Iagon: Statur - Reputation Model for Cardano Ecosystem that encourages positive behavior

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Navjit Dhaliwal

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

Entity (Incorporated)

[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)

Statur: A system backed by Iagon's storage that securely tracks and manages on-chain reputations in web3, using karma points and badges to evaluate and encourage positive contributions.

[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

The following outlines which parts of the development will be made open-source, and which will not.

We will have the following open-sourced:

• Project-planning/research documentations
• Documentations and architecture
• APIs for querying will be documented 
• SDKs 

What won’t be open-sourced:

• Backend and internal logic

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Statur is an advanced reputation model that evaluates individuals or entities based on their positive actions and contributions on chain. It utilizes sophisticated data collection mechanisms and algorithms to calculate reputation metrics, assigning karma points and achievement badges to users. Statur is integrated with Iagon's decentralized storage to ensure secure data storage and to provide users with reliable, accessible information. Statur provides solutions for assessing user trustworthiness on lending platforms and decentralized exchanges; enhancing blockchain governance; and maintaining user quality in web3 platforms. The action plan includes tasks for data collection, reputation calculation, UI design and deployment, offering a secure solution for reputation management in web3 contexts.

Where are we at now?

We've created a reputation scoring system for Iagon, designed to gauge on-chain user engagement in the project. This system computes scores by assessing community involvement across different project dimensions, including stake pool delegation, token holdings, staking, token staking, product subscriptions, and liquidity provision. This system has allowed Iagon to reward its users according to their greater support for the project.

What do we want to do further?

In order to further enhance the reputation scoring system and expand it beyond Iagon to incorporate the broader Cardano ecosystem, we seek to:

1. Develop an open source reputation quantification and evaluation system called Statur, which can accurately quantify and evaluate the reputation of individuals or entities based on their on-chain actions, behaviors, and contributions within any specific project context or ecosystem.
2. Define metrics and criteria for measuring these activities in a programmable manner. These metrics will be used to calculate reputation scores and provide a comprehensive view of a user's reputation.
3. Establish a quantitative reputation metric, such as karma points, to represent the overall reputation of users. Karma points would be earned or lost based on specifically defined actions and/or contributions, providing a tangible measure of reputation.
4. Establish a qualitative reputation system through the use of badges. These badges will recognize notable achievements and provide additional recognition for users who have made significant contributions or achieved certain milestones.
5. Implement automated distribution mechanisms for karma points, upvotes, and downvotes. These mechanisms will ensure fair and consistent distribution based on predefined rules, avoiding any bias or manipulation.
6. Securely store reputation-related information and preset rules for reputation on Iagon's decentralized storage infrastructure. This infrastructure ensures data integrity, availability and privacy, providing a robust and reliable solution for managing reputation data.
7. Explore impactful use cases. These use cases include lending platforms, decentralized exchanges, blockchain governance systems, decentralized autonomous organizations, identity verification, token-curated registries, and web3 social platforms.
8. Effectively utilize the reputation model within the context of Iagon's storage and computational protocol. This includes selecting reliable storage providers, incentivizing quality storage provisioning services, reputation-based trustless data storage, efficient dispute resolution, and reputation-based governance/decision-making.
9. Develop the necessary components and APIs through an action plan that includes tasks such as reputation calculation, karma point system implementation, badge system implementation, automated distribution development, user interface design, reputation API development, contract development, and reputation update mechanism implementation.

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

The proposed solution tackles the task of establishing a reputation system for the greater Cardano ecosystem. It offers a transparent and reliable mechanism for evaluating the reputation of both project owners and participants. Here's an overview of how the solution addresses this challenge and the benefits it brings to the Cardano ecosystem:

