Last updated 5 months ago
There are few verifiable ways to barter time, skills and services online. Most online transactions rely on a medium of exchange that is centrally controlled or hampered by fluctuations in value.
Addonx enables peer to peer barter using tokens representing the individual's value and reputation.
Please provide your proposal title
Addonx - A platform to support P2P Digital Barter
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
150000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
10
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
There are few verifiable ways to barter time, skills and services online. Most online transactions rely on a medium of exchange that is centrally controlled or hampered by fluctuations in value.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
No dependencies
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
No
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
Initially the project will not be open source, the development will be private. Since it is a MVP and involves external people and community, vunerabilities can be used to take advantage of our platform or our users. We intend to be open source after a full code audit has been made of platform security.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
DeFi
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).
Our idea introduces the first time-and-skills exchange platform on the Cardano blockchain, enabling direct peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries or centralised currencies.
Unlike traditional freelance platforms, we tokenize time/skills on-chain with a reputation-based valuation system, creating a decentralized community marketplace.
Users mint tokens representing their skills and expertise, build a verifiable reputation through on-chain data, and exchange services securely on Cardano and within the platform ecosystem.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
In the final milestone all members of the Cardano community will be able to access a working MVP on Cardano Mainnet.
At addonx.io members will be able to create an account; manage a profile; showcase their skills and reputation; connect a Cardano wallet; create personal tokens; chat, negotiate and transact with other members.
Our MVP will demonstrate a fully functional P2P time/skills exchange platform on the Cardano blockchain, where users will be able to transact securely while building their reputation and network.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
Our aim when our MVP is complete is to have 1000's of active members transacting on Cardano Mainnet.
Every transaction handled by the platform will contain specific metadata that is related to the platform, each user's personal token has a prefix allowing tracking of how many users minted their tokens as well as all other on-chain information.
In addition, we can collect off chain data such as how many accounts have been created, how many messages have been exchanged using the platform and how many connections have been made.
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
A platform to support P2P Digital Barter.
As a community of professionals offering various services we wanted to exchange our skills without the need for traditional payments. We needed to find a fair and verifiable way to value some of our time and expertise and convert that value into a tradeable asset.
We invented the concept of the personal token as a way to commodify an abstract skill or service tied to an individuals reputation. The tokens were minted and swapped between us as required, creating the concept of digital barter. Over a short period of time more people wanted to get involved and the idea of Addonx, a platform to facilitate P2P digital barter, emerged.
Most people want to learn new skills, access services, or connect with others who share their interests but finding trustworthy individuals with complementary skills and aligned values is challenging on existing social networks.
Addonx will create a network of like-minded people who want to connect, transact and build their reputation. The platform will enable its members to exchange their time and skills for the services they need.
We are already building a functioning proof of concept at addonx.io. Our project has been extensively researched and alpha tested by our team and we plan to open our project to the Cardano community on Cardano Testnet in January 2026. As our community grows we will follow the 'build in public' concept allowing for continuous feedback and transparency.
This proposal consists of 5 developmental milestones to be completed over a 10 month period and our objective is to deliver and validate Addonx, a fully functioning MVP working on Cardano Mainnet.
Members of our platform create personal tokens which represent the time, skills or service that they're willing to exchange with others. In the profile section members define what their token represents, this is important for other members to decide if they want to accept the token as payment. The token can now be offered as payment for whatever the other members are offering.
This video gives a short description of the flow:
https://youtu.be/CAGehiWR0A4?si=S2GAODWTDHDoP5-f
The Matchmaker feature on the platform allows members to request a connection and chat in real-time with other members. In this dialogue members can agree to transact and send and receive personal tokens.
Each member builds their own network of trusted contacts who accept their tokens, establishing a reputation-based circle of trust. A rating and review system further adds to the reputation of each member and both on-chain and off-chain metrics influence the value of the token.
Our solution will allow individuals to offer their own service, time or skills in exchange for the things they need, they will be able to barter digitally using tokens backed by real world value and verifiable reputation.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
The AddonX concept will create significant positive impact for the Cardano community in various ways:
Sustainable Community Building for the Cardano Community
The platform facilitates meaningful connections between community members through skill-sharing and collaboration, strengthening the social fabric of the Cardano community while creating tangible economic value for all participants. Projects can be built by exchanging time and skills!
There are huge future possibilities for partnerships within the Cardano Ecosystem especially with other projects focused on identity, privacy, reputation and social networking.
Reputation and Trust Infrastructure
By building a comprehensive reputation system on Cardano, AddonX will establish valuable social and economic infrastructure that other projects can leverage. This reputation layer will enhance trust in peer-to-peer transactions across the entire Cardano ecosystem, benefiting all community participants.
Mass adoption and onboarding.
