Anvil x Nuvola: 'C-Hub' - Bringing Collateralization to the Global Stage

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Zachary Soesbee

[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

Raul de Benedittis - CEO of Nuvola Digital

Syed Abdul Azeez Lanka - CTO of Nuvola Digital

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

10

[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 propose to create a platform that would take rewards points such as airline miles, credit card points, hospitality points, etc. and turn them into an on chain reference that is saleable/tradeable

[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

Not open source. Codebase will be proprietary to the product. We intend to provide value back to cardano through a multitude of ways, including making collateralization available through the Anvil API.

[METADATA] Horizons

RWA

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Loyalty and rewards programs have become a backbone of the Consumer Retention-Marketing Playbook. With the emergence of new technologies, there is an exciting new opportunity to monetize consumer rewards, and globalize new markets.

Anvil, in collaboration with Nuvola, is excited to bring the second phase of our collateralization platform, C-Hub - monetizing unused loyalty rewards. This is an issue that impacts consumers and brands globally; thus, solving it offers a solution that elevates the experience for all parties.

During our research, which we will dive into later, we have concluded this is a viable vision with immense implications if done correctly. We are prepared to embark on this journey to establish an industry leading, innovative App, on Cardano. This product will reflect the experience of the Anvil and Nuvola teams collaboratively, and we are fit for the task.

Goals for Fund 13

As stated in our last proposal, C-hub is the next logical progression in our product roadmap, as we intend to create a more ‘web 2’ focused platform, capable of a multitude of functionalities. We aim to create a functioning plug-in, central platform for trading, custodial wallet, and custom oracles for maintaining the values of the rewards. We have already created branding, wireframes, and are creating a demo video of the product in use (will likely be linked in comments). We are ready to begin development on this project.

Platform/Plug-In Goals

Our goal is to create a platform, and web based plug-in, that would incorporate directly into existing reward protocols and apps. 

The platform itself would be a central point for users to view all of their rewards in a single setting. It would also function as a peer to peer marketplace to buy/sell/and trade these collateralized assets between users. We already have this framework built out with our marketplace, Wayup, which will be extremely helpful in reducing the total costs of the project. We would like to create this in a web app and standalone mobile app.

In addition to the platform, we aim to create an easy to use plug-in that would host all the same functionalities as C-hub. This will allow us to infiltrate the web2 market by having a simple, on-site, plug-in that companies can easily integrate into their existing platforms. 

With both solutions in place, users will be onboarded through the plug-in, and remain in our ecosystem via the platform. There will be a seamless flow from the plug-in to the app to allow users to easily transfer between the plug-in and app.

Custodial Wallet

One of the most important features of the C-hub experience is to create a flawless user interaction. To achieve this, we will set out to create a Custodial Wallet using a variety of auth systems including biometrics, pin, or signature. Ultimately, the wallets will be fully exportable to any other Cardano wallet interface.

The purpose of this wallet is to provide speed and frictionless interaction with the app. Users should know it as their profile with the goal to support fiat transactions. We will also support On-ramping/off-ramping of fiat. Fiat will be converted to cover Cardano TX fees for collateralizing and de-collateralizing. 

Oracles

As part of our process, we will need to understand and analyze each digital asset to provide an estimated value. Through the use of oracles, we will be able to establish the price of each collateralized asset. We will set out to create a custom oracle, allowing our consumers to establish a value for each asset, which will be critical in the creation of the market.

When users start to bridge their points into collateralized assets to sell and trade, a pre-established value will be added. This will then allow the user to trade their collateralized asset at its market value, or sell to another user who is interested in it.

Establishing Partnerships/Customers

One of the biggest obstacles to web2 adoption is getting brands and companies on board. We understand this, and that is why we are prepared to leverage our personal/business relationships to take C-hub global.

Our intent is to captivate big Airline, Hospitality, Credit Card, Gaming, and Retail companies to adopt the C-hub model. Interconnectivity between all rewards programs, and the possibility of unlocking new global digital markets. We will attract these companies with an enticing transaction based model, as well as royalties, to ensure that they are well incentivized to adopt this groundbreaking technology. 

Exploring the Markets

Case study; 

Total global dollar value of unused loyalty/rewards points across all industries has reached $300-$500B per annum.

Forbes states that over $100 billion in unused loyalty points are adding pressure on companies to relieve themselves of the obligation to repay these debts. Source

The US’ top 5 Airlines alone saw a staggering $27B in losses from airline miles going unused. Including the remaining major airlines globally takes losses soaring past $150B. Source

This industry presents a ripe opportunity for innovative efforts. Our idea not only creates a new opportunity for consumers, but presents businesses with the opportunity to monetize their market activity through set fees. Additionally, through the use of royalties on the native assets, we will be able to offer businesses long term value. 