1. Trust and Transparency: The reputation system introduces a trust layer by assigning reputation scores to project owners and participants based on their past behavior and contributions. This transparency enables users to make informed decisions when engaging with projects, reducing the risks associated with fraudulent or malicious activities. Users can trust the reputation scores as they are calculated based on objective criteria and verified on-chain data.
2. Enhanced Collaboration: The reputation system incentivizes positive behavior and contributions within the Cardano ecosystem. Participants with high reputation scores are more likely to attract collaborators, as their credibility and track record are readily visible. This fosters a collaborative environment where users can easily identify trustworthy partners and engage in meaningful collaborations, leading to the development of high-quality projects and applications.
3. Improved User Experience: Users can rely on reputation scores to evaluate the credibility and reliability of participants. This enables them to make informed decisions when selecting projects or individuals to engage with. The reputation system provides a valuable tool for users to assess the trustworthiness of the ecosystem's participants, resulting in a more satisfying and rewarding user experience.
4. Governance and Decision Making: The reputation system can be integrated into governance mechanisms on Cardano, allowing reputation scores to influence decision-making processes. This ensures that individuals with a positive track record and high reputation have a greater influence in shaping the future of a project and the greater ecosystem. By incorporating reputation as a factor in governance, the Cardano ecosystem can promote a more transparent and accountable user base, and merit-based decision-making processes.
5. Ecosystem Growth and Attraction: The reputation system adds value to the Cardano ecosystem by attracting more users and developers. A reputation system enhances the overall credibility and trustworthiness of the platform, making it more appealing for individuals and organizations to participate and contribute. As the ecosystem grows, it attracts more economic activity, innovation, and investment, solidifying Cardano's position as a leading blockchain platform.

In the case of the Iagon storage and computation system, here is the overview of the solution of the Statur Reputational Model.

The reputation model can be effectively utilized in the context of Iagon storage and computational protocol.

1. Selecting Reliable Storage Providers: Iagon decentralized storage provides solutions where multiple providers offer their storages. Reputation metrics can help users evaluate the reliability and performance of different storage providers. Users can choose providers with higher reputation metrics, indicating their track record of delivering reliable storage provisions.
2. Trust-worthy Data Storage: By integrating the reputation model, Iagon storage providers can ensure the integrity and security of stored data. Reputation metrics can serve as a measure of a provider's trustworthiness and their commitment to data privacy and protection. Iagon can have more confidence in selecting storage providers with higher reputation metrics, knowing that their data will be handled with care.
3. Incentivizing Quality Storage Services: The reputation model can incentivize storage providers to offer high-quality services. Providers can earn karma points and badges based on their performance, such as maintaining high uptime, providing fast retrieval speeds, and offering secure data encryption. This encourages providers to continuously improve their offerings and enhances the overall quality of Iagon storage services.
4. Efficient Dispute Resolution: In the event of disputes or issues with storage services, reputation metrics can play a role in resolving conflicts. Users can leverage reputation metrics as an objective metric to highlight concerns and seek resolution. Storage providers with a history of positive reputation may be more inclined to address and resolve disputes promptly to maintain their standing in the community.
5. Governance and Decision-making: Reputation metrics can be utilized in the governance of Iagon storage service. Users with higher reputation metrics can have a greater influence on decision-making processes, such as participating in voting on platform upgrades, proposing changes, or shaping the platform's future direction. This ensures that the community's most reputable members have a voice in the platform's governance.

In summary, the proposed reputation system meets the challenge in the Cardano ecosystem and Iagon storage application by instilling transparency, trust, and accountability. Its positive impact includes fostering collaboration, elevating user experience, enabling effective governance, and stimulating ecosystem growth. Collectively, these advantages cultivate a dynamic and prosperous Cardano ecosystem, establishing it as a trustworthy and appealing platform for users.

[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?

