Creating Cardano Business cases through Real Coffee World

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Creating Cardano Business cases through Real Coffee World

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

88000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

9

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Climate change impacts coffee growers, but lack of activity data prevents effective response. Producing and consuming countries face crisis without proof mechanism to verify carbon footprints(CFP).

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://app.valueway.coffee/home
,
• https://valueway.coffee/

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No dependencies. All core development, testing, and deployment will be carried out by the project team. ANACAFE provides in-kind support (meeting space, field liaison) but the MVP delivery does not rely on any third-party contractual dependency.

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

We will open-source generic MVP components under the MIT License: JSON schemas, the Midnight hash-anchoring microservice and SDK, a minimal verifier UI (mobile/PWA), replay scripts, and anonymized fixtures. Proprietary: The CFP engine remains closed-source due to patent-related considerations.

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.

Supply Chain

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).

Carbon footprint measurement in coffee requires high labor, yet only 0.8% of the industry uses primary data. Our project unlocks scalable business use cases via three Cardano innovations.

1. Midnight provides a privacy-preserving attestation layer. This MVP anchors deterministic CFP hashes on Midnight testnet (hash-first), proving integrity without exposing inputs.
2. Our coffee-specific CFP engine with Midnight’s ZK ensures scientific accuracy and on-chain trust without revealing private data.
3. Real-time on-chain logs provide immediate proof of carbon impact at each transaction.

Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.

MVP scope

• Mobile data capture (Mobile-first, PWA fallback). Offline-first.

• Deterministic CFP engine (TypeScript): fertilizer, energy, transport, processing.

• Hash anchoring on Midnight testnet; optional Cardano L1 reference UTxO.

• Minimal web dashboard (demo.rcp-valueway.coffee) for verification UX.

Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.

• Our project measures success through the following on-chain metrics.
• Blockchain Usage: Record 3,000 CFP hashes on Midnight within 9 months.
• Actors: Onboard 600 stakeholders including 100 farmers (one cooperatives), one processor and one exporter.
• Demonstration Lot: Trace one TEU(10-20 t) export lot (0.8M~1.6 M cups) end-to-end.
• Verifiability: 100 % of proofs publicly verifiable via Midnight Explorer.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

1. How do you perceive the problem you are solving?

The credibility gap spans the whole value chain: farmers are asked to disclose without compensation; exporters fear leaking counterparty margin; consumers see inconsistent labels. Spreadsheet Life Cycle Assessment cannot satisfy ISO and tightening CSRD/SEC guidance.

The constraint in coffee is not ideology but logistics: remote geographies, low connectivity, and unaffordable audits. The right approach automates capture, eliminates manual spreadsheets, and provides verifiable integrity without exposing sensitive inputs.

Anchoring deterministic results on-chain creates an immutable, privacy-preserving audit trail that both buyers and regulators can trust.

2. What are your reasons for approaching it this way?

A staged roadmap maximizes deliverability under a lean budget and team: Phase 1 (this MVP) anchors deterministic Carbon Foot Print hashes on Midnight testnet; Phase 2 (follow-on) layers ZK attestations by reusing vetted Compact/Halo2 circuits.

This preserves enterprise privacy, removes vendor lock-in, and makes every calculation independently checkable.

Midnight’s selective disclosure and partner-chain model fit exporter requirements that a transparent L1 alone cannot meet. Start with hashes (fast time-to-value), graduate to proofs when operational risk and complexity are lower.

3. Who will your project engage?

• Producers, processors, exporters, and other stakeholders in the coffee value chain.
• Consumers drinking coffee visualized through the project.

4. How will you demonstrate or prove your impact?

Base KPIs are quantitative and on-chain: 600 batch hashes in Phase-1; 600 actors; one 20 t lot traced; 100% resolvable records. We will publish methodology docs, versioned engine code, and an end-to-end demo trace. Where possible we notarize exporter sign-off to IPFS. Stretch raises hashes to 1,200; aspirational up to 3,000 without changing scope.

5.Government-backed pilots (Phase-2 leverage).

