Supply Chain 4 Legal Cannabis/Hemp

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Tamerlane's technology and approach to bulk wholesale trade is set to radically transform and disrupt the $80 Billion global cannabis and hemp industry while creating a broad, deep and unique data cache that will inform and influence the global cannabis industry (value, trade, what to plant, how to process, and when to sell.)  

As explained above, this proposal seeks endorsement, funding, and collaboration from the Catalyst community to incorporate blockchain based technology into our existing, rapidly expanding, but still small enterprise. Centered around all aspects of the legal trade of cannabis and hemp materials, in American and International markets. Including supply chain services and the creation of Proof of Smoke® CNFT’s (More about this innovative use below!).

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Cannabis Industry and Overview

First, background about an industry many may not know. And the value Cardano technology can add via the Supply Chain. Typical recreational retail environment. This is the new normal.

Cannabis - a growing global industry 

From an illicit black market drug, to an industry and plant deemed essential during the recent pandemic. Cannabis has officially arrived and is the fastest growing industry since the dotcom era, and is now the 5th most valuable crop in America. While recreationally legal in a growing number of countries and US States, some of the most exciting parts of this plant are just now being researched and discovered. Not only have some studies shown how the plant can alleviate debilitation effects of epilepsy and side effects of cancer treatment, the over 100 cannabinoids are showing incredible promise and perhaps the ability to displace current pain relief pharmaceuticals.

Already in America, recreational use of cannabis is legal in 18 states. Medicinal use is legal in 26 states. The trend towards legalization under US Federal law is clear and seemingly inevitable.

Globally the momentum of the green wave continues. Countries that have legalized medical use of cannabis include Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Other Countries such as The Netherlands have decriminalized the use of cannabis.

A new report from the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board has revealed the UK is the world’s largest producer of legal cannabis for medical and scientific uses. Yet proper access to medical cannabis is still out of reach to many UK patients, campaigners say. 

The report – that includes data from governments around the world – estimates that the UK produced 320 tonnes of legal cannabis in 2019 – more than triple the 2016 total of 95 tonnes, and accounting for 75% of the global total (468.3 tonnes).

Cannabis as a taxable revenue

“Legalizing marijuana is good for the economy. That's the takeaway from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration's report in May that showed the state has taken in $294 million in cannabis tax revenue in the first quarter of 2022. Last year in the US, sales of legal, recreational cannabis reached nearly $15 billion. That figure is on target to surpass $25 billion by 2025, according to Statista.” 

“Since recreational use was legalized in 2018, California has raked in nearly $4 billion from the excise, cultivation and sales tax on marijuana. The tax revenue is so flush that Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed the elimination of the cultivation tax to make the industry more competitive and to stamp out the black market.”

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Tamerlane - a growing business 

Tamerlane is an experienced, well established leader in a small market. Operating within the Aperon group of companies. We have been growing our market position steadily in Washington State over the past 7 years. As the regulatory environment slowly accepted cannabis as a legal, but controlled substance. More than 300 clients use our brokerage, marketplace and supply chain services. We have contracted with Big Tree to grade 90% of the product we sell. 

We are now ready to expand to three other states. Then to all states and countries which have and will legalise the production and trade of cannabis. Convinced that blockchain technology for supply chain (Tamerlane), grading (Big Tree) and online listing service (Aperon) will help accomplish our goals. 

Alignment with Cardano

Until we discovered the Cardano community, and learned about the technology, we were uncertain about the best choice of blockchain technology. Or where to look for a blockchain community that could accommodate growth. Finding Cardano we understood your blockchain business & development strategies are perfectly aligned with ours. 

Our business faces the same challenges that Cardano faces. 

• Scaling efficiently 
• Creating Trust in a trust-less environment 
• Traceability 
• Transparency 
• Disintermediation (pushing decision-making out from the center into users’ control)
• Expanding adoption. 

Hence our choice of this technology as the future foundation of our business.

What systems & How do they work together.

In this Funding Round we have identified four blockchain systems that can work together.

• The Cannabis Listing Service is the big tent that brings producers and buyers together, meeting in a market environment that provides up to date information about different quality products and ever changing availability.

• The BigTree grading system provides trust, a common language, immutable records and efficiency

• The Supply Chain service enables product provenance, using the International Cannabis & Hemp Standards (ICHS) Certificate of Grade (CoG) 

• Proof of Smoke® CNFT’s. 
• Recognising the social aspects of recreational cannabis culture (a shared experience - who is enjoying what, enabling feedback)
• Unique, designed and minted by the producer, fractionalised for each 3.5 gm, attached to each shipment (revealing product provenance) and then awarded to each retail sale, for personal use, collection, posting on Instagram, Tik Tok etc.
• Enabling small producers to connect directly to the consumer 
• Enabling consumers to buy the same experience again and again.

