Logyq Protocol: blockchain tracking

[IMPACT]

We want to create a logistics and supply chain protocol that is accessible to anyone, from anywhere in the world; this will enable any vendor from Africa, Asia or Latin America to trace their products with ease through the supply chain, granting them access to financing and creating a clean record of their dependability. It will also enable any consumer to consult a trustworthy record of the elements and ingredients that went into the final product, and the processes it went through.

The ultimate focus will be on minimizing the difficulty of entry into the protocol, and linking it to the decentralized identity data that will already be available on the Cardano blockchain through Atala PRISM.

Our first customers will be companies operating in the Italian agri-food sector: we think the industry offers great opportunities for our service because of the growing need for Italian food and beverage makers to protect their exports from counterfeiting: global trade in counterfeit and pirated products that infringed Italian trademarks amounted to as much as EUR 35.6 billion in 2013, equivalent to 4.9% of total Italian manufacturing sales (domestic plus exports)[¹]. Food and beverage counterfeiting resulted in losses equal to EUR 4.6 billion; 85% of counterfeit food products were sold in the primary market, meaning there was no way for wholesalers and retailers to know it was counterfeit.

Following the launch of our mobile app, we will start onboarding our target clients: SMEs in emerging markets (which the World Bank estimates are responsible for up to 77% of jobs, and as much as 50% of the GDP in some African countries [²]).

These are the economic actors that are yet not benefitting from blockchain innovation, and could see considerable improvements in their businesses from implementation of the protocol. The retail and e-commerce sector in the area has seen considerable growth, and is expected to grow a further 18% a year up until 2025, with 40% user penetration [³].Thanks to IOHK’s partnership with World Mobile, citizens from Tanzania and subsequently other African countries will gain internet access and will have their first exposure to e-commerce through Cardano’s DApps: that is where Logyq Protocol comes in.

Logyq will provide a simple, easy to use interface that will enable anyone to track their product’s provenance and shipment, which in turn will make it easier to find buyers and commercial partners.

We have envisioned the second phase of Logyq Protocol to comprehend a peer to peer e-commerce platform that will seamlessly integrate into our tracking protocol. Phase 2 will start at the completion of our tracking DApp and will involve building a platform to allow the buying and selling of goods tracked through Logyq; the e-commerce platform will be available on a new section of our mobile and desktop app. We think this is a natural evolution of the tracking protocol, since it will provide a clear use-case for our DApp and will foster the adoption of decentralized technology in our targeted markets. Phase 2 will be funded by our Initial Stake Pool Offering, which will reward GYQ tokens to the Cardano users who will stake their ADA in our stake pool.

Our decentralized marketplace will be developed following the same principles that guide our tracking protocol: accessibility from anywhere in the world and ease of use for anyone.

How it works

We leverage the Cardano blockchain to provide a personalized tracking service to any business that needs to track the provenance or shipment of their product.

When a new client contacts us, we register its business in our DApp and then enable the customer to define the product information it needs to track using the blockchain, and the personnel that is authorized to submit said information on the DApp. In order to record the submitted information, Logyq Protocol sends a transaction on the blockchain, along with metadata that contains the information and a timestamp.

In the first version of the protocol, we will personally record the desired information on the blockchain by sending a transaction containing metadata using our Cardano Node CLI. In the final version of Logyq, the Dapp will convert the information in JSON and submit transactions using the cardano-wallet.js library; this will allow us to connect the Dapp to our Cardano Node so that the client itself will be able to submit transactions in a totally decentralized way.

Logyq generates a QR code that is applied to the product, and points to the corresponding metadata on the blockchain. A customer that scans the QR code gets redirected to a section of our website where all the relevant information about the product is provided. The client can track all of their shipments through a personalized section of our site.

After completing our data infrastructure, our first fields of research will be Internet of Things (GPS trackers, RFID sensors, NFC tags) devices to speed up the information-filling process and to register any sensible environmental data critical to the shipped product, such as temperature during the shipping process; the research will be conducted with particular attention to the challenges that may arise from implementation of the technology in areas with scarce or absent internet connection.

