Using NFTs to tokenize assets is an exciting new area of NFT utility. However in Cardano there exists no dapp that specializes in funding and most importantly the process of redeeming such NFTs.
Create a platform for creators, artists and enterprises. that supports not only the launch and funding of asset backed NFTs by the issuer but also the redeeming of underlying assets by the end user.
This is the total amount allocated to Tangent - Redeemable NFTs Launchpad.
“We don’t have great NFT related interfaces yet - and this is an area where Catalyst can step in” Charles Hoskinson, Town Hall, 1st June 2022.
Cardano is now the third largest NFT blockchain by volume. As the number of NFTs minted on Cardano grows, it will naturally attract more artists, organizations and creators who want to launch innovative NFT projects.
Many of these new NFT projects will utilize NFTs backed by real world assets (tokenized property, luxury items, etc) and digital assets (P2E gaming items, virtual products in the metaverse, etc). The problem is without a dedicated Launchpad to support the marketing and launch of these innovative NFT offerings, many projects will fail to:
Tangent will create a NFT Launchpad Dapp that solves both of these problems as well as providing extra value to the existing infrastructure and tech stack within the Cardano ecosystem by completing the following:
An example NFT Offering - Tokenized Craft Beer:
Update on 28th June, 2022
I can confirm that we have officially onboarded the first enterprise that will use the NFT launchpad, they are Gweilo Beer a craft beer company with breweries around the world (USA, UK, Belgium, Australia). We will work in cooperation with Gweilo Beer to tokenized a limited edition craft beer that will be sold as NFTs on the launchpad!!!
The Asset Back NFT launchpad blurs the lines between the physical and digital worlds and provides a new fun way for users to interact with their NFTs. The tokenized craft beer offering will be the proof of concept and the first of many such NFT launches on the platform. The fees generated from launching NFTs on the platform will allow the project to be sustainable in the long term. The NFT Launchpad for NFTs backed by physical assets does not provide minting or secondary market trading of NFTs and instead integrates into existing third party marketplaces and minting services. Therefore it is complementary to existing Cardano ecosystem infrastructure such as Decentralized exchanges, NFT secondary marketplaces and NFT minting service. The ability to redeem NFTs for physical assets such as consumables provides value to the ecosystem by adding new ways for the community to interact with the Cardano blockchain.
Updated on 28th June, 2022
Below we have created a ‘’risk register’’ incorporating both product & project management components; areas which could delay or affect project completion and on time delivery:
Scope
Our mission statement is to explore the use of NFTs in art and finance. This can seem a broad concept and there is a risk of trying to accomplish too much and suffering from mission creep.
Risk:
trying to achieve too much in a limited time
Solution:
1. Avoid redundancy, do not recreate the wheel. There is no point in creating NFT trading functionality into the launchpad because there are already many dapps that are doing a very good job in this area.
2. Tangent NFTs will be freely tradable on existing NFT marketplaces such as NFTMaker, CNFT, JPEG.STORE, etc.
3. focus solely on creating a launchpad and redemption hub for NFTs backed by physical assets only.
Therefore our ambitions must bring tangible value to the Cardano ecosystem but also have a laser focus on areas where we can innovate and challenge the concepts regarding NFTs and their utility.
Risk:
Multiple proposals have been submitted to Catalyst and there is a risk that we may not have enough manpower to do justice to each project should all the proposals get approved.
Solution:
1. Make all proposals complementary to each other,
2. Respect the time limit that a five member full time team can accomplish in three months
3. Hire more developers should we be successful in two of our larger proposals.
Risk:
If one project proposal should fail to get funding will it negatively impact the other proposals?
Solution:
1. compartmentalized each proposal so that they are not dependent on each other to succeed.
2. If one proposal fails to get funding then continue with the other proposals that receive funding
3. If all proposals fail to get funding then seek alternative forms of financing
4 . Apply for funding again in Catalyst round 10
Budget
Our budget has been split into phases. We predict successful F9 funding will allow for the first 3-4 months of project development and budget for the hiring of 1-2 extra developers to work on the project.
Risk:
Successful funding from Catalyst will be provided in ADA which will be subject to price volatility.
