Cardano Beam - GPS based Assets

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

DApp to place NFTs on a map using a web wallet and have users pick them up with a tracking app & wallet on their phone. Onboarding of non-crypto business and accepting fiat deposits via a fiat onramp

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

The project lead builds community tools for Cardano and is an SPO. Has 20 years of professional experience at large tech and financial institutions. Plutus pioneer from 1st cohort. Funded in Fund8 with a 5/5 rating and outstanding community feedback. App running on the Testnet.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Problem statement - long form

There is currently a lack of a “value transfer system” for placing NFTs, and other tokens, at GPS locations and having people pick them up. Nothing like this exists today, and this is a potentially revolutionary application of the blockchain.

It all centers around rewarding someone for being at a certain location at a certain time. A few examples:

Someone might want to pay someone else 1 ADA if they come to the voting booth on a Sunday (think of a local government that wants to increase voter participation).

Or, I might want to pay someone 5 ADA to show up to my park run between 9:30 and 9:45 on a Saturday morning - and then I will give an NFT to the first ten across the finish line!

Or, someone might want to spread tokens all over the city so people can walk around picking them up and doing some exercise while at it - sort of a Pokemon GO on Cardano.

Or it might be that I want to reward a delivery driver for an early arrival - I can place 5 ADA in front of my house that can only be picked up by the public key of the delivery driver no later than 7 pm this Tuesday.

The problem is for anyone who ever wanted to incentivize someone else to be at a certain location out of need or out of love. A form of a location-based Nudge that could predictably alter people’s behavior without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.*

At the beginning of the year, we researched 3 areas where this kind of a problem exists and for which we could develop a solution by leveraging the Cardano blockchain. For this, we received funding from Catalyst Fund 8 (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/396850).

Thanks to this funding, by the end of October 2022, the Cardano Beam protocol will support each of these use cases.

Organizing and running Sports Events. Where the organizers can manage the logistics of registering users, collecting registration fees, handing out prizes, and tracking the athletes live. This will be possible with the use of Cardano Beam. To test this, we will run an event at the end of our project where a team member and up to 10 other amateurs will cycle from Lisbon to the Algarve in Portugal. 

Businesses Advertising. A “value transfer system” linked to the GPS location will transform how ads are placed and consumed at the local and community levels. Traditional advertising in local newspapers and street banners can be costly and ineffective as user attention is moving into the digital world. Giving discounts to second-time visitors or offering reward cards to try and make clients come back only works when a client has been there before and does nothing to attract the first-time visitors.

The benefit of having a “value transfer system” linked to GPS locations is that local businesses can target local consumers. As a result, users will be on the lookout for offers around them. And advertisers will be able to reach all of these users instantaneously.

Businesses can incentivize clients to pass by their store - physically. This possibility is a step-up for companies as they can get ‘guaranteed’ results for every dollar spent.

Charitable Donations based on location. Amateurs participating in events often ask for sponsorship from friends and family to help pay for event fees and other expenses. Unfortunately, it is cumbersome to collect money from friends and family. As a result, many opt for a third-party service such as chuffed.org. These services charge a fee between 2 and 7%. Cardano Beam will let friends and family place ADA or other tokens on the event’s route so the participant can pick them up during the event. 

By supporting these three use cases, the Cardano Beam protocol will have a base layer onto which we can build additional functionalities on top. The base layer is the first step in our development of Cardano Beam, which we will deliver by the end of October 2022.

In Fund 9, we request additional funding to develop the protocol further and make it appealing to the non-crypto retail users and businesses. We want to make the blockchain chain seamlessly accessible to non-crypto corporations and users.

Attracting users from outside the blockchain and crypto ecosystem will help demonstrate Cardano's benefits in solving some real-world problems.

The purpose of funds from Fund 9 is to:

1 - Create a Fiat onramp to onboard non-crypto business onto the platform

2 - Port the Android version of the Mobile App to Apple iOS

3 - Create a robust GPS Spoofing Protection

4 - Create a brand identity for Cardano Beam and a uniform design across applications

5 - Business Development and Community Building

1 - Create a Fiat onramp to onboard non-crypto businesses onto the platform.

Traditional businesses and retail users that want to use blockchain technology often face the problem of gaining access to the wallets of blockchains and how to fund their accounts using EUR, USD, or other currency they hold in their bank accounts, or on credit cards.

An app like Cardano Beam that aims to solve problems of retail and small businesses and gain adoption from the non-crypto entrepreneurs needs to be able to onboard these users and accept payments from them using traditional payment methods.

Access to blockchain to non-crypto users will address the recent criticism for the masses' lack of adoption of blockchain and the lack of progress of apps to solve real-world problems.

A Reuters survey found that adults feel more confident with crypto. Still, despite their rising popularity, cryptocurrencies are not widely used to pay for goods and services, partly because of their frequent fluctuations in value.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/quarter-small-businesses-across-nine-countries-plan-offer-crypto-payments-visa-2022-01-12/ 

Observations from influencers that suggest there need to be more dApps for non-crypto users (https://twitter.com/Padierfind/status/1535637332149383168)

And discussion on the Cardano Project Catalyst telegram chats with suggestions to have a particular focus on Dapps for non-crypto users https://t.me/ProjectCatalystChat/68101 

There needs to be an option where a user or a business can use the Cardano Beam App and place Assets on the World Map without having a web wallet and without having to go to an exchange to buy ADA.