Our phase 2 e-commerce platform will feature a registration system for vendors and customers, and an internal search engine to search for different products. Vendors will have access to a form to insert the products they need to sell, which will integrate with the tracking protocol. Payments will be processed by a smart contract, which will convert data regarding the product in JSON and attach it to the corresponding tracking transaction.

Once the customer receives the product, scanning the associated QR code redirects to the product review section where he can post a review and get rewarded for it.

Business model

We plan to bring in revenue in two different ways: through a subscription model during Phase 1, and through a commission model in Phase 2. During Phase 1 we will offer our tracking service for a standard subscription package based on the volume of weekly tracked items; we will also offer premium packages for implementation with already established IoT devices’ networks.

Phase 2 will use our proprietary GYQ token to power the ecosystem: we will charge a minimal fee for every transaction on the protocol, taking advantage of Cardano’s native token feature which will allow users to pay for the blockchain transactions themselves with GYQ. Of course, payment will be possible in all Cardano native tokens, but paying with GYQ will provide advantages such as cheaper transaction costs. The use cases we envisioned for our token, apart from paying for transactions, are a reputation system and a liquidity pool for buyer and fraud protection.

The reputation score system will work like this: every time a buyer receives an item, the seller can incentivise him to post a review of the item itself by locking his GYQ tokens in a smart contract that rewards customers for posting reviews. This can solve review fraud and review bombing problems and assure customers of the reliability of sellers, since every review will be bound to a single transaction. This means that every review posted on the seller’s page will be verified by a smart-contract, making it impossible for malicious users to post fake or multiple reviews. An incentive system will be structured to reward those who perform detailed reviews, which will help increase the level of trust within the Logyq ecosystem.

We have also modeled a system to provide protection for both buyers and sellers in case of fraud or missing shipments, without relying on a centralized liquidity provider. Users will be able to lock their GYQ tokens in a liquidity pool, and earn rewards over time depending on the duration of their locking period; the rewards will come from a percentage of the transaction fees charged by the protocol. The pool will cover damages to goods that are not imputable to the seller, and will be guaranteed by a reserve of tokens owned by Logyq itself.

Detailed information about our tokenomics model will be provided in our whitepaper at the time of our ISPO’s start.

Sources:

[1]:OECD (2018), Trade in Counterfeit Goods and the Italian Economy: Protecting Italy’s intellectual property, OECD Publishing, Paris.

[2]: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance

[3]: https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/ecommerce/africa

We want to create value for our customers: enabling vendors to track the origin and shipment of their product will result in easier access to trade finance instruments, on or off-chain. Giving buyers the guarantee of blockchain tracking will result in more trust about the quality of the product itself, and will foster the adoption of e-commerce solutions in emerging markets. Our proprietary e-commerce platform will further grow web-based exchange of goods in those markets.

Slow penetration: Initial entry into emerging markets largely depends on how many users will already be familiar with Cardano and its ecosystem and, more broadly, on how many will be able to access its services. In case of slower user penetration than expected, we will continue acquiring partnerships in Europe while strongly investing in marketing and brand awareness initiatives in emerging markets.

Difficulty of entry for the illiterate: we cannot exclude that many potential users may have difficulties with the English language, or any written language for that matter. Besides providing translation in any language spoken where Logyq will be available, we will focus on providing a simple, streamlined user interface accompanied by descriptive images. We will constantly review the accessibility of our platform through diverse focus groups and adjust accordingly.

Hostile legislation: in Western as well as emerging countries, the legal framework regarding blockchain technology is approximate at best and chaotic at worst. While we have total confidence in IOHK’s work in coordinating with national governments for clear and understandable legislation in the blockchain space, we cannot underestimate the potential legal obstacles we might face. For this reason, we will make sure that we are on the right track from the beginning and will launch our token only after a thorough study of its legal compliance with European and African standards.

[FEASIBILITY]

Our first step will be to scale up our proof of concept tracking protocol, in order to track an entire batch of wine made by our first customer, Podere del Maro (https://www.poderedelmaro.it/it/).