• In parallel to this Catalyst MVP, our team has been selected by AfDX (Japan) for a Uganda pilot on CFP visibility and biochar-centric regenerative practices, and by METI’s Global South grant for a Brazil pilot on regenerative coffee.
• These projects are funded outside Catalyst and are not dependencies. In Phase-2, we will optionally anchor batch-level CFP hashes from these pilots on Midnight (and cross-reference on Cardano L1 if needed) to enable cross-country comparability and ADA-denominated incentives.
• This creates a clear, low-risk path from MVP to multi-country, regulator-aligned adoption.

https://afdx.go.jp/company.html

https://www.meti.go.jp/information/publicoffer/saitaku/2025/s250801001.html

“Phase 1 deliberately excludes ZK implementation to ensure rapid, low-risk delivery. This staged approach proves value early while laying groundwork for verifiable proofs in Phase 2.”

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

1 Unlocking Midnight’s Flagship Use-Case

Midnight has devnet/testnet and Compact docs, but still needs a production-grade, compliance-friendly supply-chain reference. Our MVP anchors deterministic CFP hashes for real coffee lots on Midnight testnet with a daily anchoring cadence and public verification path. It demonstrates how privacy-preserving data attestation supports regulated ESG workloads without leaking trade secrets, and provides a repeatable blueprint—schemas, anchor microservice, and verifier UI—that other commodities can fork on day one. This moves Midnight beyond demo contracts into operational data attestation with measurable throughput and reliability targets.

2 Scope of Phase 1:hash anchoring on Midnight

This MVP focuses solely on privacy-preserving hash anchoring on Midnight — no Cardano L1 connection is required for the core functionality. Should DeFi use cases or downstream interactions become relevant (e.g., escrow, carbon-premium payments), Phase 2 can optionally cross-reference the anchored hash in a Cardano L1 UTxO.

3 Open-Source Tooling Flywheel (Hash-First, ZK-Ready)

All code ships under MIT: JSON schemas, a deterministic TypeScript CFP engine, a minimal “anchor+verify” SDK, fixtures, and replay scripts. We include clear READMEs so hackathon teams can plug in cacao, palm, or rice with only schema tweaks. While the MVP is hash-first to de-risk delivery, the repos are ZK-ready: circuit stubs, test vectors, and a documented plan for Compact/Halo2 modules in the follow-on phase. A small GraphQL endpoint exposes Merkle proofs and anonymised aggregates (altitude band, process type), payable in ADA, making Cardano a credible marketplace for verifiable yet privacy-preserving ESG metrics.

4 Ecosystem Economics

By the end of the MVP, we expect between 1,200 and 3,000 batch hashes to be anchored on Midnight testnet, creating a sustained and predictable transaction cadence that can later transition to mainnet. This flow not only proves technical readiness but also strengthens SPO economics by signalling consistent fee opportunities.

We anticipate 600 to 2,000 new wallets onboarded, most belonging to farmers, co-op staff, and exporters who are new to blockchain. This widens stake distribution and builds a base of non-crypto native users who can later engage with other Cardano dApps.

Exporters involved in the MVP should achieve at least a 20% reduction in audit costs, backed by CFO-signed cost sheets. Faster buyer due diligence and reduced third-party audit reliance will create pull for other Latin American and African co-ops to adopt Cardano tools.

Finally, the delivery of over 50 MIT-licensed commits and releases—including supply-chain libraries, anchor scripts, and verification modules—will enrich the open-source ecosystem, attract developer attention from privacy-tech circles, and enable rapid replication across other commodities.

5 Credibility via ANACAFE(Asociación Nacional del Café)

ANACAFE agronomists supervise field protocols (sensor placement, sampling cadence) and validate ISO 14067-aligned calculations. We maintain chain-of-custody forms, publish methodology docs, and hash-link sign-offs (e.g., exporter confirmation letters) so auditors can trace evidence in minutes. Coordination with Guatemala’s upcoming National Carbon Registry ensures the attestation pattern matches regulatory expectations. No trade-show spend is required; credibility comes from field validation, documentation, and verifiable anchors.

6 Road to Phase-2 ADA-Denominated Coffee Premiums

Meeting MVP KPIs unlocks a cautious, compliance-first path to on-chain premium distribution. We design “reduction-backed receipts” on Cardano L1 that reference Midnight hashes; roasters can stream ADA premiums to farmers proportional to verified CO₂e reduction, with clear guardrails (cap, clawback, dispute windows). The same receipts can fuel secondary primitives—offset bundles, sustainability NFTs, or carbon-aware lending—without ever exposing private farm data. Value accrues to ADA holders, SPOs, and producers while the ecosystem gains a replicable rails-and-receipts model for Africa and beyond.

