The Worldeater: A global ADA escrow.

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Chinenyeze (CJ) Iwu

[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)

The Worldeater detects depositors, awards badges, and pays winners exclusively via cryptocurrency transactions. Increasing stakes ensure interactions are recurring, not isolated.

[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.”

The Worldeater has two main dependencies:

1. The IOG Marlowe Runtime (to fulfill the binding smart contract and facilitate transactions).
2. The Blockfrost API (to identify deposits into the hell wallet).

[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 potential to transition the project to open source is being considered, but it cannot confirmed at this time.

[METADATA] Horizons

CNFT

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

The Worldeater is a global escrow that operates exclusively on Cardano. Anyone, at any time, can deposit any amount of ada into a fixed wallet address. This wallet address is known as the hell wallet. The amount of ada within the hell wallet is known as the hell amount.

The 100 most recent depositors are tagged as active participants. Active participants are slated to receive a payout from the hell wallet. Each active participant's payout is their contribution divided by the others' sum - also known as the pool.

If the hell wallet does not receive a deposit in 72 hours from its most recent deposit, all the active participants are paid their dues via a smart contract.

Let's visualize this with a few examples.

1. The pool is 100 ada. You have contributed 1 ada towards the 100 ada pool. The hell amount is 1,000 ada. No one else deposits. You earn 1% of the hell amount, and are paid 10 ada.
2. The pool is 500 ada. You have contributed 250 ada towards the 500 ada pool. The hell amount is 25,000 ada. No one else deposits. You earn 50% of the hell amount, and are paid 12,500 ada.
3. The pool is 300 ada. You have contributed 4.5 ada towards the 300 ada pool. The hell amount is 17,500 ada. No one else deposits. You earn 1.5% of the hell amount, and are paid 262.5 ada.

The Worldeater serves as a practical, crypto-exclusive, and attractive interaction point for cryptocurrency transactions.

• Practical in the sense that there are no downloads, account registrations, or even browsers necessary to interact with the hell wallet; the barrier to entry is simply a cryptocurrency wallet.
• Crypto-exclusive in the sense that it is impossible to interact directly with the Worldeater via fiat money.
• Attractive in the sense that the idea is adequately intriguing, low-risk, and prompts interaction via lucrative rewards.
• The unprecedented, perhaps game-show / casino-like nature coupled with the ominous theme provides the intrigue.
• The non-zero deposit threshold provides the low-risk.
• The potential for unprecedented financial return prompts user interaction.

There is a direct correlation between the prominence of the Worldeater, and the practical adoption of cryptocurrency. Not only that, the deposit / payout functionality is an insatiable feedback loop.

1. The more people that deposit into hell wallet, the higher the payout is.
2. The higher the payout is, the more people hear about the Worldeater.
3. The more people hear about the Worldeater, the more people that deposit into the hell wallet.

To alleviate the Worldeater's polarizing (all or nothing) nature at scale, Badges have been introduced.

Worldeater badges are various NFTs that are minted and awarded from the hell wallet to certain depositors. There are 11 different types of badges, ranging from the most common (Wood) to the most rare (Diluvium). Each individual badge is visually unique from any other.

Access to the Worldeater API, Worldeater governance, and other other perks are permanently exclusive to active badge holders. The level of reward / privilege is dependent on the type of badge the holder has.

The Worldeater holistically solves the aforementioned problem: Cryptocurrency isn’t widely used as a currency. No versatile, significant product or service is offered solely through crypto.

The unique, crypto-exclusive, low-risk deposit / payout loop normalizes cryptocurrency as a currency. The badges the Worldeater mints and awards provides the versatile, significant product or service offered solely through crypto.

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

The Worldeater's existence serves as something you can point to and easily interact with and only with ada. Not in an impractical "only utilizes the Cardano ecosystem" manner, but with the native Cardano token itself. This brings users onto the chain as not ghost users, but actively participating users.

Cardano's auxiliary blockchain technology is superb. The overwhelming transaction capability via Hydra. The proven capability and viability of staking via the Ouroboros protocol. Decentralized on-chain governance via Project Catalyst.

It all goes relatively underutilized and underappreciated. This can largely be attributed to how relatively few active, on-chain users there are.

The Worldeater's primary purpose is to normalize cryptocurrency as an actual currency in a pragmatic manner. This is accomplished through the main deposit / payout loop. The more users interacting with the Worldeater there are, the more actively participating users Cardano has.

Getting more actively participating users on Cardano is like a tide raising all boats. As the prominence and activity of on-chain transactions grows, so do the technologies built on top of it.

The Worldeater's secondary purpose is to highlight and fulfill realistic use cases for auxiliary technologies, like NFTs and smart contracts. This is accomplished through the binding payout contract, and conditionally awarded badges to certain depositors.

The Worldeater's impact can be measured through multiple quantifiable metrics:

1. Hell amount and its rate of growth
2. Amount of new unique wallets deposited
3. Amount of actively depositing wallets
4. Lifespan of active status of new competitors and its rate of change over time
5. Amount of new accounts created (to associate a username to a wallet address) and its rate of change over time

These metrics are measured more granularly via the Worldeater API, but this is a high-level overview.

[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?

The deposit, alongside the account and wallet linking functionality, already works as intended. It can be interacted with by anyone on the Cardano preview network. The core functionality can be independently verified in real-time by any user, anywhere, today.

https://www.worldeater.io

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

The first milestone would consist of the completion of all the Worldeater badge art involved from Wood to Diluvium.

Acceptance criteria would be a (1) significantly visually unique badge of each tier (Wood, Bronze, ... , Diluvium) compared to its base counterpart.

Evidence of this milestone completion would be an image of each badge.

The second milestone would consist of the successful badge award functionality on the cardano preview network.

Acceptance criteria would be three significantly visually unique badge of each tier (Wood, ... , Diluvium) being awarded on the test network.

Evidence of milestone completion would be the ownership of the aforementioned significantly visually unique NFTs per tier (3 for Wood, 3 for Bronze, ... , 3 for Diluvium) in preview wallets.

The third milestone would consist of the successful payout functionality in the event that the Worldeater ends on the preview network.

Acceptance criteria would be the correct winnings promptly being paid to each winner from the hell wallet on the preview network when the Worldeater ends.

Evidence of milestone completion would be the verification of the hell wallet transferring the correct amount of funds to the correct wallets on the preview network when the Worldeater ends.

The fourth milestone would be the verification of the hell wallet accepting deposits, awarding badges, and the deposit and payout functionality functioning as intended from the hell wallet on the mainnet.

Acceptance criteria would be the verification of the aforementioned milestone.

Evidence of milestone completion would be a mainnet deposit into the hell wallet being reflected on the Worldeater, a mainnet badge of any type being awarded, and the events being reflected on the Worldeater site in some form.

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

The sole team member as of current is Chinenyeze (CJ) Iwu. Every aspect of the proposal's work will be completed by him.

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

Cataclysm labour -> ₳70,000

Badge artist cost -> ₳50,000

Legal services -> ₳20,000

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

The cost of Cataclysm labour is ₳70,000 so that staff can do nothing but eat, sleep, pay for their obligations and work on the Worldeater.

The badge artist cost is ₳50,000 to ensure that an adequately quality artist is contracted to create the art.

Legal services cost is for legal counsel to ensure that the operation of this project is in accordance with all associated regulatory policies.