In the meantime we will offer our product to local businesses and administrations, extending our reach into the flourishing Italian agri-food industry in order to better our understanding of what is needed to implement our service in the easiest way possible. As we onboard more clients nationally, we will reinvest the profits made in this field into research and development to make our platform as accessible as possible to any small vendor or buyer in the world.

Our product will start with a simple tracking service and will then expand to include incrementally more data, until we will be able to offer full supply chain tracking through different stages and customs.Our goal is to provide a customizable data infrastructure that will allow any user to choose which information they need to register about the goods they are selling or shipping, and then automatically set up the tools to register that information.

In the first 6 months we will work on delivering our mobile DApp, which will be available on Android and Apple marketplaces. Following the mobile release we will immediately start working on its desktop counterpart, focusing on accessibility and adaptability to any product.

As soon as the mobile interface will be complete, we will start onboarding users in emerging markets, starting from the countries that already have partnerships with IOHK and the Cardano Foundation. Concurrently, we will work on integration with DID protocols such as the one that Atala PRISM is developing in conjunction with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education, so that we will be able to integrate the ID data of customers into our tracking system.

Through all of these collaborations we will work to make Logyq Protocol a comprehensive network, that will enable new connections between businesses through the supply chain, ease access to credit and trade financing and allow payments in any desired currency, including ADA, stablecoins, wrapped fiat currency and our proprietary GYQ token.

Phase 2

Phase 2 will start when the mobile and desktop applications will both be 100% complete and working. It will be funded by our Initial Stake Pool Offering, which will reward users that lock their ADA in our stake pool with an amount of GYQ tokens corresponding to the staking rewards they would have received in ADA. We think ISPOs are a revolutionary tool in the blockchain space, since they allow funding of decentralized projects without relying on single investors that might steer the project’s direction for their own interest. Getting funded by the Cardano community itself will enable us to focus on providing value to Cardano users.

The acquired funding will be used to build our Peer2Peer e-commerce platform, which will utilize the tracking data registered by Logyq Protocol. The platform will integrate into our already existing app, in order to give more functionalities to our users with a lower development cost compared to building a whole different application.

In the beginning, we will use our newly issued tokens to incentivise our acquired user base to transact on the platform, offering rewards to onboard new customers and create a strong network.

The first use case of GYQ token will be to reward customers who post detailed reviews of items on our website: a new section will be implemented on the app and website which will show every seller’s information and customer reviews. Every review will be associated with a specific transaction, and only customers who will scan the QR code on a product will be allowed to post one, so that it will be impossible for malicious actors to review bomb a specific user or take advantage of the reward system.

The vendor reputation system will be implemented before the e-commerce platform is released, so as to test the incentive model and fool-proof it for future use; we will allocate a specific amount of tokens to reward the users who will try the new functionality of our protocol. This way, when the P2P marketplace will be complete, the customers that were already tracking their products with Logyq and selling them elsewhere will be able to show the reviews of their products directly on their marketplace page.

Timeline:

3 MONTHS:

- Structuring of tokenomics system

 - Full node up and running

 - Scale up the Proof of Concept tracking protocol to track entire batch of products

 - Publish whitepaper

 - Release the Beta version of our mobile DApp

6 MONTHS:

 - Tokenomics model added to whitepaper and utility token minted

 - Initial Stake Pool Offering started

 - Final release of mobile DApp

 - Working release of our desktop DApp

12 MONTHS:

 - GYQ Token airdropped to Logyq user base

 - E-commerce platform up and running on mobile app

Cost Breakdown:

Company legal compliance:

- Company registration and notarization: 2500 $

 - Minimum social capital : 6850 $

 - Token legal compliance: 5000 $

Technological infrastructure:

 - Running full node for 12 months: 160 $

 - Site and back-end app hosting: 750 $

 - Developer license for Google Play Store and Apple App Store: 125 $

 - Smartphone rental for app testing (3 months): 150 $

 - Server rent and setup costs for stake pool: 500$

 - DevOps consultant for running multiple stake pools: 10 hours * 35$/h = 350$

 - UX/UI consulting service for website and DApp: 350$

 - Front-end Developer: 3 months * 15€/h = 8625$

 - Full-Stack Developer: 3 months * 20€/h = 11040 $

Marketing and online presence:

 - Graphic designer for site, infographics and social media presence: 2000 $

 - Online advertisement budget: 6500 $

 Total requested: 44900 USD

(Please note that we, as the founders, are not taking any money off the fund as we think the catalyst project only serves to help kickstart a project and we are keeping costs to the minimum. We believe that as soon as we will hit the ground running we will be able to form meaningful partnerships that will bring in revenue for the company and for us.)

