of CARDANO STABLE COIN (USDM) locked in it. 

The publicly available data on the adoption rate will offer insight into the overall footprint of the token, thereby revealing its true value. 

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

Plastiks will be a driver for expanding the CARDANO community in the realm of real-world assets.  

 

Real-world assets, also called RWAs, are tokens that represent certain physical assets. It can be as property, objects, bonds or others. Just like other tokens, these function on the blockchain through smart contracts, and one token can amount to a whole object as well as its part. In the case of plastic recovery, A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on the blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, ensuring that PLASTIC CREDITs cannot be traded once they have been bought, as they represent an immutable amount of plastic recovered from the environment and put back into the industry. 

 

These Plastic credits are being adopted by corporates and in time will be adopted by institutions as well as recognized by the consumer markets as legitimate units of measure of plastic waste recovery and sources of funding for said plastic waste recovery. 

 

The CARDANO community will increase at a global scale due to its relevance in the Plastic Credit market. 

 

Among Plastiks´ clients you can already find Barcelona Football Club, Danone, CBRE, Rosita Beer, MQ Dent, Century 21 and this is just the beginning 

[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?

We do the development in-house and everything existing on the Plastiks ecosystem has been built by us. We want to bring the whole ecosystem into Cardano, including new customers that will bring more users. 

To date, Plastiks has developed and deployed a fully operational plastic credit marketplace that has been validated by many customers and most significantly by the Barcelona Football Club.  

The Plastiks platform is fully operational, running at 100% efficiency, enabling recycling entities to issue credits for plastic recycling. This mechanism allows both individuals and businesses to acquire these credits, ensuring the recovery of plastic and providing crucial funding to recycling entities. This support empowers them to achieve their long-term objectives and drive meaningful environmental change. 

Moreover, NFC collection creators are offered a valuable avenue through Plastiks to develop sustainable collections. Each purchase of an NFC guarantees the recovery of a specific quantity of plastic, endorsing responsible environmental stewardship. This forward-thinking model not only elevates the intrinsic value of each NFC collection but also directly contributes to the conservation of our planet. 

Additionally, it is planned for Plastiks credits to be purchasable with Ada and other coins within the Cardano network. This integration aims to enhance accessibility and flexibility for users, fostering a wider adoption of sustainable practices within the blockchain community. By leveraging the Cardano network's capabilities, Plastiks is set to bridge the gap between environmental sustainability and cryptocurrency, marking a significant step forward in eco-friendly blockchain initiatives. 

The process of developing and implementing the marketplace was done over a period of 2 years and has been able to integrate twenty waste recovery entities in twenty different countries with Barcelona Football Club and their fans.  

Additionally, work has been done to develop and deploy ecommerce tools on the blockchain to acquire Plastic Credits. Specifically, a Shopify App on CELO blockchain was deployed to allow buyers to recover plastic when buying products from any Shopify ecommerce store front.  

 

Additionally, a subscription platform for businesses and individuals has been developed and deployed to enable small businesses and individuals to recover plastic by buying plastic credits in a recurring format with Apple Pay, Google Play or with Credit Cards. 

All of these functionalities would be deployed on CARDANO. 

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

Policy script definition and implementation in the test environment to define the liquidity pool linked to the resource. When there is a purchase, the creator receives the tokens and can exchange them later on for stable coins. 

Milestone output(s) 

• Onboarding to project catalyst
• Smart contracts of the protocol in Github 

 

Acceptance criteria  

• The smart contracts of the protocol are uploaded in Github with tests 
• The smart contracts are deployed in testnet for Plastiks 

 

Duration: 8 weeks 

Create the UI and backend integration for the lender, that interacts with the smart contracts, where the user can lend the money and get the profit once the resource has been bought. 

Backend to handle the connectivity between the smart contracts and the UI, and deploy in the test environment 

Milestone output(s) 

• Backend in Typescript uploaded in Github 
• UI in React JS uploaded in Github 

 

Acceptance criteria  

• The code is uploaded in Github 
• User can connect with their Cardano wallet to the ecosystem, lend money and get the profit in testnet 

 

 

Duration: 6 weeks 

Create the UI and backend integration for the supplier, that interacts with the smart contracts, where the user can get paid in custom tokens after selling their product and get stablecoin after a period of time. 