Solution:
Proactively convert any funding received from Catalyst into a stablecoin such as USDC.
Risk:
There is a risk that we will not be successful in the F9 funding round, without this extra funding we will not be able to hire 2 new developers to work on the project and this will lead to delays in the roadmap and time creep.
Solution:
1. We secured funding from family and friends for this project to continue even without successful F9 funding.
2. Do not hire two new developers and continue with existing team only
3. Readjust roadmap to account for more time needed developing project due to less developers
Time Creep
There is a possibility for time creep which will delay the accomplishment of the goals outlined in the roadmap.
Risk:
Audit conducted on the code throws up recommendations (as we expect it to) that take some time to fix, delaying the roadmap.
Solution:
1. The time it will take to fix cannot be predicted (as we do not know what issues will be found in advance) so account for a buffer zone of 4 weeks after the audit to work on recommendations found
2. Readjust our roadmap schedule if bigger issues are found
3. Communicate these issues clearly with the Catalyst community by providing regular updates
4. Hire more developers early on in the beginning of the project to make sure there are enough hands on deck
Product/ Market Fit
The NFT launchpad is unique because it provides an avenue for enterprises to launch NFTs backed by their physical products. This is beneficial to both Cardano NFTs because it provides value (merging digital with physical redemption) and to enterprises because it provides them a new and innovative distribution mechanism to market products to users (sell products via NFT offering, access existing infrastructure that supports trading of these NFTs).
The product concept is a good fit for Cardano because NFTs are popular and the tokens sold on the launchpad can be fully utilized within the existing Cardano network ecosystem (the NFTs can be traded on CNFT, JPEG.Store marketplaces) which provides extra value to the Cardano NFT ecosystem as a whole.
Risk:
enterprises do not want to use the NFT launchpad.
Solution:
1.We have officially already partnered with Gweilo Beer a craft beer company with breweries around the globe. We will work together with Gweilo Beer to tokenized a limited edition craft beer as NFTs which can then be redeemed for the real physical beer via our the Tangent NFT Launchpad.
2. Continue to actively search for enterprises with existing inventory and infrastructure to launch NFTs that are backed and can be redeemed for their company products
3. Provide up front payment to cover the cost of any products/assets that will be tokenized as NFTs
Gweilo Beer has agreed to work with us to do the first NFT offering on our Launchpad. Gweilo Beer has breweries in the UK, EU, USA and Australia and have existing warehouse storage and logistical supply lines that will be used to deliver the beer to NFT holders. In short they are the perfect partners for us to launch the first physical NFT offering. NFTs will be redeemable for the real beer which will be delivered by DHL to the user.
Technical Complexity
At the time of proposal, we have already reached out to NFTMarker Pro and informed them of our intention to cooperate. They have also offered to meet and discuss support for this project. We can rely on their NFT API to mint NFTs, which is a huge help as their code is some of the most robust in the industry and well tested. The majority of our own coding will be for the NFT launch sale mechanism, front end development and beautiful intuitive UX/UX creation.
As we do not plan to create an NFT marketplace (there are already enough of those) but only want to create a launchpad / product redemption dapp, we can comfortably say that the technical complexity of the product is well within the current capabilities of the Cardano blockchain. We are comfortable this project is not being overly ambitious from a technical standpoint.
Risk:
Code created has bugs or poorly implemented front/back end development
Solution:
1. test the dapp thoroughly on testnet before deployment on mainnet.
2. Invite private alpha testers to test the item on testnet
3. Create a bounty program and invite the community to help identify bugs/attack vectors
4. Reward testers with vested Tangent native governance tokens or NFTs
5. Invite senior coders from other Cardano based projects such as (TBA) to review the code in their own time
Team Resources/ Replacements/ Incentives
Our current core team have worked together for over 18 months across a variety of smaller projects. Tangent has enough funds (raised from a private friends and family seed sale) to cover the salaries of our current team for the next 6 months and all team members are committed to making Tangent a success and have been full named and doxxed with linkedin accounts (see team details in whitepaper and website). The core team members have been working together for some time so even if new members leave the core team should stay together (but this is not a given)
Risk:
Without successful catalyst round 9 funding we will not have enough funding to expand our team as planned (without further support from friends and family) which could have a direct delay on our roadmap but
Solution:
1. Use our own funds from family/friend seed capital to finance project
2. Pay developers in a mixture our own native governance token and stable coin such as USDC to preserve capital
3. Reward long term contributors to the project with vested team allocation of native governance token
Risk:
Team members may get sick, or fall out (due to disputes) or even worse which would delay the roadmap.