General Statistics and Metrics

Potential Revenues:

Conservatively using the low end of $300 Billion of unused points/credits:

If the value being transacted via C-Hub, with an average of 5% fees,

1. At 10% of value transacted
2. $30 billion * 5% = $1.5 billion of additional revenues.
3. At 25% of value transacted
4. $75 billion * 5% = $3.75 billion of additional revenues.
5. At 50% of value transacted
6. $150 billion * 5% = $7.5 billion of additional revenues.

Current Global MarketCap for unused loyalty/rewards points across all industries has reached $300-$500B per annum.

Current Opportunities

C-Hub has been in development for over 5 months. We are currently leveraging our personal and business relationships for real world practical implementations of this Platform. Outreach is happening daily and we are being supported by major players in the Cardano Ecosystem. We will be leveraging these relationships to start building new avenues for our Platform's adoption. Analyzing the current state of the market, and projections for 2025, we think we are primed to deliver this game changing product as the markets themselves start to change. We will be reaching out to airlines globally, as well as hospitality, sports, and all other point based member rewards systems to help them implement C-Hub in their day to day products.

The future of C-hub?

We have a very long term roadmap in mind for this project. C-hub is a product that will create a global market of asset trading out of an outdated/disconnected industry. With the right partnerships, we will be able to scale globally, building a user base across the world. Ultimately, having every rewards program working through our platform is our goal. A planet of connected rewards systems, allowing users the ultimate flexibility in making their rewards work for them. 

Not only does it work for the consumers, but businesses themselves will be able to relieve themselves of some of these debts by counteracting them with a fee model on each transaction.

Part of our planning includes securing a strong partner for the Cardano Partners: Enterprise R&D and Cardano Partners: Growth & Acceleration if they are available in Fund 14. This product has the opportunity to scale through all the ideation stages of Catalyst, into the real world. 

We can’t think of a much better success story for the Cardano chain!

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

C-hub is more than just an idea, we have a deep understanding of what we are embarking on as a company. By successfully completing our vision, we intend to make a big impact on not just the Cardano community but the greater blockchain community. We see a large void in Cardano products being adopted. Cardano is still searching for that one product that attracts users from all other ecosystems. We are here to build that.

If we follow our plan and philosophy of building a web2 focused product first, while keeping the heart and narrative of Cardano always incorporated, we can truly build a special and unique product that shows the complexity and power of Cardano. This would allow Cardano to have a new app to put in the spotlight to rival the top apps from all chains. A win win for the Cardano community.

Additionally, and we will cover this more later, we plan on committing a portion of our transactions to a multisig wallet with the intent of giving back to the treasury.

[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?

Our teams have a strong track record in managing complex, innovative projects with high levels of trust and accountability, demonstrated by our successful deployment of several custom projects over 3 years. We plan to follow our standard company practices and develop this with the same intent that has driven our business to the level of success it currently has. Anvil has successfully completed 1 Catalyst proposal to full completion, and have never missed a milestone delivery on our others, nor been late.

With that said, we will combine forces with the Nuvola team to create an even stronger team to lead this project to success. We have already been developing this project for almost 3 months, building out branding, vision, business planning, wireframes, demo videos, and relationships to help us accelerate this project as fast as possible. We know we have a great idea and want to push this with everything in our power.

Thanks to the aforementioned work we have already done, we have confirmed that our approach is highly feasible and we are the right team to bring it to success. This will be a flagship product.

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

Milestone 1: Development Planning

Outputs: 

• Create Development Planning document
• Timelines
• Planning
• Work with Design team
• Finalize wireframes
• Plug-in
• App
• Develop Marketing/Product Release Plan

Acceptance Criteria:

• Planning document completed and uploaded to Google Drive
• Final version of wireframes completed and uploaded
• Marketing/Product Release plan completed and uploaded to Google Drive

Milestone 2: Development of back-end and UI

Outputs: 

• Development of new back-end codebase to begin.
• Development of app and plug-in UI/UX to begin.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Provide a video example of the back end in function through the use of an endpoint
• Staged app showing development progress

Milestone 3: Oracle Development

Outputs: 

• Development of new custom oracle to begin
• Development of new custodial wallet to begin

Acceptance Criteria:

• Provide video of oracle in use at beginning stages of development
• Staged environment showing custodial wallet in use

Milestone 4: Initial Testing

Outputs: 

• Closed in house Alpha Test
• Begin the initial testing of the platform, showing all of the previous milestones working in synchrony. 
• Collect and document feedback from in-house testers.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Release a fully functional alpha platform, to a closed group, with no major bugs or errors
• Gather feedback from beta testers in a document

Milestone 5: Final Testing

Outputs: 

• Closed Beta Test
• Final UI/UX Refinements based on feedback received

Acceptance Criteria:

• Release a fully functional beta platform, to a closed group, with no major bugs or errors
• Gather feedback from beta testers in a document
• Refine UI/UX based on feedback document, provide updated link to UI/UX to reflect final changes

Final Milestone: Project Close-out and Impact Report

Outputs: 

• Finalize the project for public release 
• Produce comprehensive documentation of the work completed, including a video demonstration. 