There should be an option where the user can create an account with a username and password, deposit funds in a fiat currency, and interact with the app without realizing that they are dealing with a blockchain and crypto. This option will help onboard new non-crypto users onto Cardano.

2 - Mobile App for both Android and Apple IOS phones

Mobile apps must be available on the two leading mobile platforms to gain mass adoption; Android and Apple iOS. These two control 99%+ of the total mobile devices market share.

Cardano Beam Mobile App has been written with the React Native framework, configured to run on Android devices, and deployed onto the Google Play Store. Anyone can download it from the Play Store by searching for Cardano Beam.

We first chose to deploy to Android devices as Android has a dominant market share worldwide (72% for Android and 27% for iOS). And because we developed it in React Native, we knew that porting to other operating systems would be possible without having to rewrite everything in another language.

Even though Android is more popular worldwide, Apple has a dominant market share in the US, where it represents 59% of the devices, and in Japan, it has a 62% market share. Therefore to capture consumers where Apple has a dominant market share, it is essential to have a version of Cardano Beam that runs on Apple iOS.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-is-android-more-popular-globally-while-ios-rules-the-us/ 

Part of the funds from Fund 9 will be to configure the React Native codebase to run on Apple iOS devices, deploy it to Apple Store, and test that the app is performing as expected on the roads.

3 - GPS Spoofing Protection

The mobile app users might fake their actual GPS location by using malicious software or an emulator to simulate that they are traveling the route when they are not. For event organizers, this risk can be mitigated by pre-registering participants and their addresses so that only participants on the list can pick up the rewards.

For anonymous users, the mobile app will collect static data from the user’s phones and check if they are running an emulator or using malicious software to fake their actual location. It will also use the information on the recent travel history and speed to identify if the pattern of activity is plausible (e.g., moving at 200km/h is unlikely a cycling activity)

Additional GPS Spoofing Protection is needed to give confidence that fake users can’t pick up assets. Protection is possible by cross-referencing local wifi networks, local GSM towers, and community-run blockchain mobile networks such as Helium (HNT), where access points are spread worldwide.

4 - Cardano Beam Brand identity and uniform design across applications

The Cardano Beam Web and Mobile App need a coherent design and identity. Therefore, we have partnered with a Design and Branding agency to help define the Cardano Beam brand identity, create a uniform design across our Webpage, Web App, and Mobile App. The agency will also and create branding assets that we can use in Business Development and Community Outreach.

5 - Business Development and Community Outreach

The success of a protocol comes from its use. Cardano Beam connects users who walk around with their phones in their pockets with the businesses that want to attract attention. Therefore the outreach needs to happen on two fronts - Community Outreach and Business Development.

Cardano Beam needs a strong voice and presence in the Cardano community with regular interaction and outreach through social media channels. In addition, the team members need to participate in Cardano-sponsored and other blockchain industry-sponsored events.

Cardano Beam also needs a Business Development strategy to be marketed and demoed to the businesses at a local level and online.

6 - Other uses cases to which we can expand Cardano Beam and which we will explore during the Business Development sessions and reaching out to the community:

Geocaching

Incentivizing voting participation

Tracking of cars and vessels

Bonuses for urgent parcel delivery

Tracking of goods in a production line

Solution - long form

We are building the Cardano Beam platform to allow anyone to place an Asset on the World map by specifying the GPS coordinates. A smart contract locks these Assets on the Cardano blockchain; to unlock them, someone must pass at that GPS location. Once the user passes at the location where the Asset was locked, the smart contract unlocks the asset and gets transferred to the user’s wallet.

This platform will allow for value to be transferred without payment terminals, without prior agreements so long as the person receiving the payment is physically present at the specified location and conforms to the other conditions of whoever placed the Asset there.

This platform will bring a sizeable new user base to the blockchain.

We received our first funding from Catalyst Fund 8 and are developing the platform at pace. We are using the funds from Fund 8 to create the base layer that allows placing and redeeming assets from the world map. We are testing the base layer by solving 3 of the use cases we identified early on: Organizing events, business advertising, and charity donations. We have already launched The Cardano Beam Web App and the Mobile App on the Testnet.

This Fund 9 proposal is aimed to enhance the platform and add a fiat on-ramp so that non-crypto users and businesses can participate seamlessly. Additional funding is also requested to create a brand identity for the Cardano Beam and engage businesses and build a community around the platform.

The base layer allows event organizers to manage the logistics of organizing an event and keeping track of athletes using the wallet address of registered participants. Event organizers can set up a course by placing tokens at checkpoints and monitoring who picked them up. Race bibs can become the wallet addresses each participant will carry on their phone. Participants register themselves on the event day by showing up and picking up a token at the start line. Finishers receive their rewards directly into their wallet when they cross the finish line. Chip timing and live tracking of participants are available through our Web App.

The base layer lets business owners advertise their location by placing tokens next to their establishment and targeting a particular time and date. They can scale the rewards by paying out more during slow times. In addition, the city markets can give out gifts to those who turn up and make them redeemable for goods at the market.