Solving Market Problems - Traceability & Transparency

Cannabis is a product more like fruits and vegetables than grains. Quality degrades by time, transportation and storage conditions. By the time cannabis reaches the shelf, prices do not normally reflect the quality of the product.

Everyone has experienced buying a tomato, or pepper or orange that looks good but lacks taste. Grown for good looks, not taste. 

Making matters worse, cannabis is fast becoming a pay to play game of branding and marketing, and ultimately big money. Rather than the product and the producer standing on their own, for the quality being delivered, the supply chain is riddled with renaming, repackaging, and slight of hand to get the cheapest product out at the highest price. Consumers are presented with incessant noise, excessive choice, lack of transparency and a mountain of mis-information. Including misleading test results. Without quality verification from an impartial 3rd party assessor. 

Like many other agricultural crops, cannabis producers and consumers are both challenged by limited market information. Small quantities of a particular flower and lack of reliable branding make it difficult to find a product consumers like, over time. 

The result is a consumer who doesn't know what quality they are buying, has no clue of where it came from, and has even less clue of how to buy a good product again. 

Blockchain technology allows us to tackle all of the above challenges while delivering the following value add:

1. Flips the script on producers being underpaid, under appreciated, and underrepresented at the retail counter.
2. Provides a transparent immutable ledger of product provenance and traceability from seed to sale.
3. Educates and informs the bulk wholesale buyer on every transaction what is being sold and bought with 100% confidence.   
4. Educates and informs the consumer about all aspects of the product they are buying, where it came from, how it was handled, and connects them directly to the producer and supply chain that delivered the product.
5. Empowers farmers and producers to connect with their consumers while providing intrinsic value in the form of loyalty incentives.
6. Educates the consumer based on what cannabis is and is not versus misleading marketing and hype.

SYSTEM DESIGN:

1. Products are listed on the CLS and submitted in accordance with the standardized language and characteristics as laid out in the ICHS. Entered on the blockchain.
2. UNVERIFIED CNFT Created
3. Grading & Quality Verification available through grading companies (Example: Big Tree).
4. Once Graded, CNFT becomes VERIFIED
5. Industry Stakeholders (Farmers, Processors, Brand Manufactures, Distributors and Retailers selling QUALITY will be incentivized to Grade and Verify in order to leverage the CNFT and Quality Verification Badge.
6. 
7. As a product is bought and sold through the supply chain, it will need to be reverified each time it changes form. Example: Flower turned into pre-rolls.
8. When product is packaged into its final retail package, and IF it is quality VERIFIED, it will receive the above badge and a QR code providing access to the CNFT and product provenance information stored on the blockchain.
10. This CNFT is a collectible that sits in their wallet as a Proof of Smoke® CNFT. It can be traded away like other CNFTs but it can also be used to unlock special benefits. For example discounts, invitation to events, first orders on a new product, etc. Or it can just be used to show what a sophisticated weed connoisseur the holder of the CNFT is.

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

The challenge establishes the need for proposals with these qualities.

“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.

The more interesting and useful the products and integrations are that can be built in the ecosystem the more reasons people have to interact with the Cardano blockchain that can help further drive more adoption, feedback, growth and even more innovations.”

It is doubtless that the Supply Chain 4 Legal Cannabis/Hemp and associated listing service and marketplace will be among the most interesting and useful products for a broad range of age groups & particularly interesting to many Cardano and other cryptocurrency community members - globally!

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

Cost overruns : A risk that all projects face. In the case of Aperon Group of Companies, a well established, revenue generating company, we have the ability to supplement catalyst funding owing to cost overruns.

Technology complications : As of the time of submitting this proposal, the Cardano protocol is ready to launch a new version “Vasil” which seems to have all the features that are required for a listing service and simple market place. Contracting with highly experienced Haskell devs, experienced in Plutus, and past experience with stable coins and IOG suggests that unexpected technology complications can be resolved.

Unavailability of Key Persons : Any juristic person (registered company) faces the risk of losing a Key Person. IN the case of Aperon, as the founder, the CEO is unlikely to leave. In the case of unexpected events, within the corporate realm, the company has a succession plan for key persons. In as much as blockchain development is contracted to an individual, system architecture and specifications will be the earliest deliverables. Allowing another dev to continue the work, in case of unavailability. Worst case would be delay in delivering while we found a suitably qualified replacement developer.

