Proof of Impact NFTs for SPOs

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

Delegators who delegate to mission driven pools receive a Proof of Impact NFT. The NFT is dynamic. Its characteristics change in real time to display the positive impact created.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

Core team of ImpactScope: 16 months of working together at the intersection of positive impact and blockchain. 

Blockchain, carbon finance and sustainability expertise

Clients include large US crypto mining companies and leading European crypto exchanges. 

External NFT expert

[GENERAL] Requested funds in USD.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The proposal focuses on supporting and incentivizing Cardano delegators who are already staking in pools which channel a percentage of staking rewards to projects that create positive social and environmental impact, i.e. Mission Driven Pools. In this PoC, oracles will be used to pull data with an API which will determine the appearance of the Dynamic Impact NFTs. The meta data, displayed data and visual characteristics of the NFT will change regularly as impact metrics are updated, i.e. amount of carbon sequestered, number of trees planted, amount of plastic recycled, etc.

After onboarding by member pools, each impact staker / delegator will have the possibility to opt-in to receive the NFT which proves their commitment to supporting impact initiatives.

In Fund9, the objective is to create a PoC for the Dynamic Impact NFT and with the medium-term objective of scaling up the proposal in future Cardano Funds and introducing a secondary market for the Dynamic Proof of Impact NFTs.

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

The Dynamic Impact NFT will create incentives for delegators and SPOs who wish to channel some of their yield to good causes. The proposal addresses the environmental element of Project Catalyst with the objective of contributing to increased use of staking pools that redirect part of the staking rewards to social impact projects that address environmental challenges, as the Mission Driven Pools. 

The gamification element and the creation of the NFT will lead to greater usage of such pools while contributing to solving environmental problems, such as having a carbon-neutral Cardano. Ideally, it would contribute to Cardano becoming the blockchain of choice for users that care about environmental issues.

Moreover, the NFT obtained could be resold in the secondary market and create, as such, a further incentive. This creates a secondary market within the Cardano ecosystem market for Dynamic Impact NFTs.

Cardano is becoming the blockchain of reference for sustainability-minded people, both for its low energy requirements for consensus and for the values shared by the Cardano community. From the campaign brief ..Cardano needs a thriving ecosystem of different Dapps, products and integrations for the community to use that increasingly become the better alternatives over current centralized providers... and the proposal of the Dynamic Impact NFT could contribute to further strengthening such role, as it would bring an exciting user experience while promoting sustainable development principles.

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

Lack of high quality social impact projects with high-integrity data points. The effective monitoring of high quality social impact projects (climate action, plastic recycling, education, health care, urban security) requires high quality data points. Project due diligence is key. The past careers and sustainability focused qualifications of key team members will help in project selection and vetting.

Dynamic NFTs of this nature require trusted oracles. Depending on the nature and stage of the impact projects there will be some requirement for human entered data. Effective Monitoring, Verification and Reporting (MRV) tools need to be built around these. The qualifications and experience of key team members will help design and implement effective oracles.

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

The creation of the Dynamic Impact NFT will require the following intermediary phases:

1.   Engagement with impact SPO

a) Identification and engagement with impact SPOs; b) selection of impact projects to be financed, c.) definitions of main data points/oracles to collect to create the dynamic NFT. d) identification and definition of potential impact stakers. - Delivery: 1 month from the funding day

2. Identification of requirements for Dynamic Impact NFT        

a) Identification of technical requirements for the NFTs: frequency of updates, identification of most appropriate platform for displaying them, the definition of different types of NFTs, Delivery: 2 months from the funding day

3.    Deployment of the infrastructure and NFT ideation

a) Creation of the landing page for impact stakers to understand the opportunity and process of obtaining an Dynamic Proof of Impact NFT by using SPOs focusing on Impact, b) design of the NFT with the inclusion of an artist c) Dynamic NFT PoC testing and deployment. Delivery: 2 months from the conclusion of phases 1 and 2

4.    Launch, monitor and future steps  

a) NFT launch and airdrops b) Monitoring of outcomes during two months and identification of lessons learned with a user survey. Delivery: 3 months from the conclusion of phases 1 and 2

To increase feasibility, we already started the engagement with impact SPOs groups.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

The impact dashboard will mainly require the involvement of the following profiles: a project manager/sustainability analyst (PM) and developer. The forecast rates are 65 USD/hour for the project manager/sustainability analyst and 85 USD/hour for the developer.

The first two phases will require a higher engagement from the project manager/sustainability analyst as the focus will be on 1) finding ideal SPO partners willing to experiment with Dynamic Proof of Impact NFTs and allowing ImpactScope to propose new impact projects and/or set up oracles for current ones 2) determining how the impact generated can be translated into the dynamic part of the NFT and other NFT requirements 3) determining how to reach and engage with impact stakers.