1. Track Record: Evaluating our past projects, partnerships, and collaborations can provide insights into their ability to deliver on our promises and meet our commitments. Looking for references, testimonials, or case studies can help gauge our track record of delivering successful projects and maintaining accountability. Examples of accomplished work are MVP for storage, testnet released for resource providers and multisender (LegerFlow). 
2. Reputation and Reviews: Researching our reputation within the Cardano community and wider industry can provide insights into our credibility and trustworthiness. Examining online reviews, ratings, and feedback from clients, partners, and users can help assess our accountability in previous endeavors. Examples of reputation are transparency models with our tokenomics via ADAHandle and allocation team tokens for the Nomad exploit. 
3. Team: Our team consists of experienced developers and experts in the field of blockchain and reputation systems. We have a proven track record of delivering high-quality projects with a strong focus on trust and accountability. Team co-founders include: Dr. Navjit Dhaliwal (has led 3 successful startups, increased revenue over 3 years from 0 NOK to 10 million NOK), Dr. Rohit Gupta (former director of technology for Expedia, currently a senior manager at Google, wrote thesis in decentralized compute in 2005), Dr. Claudio Lima (former CTO at Huawei in east asia, currently education governments and enterprises on Blockchain architecture) and Dr. Elad Harison (AI/machine learning expert, economics professor). The team consists of 19 developers, and can be expanded to a larger group if needed.  
4. Communication and Engagement: The willingness to communicate openly and engage with token holders, including the Cardano community, can indicate a commitment to transparency and accountability. Regular updates, community involvement, and responsiveness to queries and concerns can enhance trust in the project.

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

Architecture, Initial Data Collection Research, UI/UX Design, initial PoC

Time estimate: 2 months

We have already worked on the idea in a very preliminary stage with data collected for quantitative metrics for reputation score of Iagon users done through third party APIs.

For the first milestone, we will research further and omit the need of the third party APIs for Iagon while planning for the bigger scope of the goal.

• High Level Architecture and Research Documentation
• Research on qualitative and quantitative reputation metrics
• Data collection mechanism Research and PoC - Database, procedures and subroutines
• Design UI/UX components for the system
• PoC to display sample example metrics for a single project
• Plan contracts development

Deliverables for Milestone 1:

• High Level Architecture and Research Documentation
• List of possible metrics on documentation
• Figma UI/UX for the system
• PoC with mechanism on how data was collected, and the reputation score for users from the single project.
• Contracts high level architecture

NFT and Reputation Contract Development, and further development 

Time estimate: 2.5 months

Finalize qualitative and quantitative metrics with community feedback

• Automate data collection
• Reputation calculation algorithm - karma points
• Contracts development for representation of a user's reputation with Karma points and Badges - Soul-bound(non-transferable) NFTs
• Ongoing frontend and backend development

Deliverables for Milestone 2: 

• Final qualitative and quantitative metrics
• Automated data collection using db-sync, procedures and subprocedures
• Reputation calculation algorithm - karma points
• Proof of contracts submitted to audit company
• App on staging with ongoing frontend and backend development to showcase the progress of the development

Contract Audit/Implementation on a project and automate adding Projects to Statur

Time estimate: 2.5 months

• Contract audit, implementation of the changes requested by auditors; implementation of contracts
• Test manually adding a project to the system, and tracking reputation score of the project
• Automate adding projects, project metrics and calculate reputation score through UX
• Develop open-source SDKs to add projects through PRs
• Badges Design
• Algorithm to calculate overall reputation in the Cardano ecosystem for a user
• Algorithm to update and automate reputation scores and badges each epoch or month
• Ongoing frontend and backend development
• Community testers onboarding

Deliverables for Milestone 3: 

• Audit report of contracts with contracts published publicly
• Showcase addition of projects in the system automatically through MVP and using PRs - the MVP to automatically show the reputation scores in the frontend. Added projects to automatically have the metrics updated each epoch.

Subscription system for projects, Backend APIs, Frontend enhancements, SDKs for querying reputation data

Time estimate: 2.5 months

• For all projects and individuals, plan a subscription system with a free package for minimum compute necessity, and planning a subscription system according to the usage of compute 
• Develop APIs to query quantitative metrics and history for projects
• Allow querying data through SDKs
• Automated DevOps
• Ongoing frontend and backend development
• QA, security and other tests

Deliverables for Milestone 4: 

• Subscription system on frontend
• APIs published on Iagon API docs
• Project deployed on staging server
• Users able to add projects through APIs, frontend and PRs
• Users able to query through APIs, and SDK; and view their data of frontend with badges and points
• On-chain to show the metrics
• Community testing reports

QA, deployment and the final product

Time estimate: 2 months

Tasks:

• Testing and bug fixing
• Deployment
• Users onboarding

Deliverables for Milestone 5: 

• Fixed community testing bugs
• A tested, reliable system on live URL
• Onboarded partners and their initial feedbacks