The base layer also lets athletes share their wallet addresses with friends and family and request that they place their donations somewhere along the route. Then when passing that place, the athlete’s wallet will recognize the donation and interact with the smart contract to collect it. When placing the donation, it will be possible to make it collectible by anyone passing there or only by a selected set of wallet addresses (e.g. addresses that belong to the same family)

1 - Web DApp with a Map

The Web App is running on the Testnet and is available at: https://cardanobeam.app/web 

Before funding from Fund 8, Cardano Beam was in a prototype state and part of the dynamicstrategies.io website. The funds received so far meant we could register a domain and promote it to a product with its own identity.

The Web App lets users place NFTs and tokens on the map and lock them into a smart contract at that particular GPS location. Additional locking features will also be available to target a specific user group (e.g. list of wallet addresses who registered for an event) or a specific time interval. We will continue to develop this with the rest of the Fund 8 funding.

Fund 9 funding is requested to enhance the Web App and create a private area that users can access with a username and password. A private area is geared towards non-crypto users who do not have a web wallet but want to participate in the Cardano Beam protocol.

In the private area, the user can fund their account with fiat by providing a credit card, PayPal, and other traditional payment methods available through Stripe https://stripe.com/ .

When the user funds their account, a backend service will generate a Cardano wallet and transfer to the wallet the equivalent amount of ADA for the user to use in the protocol. The user will receive the seed phrase of the wallet to use in one of the many web wallets (e.g., Nami, Eternal, Flint…)

A private area combined with a fiat onramp will create a seamless experience for non-crypto users and a gateway into the Cardano Ecosystem. The web wallet will also be usable on other apps of the Cardano ecosystem if the user chooses to.

The fiat onramp will be an innovative development for Cardano; there have been other platforms that integrate onramps (such as nft-market.io) and have seen success. Dynamic Strategies, the company developing Cardano Beam has registered with Stripe.com to process fiat payments

2 - Mobile App with GPS Tracking and a Cardano Mobile Wallet

The user will pick up their rewards with Cardano Beam App running on their mobile phone and which will have GPS location tracking and a Cardano wallet

The Mobile App has been released on the Cardano Testnet and is available on Google Play Store. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cardano_beam_native 

The Mobile App has a GPS tracking system to track the user’s location and report to the web app in real-time where the user is. The mobile app also constantly queries the Cardano blockchain for nearby NFTs and tokens.

The Mobile App supports Cardano wallets. In the Mobile App the user can create a new wallet or import an existing one using the mnemonic phrase. The wallet submits transactions and collects NFTs and tokens as the user passes near them. In addition, the wallet shows the assets and the NFTs the user holds. This is particularly useful when an NFT is a QR code or a ticket to an event.

Additionally, two backend elements manage the communication between the user application and the Cardano blockchain.

3 - Back end Database and APIs

Backend services support the Web App and the Mobile App.

The Database temporarily stores users' location using the Mobile App so that users can relay their location to the web app.

The cardano-wallet and cardano-graphql services let the Web App and the Mobile App communicate with the Cardano blockchain and relay back the information to the user of the current state of the blockchain and each user’s holding.

The backend services have been deployed on the Testnet and they support the Web and the Mobile Apps

4 - Smart contracts

Smart contracts lock the tokens and NFTs on the blockchain. The user then redeems them from the smart contracts when they reach the GPS location of the smart contract.

The smart contract has four steps.

• When a business selects to place an Asset on the world map, a new smart contract gets generated with the requested GPS locations. This type of smart contract is called a “parameterized” smart contract, for which we developed the template code. Thes template generates a contact for a specific GPS location.
• The GPS location is converted into a “3-word” location courtesy of the https://what3words.com/ service. Converting a GPS location to a “3-word” location allows for any location to be communicated using these 3 words rather than GPS coordinates which are just large numbers and therefore difficult to remember and share. This is especially useful for the rural areas where names of streets are unavailable or in the middle of wild places. The 3 world location can point to any 3x3 meter land plot anywhere on the world map.
• A transaction is sent from the web wallet to lock the assets into the smart contract.
• When a person with the Cardano Beam Mobile app passes by the location where the assets exist, the Mobile App automatically creates and sends a transaction to the smart contract to redeem the assets.

We developed the technology to generate the smart contract, create a 3-word location from GPS coordinates and interact with the smart contract. Part of this new technology we released as open-source. The rest will also be released as open-source once we are happy that the code is reliable.

With the help of funds from Fund 8 we launched the first version of the smart contract on the Testnet, and it is available for testing with our Web App and the Mobile App. The smart contract supports the locking of any Asset on the Cardano blockchain in the smart contract - this can be NFTs, Djed tokens of any amount, ADA, or any other Token on the Cardano blockchain.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Cardano Beam is a new use case for the blockchain. It targets a specific area where blockchain can improve logistics and change how a part of the industry operates. Uptake of this innovation can attract a new and untapped user base to the Cardano ecosystem. In addition, it puts a foot in the door for Cardano into at least two new industries (sports and advertising). It also shows the capability to use Cardano to solve non-standard problems.

A significant user base records and shares their daily exercises with friends through social networks such as Strava and Garmin Connect. Users of the Strava app record more than 2 million daily activities. Strava has been labeled the ‘network for athletes’ and over two-thirds of the Tour de France cyclists regularly track stage results on it.

Additionally, millions of small businesses worldwide are looking for an edge that allows them to reach customers in engaging, innovative ways. Therefore, even a slight uptake of these use cases would increase the transaction volume on Cardano by a substantial amount.

