Carbon ERC-20 Converter to Cardano

[IMPACT]

The ERC-20 Converter will allow carbon token holders on ERC-20 standard (investors that are willing to migrate their tokens to Cardano) as well as smaller token issuers and their entire communities to seamlessly migrate their ERC-20 tokens to Cardano. To ensure only compatible, high-quality carbon pools can migrate, this would require a whitelist that can be added to periodically.

The converter will translate an ERC-20 token into Cardano Native token established by the BlockCarbon Standard while retaining the same metadata/rights.

We are looking for collaboration with IOHK and have a development team working on EVM to build a Solidity whitelist locking/burning contract and a corresponding Cardano fountain to make available the identical asset as a Cardano Native asset. We will utilize the DripDropz Instant Reward API to provide the minted Cardano Native Tokens to the wallet holder who identified themselves when burning their ERC-20 tokens. Tokens will be duplicated and stored in DripDropz until the user claims their replacement tokens. After the API call succeeds, the ERC-20 tokens will be permanently burned, and the migration will complete.

See attached "workflow diagram" <erc20converter.png> and link below for the full process

https://i.imgur.com/xdbhC01.png

Project partner "DripDropz" provides token dispensing services to the Cardano community. An intuitive platform that offers projects a comprehensive selection of distribution parameters.

https://dripdropz.io

ERC-20 is currently the dominant token standard for DeFi, not just for carbon offsets. By convincingly creating a niche where Cardano is already very strong, i.e. awareness of sustainaility and climate issues, we can help focus investment and discussion. This then creates a credible base case for a ‘Great Migration’ in general.  

Creating a successful case outside the world of NFTs for tokens to migrate with the testnet deployment and IOHK liaison carried out by our project would make it easier and faster for other tokens, dApps and other projects to move from Ethereum to Cardano.

With the proposed use of the DripDropz API license and an existing team of developers experienced in various blockchain protocols, we are optimistic that we can implement this project smoothly. BlockCarbon is already developing the standard for Cardano carbon tokenization, and an ERC-20 converter would work with it or any other Cardano carbon token as long as both tokens are whitelisted and designed without major flaws.

It is, however, dependent on assumptions of a favorable business environment in general, as are most startups and new projects. These include:

• Successful transition to Ethereum 2.0 could make migration from ERC-20 less attractive
• Dramatic rise in Cardano DeFi usage that exceeds ability of blockchain to scale
• Demand for carbon offsets using blockchain could decline abruptly due to bad actors or competing UN schemes, unfavorable media coverage or other events.

Ada holders might ask whether the IOHK ERC-20 Converter currently on testnet will make this project obsolete. We think that domain specific knowledge of the carbon sequestration liquidity pools will be difficult to generalize, but we would be more than happy to eventually see our 1-way converter being replaced by a powerful, universal solution. If we can begin the process earlier and contribute our experience and learning curve and share with IOHK that would indeed be an honor and mark of success for this humble project.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cardano-erc-20-converter-nears-testnet-phase

[FEASIBILITY]

• June 2022: Meetings with selected ERC-20 token holders and issuers that show an interest in migrating to Cardano.

• July-August 2022: Onboarding official partners who will get hand on experience with our Carbon ERC20 converter to Cardano BlockCarbon standard. We will liaise with IOHK and DripDropz to ensure each partners' experience is smooth upon token conversion on the testnet. The initial testnet will help us and their users to assess the migration. We target to conduct testnet evaluation in August 2022 and hold feedback meetings with token issuers and/or holders, IOHK and DripDropz afterwards.

• September-October 2022: Inform back to the community the number of successful ERC-20 tokens that migrate and the number of users that added to the Cardano as a result. Preparing developers for the launch in mainnet.