Ettore Pittui: project manager

Luca Pedranzini: blockchain engineer

Alessio Pezzin: financial and tokenomics advisor

Johannes Maarten Van Sluys: marketing and community manager

We are two university students (Ettore is in Law School and Luca is in Automation Engineering) based in Milan, with a profound passion for the new horizon of possibilities that blockchain enables.

Luca has 2 years experience with blockchain engineering and smart-contract programming, having worked in a DeFi startup for the past year.

Ettore has been studying the various applications and perspectives of blockchain technology for 2 years while in Università di Milano, and since he has come in contact with Cardano’s vision he has worked hard to find a way to employ his capabilities to contribute to the ecosystem, finally landing on this project.

Shortly after the founding of Logyq, we came in contact with Alessio: he is an Economics and Sustainable Business major who founded his first startup while still in university; in 2016 he started working as a freelance business modeling and digital strategy consultant, and in 2017 he came in contact with blockchain technology and tokenomics. In 2018 he founded Criptolab, a coworking space and association based in Rome that hosts blockchain and crypto-themed meetups. Since 2019 he has been working in the crypto space as co-organizer and teacher of Blockchain Month and as a specialized consultant in designing tokenomics’ models.

Johannes is the latest addition to our team: he brings to the table his expertise in marketing and managing crypto communities for various on-chain projects.

Raised in hotels, aviation and tourism enthusiast, he is passionate about communication and a crypto revolutionary. He has two years of experience on chain as Community Manager and Marketeer. He started his journey with TreeDefi, a promising project from BSC that achieved more than 50 million market cap in less than 6 months, with more than 35k active users. 

We have partnered with Hinnovo, a software development company, to provide its expertise in front end and back end development, in conjunction with our blockchain engineering capabilities to achieve a functioning and secure software experience.

Linkedin profiles:

www.linkedin.com/in/ettore-pittui

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-pedranzini-1480631b8/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessio-pezzin/?originalSubdomain=it

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesmaartenvansluys/

[AUDITABILITY]

KPIs:

 - # of customers onboarded that require customized infrastructure

 - # of customers on the mobile app

 - # of products tracked

 - # of users that have consulted the product information on our Dapp

 - Mainnet activity growth in emerging markets fostered by our platforms

Our roadmap and applied KPIs:

3 MONTHS:

 - Full node up and running

 - Structuring of tokenomics system

 - Embark at least a second customer in the national agri-food industry to start working on a tracking system tailored to their needs

- Publish whitepaper

 - Release the Beta version of our mobile DApp

6 MONTHS:

 - 3 customized tracking infrastructures up and running

 - 100 batches of products tracked by Logyq Protocol have been tracked through shipment from  factory/farm to the consumer’s table

 - User base: 100 clients have consulted product’s tracking data through our platform

 - Utility token minted

 - Initial Stake Pool Offering ongoing

 - Final release of mobile DApp

 - Working release of our desktop DApp

12 MONTHS:

 - GYQ Token airdropped to Cardano user base

 - 5 customized tracking infrastructures up and running, with at least one being outside of the agri- food industry

 - Embarking of 5 SMEs from emerging markets

 - E-commerce platform up and running on mobile app

 - 1000 connected wallets on the e-commerce platform

 - 1000 monthly transactions on Logyq Protocol

Our "definition of done" regarding the project's funding period, as per our timeline, is the publishing of our whitepaper, the beginning of our Initial Stake Pool Offering, and the succesful release of our mobile DApp.

Our "definition of success" in the long run is that by 2024, Logyq Protocol tracks 20% of all blockchain tracked items and aggregates 5% of all e-commerce transactions in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

It is an entirely new proposal.

SDG Rating

8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation