Introduction

Akorn DAO is a proposal for a project in Hyperledger labs. Hyperledger labs is an open source code community with a low barrier to entry. Any and all are welcome to join and contribute to the lab. Akorn DAO is a creating a regenerative NFT marketplace (DAO managed) for incentivizing actions that increase and maintain native ecosystems (ie. tree planting). Our platform aims to create decentralized methodologies for the creation of environmental offsets while being blockchain agnostic. We aim to work with neferti (NEFERTI) as well as the climate action and accounting special interest group (Climate Action SIG) during the Hyperledger Challenge 2022 to incorporate tools from Hyperledger into the creation of this open source platform.

We aim to create a crowdfunding mechanism to support any entity with the initial funding necessary to implement that action (such as tree planting). Gitcoin can provide an open source framework for the creation of this platform (https://github.com/gitcoinco). After a project achieves the crowdfunding cap, NFTs are minted tied to the project supported. These NFTs are able to be resold in the NFT marketplace. This marketplace and the NFT contracts would be a mixture of NEFERTI and Rarible (https://github.com/rarible). Proposed oracles for dynamically updating the NFTs are Chainlink (https://github.com/shambadynamic/cosmos-chainlink-oracle) and Ceramic (https://github.com/ceramicnetwork).

The data for measuring and verifying the NFTs as well as the benefits from them will come from satellite imagery, smart technology IOT devices, and georeferenced imagery from boots on the ground. For satellite imagery data we aim to tap into the API that TerraMatch (https://www.terramatch.org/) is creating.  This API will be able to tap into data from Resource Watch (https://resourcewatch.org/) as well as the Global Forest Watch (https://www.globalforestwatch.org/). For IOT sensors, we are working on a research and development project to become a partner organization with Helium (https://github.com/helium). We have yet to identify an open source codeset for georeferenced imagery data collection. 

For data analysis methodologies we aim to tap into the most credible codes for ecosystem service valuation. This includes what the Climate Action SIG has developed as well as the InVEST toolset from Stanford (https://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu/software/invest).

Once we have developed the Akorn DAO marketplace we will create a minting protocol. This protocol would be able to integrate with existing NFT marketplaces so that these marketplaces as well can provide support to regenerative actions. Instead of creating a wallet we will integrate existing wallets to this marketplace such as Metamask. 

Links to materials related to Akorn DAO can be found here: https://linktr.ee/AkornMarketplace

Scope

The scope of this working group is to establish the codebase for this marketplace. This working group is not in charge of marketing or community management of this platform. 

The people in this working group will become part of Akorn DAO and participate in the decentralized governance of this platform. 

Work Products

The anticipated initial work products will include (but is not limited to):

The integration of the codebases highlighted above for the creation of the ideas expressed in the introduction as well as related materials from the Linktree. 

Work in collaboration to create a proposal for the Hyperledger Challenge 2022

Complete work on the Helium case study to become a trusted organization for the implementation of IOT devices related to their network and the reselling of that data in the Ocean Protocol data marketplace. 

Create a whitepaper for the Akorn DAO based upon the ideas presented in the Akorn wiki https://akorndao.gitbook.io/akorn/

Collaborators (other groups)

This working group will collaborate with other Hyperledger working groups, the TSC, Linux Foundation staff, and the project maintainers. These include: 

Hyperledger

NEFERTI

Climate Action SIG

Other Orgs working on IOT study

https://alpha.dataunion.app/

https://twitter.com/AthenaEquity

Other Orgs


Interested Parties

The following individuals have already expressed an interest in joining this working group, and we hope they will become contributors over the first year:

List of interested parties (listed with their consent), including name, association, and optionally email addresses.

Name

Company

Email AddressT.R. Price

T.R. Price

Marcos Da Silva

Victor Cucos

Akorn DAO

Independent

Independent

akornmarketplace@gmail.com


Proposed Chair

The following individual has volunteered to serve as the initial chair for the working group:


The contact person for this project will be T.R. Price. Their contact information is akornmarketplace@gmail.com and their Discord handle is Terexitarius#4750 

Our team has worked on this project for the last 4 months together.