• $7500 - Solidity Contract with Whitelist, Cardano Wallet Address Capture, ERC-20 Token Lock (170 hours at $50 per hour over 6 months)
• $10000 - Fountain / Fungible Token Minter with DripDropz Instant Reward API Connector (200 hours at $50 per hour over 6 months)
• $2500 - DripDropz API license (1 time fee)
• $4000 - Website, Interface UX design (75 hours at $40 per hour and $1000 for 1 time setup costs)
• $3000 - Marketing and Admin (50 hours at $40 per hour and $1000 for 1 time setup costs)

TOTAL BUDGET: $27000

Lloyd Duhon

Lloyd is a founding member of the BlockCarbon foundation, Community Manager at DripDropz and owner/operator of Living Greens Urban Farm and a 25 Year IT veteran with CTO level experience. Cardano Plutus Pioneer 2nd Cohort graduate. Experienced in leading development teams and working closely with Florida Gulf Coast University.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyd-duhon/

Eric Montgomery

Senior Programmer: Full stack developer with over 30 years of experience building business applications at institutional levels.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric996/

June Akra

Founding member of BlockCarbon, financial market expert and academic with vast experience in risk management, derivatives and commodities. Experience for various risk functions in 2 billion dollar AUM fund. Holder of Master degree in Investment with distinction and awarded Draper Prize. Certified Quantitative Finance (CQF) alumni London. Experienced video editor, content creator with combined 50,000 followers on social media, NFT collector and creator and certified python AI practitioner.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/june-a-a3a0b4174

[AUDITABILITY]

The "Carbon ERC-20 Converter to Cardano" project can be audited by KPIs as follows.

What success looks like (figures prior to "testnet evaluation set in August 2022")

• Number of carbon token issuers and investors that we have meetings with. (3 after 1 month, 6 after 2 months, 10 after 3 months)

• Unique ERC-20 tokens that we have onboarded and included in testing. (1 after 1 month, 3 after 2 months, 5 after 3 months)

What success looks like (figures after "testnet evaluation set in August 2022")

• TVL migrating to Cardano : how much increase in value of carbon tokens as a result of ERC-20 converter. ($-value of converted ERC-20 tokens based on their coinmarketcap value or holder investment amount: 100k after 1 month, 200k after 2 months, 500k after 3 months)

• Number of whitelisted carbon tokens: eligible carbon tokens which are going through whitefountain process (for 5 unique carbon liquidity pools after 1 month, 10 unique carbon liquidity pools after 2 months, 20 unique carbon liquidity pools after 3 months)

• Number of carbon projects that migrate: how many ERC-20 carbon projects move to Cardano (conversion carried out for one unique carbon liquidity pool after 1 month, two unique carbon liquidity pools after 2 months, three unique carbon liquidity pools after 3 months)

We will report back project progress to the community via bi-weekly Zoom meeting with the Challenge Team.

There are over 200 million dollars locked in ERC-20 carbon tokens (greenhouse gas mitigation either from nature-based solutions or energy efficiency projects) tracked by coinmarketcap at the moment. "Burning"/retiring only 1% of this liquidity in favor of Cardano native carbon tokens would justify the project. We are, of course, much more ambitious and want to migrate them all! Success criteria during the scope of project's funding period 6 months are:

• 3 months: complete onboarding and testnet evaluation assessment
• 6 months: successfully migrate ERC-20 carbon tokens and increase public awareness of ERC-20 carbon tokens migration to Cardano across social media channels

Please also refer to the roadmap and KPIs mentioned in earlier sections.

• BlockCarbon was funded in Fund 7 for the “Carbon as a DeFi asset” Foundation and Open Source library. Along with its many partners and volunteers, the project is now underway to include a “carbon bridge” to mint tokens and generate best-in-class use cases for on-chain greenhouse gas mitigation projects. This proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project. https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/381939
• The proposal is also closely connected to our proposal in Fund 8 "Carbon Marketplace and Exchange" https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/398034

SDG Rating

UN Sustainable Development Goals Impacted

https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. By actively supporting carbon trading and pricing at the core of our proposal, we will meaningfully impact the reduction of greenhouse gases – forests will be planted and coal-fired power plants turned off if the price of carbon rises due to financialization.