Cardano is eco-friendly, scalable, and maintains security when scaling, and its native assets (tokens) protocol is easy and secure, second to none. Cardano is really the only blockchain that has the features to make this project possible, that combined with low transaction fees which makes the solution scalable. A key feature of Cardano Beam is that the user who collects the assets can pay for the transaction fee from the assets locked in the smart contract, this means that redeeming assets for the user is free, and the cost of the transaction is paid for by who places the asset on the map - out o the major blockchains this is only possible on Cardano

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

The Cardano Beam essential infrastructure funded in Fund 8 has been developed to the level where it is running on a Testnet. The team is testing it daily, adding features, and fixing bugs daily. So far, the Web App and the Mobile have remained stable under low user load.

There is a risk that the rapid adoption will significantly increase the load on the servers and which can lead to the web app and the mobile app becoming unresponsive. Mitigant - the service provider who hosts the servers can upgrade to higher spec machines. The load will continue to be tested, and should the load reach critical levels; we will upgrade the machine. 

Failure of the Mobile App - the Mobile App might crash or fail to record the location accurately, and the phone might run out of battery during the long event. The testing so far has shown that the Mobile App performs well; we have not experienced any significant crashes after more than 9 thousand locations shared by the Mobile App with the backend service and the Web App. During testing, we are keeping a log of all interactions between the different services

Failure to port to Apple iOS - there is a risk that the team will face challenges when adapting the React Native codebase for Apple iOS. The decision to choose React Native was deliberate to minimize this type of risk. This is because in React Native the same code base can be used to run on Android and Apple iOS devices - this reduces the risk significantly. The remaining risk is standard for any software development project.

Smart contract congestion - after the smart contract is designed and deployed it is possible that the concurrency question comes up, and it may lead to the substandard performance of the apps. We have not encountered this risk on the Testnet, and the smart contract is performing as expected. The upcoming Vasil hard fork on the Cardano Mainnet is expected to significantly increase the throughput of the Cardano blockchain. If congestion on the Mainnet becomes an issue at any point in the future, we will have the option to port the smart contract onto a Layer 2 network, such as Milkomeda or the IOG native Layer 2. The layer 2 chains borrow the security of the Cardano Mainnet while reducing the cost of transactions and increasing throughput.

GPS spoofing - users of the phone app might fake their actual GPS location by using malicious software or an emulator to simulate that they are traveling the route when they are not. For event organizers, this risk can be mitigated by pre-registering participants and their addresses so that the rewards can be picked up only by those. And for anonymous users the Mobile App will collect static data from the phone, such as the GSM carrier, if an emulator is running as well as additional location-based info such as the location of nearby wifi and GSM towers and cross-check this with the recent travel history and speed. We will implement enhanced methods to mitigate the risk of GPS spoofing with the use of funds from Fund 9

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Target Functionality:

The app consists of 2 front-end apps, a Backend with a database to store temporary user tracking data and communicate with the blockchain, GPS Spoofing Protection service, and Smart Contracts. The target functionality of each one is described in the sections below. Finally, we will prioritize the correct functioning of the app on the Testnet before releasing it onto the Mainnet.

Target Functionality - 1) The Web DApp

The Web App is accessible to all. In the Web App, the user sees a map and all the other users currently cycling, running, walking, driving, or performing other activities. In addition, a marker identifies each user with a wallet address on the Cardano blockchain. 

Clicking on the user on the map shows the detail of the user, such as their current position, their pace, and how many rewards they have collected so far (e.g., how much of token X they collected and what NFTs they hold).

Using the Cardano Beam Web App, anyone can place an asset on the map. To do this, they click somewhere on the map and then choose from their web wallet the Asset they want to place. Cardano Beam integrates with the major Cardano Wallets. When placing the asset, the users have an option if they want the token to be picked up only by some selected wallet addresses or anyone - thus allowing them to target a specific group of users.

The Web App has been released on the Testnet https://cardanobeam.app. Additional functionality to give users the option to limit the number of wallet addresses that can redeem the assets and time limits will be developed throughout the rest of the year with funding already received from Fund 8

The funding from Fund 9 is being requested to add the option for non-crypto users who do not have a Cardano wallet to participate in the Cardano Beam protocol.

To achieve this, we will create a private area for users that they can access with a username and password. In the private area, the user can deposit funds into their account with fiat by providing a credit card, PayPal, and other traditional payment methods. The fiat onramp will be arranged through Stripe https://stripe.com/ 

Once the user deposits fiat funds into their account through Stripe, a backend service will generate a Cardano wallet and deposit the equivalent amount of ADA into it. The user will be able to access these funds on the platform. The user will be given a wallet address and a password to sign transactions and have the option to retrieve the mnemonic seed phrase. In addition, the user can send other assets to the wallet to place on the map. The fiat transactions will be handled by the company Dynamic Strategies, which has an account with Stripe and is a legal entity registered in Portugal.

Technology used:

Next JS

TailwindCSS

MobX State Management

Google Maps API

Stripe Fiat Onramp https://stripe.com/docs/payments/quickstart 

Target Functionality - 2) The Mobile App

The Mobile App has an inbuilt Cardano Wallet that interacts with the blockchain, sends transactions to the blockchain, redeems assets from the blockchain, and shows the user the Assets and NFTs that they hold

The Mobile App has been developed and is being tested on Android devices. React Native was used to build the app, and the codebase will be ported to support Apple iOS devices - the decision to use React Native was made so that porting to Apple would be faster than if using an Android-specific codebase (e.g. Dart)

Part of the fund from Fund 9 are being requested to configure the React Native codebase for Apple iOS and publish the App onto the Apple Store so that Apple users can use it in the same way as the Mobile App is currently being used on Android devices.

Technology used:

React Native

MobX State Management

Google Maps API

Target Functionality - 3) Backend

The Web App and the Mobile App communicate with the backend to read/transmit the location of the Mobile App users. The backend uses a REST API service and MongoDB to store the data on the server.

A cardano-wallet service runs on the backend, which the Mobile App uses to new wallets, restore wallets from the mnemonic, and query for assets held on the wallet.

A cardano-graphql service runs in the backend and responds to queries from the Web and the Mobile Apps on the state of the blockchain. There is constant two-way communication between the Web App, the Mobile App, and this graphql services as the apps are kept in sync with what is happening on the blockchain. When one of the users redeems an asset from the map, all the other users need to be informed that the asset is no longer there, or when a new asset is placed on the map, all the users need to be informed. This is done with the graphql service

An instance of cardano-node runs in the background which keeps updated a local copy of the blockchain and to which the cardano-wallet and cardano-graphql services are connected.

The back end runs an algorithm that checks for the integrity of the GPS coordinates supplied by the users. This control catches any possible GPS spoofing attempts, flags the users, and stops them from redeeming the assets in the smart contract.

Technology used:

MongoDB

RESTapi

cardano-wallet

Cardano-graphql

cardano-node 

Target Functionality - 4) Smart contracts

Smart contracts are the center of Cardano Beam. They lock the assets at a GPS location and release them when a user passes near the location.

The GPS coordinates parametrize the contract. It accepts and locks the assets at a UTXO by posting a transaction from the Web App. The smart contract releases the assets from the UTXO if a transaction is sent to it with the correct parameters from the Mobile App.

The smart contract interacts with the backend GPS Spoofing Protection service that catches GPS spoofing attempts. Should the user post unrealistic tracking information of how they got to that location or use malicious software on the Mobile App the back-end service will stop the user from redeeming the assets.

The users placing the assets on the map can reduce the risk of GPS spoofing by providing a list of wallet addresses that can redeem the Asset (e.g., a list of friends or registered participants of an event). This information is written into the smart contract and stops anonymous users from redeeming the asset.

Notwithstanding the GPS spoofing protection, the assets are always redeemable by the user who placed them. The user who locks the assets in a smart contract gets given a special password with which the asset can be redeemed to bypass the GPS check. This is important for the cases where the user might misplace the asset, or the location becomes inaccessible and needs a way to retrieve those assets and place them elsewhere.

A.1: Inputs into a smart contract when locking assets:

3 Word location that boxes every GPS location into a 3x3 meter block on earth

PolicyID of the asset

Asset Name of the asset

Asset Amount

Target Wallet Address or all

Time limits

A.2: Output:

Success/failure

B.1: Inputs into smart when redeeming assets

Datum

User context with public key and time

B.2: Output:

The asset is transferred to Wallet, or Fail.

Target Functionality - 5) GPS Spoofing Protection

A GPS Spoof Protection service sits between the user and the smart contract. It catches malicious users who try to redeem assets by allegedly being at the GPS locations when they are not. The malicious users could try to do this by using malicious software running on their mobiles which simulates their location to be elsewhere, or by running an emulator on their computer, which mimics the behavior of a mobile phone.

The GPS spoof protection service examines two areas:

• The probability that the user is running malicious software on their mobile device or is using an emulator. This is done by checking the hardware characteristics of the mobile device.
• The probability of the user being at the correct GPS location given their recent activity history. For example, the user that has been going at 200km/h is unlikely to be valid; similarly, a user that just ‘appears’ at a location is unlikely to be valid.

We are asking for funding in Fund 9 to improve our GPS Spoofing algorithms by using the network information around the mobile device and cross-referencing this to known databases:

• The mobile app will search for wifi networks around it and cross-reference to a database such as https://www.wigle.net/ 
• The mobile app will use the information from the mobile service provider and the connected cellular network and cross-reference to wigle.net

Wigle.net provides an API with WiFi networks and Cellular information by GPS coordinates. We can query and cross-reference to the wifi networks and cellular towers that the mobile device is seeing.

Additionally, we will explore the possibility of leveraging the Helium (HNT) network to cross-reference the GPS location data to their community-run network of 4G and wifi devices. Helium runs on a proof-of-coverage model where operators of hotspots get rewarded for allowing mobile devices to connect to them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_(cryptocurrency) 

Using Helium will encourage cross-chain collaboration between Cardano and Helium and produce a novel use case for the Helium devices.

Web App and Mobile App on the Testnet

The Cardano Beam base layer has been released on the Cardano Testnet. The suite of features in the app is close to the final, with a few exceptions that will be added during the summer months and ahead of the Mainnet release scheduled for October (restricting wallet address that can pick up an asset and the time limits)

The Web App and the Mobile App are on the Testnet and open for the community to try:

Web App: https://cardanobeam.app 

The Mobile App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cardano_beam_native 

Delivery Schedule and Roadmap

The delivery schedule below is for the 5 priorities that are described in the previous sections and for which funding is being requested in Fund 9.

1 - Create a Fiat onramp to onboard non-crypto business onto the platform

2 - Port the Android version of the Mobile App to Apple iOS

3 - Improve GPS spoofing protection

4 - Create a brand identity for Cardano Beam and a uniform design across applications

5 - Business Development and Community Building

The schedule starts in November and runs for nine months. The build-out of the technical components is planned as per the weekly schedule. The brand identity, business development, and community building will run at a steady state over the entire period.

The development will be released in stages onto the Testnet as per the below timeline. The Testnet will be available for the community to explore and test the functionalities. This will be an iterative process. Once we are happy with the stability of the new features, then they will be released onto the Mainnet at the end of the planned schedule, in month 9

1 month - Fiat onramp integration, create user private area and accept payment

Week 1 - Create a user registration, a login page, and a private user area

Week 2 - Build the private area with information on wallet sync status, holdings of diff assets, and fiat balance. Test log-in lifecycle (create username and pass, receive a confirmation email, login)

Week 3 - Connect the Stripe payment interface and test that payment status is communicated to the Cardano Beam backend

Week 4 - Test the payments and follow them through to the bank account. Fix any bugs

2 month - Fiat onramp integration, connect to cardano-wallet and ensure that a new wallet gets created when a new user joins the private area, and the equivalent amount of ADA gets credited when the user deposits fiat via the onramp

Week 1 - Create a backend service that generates a new user wallet using the cardano-wallet service when a new user registers.

Week 2 - Create Front end API that calls to create a new wallet

Week 3 - Connect the fiat onramp with the backend API. Source ADA USD price from oracle

Week 4 - Create a service that monitors for successful payment from the fiat onramp and instructs the company’s hot wallet to transfer an equivalent amount of ADA to the user’s wallet

3 month - Mint NFTs and place them on the Map from the user's private area. This is targeted toward businesses and non-crypto users who do not want to or can't deal with web-wallets. The experience needs to be seamless, as though the user is interacting with a web 2.0 platform even though they are using web 3.0 tech in the background.

Week 1 - Integrate an NFT minter into the private area.

Week 2 - Connect IPFS to the front end and design the metadata field inputs.

Week 3 - Create the functionality in the Front end where the user can upload a photo, set metadata parameters, and hit submit to mint an NFT and collect it in their wallet.

Week 4 - Add the option for the user to place the newly minted NFT on the Map directly from the private area.

The user who has funded their account with fiat should be able to continue to think in fiat terms and engage with Cardano Beam

4 month - Configure React Native codebase to work on Apple iOS devices. Then, register as a developer on Apple Store and release the App. React Native compiles to both Android and Apple native code. We have already released it on Android, and this plan is to release it on Apple.

Week 1 - Set up an Apple developer environment with three emulators for diff specs and screen sizes. Register on Apple Store

Week 2 - Adjust React Native launch scripts to include Apple iOS configuration parameters and test dependencies. 

Week 3 - Upload the app to the Apple store for restricted testing and installation on a physical apple device. Test the app over a week and document bugs

Week 4 - Fix any bugs and release the app to the general public on Apple Store.

5 month - GPS Spoofing Protection, integrate wigle.net wifi and cellular database. This cross-references the wifi and cellular information from the mobile device with a community-curated database.

Week 1 - Create a service on the Mobile to request user permission to monitor wifi networks and poll available networks around in regular intervals.

Week 2 - Create a backend API to receive the info on the wifi networks.

Week 3 - Design and implement REST GET requests to the wigle.net database by GPS coordinates.

Week 4 - Calibrate a statistical model that cross-references the user-sent wifi networks and networks queried from wigle.net. Calculate the probability that the user is spoofing

6 month - Create a service on the Mobile to request user permission to monitor wifi networks and poll available networks around in regular intervals

Week 1 - Test the GPS spoofing protection by running it on an emulator and on the streets

Week 2 - Extend the functionality to Cellular networks (in addition to wifi networks)

Week 3 - Adjust the statistical model to deal with edge cases such as conflicting conclusions from wifi vs cellular networks.

Week 4 - Test the wifi + cellular spoofing protection on the streets, calibrate and fix any bugs

7 month - GPS Spoofing Protection, integrate the Helium (HNT) network. The HNT network is a 4G and wifi network that is run by a community of miners that operates on a proof-of-coverage protocol. 

Week 1 - Install Helium miner to run a local proof-of-coverage miner for testing

Week 2 - Configure the React Native app on a Mobile device and interact with the local hotspot via Bluetooth.

Week 3 - Validate that the mobile device can be seen on the blockchain and send a transaction signed by the wallet. Check that the transaction can been seen by the Cardano Beam backend service.

Week 4 - Integrate the Helium client with the Cardano Beam Mobile App and monitor on-street connectivity tests.

8 month - Update the Branding and design of the Cardano Beam website, Web App, and Mobile App. Review the implementation and fix bugs.

9 month - Business Development. Run demo sessions with large corporations. This will be the culmination of the Business development work done over the previous 6 months, where We will set up meetings with corporations to demo the product and collect additional requirements

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

2 Full stack developers @ 40 EUR per hour for 140 hours per month x 9 months = 100 800 EUR

Project Management @40 EUR per hour for 10 hours per month x 9 months = 3 600

Business Development and Community Outreach @ 40 EUR for 60 hours per month x 9 months = 21 600 EUR

Marketing and Product Placement: 1 000 per month x 9 month = 9 000

Purchase Helium (HNT) Bobcat 300 miner to develop and test GPS Spoofing Protection = 570 EUR

Design, Branding and Communication @ 40 EUR per hour for 60 hours per month x 9 months = 21 600 EUR

Server expenses @36 EUR per month x 9 months: 324

TOTAL = 148 494 EUR (155 918 USD)

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Project lead has relevant experience:

Dmitry Shibaev is leading the project. Linked in profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shibaev/

5 years experience in big tech delivering large-scale projects on the SAP system at energy companies in the south of Europe

15 years of experience in financial markets at an investment bank in London, Singapore, and Amsterdam. Built and delivered tools to manage the bank’s capital, balance sheet, and trading positions and led large investment projects.

Builds community tools; see the section below.

Built the full stack behind the Dynamic Strategies website: https://dynamicstrategies.io and https://cardanobeam.app 

Dmitry was part of the first cohort of Plutus Pioneers:

NFT celebrating course completion: https://pool.pm/asset1357ggsrjp232jwn5g7qqc9zetpsphzdawalgez

Track Record of Building Community Tools:

A wallet connector between DApps and Wallets gives the boilerplate code for new app developers. This is how the Cardano Beam Web App interacts with Cardano web-wallets, and has been open-sourced. The Github repo has 56 stars and 40 forks. The repo has been forked by IOHK

Github: https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-wallet-connector 

App demo1: https://cardanobeam.app/web

App demo2: https://dynamicstrategies.io/wconnector 

Dmitry is a Contributor to the Cardano Developer Portal with a quick start guide on how to connect the Web Apps to different Cardano web-wallets https://developers.cardano.org/docs/get-started/cardano-serialization-lib/create-react-app

A Public GraphQL endpoint with a web client letting anyone query the Cardano blockchain from their browser or API. 

Github: https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-public-graphql 

App: https://dynamicstrategies.io/gqlclient 

Staking Reward Calculator synced to the blockchain that shows how much payout can be expected from different pools and analytics around it

App: https://dynamicstrategies.io/crewardcalculator 

Cardano Wallet Functions that can be used in React Native apps to communicate with the cardano-wallet backend service

https://github.com/dynamicstrategies/cardano-wallet-functions 

Received recognition for building community tools at Adafolio: 

https://adafolio.com/portfolio/8f7da192-0257-11eb-9684-a45e60be653b 

Stake Pool Operator on Cardano:

Ticker DSIO registered in 2020 and previously received a delegation from Cardano Foundation on two occasions which are usually given for outstanding contributions to the community. Link with pool details: https://adapools.org/pool/6ae0fb9fc19ad1b82521d6e4b9f6e9bad4d150529673c95c5b5cf4e4

Active on Cardano forum and Cardano Stack Exchange:

https://forum.cardano.org/u/dstratio/summary 

https://cardano.stackexchange.com/users/6196/d-s

We received 5/5 marks and outstanding feedback from the community in our funded Fund 8 proposal. Fund 8 voting results and community comments are by the link below

https://cardanocataly.st/voter-tool/#/fund/f8/challenge/26438/proposals/396850

Design, Branding, and Communication

Elcio Chiquinado is the founder of the design agency David and Golias, which has partnered with Dynamic Strategies to deliver the following elements for Cardano Beam:

• Design the brand identity of Cardano Beam
• Design the UX/UI and image Assets for the Cardano Beam website, Web App, and Mobile App interfaces.
• Communication templates and presentation packs
• NFT design pitches for the business outreach events

https://www.davidegolias.com/ 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elciochiquinato/ 

Relevant projects that Elcio delivered previously

Brand Design of D-Orbit Fenix and Aurora Sattelite control apps - Italy

https://www.dorbit.space/  

Art Director for Vodafone Brand Design - Portugal

https://www.vodafone.pt 

Art Director for Delta Cafes Brand Design - Portugal

https://www.deltacafes.pt 

Art Director for SATA Airlines Brand Design - Portugal

https://www.azoresairlines.pt 

Brand Strategy & Design for Medbone - Portugal

https://www.medbone.eu/en 

Brand Design for RTP television channel - Portugal

https://www.rtp.pt 

Design of the book "Coletanea Direito 50 anos" for the government - Angola

Rebranding IMI International Media Ideas - Dubai

http://www.groupimi.com 

Before that Elcio was the Art Director of a brand design agency in Portugal, Lisbon and a Teacher at the Lisbon School of Design (https://www.lsd.pt/) where he taught courses in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign)

Business Development and Community Outreach

Jerah Cameron is a Senior NFT Technical Consultant at IOHK and is the co-founder of https://worldonwheels.io where they are building a metaverse to enable economic empowerment for those who need it most on the Cardano blockchain.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerahcameron/  

Jerah brings a wealth of industry knowledge and contacts.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

The funding for Cardano Beam from Fund 8 will produce a base layer that lets users place assets on the world map, and other users can redeem them with a Cardano Beam app running on a mobile device. This will be supported by a backend and smart contracts that accept locking and redeeming of assets on the Cardano blockchain

In Fund 9, we request additional funding to develop the platform in 5 critical areas discussed in the problem statement areas. 1) fiat onramp and private are for non-crypto users; 2) Apple iOS app; 3) GPS Spoofing Protection; 4) Brand identity; 5) Business Development and Community Outreach

Then looking further out into the future. During the business development phase, we receive feedback on use cases for businesses and engage with them to create add-ons for the platform that the companies can use.