1) Engagement with impact SPO: 4100 USD

PM: 50 hours*65 USD =3250 USD

Developer: 10 hours*85 USD = 850 USD

2) Identification of requirements for Dynamic Impact NFT: 3750 USD

PM: 25 hours*65 USD =1625 USD

Developer: 25 hours*85 USD = 2125 USD

The last two phases will require more significant involvement of the developer, with 1) creation of the NFTs based on the requirements identified 2) connection of the NFTs to the impact measurement data points agreed with the SPOs 3) creation of the landing page to explain the project and engage the impact delegators.

3) Deployment of the infrastructure: 7950 USD

PM: 30 hours*65 USD =1950 USD

Developer: 60 hours*85 USD = 5100 USD

NFT artist: 900 USD

4) Launch, monitoring and future steps: 4050

PM: 10 hours*65 USD =650 USD

Developer: 40 hours*85 USD = 3400 USD

TOTAL: 18,950 USD = 4100+3750+7850+4050

split among PM/Sustainability analyst (7475 USD) and developer (11475 USD) plus 900 USD concerning the NFT artist

The amount of hours requested over the total time period of 5 months is compatible with the other two proposals submitted by ImpactScope within Catalyst.

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

The team is composed of the following persons that have been collaborating for more than a year in ImpactScope; as such the team is already up to speed on general project execution

Project Designer, Michele Soavi: 14 years of international experience at the intersection between finance, requirements analysis, Blockchain and sustainability

· Requirements analysis for technological implementations with a specialization in Blockchain and Smart Contracts

· Financial analysis and strategy arising from a solid Big4 background based on financial and operational audit

· Sustainability reporting to account for social and environmental elements

· MBA in Sustainable Business, PhD candidate researching on automation of Smart Contracts

Sustainability Metrics Lead, Mehul Derodra: 15 years experience with an extensive background in traditional investing and FinTech.

· Alumni in Sustainable Finance from CISL.

· Combines his education and experience to explore how sustainability, impact investing and blockchain can be combined.

· Leveraging extensive experience in equity derivatives sales and trading at leading investment banks, a strong quantitative background and a passion for technology.

NFT architect, Damian CardanoTrees, creator/artist/development

· Creating value and taking care of the effects that our activity generates on people and the environment.

· Educating through innovative projects in the world of NFTs and new technologies.

· Using art as a vehicle for social change.

Developer, Bencze Levente: Passionate about building DLT apps that help make the world a better place. Always learning.

· Smart contracts: Plutus, Solidity

· Backend: Node.JS, Laravel, Python, GO

· Frontend:CSS3, HTML5, React.js, Angular.js

· DataBase: SQL, MongoDB

Project Auditor, Sean Murphy: 15+ years in emerging technology and impact investment management. Former LP in East Africa’s first seed stage tech investment fund.

• 4+ years at the intersection of carbon finance and blockchain. 

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

Yes, we will. The proposal refers to a PoC for Dynamic Proof of Impact NFTs for the Cardano community and the objective is to scale up the proposal in future Catalyst rounds.

Given the values of Cardano we hope that the project will represent the start of a long term collaboration with the community.

If the PoC shows promise and if it increases participation in mission driven pools we will look at ways to build a secondary market around Dynamic Proof of Impact NFTs.

[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?

· Phases 1 & 2 will include a report on SPOs engaged and the conclusions which led to the choice of specific partner pools and specific impact projects; as well as a requirements document for the implementation of the NFTs. 

· Phase 3 will deliver a working PoC that will allow testing of the whole user-experience. There will be multiple versions of landing pages where impact stakers can learn more about how Dynamic Proof of Impact NFTs work. This will include an A/B testing report of the UIs.

· Phase 4 outcome will be represented by a survey obtained from the impact stakers that participated in the PoC and a report on performance based on the metrics defined to identify the engagement of impact stakers.

Final audit output will be a performance review of the oracles.

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

· Implementation of Dynamic Proof of Impact NFT associated with at least two SPOs and 30% of the users of the stake pool included in the PoC are willing to opt in to receive the Dynamic Proof of Impact NFT

· Smooth technical communication between oracles and NFTs with minimum technical interruptions and high levels of impact data integrity

· Measurable contributions to the objective of Cardano becoming both a carbon neutral blockchain and the blockchain of reference for users who care about social impact issues

· Over 500 social media mentions of Dynamic Proof of Impact NFTs and discussions of impact metrics.

[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

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

The project focuses on the following SDGs:

-8 decent work and economic growth

-12 responsible consumption and production

-13 Climate Action

-17 Partnerships for the Goals