Reviewed by

  • Arnaud Le Hors
  • Baohua Yang
  • Binh Nguyen
  • Christopher Ferris
  • Dan Middleton
  • Hart Montgomery
  • Kelly Olson
  • Mark Wagner
  • Mic Bowman
  • Nathan George
  • Silas Davis
  • No labels

14 Comments

  1. Si Chen

    This is an interesting project.  Thank you for sharing it.  I have a few questions:

    1. Is the NFT for something specific to the trees planted, or for something created by an artist who would support the verified tree plantings?
    2. Do you verify the continued existence of the trees after they are planted? 
    3. Will there be incentives to keep them healthy?
    4. Could the trees be part of commercial project, planted with the goal of eventual harvesting for commercial wood?
    5. Do you have any requirements on the types of trees, such as native species?
    6. What would be the potential contribution of the CA2SIG? 

  2. Terexitarious

    1. The NFT can be thought of as a receipt for donation (by whoever would like to donate to make that action a reality) towards the regenerative action (whatever that action is tree planting, beach cleanup, water conservation etc.). This receipt like traditional NFTs has a piece of art tied to it (this art can either come from the person themselves or from lazy minting/ buying an artists work that is already tied to a regenerative action) but unlike traditional NFTs it also is connected to dynamic data about that action. This data updates in the NFT as to when the action supported is measured and verified to have been carried out, as well as the benefits from that action. The benefits (carbon sequestration, water quality improvements, soil health, etc.) accrue over time. If these benefits are something that we value (ie. carbon sequestered~ carbon credits) then the value of the NFT also appreciates over time as there is measured and verified accrual of the benefits from the regenerative action. 
    2. The actions are measured and verified continually first for the presence of the action (ie. the presence of a tree) and then for the benefits from that action (ie. carbon sequestered). The methods we propose to collect data that measure this are satellite surveillance, smart technology IOT devices (working to become a certified partner of Helium), and georeferenced imagery from boots on the ground. 
    3. Each action once it is measured and verified to have occurred is eligible to receive maintenance funding for as long as the action remains producing benefits. This maintenance funding comes from a percent fee of the transactions (buy, sells) of NFTs within the NFT marketplace. Each implementing entity (the ones that plant the trees) specifies what they would like to receive each year in terms of maintenance funds. The funding is distributed across all entities participating in the marketplace in an equitable manner and after if the requested maintenance fee is not satisfied the DAO can vote if they will use other money to satisfy it. 
    4. The trees could be part of a commercial project, but the hope would be that the market (the supporters of the regenerative actions) would put a different value on trees from commercial plantations then trees from permanently protected areas. We will also accumulate a quadratic funding pool to leverage the DAOs beliefs on good actions to support to make it more favorable for people to support them. 
    5. For requirements on the types of trees/ actions supported we are not limiting what people can propose to get funded. However, we only allow an entity to propose one crowdfunding project at a time. Once they receive the amount needed through crowdfunding the entity is eligible to get financial support for more of that action. However if at any time an action is unable to be measured and verified to have been carried out through that funding, the entity will no longer be able to propose more actions until that dispute is resolved. Our hope would be that the community values native species over introduced varieties. 
    6. The potential contribution from the CA2SIG is to get more ideas as to how we can better design and create this marketplace, as well as furthering the coding development/ integration of existing CA2SIG code into the marketplace. Looking to co develop this project as a decentralized community with CA2SIG being part of it. 

    1. Si Chen

      Very interesting.  So:

      Is the NFT then the work of an artist attached to the measured results from your trees?  Do you envision the two to work together, so more trees would cause a digital art to look different?

      Would you sell the attached NFT at a premium, so you could pay the artist the value of their work and then get some additional value for the trees?

      What if the trees are cut down later or die out?  Would that also show up in the NFT?  Would that cause the NFT to lose value?

      Do you plan on following any of the carbon offset standards to verify the climate impact?

  3. Terexitarious

    1: Exactly both art and the regenerative action (not necessarily trees can be any regenerative action) 

    A: Would like to incorporate Async.art and other ways to have the data influence the art presented. 

    2: Royalties from the NFT would be transferred to the regenerative organization, artist and the DAO. Not necessarily selling at a premium but knowing that the cost the person sells the NFT at is tied to those royalty distributions. 