Solution:
1. Seek new team members to replace those who have dropped out.
2. Incentivise developers with a sizable native token % allocation which is agreed to be released in a timeline shared with each individual developer
3. Plan annual retreat for developers to relax and bond (devs who party together stay together)
When hiring new developers, it may take time to find suitable candidates who are experienced enough with Haskell / Plutus languages or we may even fail to find good candidates at all. Training new developers would add time creep to this project.
Finally the co-founders do not take a salary, they are invested in the success of the project. If a developer does not fulfill their role as agreed in their contract, such person shall be replaced with a suitably competent alternative in a swift and timely manner.
Competitors/ Go-to-Market Strategy
We are not in direct competition with NFT marketplaces because we do not plan to have an NFT marketplace in our dapp (it will be a launchpad only and there will be no marketplace resale functionality). Therefore we think our dapp is complementary to existing NFT marketplaces. Furthermore we are an NFT launchpad for NFTs backed by real world assets with a real world redemption functionality which is very niche in itself. You can think of us as groupon for NFT holders (buy NFTs that are redeemable for real world commodities and assets).
Risk:
Many existing NFT marketplaces and some centralized exchanges (for example LCX exchange) plan or already have launchpad functionality so we are indirectly in competition with these actors. For example, LCX have successfully launched NFTs backed by diamonds on their launchpad recently and this is a very similar concept to our proposal.
Solution:
1. Specialize and brand our launchpad as the go to NFT launchpad for innovative NFTs that blurr the lines between the digital and physical words (i.e. physigital items)
2. focus on NFTs backed by real world commodities and assets.
3. Partner with enterprises with existing products, storage and logical supply lines will ensure that NFTs can be redeemed in geographical areas that are supported by the supplier.
Risk:
Tangent are not that well known in the Cardano ecosystem yet and so we may fail to gain traction in the community. Another risk is that the community may not be as excited by the concept of NFTs backed by real world assets as we clearly are but this remains to be seen until we begin to launch.
Solution:
1. Conduct market research and surveys to find out what sort of assets Cardano holders would like to invest in via NFT launches.
2. Hold Town Hall breakout rooms to invite the community to learn more about Tangent and physigital NFTs
Another risk is that enterprises may not be as excited by the concept or they may not understand cryptocurrency or may not have even heard about Cardano network before. However all enterprises are excited at the prospect of selling more products and should be open to the marketing benefits that NFTs can bring to their bottom line if not their product line as well.
Regulatory/ Legal Factors Preventing Go-To-Market
The Security Trap: Regulations regarding token offerings differ from country to country and this must be taken into consideration when deciding which assets should be tokenized and launched as NFTs or which countries must be excluded from participating in the launch of certain NFTs.
The Prohibited Item Trap: Some items are prohibited and illegal to import into countries (for example shipping alcohol to a country in the Middle East is not allowed). We must make clear which countries are able to redeem NFTs
The Logistics Trap: We are not a logistics company and do not want to operate a distribution center and the associated overhead costs for such activities. Therefore it is important that only organizations/creators/artists that can provide “after sale” logistical support on demand be chosen to issue NFTs on the platform.
We are fortunate to have Alexis Golding on our team. She is our legal and compliance advisor who has done and will continue to guide us whilst our farm is in creation. Different jurisdictions will require different regulatory considerations as to what NFTs backed by real world assets can be sold, or delivered, in a similar way to how certain countries are prohibited from investing in tokens or trading. We will filter out regulatory or logistically problematic countries.
Audits
When creating new code to be used in decentralized finance, it is important to ensure it is audited thoroughly before being deployed on mainnet to check for security flaws and bugs. The ballooning financial cost of a good third party security audit of code is a real risk to our project and the proposal.