Acceptance Criteria:

• Compile a project close-out report outlining the development process, community engagement outcomes, and a detailed review of all milestones achieved.
• Produce a video that demonstrates the platform's capabilities, its impact on the Cardano ecosystem, and real-world applications.

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

Zachary Soesbee (Cash): CEO of Anvil, Co-CEO of C-Hub, will be in charge of Milestone Management, Project Management for the development team, and working hand in hand with Raul to bring C-Hub to life.

Raul de Benedittis: CEO of Nuvola Digital, Co-CEO of C-Hub, will be in charge of Project Management, Marketing, Community Engagement, Partnerships, and Product Development.

Patrick Bernard: COO of Anvil, Board member of C-Hub, will be in charge of Logistics Planning, Networking, Budgeting, and Accounting.

David Desjardins: CTO of Anvil, will be responsible for developing the back-end Cardano infrastructure for C-Hub.

Syed Abdul Azeez Lanka: CTO of Nuvola Digital, Board member of C-Hub, will be in charge of Strategic Planning, Legal Administration, Marketing, and General Business planning.

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

437,000 Total Requested ADA

• Marketing - 5% 
• Partnerships - 5%
• Development - 65%
• Project Management - 20% 
• Design/Architecting - 5%

Marketing

5% of the budget (21,850 ADA) will be allocated to marketing. This will include but is not limited to:

-Twitter Spaces

-Youtube Interviews

-Creation and Curation of marketing content including 1 professional video ad

Partnerships

5% of the budget (21,850 ADA) will be allocated to building new partnerships. This scope will cover the costs associated with onboarding new clients. It will include but is not limited to:

-Time for establishing new relationships through meetings, outreach, networking

-In person engagements, such as at events, promotional opportunities, conventions

-Curation of professional quality slide decks 

-Understanding their developmental needs

-Creation of functional development test environments

Development

65% of the budget (284,050 ADA) will be allocated to development of the platform and plug-in. This scope is to include but not is not limited to:

-Creating Custodial Wallet for easy onboarding and app use

-Developing Front-end UI/UX for plug-in and app

-Developing Back-end for blockchain integrations

-Creating Custom Oracle for tracking prices of rewards

Project Management

20% of the budget (87,400 ADA) will be allocated to project management of the C-hub platform. This scope is to include but is not limited to:

-Management of new clients and companies

-Management of DevOps 

-Management of Development team

-Management of Marketing operations

-Managing our schedule to meet or exceed all catalyst deadlines

-Manage product release

-Managing feedback process for platform

-Managing customer service through the final release

Design

5% of the budget (21,850) will go to the final wireframe, design, mood boards, and branding of C-hub. This scope is to include all aforementioned items. The rest are covered in the marketing and partnerships categories.

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

C-hub represents a use case of Cardano that strays from the typical web3 narrative. Our goal is to attract outside users, with an innovative and easy to use app that makes sense in your daily life. By doing this, we expect to not only attract web2 users; but naturally, web 3 users would follow suit. We tried to pack a lot of value for one punch in the proposal, delivering on several large tasks within a realistic budget.

How does this benefit Cardano?

It’s quite simple really, more users, more transactions. The goal of this proposal is to create something with mass appeal outside of Cardano, while still harnessing and benefitting the Cardano protocol. Through these transactions, and the use of native assets, we will drive revenue to the Cardano treasury. 

This product is meant to be a standout platform that people use in their everyday life without knowing it’s utilizing blockchain. This will not only allow for a seamless experience but it will be a showcase of the value Cardano is capable of.

Giving Back

One of the things we wanted to explore through this proposal was giving back to the Cardano Treasury via our transaction model. It’s currently unclear if a relationship like this will be considered legal or not. Despite that, we plan on reserving a ¼ of all fees for the first year of operation to go back to the Cardano Treasury. This would start the day of public launch of c-hub and last for 365 calendar days. 

Info regarding revenue research:

Potential Revenues:

Conservatively, using the low end of $300 Billion of unused points/credits:

If the value being transacted via C-Hub, with an average of 5% fees,

1. At 10% of value transacted
2. $30 billion * 5% = $1.5 billion of additional revenues.
3. At 25% of value transacted
4. $75 billion * 5% = $3.75 billion of additional revenues.
5. At 50% of value transacted
6. $150 billion * 5% = $7.5 billion of additional revenues.

We are hopeful that after a year, this will be clearly identified as possible or not, at which point we would send the fees to the treasury. In the event that it is not possible, we would donate the money to a charity (to be determined by C-hub at a later date).