Multisig wallet with fiat on-ramp

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

We will develop an overlay for existing Cardano wallets that provides a credit card payment gateway and a business vault with multisig wallet functionality for shared treasuries.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

Ada Anvil is a six-person team that is deeply embedded within the Cardano community. We have more than 25 years of combined experience in software development and programming, and a record of delivering state-of-art solutions for projects building on Cardano.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

We will work with existing Cardano wallets to improve the utility and penetration of Cardano wallets. Our solution will be compatible with Eternl, Flint, Gero, Nami and Typhon, among other wallets.

Our wallet improvement solution will involve developing

1. an overlay for existing Cardano wallets that will enable users to buy ADA directly using a credit card, and
2. a business vault plugin for existing Cardano wallets that provides multisig wallet functionality for shared treasuries.

Users will be able to access the credit card payment gateway from within their existing Cardano wallet, similar to how MetaMask users can fund their Ethereum wallet via MoonPay, Transak or Wyre.

Furthermore, users will be able to create a business vault via the Ada Anvil website, after which they will be able to manage and interact with the vault via existing Cardano wallets.

The business vault will include 

• CIP30 DApp connector
• the ability to send and receive assets
• the ability to delegate ADA to a Cardano stakepool
• mobile and web browser compliance

The new features that our business vault will introduce will include

• a requirement for n out of k nominated signers to authorize a transaction 
• the ability for nominated signers to create a new transaction
• the ability for nominated signers to view the pending state of a transaction that still needs to be signed by other nominated signers directly in the wallet

The business vault will be particularly useful for DAOs, NFT project teams and community investment groups on Cardano.

The direct credit card payment gateway and multisig wallet functionality will enable projects to more easily onboard new users, and securely and transparently manage shared treasuries. In turn, this will have a multiplier effect across the entire Cardano space, as it will facilitate the integration of new users and inject new liquidity into the ecosystem.

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

Having worked closely with projects building on Cardano, we are intensely aware of the difficulties projects have in managing shared treasuries and onboarding new users. Currently, the most popular Cardano wallets are only suitable for use by private individuals who are already familiar with the Cardano blockchain.

As a result, in order to manage a shared treasury, projects building on Cardano must either spend scarce resources on developing an in-house multisig wallet or delegate the power to authorize transactions to one person. Cardano has already witnessed several rug pulls that could have been avoided had the communities had the ability to delegate authority for signing transactions to a nominated group. While this may be seen as an acceptable risk for small projects, it is a categorical barrier to adoption for large, regulated businesses. This stifles the ability of Cardano projects to establish partnerships with non-blockchain native businesses and communities.

Projects face a further problem in onboarding new users, as new users are beholden to third-party, centralized exchanges in order to fund their wallets using fiat currencies. This exposes users to unnecessary transaction costs and delays, as well as to the risks that funds may be frozen or that funds are sent to the wrong address.

These inefficiencies are key obstacles to the mass adoption of Cardano. According to user experience statistics, more than three-quarters of internet users will search for an alternative service if they dislike the UX/UI, while nearly nine out of 10 potential clients and business partners will opt for a competitor as a result of poor customer experience.[1]

In order for Cardano projects to compete with competitors on other chains, projects must be able to offer at least the same level of user experience and security. Our proposed wallet overlay and business vault solution will address these problems and enable projects on Cardano to scale more easily.

Our wallet improvement solution builds on features that already exist in the blockchain space. For example, credit card payment infrastructure is widely integrated into EVM-compatible apps (e.g., MetaMask wallet), while multisig wallet functionality has been proven in limited use cases on Cardano. However, our solution will integrate these features into existing Cardano wallets (e.g., Eternl, Flint, Gero, Nami and Typhon) in order to drive mainstream adoption on Cardano.

Moreover, we will do this at a critical moment in the development of the Cardano ecosystem given the numerous aspirational DAOs that have recently launched on Cardano and the current intense period of capital flight Cardano projects are confronted with as the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization has declined 65% since November 2021.

[1] https://truelist.co/blog/ux-statistics/

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

Main risks include:

• Legal complexities in certain jurisdictions around fiat-to-crypto on ramp, as well as credit card payment issues (e.g., disputes concerning the use of stolen cards). In order to mitigate these risks, we will seek legal advice, the cost of which is included in the requested budget. We will publish this legal advice for the benefit of the wider Cardano community.

• Coding security issues. We have successfully developed and managed transactional platforms in the past, and have undertaken studies and training in cyber security and cryptocurrencies. In addition, we will have the features audited prior to launch.

• Failure to achieve mass adoption. Ada Anvil's position within the Cardano NFT community should ensure that partner projects and their members benefit from utilizing the business vault. However, if there is no mass adoption effect, we will make the coding open source for other project teams to adapt.

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

PROJECT TIMELINE

Q3 2022 – planification phase

Q4 2022 – development of basic wallet overlay

Q1 2023 – development of business vault operations

Q2 2023 – integration of credit card payment gateway

KEY MILESTONES

(1) The planification phase will involve

• developing the database schema
• defining the UI/UX design, including mock-up and branding

(2) Development of basic wallet overlay will involve

• ensuring CIP30 compliance
• the ability to send and receive assets
• the ability to display assets
• the ability to delegate ADA to a Cardano stakepool
• developing the mobile application
• developing the browser chrome extension
• testing with existing Cardano wallets

(3) Development of business vault operations will involve

• the ability for n out of k signers to authorize a transaction
• the ability for nominated signers to view pending transactions that still need to be signed
• developing a proposal and voting system for community members
• consulting legal advice on regulations around selling ADA

(4) The integration of a direct credit card payment gateway will involve

• integrating the credit card payment gateway
• testing full node architecture with load balancing
• ensuring server and database redundancy

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

TASKS AND COSTS

Planification documents - $30 000

• Test suite planification
• Database schema
• Compliance with all CIPs

Administration - $15 000

• Task management in Jira (Agile)
• Budget planification

UI/UX - $40 000

• Mock-ups (mobile app and browser extension)
• Brand
• Logo
• Brand strategist and social network

Legal content - $50 000

• Terms and services
• Consultation

Development - $200 000

• Backend infrastructure to handle all the off-chain stuff
• Mobile application
• Browser extension
• Website
• Credit card payment gateway
• Test suites 

Infrastructure - $20 000

• Full node architecture with load balancing
• Servers and databases with redundancy

Maintenance - $10 000

(Should be self-sustaining over time)

TOTAL = $365 000

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

ADA ANVIL

Ada Anvil is a team of six experienced Cardano developers. The team has more than 25 years of combined experience in software development and programming, and has a record of developing state-of-art infrastructure for Cardano projects.

Our flagship product is the Ultimate Anvil for multisig minting on Cardano, which provides back-end API, a front-end minting page with reveal, metadata and IFPS hosting consultation, an airdrop or claim for holders, an Anvil referral system, project consultation, marketing assistance, and general project guidance.

Our minting packages have been used by several Cardano NFT projects, including Dbag Mfers, Enlightenmint, Hawaiian Helpers, Pixl.Page and Nemonium. In particular, Ada Anvil developed and managed the minting process for the Nemonium Calvaria collection. This state-of-art multisig minting process included Cardano's first mobile minting DApp (via Eternl wallet), a mechanism that seamlessly enabled users to burn a Launchpad Vote NFT when sending 69 ADA in order to mint a second Calvaria NFT for free, and a referral mechanism (more info in the YouTube link provided with this proposal).

Ada Anvil is also an advisor to Yummi Universe.

TEAM

Cash (Zachary Soesbee) - CEO

Patrick Bernard - Project manager and marketing

Jérémie Bergeron - Lead developer UI/UX  

David Desjardins - Lead developer backend and smart contracts

Benjamins - Customer relations manager

Audrey Lacombe - Designer and UI/UX expert  

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

Yes. Our business vault solution has significant possibilities for further innovation beyond the remit of this proposal (e.g., developing cross-chain compatibility).

[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?

The Cardano community will be able to audit progress by tracking the release of our wallet overlay and business vault features:

• Q4 2022 - Release basic wallet overlay features

• Q1 2023 - Release the business vault

• Q2 2023 - Release the credit card payment feature and publish the legal advice received

We will measure

• the USD value of credit card payments facilitated by the wallet overlay, and
• the number of business vaults created on the Ada Anvil website

In addition, we will publish a monthly blog to keep Cardano community members informed of developments; and Cardano community members are always welcome to contact us via Twitter and the Ada Anvil Discord server (links are provided in this application).

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

We want to enable users to purchase goods and services from Cardano projects as seamlessly as users of Wise.com or PayPal can make foreign exchange transfers or online payments. We hope that this empowers Cardano projects to sell services and products (e.g., merchandise) directly to non-Cardano native customers. One year after launch, we aim to be facilitating 100 000 USD per month in payments to Cardano projects.

Second, we want to see Cardano projects using our multisig wallet functionality to manage their shared treasuries securely and transparently on chain. We hope that our business vault will enable Cardano projects establish the necessary trust with non-blockchain native businesses and communities in order to develop, build and deliver products and services for new customers. Six months after launch, we aim to have 50 000 users utilizing our business vault via their existing Cardano wallet.

In summary, we want to see Cardano projects using our multisig business vault and fiat on ramp wallet overlay to

• manage their shared treasuries securely and transparently on chain
• build partnerships with businesses and communities from outside the cryptocurrency space
• onboard new users directly to Cardano without routing users through centralized exchanges

Our goal is to enable Cardano projects access new liquidity streams, which will have a multiplier effect throughout the wider Cardano ecosystem at a time when the entire cryptocurrency space is struggling with capital flight.

[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 an entirely new project. Ada Anvil has not previously received funding from Project Catalyst. However, we have a demonstrable track record of delivering high-quality, state-of-art solutions for projects building on Cardano.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG Goals

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

SDG Subgoals

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

9.1 - Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all