Risk:
A good third party security audit from a reliable company can eat a huge chunk of the proposed budget.
Solution:
1. Our third party audit is proposed to be conducted by CertiK and we have set aside 13,000 USD from the budget to pay for this audit.
2. CertiK has given us an estimate of between 10,000-50,000 USD depending on the breath and complexity of the code that needs to be audited.
3. Periodically making our code open source, we can get feedback from members of the community and implement recommendations before the official third party audit begins.
Risk:
We will not know the full cost of the audit until the code is ready which is a risk.
Solution:
1. We are in touch with other reputable audit companies such as Quantstamp to get quotes from them as well.
2. More quotes are being generated from other reputable audit firms
3. Any shortfalls shall be covered by Tangent team member personal funds.
Another risk to the project is that the audit will have many recommendations and this will require lots of work to update the code and thus delay our roadmap, but it is better to delay deploying poor code than rushing. Therefore it is important we allow for time so any recommendations can be implemented in a timely manner.
The third party audit will consist of a full security package to include: an overall security score, team verification and most importantly full audit of the Cardano NFT farming contract.
We have also been in touch with notable developers from the Cardano community and have asked that they may give us informal feedback on the quality of the code from time to time at their own discretion. This will not mitigate the need for a formal third party audit by CertiK but hopefully will bring some good feedback that can be acted upon as we build the initial iteration of the launchpad.
2022 Q2:
2022 Q3: (development)
2022 Q4: (development)
2023 Q1: (marketing)
2023 Q2 (marketing)
Press Exposure:
Budget (Updated on 28th June 2022)
Back End Developer 1 x 6 months = $15000
Back End Developer 2 x 6 months = $15000
Full Stack Developer x 6 months = $18,000
Platform Code Audit by CertiK / Quantstamp = $13,000
Marketing = $5,000
Launchpad Platform Interface / Graphics x 2 months = $3000
Team Expenses = $500
Total: $69,500
Clint Alexander // Co-founder, Head of Development
Bio:
----
Ben Gordon // Co-founder, Visionaire & Marketing Technologist
Bio:
----
Benjamin Grabow // Senior Software Engineer
Bio:
----
Sydney Bright // Plutus Pioneer / Cardano Coder
Bio:
----
Shahabaj Dange // Front-End Developer
Bio:
----
Roman Gor // UI / UX
Bio:
----
Alexis Golding // Legal Compliance Advisor
Bio:
----
Henry (Kwrtz Artist) // Digital Artist
Bio:
+another 1 programmers for launchpad development
Further team information can be found here: https://tangent.art/team
We will not apply for future funding from Catalyst (if we are successful in this current round) for this particular project because we believe that after the deployment the NFT Launchpad to mainnet, it will be self sustainable from the fees generated from the launch of NFTs on the platform and have set our budget accordingly.
The first measure of successful will be the completion of the first tokenized initial NFT offering and the level of engagement that receives from the community (did all the tokenized beer sell out, how many have been redeemed, what is the trading volume on 3rd party websites, does the craft beer company want to make a second tokenized offering). After that the next measure of success will be gauged via the number of physical assets that have been tokenized on the Cardano blockchain using our service and also the response from the Cardano community (were they well received, did they all sell out, was the redemption process easy etc). Finally the range and number of companies, creators, artists who issue NFTs on our launchpad will also be another measure of success. If we can encourage more traditional businesses with a presence in the physical world to try Cardano and mint NFTs, even if only for marketing purposes, then we will consider this proposal a success.
Success for this project will be measured when we have a well adopted and engaging platform with dozens of success NFT offerings completed and also an active community built around Discord and social media, who are engaged and using the funding and redemptions features of the Dapp to support interesting NFT launches and redeem cool physical assets & items.
I hope that by the end of the project that the following will have happened as a direct result of our success:
This is a new proposal.
The team have helped create multiple NFT platforms on other chains (Eth, BSC, Matic) & have experience in the coding and deployment of DeFi (liquidity pool farming, etc) & NFT related projects (gallery, marketplace) since 2019. Refer to github & team experience for more info.