Preliminary discussions with business owners show us that there is interest in linking the transfer of value to the physical world. And blockchain is naturally well suited for this. The feedback comes from the crypto and non-crypto public, and the common questions are around the possibility to adapt the Cardano Beam platform to their specific use cases. A few of these examples are:

• A supermarket chain that wants to place NFTs with QR codes next to their supermarkets so the user can pick them up and redeem them for discounts at a later visit needs a fiat onramp as they don’t want to deal with web wallet and need functionality to mind their own NFTs in the platform.
• A secret shopper company that hires students to audit the placing of products in shops needs functionality in the mobile app for the secret shopper to take photos at the shop and send it back. The students are paid on the spot when they send in the photo.
• A large company operating toll roads wants to gamify the passage of the toll stations. Its clients collect the NFTs at each toll road, and the entire collection is redeemable for a discount at one of its stores. Therefore, the company needs an onramp and curated wallet design for the mobile wallet.
• A government that might want to issue visas on a first-come, first-serve basis. The visas are QR codes minted as NFTs and validated by scanning a signed QR code at the entrance. Controls who picked up the QR visa are presented at the entrance.

Each business-specific use case requires add-ons to be built on top of the base layer. This will be done in future iterations of the platform. The funds from Fund 9 will make the platform more secure and create a portal where non-crypto users can use the platform by depositing fiat.

Also, communication requires a throughout product branding and messaging, for which we partner with a brand, design, and communication agency.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

A report with the following KPIs will be produced at the end of each month.

Build KPIs

• Number of weekly commits
• Total lines of code for Web App, Mobile App, Backend and smart contracts

User engagement KPI

• Number of total wallets created on the test net
• Number of transactions
• Number of contract interactions
• Number of phone app downloads
• Number of unique visitors to the web app
• Number of average daily visitors to web app

Fiat onramp

• Number of non-crypto customers
• The volume of fiat deposits through the fiat onramp
• Number of assets placed by the users from the private area

Stability KPIs

• Average CPU and RAM utilization on the server
• Peak CPU and RAM utilization on the server
• Total % server downtime

Delivery KPIs

• The private area is created where users can register with a username and password.
• Users can deposit in at least 1 primary fiat currency: USD, EUR, or GBP
• Users can mint an NFT in the private area using the fiat funds they deposited
• Users can place an Asset on the world map using fiat funds they deposited
• Cardano Beam for Apple iOS is released and available for download from Apple Store
• GPS Spoofing protection is active on mobile devices cross-referencing wifi towers
• A prototype of how to use the Helium (HNT) network to improve the GPS Spoofing protection
• At least one large corporation onboarded to trial Cardano Beam.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Tech is built and released:

• Fiat onramp and private areas with username and password for non-crypto users
• Cardano Beam released for Apple iOS
• GPS Spoofing Protection implemented
• Prototype integrating the Helium (HNT) network for validating GPS locations.

Brand developer and design updated on the website, Web App, and Mobile App

Successful Business development sessions that translate into at least one large corporate onboarding

Community Outreach increases the user adoption to at least 10 users active at any time and substantially more at user peaks and during significant events.

After the project finishes, the Cardano Beam would have been enhanced to allow non-crypto users and corporations to participate in the platform by depositing fiat funds via a fiat onramp and interact with the platform without them needing to know how blockchain operates. The objective is to make web 3.0 accessible to the public while removing unnecessary complexity. Other areas of considerable improvement will be the release of the Cardano Beam Mobile App for Apple iOS, the rollout of a GPS Spoofing Protection, and engaging in cross-chain collaboration with the Helium (HNT) network to validate the GPS positioning of users. We also aim to onboard at least one large corporation to run a user engagement/advertising campaign on the Cardano Beam platform.

After this, the company will assess the next course of action, to seek venture capital investment to expand or come back for additional funding to project catalyst.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is a continuation of the Cardano Beam project https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/396850

The Cardano Beam was funded for 6 months in Fund 8. These funds are helping us deliver a base layer that consists of a Web App through which users place assets on the world map and a Mobile App with which users redeem Assets and collect them into the Cardano wallet. A backend that supports the communication between apps and the smart contracts where the assets are locked and redeemed from. To date, our work has produced a working version of these apps, the backend end services and the smart contracts. The product has been released on the Testnet by the community.

Additional funds are being requested in Fund 9 to create a fiat onramp so that non-crypto users can use the Cardano Beam protocol without knowing how to operate a wallet. This will expand the usability to the business sector that has traditionally been reluctant to use blockchain technology. The additional funds will also be used to port the codebase to run on Apple iOS and a Mobile app will be released on Apple Store for these devices - in the US the share of Apple devices is slightly more than 50% so extending coverage to Apple devices will make the platform accessible to a much larger user base. Also, a GPS Spoofing Protection will be built that will cross-reference the wifi networks and cellular towers seen by the mobile device with a community database, and additionally, a prototype will be built of how to use the Helium (HNT) network to validate the presence of the user at GPS locations. A Business Development will be launched to market the app to large corporations, and a Community Outreach program to onboard users onto the Mobile App. We will deliver this over 9 months.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

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

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

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

SDG subgoals:

8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

8.9 By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

8.9.1 Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate

8.2.1 Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person