Market Uptake : Many Catalyst proposers are creating innovative, new products and services for which actual market demand has not been demonstrated. New systems always face the risk that market demand would not be as great as required to be sustainable. In the case of a commodity listing service, Aperon is developing the listing service in response to the demands of hundreds of customers built around our 7 years of experience in the legal cannabis market..

Inadequate Business experience : Many Catalyst proposers building new products and services within a technology ecosystem do not have business experience. Start-ups often find success depends on non-technical issues such as HR, marketing, accounting, regulatory compliance, banking relationships and others. With 25 years experience in the global commodities environments, Aperon’s systems, procedures, network of customers and service suppliers prepares us for expanding our business in this dimension.

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

The overall Supply Chain project is planned to be completed in 8 months after final funding decision (which for Fund 9 is scheduled to be Sept 2022).

Aperon Group will have three proposals underway at the same time (If all are funded).

Global Cannabis Listing Platform - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/419950

Grading App 4 Legal Cannabis & Hemp - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/420210

Supply Chain for Cannabis & Hemp https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/420833

We will contract with two experienced development resources

Jann Muller - Developing all blockchain related technology

Veridca - An Aperon Group captive web developer will be responsible for all aspects of UI & Web2 customer facing websites & mobile apps.

We include the same basic plan in each proposal. 

There are six components to each of the three Aperon Group proposals submitted for funding by the community

Work Items

The work on each of them can be broken down into several parts. All estimates of time define 

Minimum time to complete (5% certainty)

Maximum Time to Complete (95% certainty)

1. Specification: Describing exactly what the service should do, how it will be used, and how it interacts with other services - 

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 2 days / Max 7 days

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 5 days / Max 10 days

2. Writing on-chain code: Building the Plutus smart contracts that govern the creation of tokens, recording of data on-chain, etc.

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 1 days / Max 3 days

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 2 days / Max 4 days

3. Off-chain code, indexing: The code that reads events from the blockchain and aggregates the relevant data (for example, keeping track of all new listings that were posted)

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 3 days / Max 8 days

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 2 days / Max 4 days

4. Off-chain code, transaction building: Code that generates new transactions based on user input and the current state of the app from the indexing service (for example, this function could take the data for a new listing, and then produce the transaction that records this listing, and also post the data to IPFS and the local database)

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 2 days / Max 5 days

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 2 days / Max 4 days

5. Testing

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 2 days / Max 5 days

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 2 days / Max 4 days

6. Web app. User-facing part of the application. It talks to the back-end components (indexing / transaction building service).

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 7 days / Max 12 days

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 2 days / Max 4 days

7. The RBAC component needs to be built first, regardless of which proposals are accepted, because it is required for all of the other ones. So it’s like a piece of infrastructure upon which we will build the other pieces.

Estimate of Developers Time Required Min 14 days / Max 38 days (ALL PROPOSALS)

With Coordination (Review and Approve and Rework) Min 5 days / Max 10 day

Incremental Approach

Within each component we will aim to finish the "specification" task as quickly as possible and then work on the other tasks incrementally. So when the specification is done we will select a single feature (such as “enter a new listing”) and build the on-chain code, off-chain code and UI for it, and then test the feature. This approach will enable us to catch any mistakes in our planning early, and to gather user feedback as quickly as possible. It also gives us some leeway with the scope - if the work takes a lot longer than expected, we can reduce the scope and still have a useful product to show for the Catalyst money

Time & Effort

Estimation for the tasks are broken down by component. This is based on a more detailed plan that considers the dependencies between tasks. All numbers are working days (8h).

RBAC = Role Based Access System (Applies to each proposal

CLS = Cannabis Listing Service Proposal

GS = Grading System proposal

SC = Supply Chain Proposal

CO = Coordination, Review, Rework

PM = Project Management

TM = Technical Management

AS = Administrative Support (Interfacing with Project Catalyst & Reporting)

Key Milestones

Following the Incremental work plan concept it is difficult to publish event-oriented Milestones. Instead we will publish a progress video every month which discusses and demos progress. 

We allow 2 weeks for our own team coordination after final funding decision and Challenge Team kick off meetings.

These key milestones are based on the time estimated to achieve 95% certainty.

1). Within each component we will aim to finish the "specification" task as quickly as possible and then work on the other tasks incrementally. 

Specification - ETC 4-6 weeks after Challenge Team kick off meeting

2). When the specification is done we will select a single feature and build the on-chain code, off-chain code and UI for it, and then test the feature. 

On-chain code, Off-chain code, Indexing, Txn Building, Testing - 20 weeks after specification agreed

3). Web User Interface - ETC 31 weeks after specification agreed.

4). Final wrap-up corrections, user feedback - ETC 33 weeks after Specification agreed.