 

Backend to handle the connectivity between the smart contracts and the UI, and deploy in the test environment 

Milestone output(s) 

• Backend in Typescript uploaded in Github 
• UI in React JS uploaded in Github 

 

Acceptance criteria  

• The code is uploaded in Github 
• User can connect with their Cardano wallet to the ecosystem, get paid when selling the resource and get stable coins after a period of time 

 

 

Duration: 6 weeks 

Create a simple dashboard to see the activity of the protocol where everybody can see what is going on. 

 

In the case of Plastiks the KPIs to show will be: 

• How much plastic has been recovered 
• How much money there is lent in the pool 
• Who is next on the list to lend money 

Milestone output(s) 

• Backend in Typescript uploaded in Github 
• UI in React JS uploaded in Github 

 

Acceptance criteria  

• The code is uploaded in Github 
• The dashboard show the activity of the ReFi protocol displaying the KPIs mentioned above 

 

 

Duration: 4 weeks 

Implement the protocol for the Plastiks use case and onboard all the stakeholders, lenders and recovery entities

Milestone output(s) 

• Example of usage with a real case for Plastiks 

 

Acceptance criteria  

• The protocol is deployed in production for the use case of Plastiks 
• The Plastiks ecosystem starts using it 

 

 

Duration: 4 weeks 

Create the documentation for everybody to use the protocol, the closing video and wrapping up 

Milestone output(s) 

• Documentation about the protocol 
• Closing report 
• Closing video 

Acceptance criteria  

• Documentation to use the protocol is available 
• Application is live on Cardano 
• Closeup video and report 

 

Duration: 4 weeks  

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

Current team members: 

 

We will use the Plastiks team to work on this project because the key team members have been working together for the last three years. In addition, we will partner with other strategic Cardano partners like NMKR and the Cardano Foundation. We are also in contact with  Cardano developer teams in India and with teams related to the Gimbalabs community, in case any technical support is needed  

 

Daniel Garcia, CTO, Project LEAD on all CARDANO matters. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danigarciaperez/ 

 

 

André Vanyi-Robin, CEO: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrevanyirobin/ 

 

Agustin Borthwick, Plastiks Verification, Methodology and Audit 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/agustin-borthwick-a68575140/ 

 

 

Ana Aguilar, Operations Director 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anaguilarmeca/ 

 

 

Raúl, Sr. Developer  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/raulvila/ 

 

 

Andrés, Sr. Developer 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andresmalopez/

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

Assumptions: 

• Company hourly CTO rate: $90 per hour
• Company hourly senior rate: $75 per hour 
• Company hourly project manager rate: $50 per 
• Company hourly design rate: $50 per hour 
• 1 ADA = 0.46 USD (current price with slippage tolerance) 

 

 

Project Costs: 

• Development and testing (Milestones 1, 2,3,4,5): $75,180.00  
• Project Management / Documentation: 180 hours = $9,000.00 
• Partners onboarding: 40h = $2,000.00 
• Platform designs: 80h = $4,000.00 

 

 

TOTAL: $91.080.00 = 198,000 ADA 

BUDGET FOR EACH MILESTONE: 

 

Milestone 1: $20,280 => 44,086 ADA 

Milestone 2: $18,000 => 39,130 ADA 

Milestone 3: $19,000 => 41,304 ADA 

Milestone 4: $13,000 => 28,260 ADA 

Milestone 5: $12,800=> 27,826 ADA 

Final Milestone: 8,000 => 17,391 ADA 

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

The project will be completely open source with an example of usage for Plastiks, the protocol can be used by many other projects in the ecosystem that have a customer token and want to fund collaborators while avoiding big fluctuations. 

 

All costs represent the times and materials for the skill sets involved at all phases of the project, in order to have the Plastiks ecosystem on Cardano, bringing Plastic Credits to Cardano. 

  

The cost of this project has been meticulously calculated, aligning with current market standards and labor cost considerations within the blockchain industry. My development experience validates that the projected timeline adequately reflects the complexity of tasks and does not exceed the realistically incurred time. 

Considering that a substantial amount has already been developed, initiating this project 'from scratch' would result in significantly higher costs. The project is economically viable as it leverages existing resources and expertise, contributing to an overall reduction in expenses. 

Moreover, the project brings substantial benefits to the Cardano ecosystem. It not only enhances functionality but also makes a positive impact on the community, fostering sustainability and growth. This investment ensures long-term advantages for the Cardano ecosystem, delivering benefits to Ada holders, Pool operators and DReps, and increasing the number of Open Source projects and Cardano Developers within the ecosystem.