The economic opportunities AddonX provides will benefit not only existing Cardano community members but also attract new participants who see value in the network. This organic growth will strengthen Cardano's position in the blockchain space, increase network activity, and demonstrate real-world utility that extends far beyond traditional DeFi applications. By making blockchain technology accessible and rewarding for everyday users, AddonX will contribute to Cardano's mission of creating a more inclusive and decentralized financial future.
As all transaction data is on chain the impact will be easily trackable and transparent. The outputs and opportunities will be available for all to see and individual users will be free to market their personal brand and Addonx profile on other Social Media Platforms. This will greatly increase the awareness of Cardano as a utility blockchain and introduce the general population to Cardano's capabilities through practical, real-world applications.
AddonX will serve as a gateway for mainstream users to enter the Cardano ecosystem. By focusing on practical value exchange (trading time, skills, and services) the platform makes blockchain technology accessible to everyday users who may have never interacted with cryptocurrency before.
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?
As founder of Addonx, I have had a trusted reputation as a service provider in the business world for 20 years, teaching and mentoring business leaders in the tech and financial sectors. I am an expert in giving public presentations and I have a wide experience generating video tutorials for my clients. I have a global network of cross-sector contacts and a passion for decentralized systems.
My co-founder is a software developer with extensive experience working on large scale Cardano blockchain projects as well as successfully founding and launching multiple high-impact e-commerce applications. He will be able to leverage his extensive network of connections within the Cardano eco-system for support in both development and testing. As a developer working for Txpipe he has knowledge and experience of the tools required to deliver this project.
How we propose to handle the funds
We will begin by creating a comprehensive budget that breaks down costs into clear categories (e.g. development, tools, marketing, and a 10% contingency reserve). To maintain transparency, all funds will be deposited into a dedicated wallet separate from personal or other project funds.
We will conduct monthly reviews to compare actual spending against the budget.
We also maintain a contingency reserve (10% of the budget) to handle unforeseen costs, such as price increases or ADA depreciation. We will follow the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and funder-specific guidelines. We will retain all receipts and invoices for at least three years, available for your review upon request.
We’re deeply committed to honoring your investment, making sure it delivers real impact while keeping everything transparent. By sticking to our clear processes, we’ll use your funds wisely to achieve a working MVP.
Milestone Title
Milestone 1: Match Maker System
Milestone Outputs
Improve current MVP platform: We already have an embryo MVP platform in development, but for this milestone we need to improve the flows for authentication (web1/2 and 3), members profile, wallet integrations, member showcase, and post showcase.
A Matchmaker system: Members will be able to request a connection (dialogue session) with other members, and both members will receive an email notification when it happens. The members will be able to accept or reject the request.
On-chain auditable transactions by dialogue session: After the match and with agreement on the matchmaker page, users will be able to use the platform to transact and the platform will abstract the transaction for the users, adding metadata relating to that session. The users will only need to sign the transaction in their wallet and will be able to see the transactions on-chain related to that session.
Acceptance Criteria
Platform improvements
Platform online in testnet mode for community access.
Current flows working 100%, on-chain and off-chain (authentication, profile, wallet integration, members showcase and posts showcase.)
Matchmaker system
Users can request dialogue sessions with other members.
Users can manage their dialogue session, accept or reject.
The request dialogue session allows the user to write a comment.
On-chain transactions related to the dialogue session.
Both users in the dialogue session can see the on-chain transactions made through the platform.
The platform abstracts the transaction, so the users can click 'send' and choose the type and quantity of tokens, a transaction is generated with metadata relating to the current dialogue session.
An email notification is sent when the user receives a transaction related to the platform.
Evidence of Completion
Link to the platform is publicly available
Link to documentation that explains the concept
Video explaining the flows and helping to onboard new people to the platform and Cardano.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
30000
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 2: Real-time chat
Milestone Outputs
Real-time secure chat: When the users have a match, the platform will host the communication, creating an end-to-end encrypted chat, so the users can chat securely within the dialogue session.
Push notifications: A mechanism to notify users when there is a message in the dialogue session that has not been read yet. For online users, the notification will be in the browser, but if the user is offline or if the user doesn't read within a specific time, an email will be sent to the user.
Acceptance Criteria
The real-time chat for the dialogue session
The users can chat within the open dialogue session.
The messages are end-to-end encrypted.
The user can send messages to an offline user within the open dialogue session.
Notifications from messages
A real-time notification mechanism, if the user is on another page, the browser will notify them that there is a new message
Notification through email when the user doesn't read the message after a specific time or if they are offline.
Evidence of Completion
Link to the platform is publicly available.
Video explaining the chat mechanism and showing the code.
Delivery Month
4
Cost
30000
Progress
50 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 3: Reputation & Scheduling
Milestone Outputs
Review and rating system: After interactions in the dialogue sessions or posts, the users will be able to give a review, initially the reviews will be off-chain, but they will be the base for on-chain reviews in the future when we implement the smart contract for long dialogue sessions.
Reputation calculation engine: Using all the reviews from a user, a mechanism will calculate the users average review. As initially the reviews are off-chain, our data source is used to calculate the reputation. When the reviews are on-chain, the blockchain data will be used.