    3: If the regenerative action no longer is producing benefits (ie. the tree is cut down) the benefits for that NFT stop accruing. There could be a loss in value for that NFT at that point but it has the data of the benefits and the value of those embedded in it. 

    4: It is up to each of the individual projects to decide on whether or not to become verified for impact by voluntary offset intermediaries (Verra). If they do the NFT can then update to portray that and be turned into other tokens (such as the Base Carbon Tonne- BCT https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/toucan-protocol-base-carbon-tonne/)

    1. Si Chen

      So what will be the standard for project eligibility?  

  4. Terexitarious

    Any project, anywhere could be part of this platform. It is the data collection and analysis methodologies that would be standardized. Data collection being done from satellite, IOT, and georeferenced imagery and then analysis through standardized data analysis techniques (starting with an initial codebase that has been heavily verified by the scientific community, InVEST). However a project can only propose one project at a time to get funding. That project needs to be measured and verified that the action has been done before it will be able to propose more actions that it would like funding for. 

    1. Si Chen

      I’ve heard of InVEST before but don’t know too much about it.  What can it verify?  For example could it tell the difference between forest and savannah, ages and types of trees, amount of biodiversity vs monoculture?

      Will the projects on your platform need to satisfy some initial criteria, for example to make sure they are not deforesting existing forests?

      Also just curious about why you’d create a new NFT platform instead of work with an existing one such as Opensea?

  5. Deval Pandya

    Very cool project. I would like to mention moja.global, another Linux Foundation project that would be a great fit for MRV part of the project. Its an OSS for MRV related to AFOLU and currently used by national agencies to report GHG as part of UNFCCC commitments https://github.com/moja-global

  6. Terexitarious

    • The InVEST toolset consists largely of ecosystem service valuation methodologies and it also has some methodologies for prioritizing where regenerative actions should take place (https://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu/software/invest. In order to delineate between ecosystem service types ML algorithms need to be used on imagery one of the best out there is http://data.ess.tsinghua.edu.cn/ This just classified for the ecosystem at a global level and needs to be worked to get better details about biome level classification (ie. biodiversity and species types). This classification would largely be enabled by data collected from georeferenced imagery from boots on the ground.
    • In the future it would be great to classify between areas that have been deforested or otherwise harmed the ecosystem (in a recent timeframe) in order to create space to implement the regenerative action and those that did not do that, however we don't have that capability in the surveillance system yet. We'd filter projects largely by the information they would provide us in the onboarding process.
    • The codebase that we expect to use is the Rarible Protocol which allows the NFTs minted on our marketplace to be available on the Rarible marketplace.
    • Moja Global is definitely a great toolset and one we are going to incorporate into our Hyperledger challenge proposal.

    Can you think of any other tool sets we should incorporate? Deval, Si Chen, and others interested would you be willing to cocreate the Hyperledger Challenge Proposal?

    1. Deval Pandya

      Happy to help where I can. Lot of learning ahead !

  7. Yi Yuan

    Hello, can you please share link for code repo as it is Hyperledger lab project?

    BTW, is there any possibly for this project running on any of existing NFT implementation within Hyperledger such as https://github.com/hyperledger/fabric-samples/tree/main/token-erc-721 ?

  8. Terexitarious

    HI Deval Pandyathanks (smile) I'll be working on the application in the coming weeks and will put a link to the working doc here. Yi Yuanit would be great to utilize existing codebases for the proposal. Do any others come to mind that might be good for this project? Our repo is here: https://github.com/TerexitariusStomp/Akorn There is not much in there yet besides our wiki. 

    1. Yi Yuan

      hi Terexitarious, as far as I know, https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/hyperledger-labs.github.io most labs projects has PR and repo. for ex:

      https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/hyperledger-labs.github.io/pull/185

      https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/PerformanceSandBox

      to be honest, I find the repo https://github.com/TerexitariusStomp/Akorn yesterday after reading this page, and do further information search. but ... I as I didn't find it hyperledger labs. it's a little bit confusing for me.

  9. Terexitarious

    HI all, created a proposal for the ideate challenge would be great to get feedback: Decentralized Environmental Offsets NFTs (Avano DAO) 


    In terms of the repo Yi Yuan will fix this in the coming days, thanks for showing the steps.