Phase-1 deliberately excludes Cardano L1 cross-references; optional L1 UTxO pointers are reserved for Phase-2 to enable composable finance without raising MVP delivery risk.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?

Capabilities & Feasibility (truthful, risk-aware)

Team composition is lean by design.

Our lead engineer (Kadokura) is new to zk ; to derisk delivery we will

(a) adopt a hash-first MVP that avoids circuit authoring on the critical path;

(b) reuse Compact/Halo2 reference circuits in a later phase;

(c) reserve 4,000 ADA for code-review/advisory sprints by an external ZK expert;

(d) keep all endpoints simple (HTTP+JSON) and off-chain compute deterministic. BizPM (0.3 FTE), TechPM (0.7 FTE), Engineer (0.6 FTE) over six months sum to 1.8 + 4.2 + 3.6 person-months, focused on testnet anchoring and reliability rather than marketing.

External validation & field access.

(e)The team was selected by AfDX (Uganda) and METI (Brazil) for government-backed pilots, providing vetted partners, field access, and regulatory context. These programs run in parallel and do not gate the Catalyst MVP; they simply de-risk Phase-2 and expand the data footprint for replication.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Requirements Engineering (Oct 2025- Nov 2025)

Milestone Outputs

• System Requirements Specification v1 (functional/non-functional, user stories, RACI)
• Data model & process map (cultivation → processing → transport → export)
• ZK/Compact circuit specifications v0.1 (constraints, public/secret I/O definitions)
• Security/compliance plan (ISO14067 alignment, audit trail design)
• Project plan (roadmap, milestones, verification plan)

Acceptance Criteria

• Approval of the System Requirements Specification v1 by Value way and the participating exporter, documented in signed meeting minutes. Completion of a 100% requirement–test–KPI traceability matrix ensuring that each functional and non-functional requirement is mapped to a specific verification method and success metric.
• Validation that the data model, process map, and initial ZK/Compact circuit specifications are consistent and executable. Publication of the approved SRS and traceability matrix to the project’s public repository, ensuring full transparency for community oversight.

Evidence of Completion

• Signed PDF of System Requirements Specification v1, including approval signatures from Value way and the exporter.
• Public GitHub repository link containing the final SRS document, JSON data schemas, process map diagrams, and initial ZK/Compact circuit specification files.
• Requirement–test–KPI traceability matrix uploaded in both CSV and visual format (e.g., spreadsheet with color-coded mapping).
• Screenshot and permanent URL of the public project roadmap/board showing milestone tracking.
• Transaction IDs (TxIDs) from Midnight testnet for at least 10 sample CFP hash anchors generated during the dry-run phase, demonstrating the anchoring protocol works as specified.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

22000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Development (Dec 2025–Feb 2026)

Milestone Outputs

• Delivery of CFP Engine v1 in TypeScript, implementing fertilizer, energy, transport, and processing modules with ≥80% unit test coverage.
• Android-first React Native mobile app and PWA dashboard integrated with a resilient anchoring microservice, supporting idempotent retries and batch commits to Midnight testnet.
• Grafana dashboards deployed for throughput, latency, and error metrics. Documentation updated for developer handover.

Acceptance Criteria

• Successful processing of at least 50 mixed real/synthetic coffee lots, producing deterministic CFP outputs matching SRS specifications.
• Mobile app demonstrates offline-to-online sync with no data loss. Minimum 300 batch hashes anchored on Midnight testnet, each retrievable via explorer.
• Anchor latency meets target (P95 < 5 seconds). Dashboard displays per-stage hashes for a sample lot. Code and docs reviewed by at least two maintainers.