Final Documentation and Review report

Time estimate: 0.5 months

Tasks:

• Create project completion report and demo video
• Detailed documentation

Deliverables for Milestone 6:

• Final documentation
• Project completion report
• Demo Videos

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

1. Navjit Dhaliwal, CEO
2. Devendra, Project Lead
3. 12 developers (2 Front End, 2 Backend Developers, 1 DevOps, 2 Testers, 1 DBA, 1 Project Manager, 1 System Architect; the team will be working on need basis) 

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

Total Budget: ($191,625)

We want to highlight that we pay our developers in fiat and price fluctuation will be taken into account before finalizing the ADA amount. Current estimate is based on price on May13, 2024. 

Average wage breakdown:

• $3500/month per full-time employee
• $7000/month for Contract Developer

Full breakdown: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1h-ceYRmVYT-_NydaJQ-Y8QnN0hd77Uw2e_rFYetMg4s/edit#gid=0

Milestone 1: Architecture, Initial Data Collection Research, UI/UX Design, initial PoC

Time estimate: 2 months (1 Project Manager, Senior Architect part time, 1 DBA, 1 Figma Designer part time, 1 Backend Dev, 1 Frontend Dev)

Budget: $35,000

Milestone 2: NFT and Reputation Contract Development, and further development 

Development time estimate: 2.5 months (1 Project Manager part time, 1 Contract Developer, 1 DBA, 1 Backend Developers, 2 Frontend Developers, Figma Designer part time)

Budget: $52,500

Milestone 3: Contract Audit/Implementation on Project and automate adding Projects to Statur

Development time estimate: 2.5 months (1 Project Manager part time, Outsourcing to audit, Contract Developer to fix audit reports, 2 Backend Developers, 2 Frontend Developers)

Estimated audit cost: ~ USD $15,000

Budget: $57,875

Milestone 4: Subscription System for projects, Backend APIs, frontend enhancements, SDKs for querying reputation data

Development time estimate: 2.5 months (1 Project Manager part time, 2 Backend Developers, 2 frontend developers, 1 QA with SecOps skill, part time DevSecOps)

Budget: $52,500

Milestone 5: QA, deployment and the final product

Development time estimate: 2 months (1 Project Manager part time, 1 Backend Developers, 1 frontend developers, 1 QA with SecOps skill, DevSecOps part time)

Budget: $28,000

Milestone 6:  Final Documentation and Review report

Development time estimate: 0.5 months (1 Project Manager)

Budget: $1750

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

The cost of the project represents value for money for the Cardano ecosystem in several ways:

1. Development of Reputation System: The project aims to develop a reputation system specifically tailored for the Cardano ecosystem. By investing in the development of this system, the Cardano ecosystem can benefit from enhanced community engagement, trust, and collaboration. Statur incentivizes positive behavior, discourages malicious activities, and fosters a healthy and vibrant ecosystem. This can attract more users and developers to the Cardano platform, increasing its overall value.
2. Improved User Experience: The reputation system will enhance the user experience by providing users with a transparent and reliable mechanism to evaluate the reputation of project owners and participants. This can help users make informed decisions, choose trustworthy projects, and engage in meaningful collaborations. By providing a valuable tool for users, the reputation system contributes to the overall satisfaction and engagement of the Cardano community.
3. Strengthened Governance: The reputation system can be integrated into Cardano's governance mechanisms, allowing reputation scores to influence decision-making processes. This can help ensure that important decisions are made by individuals with a track record of positive contributions and credibility within the ecosystem. By promoting a more transparent and accountable governance structure, the reputation system adds value to the Cardano ecosystem.
4. Increased Trust and Security: A reputation system adds an extra layer of trust and security to the Cardano ecosystem. Users can rely on reputation scores to assess the credibility and reliability of project owners and participants. This reduces the risks associated with fraudulent or malicious activities, fostering a safer environment for users and increasing overall confidence in the platform.

Overall, the cost of the project represents value for money for the Cardano ecosystem by enhancing community engagement, improving user experience, strengthening governance, increasing trust and security, and fostering ecosystem expansion. These benefits contribute to the long-term success and sustainability of Cardano as a leading blockchain platform.