5). Closeout report - ETC 35 weeks after Specifications agreed

This approach will enable us to catch any mistakes in our planning early, and to gather user feedback as quickly as possible. It also gives us some leeway with the scope - if the work takes a lot longer than expected, we can reduce the scope and still have a useful product to show for the Catalyst money.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Estimate of cost is based on 

Plutus Developer - $1100 / working day (8 hours) 

UI Developer - $500 / working day (8 hours)

Project Manager - $260 / working day (2 hours)

Technical Manager - $260 / working day (2 hours)

Administrative Support - $400 / working day (8 hours)

This is based on a more detailed plan that considers the dependencies between tasks. All numbers are working days (8h).

RBAC = Role Based Access System (Applies to each proposal

CLS = Cannabis Listing Service Proposal

GS = Grading System proposal

SC = Supply Chain Proposal

CO = Coordination, Review, Rework

PM = Project Management

TM = Technical Management

AS = Administrative Support (Interfacing with Project Catalyst & Reporting)

Thus, Total funding request for this proposal is $115,000 

Developer costs $40k + RBAC $40K = $80k

Project Management (PM) = ($42/3 =14)   

Technical Management (TM) = $42/3 = $14)

Admin Support (AS) = $21/3 = $7k

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

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Jhavid Mohseni, 24+ years of business and entrepreneurial experience in global distribution and trade, commodities, supply chain management, cannabis, operations and strategy. As a repeat founder with several successful exits, Jhavid is focused on vision, strategy and team, while supporting mission critical priorities, revenue opportunities and ensuring fiscal responsibility. Jhavid is the overall project director monitoring progress, providing market-interface issues

linkedin.com/in/jhavidmohseni

Christian Saucier, 26+ years of management consulting, technical systems architecture and product development experience. In 2016 he Co-Founded and was the CTO of ripe.io, a food blockchain with data tokenization providing product provenance and quality certification built on utility patents he created. Christian manages the team building our software tools while collaborating on our data strategy. Christian will be the technical point of contact with all Cardano and web developers.

linkedin.com/in/csaucier

Rae Lland, 10+ years experience in the cannabis industry, with a focus on communication, project management and business development. Rae holds the distinction of being Leafly magazine's longest tenured writer and has developed a strong network with professionals in all areas of the industry. Rae is focused on Aperon's business development, presence, strategy, and team productivity. Rae will be the main project coordinator connecting the dots and keeping the pulse on all aspects.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rae-lland/

CONTRACTORS

Blockchain Development: Jann Muller

Blockchain tech led by first Plutus developer. Built initial Plutus use cases prior to Alonzo H/F. Wrote matchmaker for Muesli DEX. Property-based testing of Djed stablecoin. Many years of commercial Haskell / full stack. Jann will develop all blockchain aspects of the CLS.

 linkedin.com/in/jann-müller

UX/UI: Scythian LLC dba Verdica

Verdica is a software development company that has been involved in purpose built tools serving the cannabis and hemp industries since 2019. Previous projects include grading app and trading platforms. Verdica, will engage with the blockchain team to create a seamless user experience.

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

The Aperon group of companies has submitted three proposals: 

1. Global Cannabis Listing Service
2. Cannabis Grading App
3. Supply Chain 4 Legal Cannabis & Hemp. 

Each can be completed without either or both of the others. But together they will produce the greatest benefit to the Cardano blockchain community.

Depending upon outcome of this initial scope and voter funding decisions, we may return for further funding.

[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?

In addition to internal proposal team communication channels (Slack, Discord, Telegram and Whats App), weekly sprint reviews and monthly progress reports will be required from developers according to plan. We will integrate these updates within Catalyst progress reporting. Links to Test sites can be made available to Challenge team members, as they are ready. We expect to be active in after town hall breakout meetings (main and Pacific) and swarm sessions where we can discuss progress, solicit ideas and answer community questions.

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

Success would be the following completed and working:

1. Transparent, trustworthy, and traceable product provenance system for cannabis and hemp material from seed to sale. (Backend Feature)
2. System that empowers consumers/buyers with access to accurate product information and improve the social enjoyment of the cannabis experience. (QR Code interface - Buyer Facing)
3. Immutable or Non-Fungible Token that promotes trust at the time of purchase.
4. Look up tool to access product provenance data stored on the Cardano Blockchain (user feature)
5. Process and Technology to mint and provide CNFT and associated QR code to buyers/sellers (backend and system user facing)
6. User Interface to view CNFT and associated utility.

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

Entirely New Proposal

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

Though we are market-makers, not cannabis growers, in this modern world those who help farmers be more profitable can claim a small role in the environmental benefits of the industry.