Evidence of Completion

• Public GitHub tags for engine v1.0 and app v0.6 with full test reports.
• Live URL for the PWA dashboard. Midnight testnet TxIDs for ≥300 hashes, listed in CSV and verified on explorer.
• Demo showing mobile capture, sync, anchoring, and verification.
• Change logs and README updates in the repository, plus review sign-off records.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

30000

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Validation & Improvement (Mar 2026-Apr 2026)

Milestone Outputs

• Pilot deployment with two cooperatives and one exporter, including field training and feedback loops.
• Implementation of automated data-quality checks for range, completeness, and unit normalization.
• Alerting system for data anomalies and failed anchors. Development of incident runbooks and replay/backfill procedure using local Merkle logs.
• Creation of “ZK-next” plan detailing candidate circuits, estimated proof costs, and integration path.

Acceptance Criteria

• At least 600 cumulative hashes anchored on Midnight testnet with ≥95% weekly sync success.
• Data-quality failure rate under 5% per batch.
• Exporter validates a full 20-ton lot with hashes at each supply chain stage.
• ZK-next plan reviewed by an external advisor, including feasibility, resource needs, and risk assessment.
• All SOPs and incident runbooks documented and accessible in the repository.

Evidence of Completion

• Midnight testnet TxIDs for ≥300 hashes, exporter validation letter for the 20-ton lot (hash-linked), and public repository containing SOPs, incident runbooks, and data-quality reports.
• Published ZK-next plan document with advisor comments. Training attendance logs and photos, plus a short video summary of field use and dashboard verification.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

24000

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Reporting & Handover (May 2026-June2026)

Milestone Outputs

• Final KPI report detailing performance against plan, budget utilization, and lessons learned.
• Cleanup of repositories for MIT-license release, with clear READMEs, schema files, and example datasets.
• Draft Fund15 proposal outlining ZK attestation phase and potential mainnet transition.
• Establishment of community contribution guidelines and small bounty tasks for adapting schemas to other commodities.

Acceptance Criteria

• Achievement of at least 600 cumulative hashes (base KPI) anchored on Midnight testnet. All source code and documentation published under MIT license in public repositories.
• Public handover call with Q&A held and recorded for open access.

Evidence of Completion

• Final report in PDF format with KPI metrics and budget reconciliation. Snapshot of live dashboard showing final counts.
• Public GitHub repositories with MIT licenses, tagged release versions, and sample datasets.
• CSV index of all anchored TxIDs on Midnight testnet.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

12000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Total: 88,000 ADA. Tranches by milestone: M1 22,000 / M2 30,000 / M3 24,000 / M4 12,000 ADA.

1. Core development (engine, API, anchoring) – 39,600

2. App & web implementation – 17,600

3. Test & reliability (CI/CD, monitoring) – 8,800

4. Field support & training – 13,200

5. PM & accounting review – 4,400

6. Contingency – 4,400

Third-party services: lightweight accounting review; limited ZK advisory for code review and a phase-2 plan. No paid marketing/expo.

If costs risk exceeding budget, features defer to Fund15 scope; we prioritise reliability and the base KPI (1,200 cumulative hashes). Where appropriate, in-kind support from ANACAFE (meeting space/co-op liaison) reduces field costs.

We will adhere to Fund14 milestone/PoA onboarding, public evidence per milestone, and eligible-cost expectations.

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

• This proposal concentrates spend on deliverables the community can verify quickly: the Midnight hash-anchoring stack, a minimal verifier UI, SDK/replay scripts, and clear SOP/runbooks.
• We adopt a hybrid open-source model: the hash anchoring stack and verification tooling are MIT-licensed, while the CFP engine remains proprietary due to patent considerations. To preserve transparency, we will publish a high-level algorithm specification, deterministic test vectors (fixed inputs → expected outputs).
• The plan avoids marketing overhead and prioritizes a hash-only MVP on Midnight testnet to reduce delivery risk. Base KPI: 600 cumulative hashes and ~600 actors with one 20-t lot traced; Stretch: 1,200; Aspirational: up to 3,000 if throughput allows. Each anchor is independently resolvable via the explorer/RPC with public PoA per milestone.
• Leverage of non-Catalyst funding. AfDX (Uganda) and METI (Brazil) selections expand field data and partner networks at no additional cost to Catalyst. By open-sourcing the hash-anchoring stack (MIT) and keeping the patent-sensitive CFP engine proprietary, we enable replication on Midnight while protecting IP—turning external pilots into Phase-2 on-chain growth.

https://afdx.go.jp/company.html

https://www.meti.go.jp/information/publicoffer/saitaku/2025/s250801001.html

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