Calendar: In most cases, scheduling a time to talk to a member after making a deal in a dialogue sessions will be a requirement. The users will be able to set the time they are available and other users can book a slot, all inside the platform. Initially the schedule will be off-chain, but it will be the base for future smart contract implementation to lock and unlock scheduled payments.
Acceptance Criteria
The review and reputation system
Every user can make a review after having interactions in dialogue sessions or posts
The review is linked to the origin, e.g. When a user make a review for a post, the others user will be able to see the original post on the public page.
The user can leave a rating and a message.
Reputation scores influence matching priority
After accepting a match request or a post reply, the user can access the other member's profile to verify their reputation on the platform based on their history.
Every user has a public profile page available that contains their public personal information, reputation and history of interaction within the platform.
Calendar booking
Users can define their available time, other users who have the accepted token can book a time in the calendar.
The calendar will be public in the public user profile, when another user is logged in, the booking action will be allowed, following the booking rules.
Evidence of Completion
A link to the platform will be publicly available
Video explaining the reputation and scheduling system
Delivery Month
6
Cost
30000
Progress
70 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 4: Token trust metrics
Milestone Outputs
Personal token metrics: Every personal token on the platform will be auditable. Information about the supply, the number of holders, the liquidity and history of transactions will be required for users to make a decision whether they want to accept the token or not.
Token trust: A token that is and has been accepted by a lot of people will be catagorized as a trusted/safe token. The platform will show the circle of trust the token has, containing the members who have accepted the tokens in a past exchange.
Acceptance Criteria
The token metrics page
User can access every personal token to see the metrics related to that specific toke.
On-chain data can be cross referenced with Off-chain data to improve the liquidity measurement for users that use the calendar.
Circle of trust graph (Clear visibility of the token acceptance)
Before accepting a token in an exchange, the user can check on the graph to see which other users will potentially accept the token as payment.
The graph is generated based on past On-chain data, every person on the graph is a possibility for an exchange.
From the metrics gathered it will be possible for members to explore third party transactions. The members who accept the offered token will also show who accepts their token and the platform will suggest possible paths to exchange tokens in a chain that will end with the desired result.
Evidence of Completion
A link to the platform will be publicly available
Video explaining the token metrics and trust metrics.
Delivery Month
8
Cost
30000
Progress
90 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 5: Final
Milestone Outputs
MVP platform: Members will be able to access the platform first in test mode. All flows will be working and available for tests.
Feedback Session: With the platform running in testnet, we expect to collect feedback to improve the user experience and usability of the platform, as well as fix any bugs.
Acceptance Criteria
The final platform matches the features presented in the proposal.
Online MVP platform with features:
Evidence of Completion
Link to the platform is publicly available
Video explaining how the milestones have been completed and a platform overview.
Delivery Month
10
Cost
30000
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Software development:
Backend Engineer: 2/4 Full-time for 10 months (45k ADA (4.5k per month))
Full Stack Developer: 1 Full-time for 8 months (45k ADA (5.6k per month))
Project Management:
Project Manager : 1/4 Full-time for 10 months (30k ADA (3k per month))
Community manager: 1/4 Full-time for 4 months (7.5k ADA (1.9k per month)
General costs: MVP Infrastructure (7.5k ADA)
Contingency reserve (15k ADA)
Total: 150k ADA for 10 months
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
This project delivers exceptional value to the Cardano ecosystem:
Enhanced Ecosystem Utility
Current members of the Cardano community will be the first to build a verifiable reputation for successful delivery of services, meaning more connections and partnerships and helping to drive innovative grassroots projects with limited resources.
By enabling time-based value exchange on Cardano, we're adding a new dimension of utility that shows the blockchain's capabilities for real-world applications. This strengthens Cardano's position as a platform for innovative economic models beyond traditional financial transactions.
Direct Network Growth & Adoption
Our MVP will onboard new users globally by creating a practical use case where people can tokenize their time and skills using Cardano. Every user who joins our platform becomes an active participant in the Cardano ecosystem, directly increasing network adoption and transaction volume.
Cost-Effective Development
Our development approach leverages competitive South American development rates, ensuring maximum output per ADA invested. This efficient resource allocation means more features and functionality delivered for the same budget, maximizing the ecosystem's return on investment.
Sustainable Value Creation
Rather than a one-time expenditure, this investment creates a self-sustaining platform that continues generating value long after initial development. As our user base grows, so does Cardano's active community and transaction volume, creating compound returns for the ecosystem.
I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.
Yes
I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.
Yes
I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.
Yes
I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
James Reilly - Co-founder - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-reilly-english-teacher/
Paulo Bressan - Co-founder - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulo-b-335501115/
Rafael Souza - Backend Developer - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-souza-386254116/
Wilker Ferreira - Fullstack Developer - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilker-ferreira/