Please describe your proposed solution.
<u>Cardojo Umbrella Universe </u>
<u>Cardojo Vision:</u>
- With an initial focus on Asia and the Asia markets:
- Enabling value creation for brands, creatives and communities in the digital revolution
- Accelerate and enhance grassroots led positive social and environmental impact
- Paving the way for mass adoption of web 3 goods and services through community initiatives by unlocking human potential, facilitating connectivity, and empowering entrepreneurs
<u>Cardojo Mission:</u>
- Using the power of Cardano’s blockchain technology for good (through use cases such as NFTs)
- Bringing Blockchain4Good, Cardano4Good and NFT4Good to life, by and for the people
- Educating, consulting and onboarding diverse stakeholders in the public and private sectors, and civil society (non-profits, for-benefit, social enterprises, small and medium sized businesses) on Cardano and NFTs and how they can use the technology to their advantage
- Emphasizing the capacity of Cardano’s ecosystem for sustainable, impactful and positive change
- Inspiring individuals and businesses that align with our vision of a ‘4 Good’ business company and project, in Asia and globally, to join the movement of positive change by showing them what’s possible
<u>Cardojo in Asia</u>
<u>Impact/Solution:</u>
The NFT projects, Twitter spaces, and social media accounts under the Cardojo umbrella will:
a) increase awareness of the use cases and advantages of blockchain, Web 3.0, NFTs (specifically Cardano)
b) actively provide consultation and onboarding services for traditional, “non-blockchain” and “non-crypto” businesses and organizations based in Asia or with a significant presence and/or market share in Asia.
This is the first phase of what we envision to be a long-term, ongoing project that will benefit ALL involved.
For example, the Kame Krew Cardano NFT project (Drop Date TBC) seeks to disrupt the traditional fund-raising landscape with an alternative by providing an incentive to participate for all involved: the people in need, the holders, the project team, and the Cardano ecosystem and community as a whole.
Minters of the NFT will be given the opportunity for real-world utility to train with fitness & martial arts coaches through their generous support. A community of like-minded and passionate individuals can be built, and athletes and trainers can be onboarded into the Cardano community.
Blockchain essentially allows NFTs to tokenize community. NFTs give individual artists, athletes, celebrities, charities, schools, businesses and nations unique ways to build on their brand and establish community. On the surface, one can liken an PFP NFT to purchasing a sports jersey supporting a particular team. However, if you’re reading this proposal, you may likely understand that NFTs are capable of so much more. The unique, immutable, and easily transferable nature of NFTs create much more possibilities for community engagement as opposed to just simple team swag or merch (but that can very easily be worked into an NFT project as real-world utility as well).
Asia has four of the top five countries in the world for NFT adoption (The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam). Our core project team has connections to all of them.
The widespread adoption and acceptance of gaming culture, the veneration of “gachapon” or little trinket, collectible vending machines, and proliferation of “point cards” (points accumulated with purchases that can be exchanged for rare collectibles) in convenience stores - all of these factors and more make the Asian communities and markets a perfect place for Cardano NFT adoption to take off!
In addition, it is likely that mainstream intellectual properties will enter the metaverse and NFT space. Having Cardano NFTs that align with the powerful ethos of Cardano and grounded in real-world utility and use cases, to support real-world businesses and missions will effectively “future-proof” the NFT projects we choose to build.
All in all, Cardojo’s ultimate mission will be to onboard as many businesses and organizations in Asia (and globally eventually) as possible through Education, Use case exploration leveraging NFTs, Community building and growth via Twitter spaces and social media engagement with the view of bringing greater value to existing projects, and creating projects with entrepreneurs that will reward all parties and stakeholders involved: be it the businesses/charitable organizations/missions involved, to their supporters/minters/holders, and their on the ground and decentralized project teams.
Our proof of concept NFT collections to be used to support our initial Cardojo onboarding efforts:
<u>Kame Krew</u>
https://twitter.com/KameKrewCNFT
#CardanoNFT project with a charitable focus on empowering kids. Inspired by the purposeful missions of the #Cardano #ADA SPO community + martial arts.
<u>Streets of ADA - A Samsudin Brothers Projek</u>
https://twitter.com/streetsofada
<https://www.youtube.com/embed/dNECGgAv6ok>A Samsudin Brothers Projek brings to the Cardano community and world…
“Crime is a disease and it is running rampant in the Cardojo universe.
All of life, law and order is at stake.
The only place a cure exists is on the Streets of ADA.”
<u>Streets of ADA VHS Era Anime/Manga Concept Teaser Trailer</u>
<https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7OW7DVaqzY>Bringing these communities together in an unprecedented way exclusively on Cardano for the first drop, Streets of ADA aims to take the #NFT4Good, #Blockchain4Good and #Cardano4Good concepts to an unprecedented level for real life impact.
Connecting fans of classics from the 80s and 90s era of world cinema, gaming, anime, and martial arts practitioners and communities, by owning a Streets of ADA NFT individuals join a collective that unlocks in real life utility. Utility such as access to a global network of martial artists, coaches, sifus, champions and Grandmasters and exclusive perks such as 1-2-1 training and mentoring opportunities, and much more.
Joining the Streets of ADA is an investment in your own wellbeing, plants the seeds for your mind, body and spirit to flourish in a forest of peace, and is a financial investment in impactful positive social and environmental grassroots led, community projects that help direct needed funds to enable change agents to uplift themselves and their communities in real life by leveraging Cardano4Good.
These technologies, these tools were made by us, for us. And despite the forces that be, such tools should be used to help unlock our creative potential, set free our abilities to be a force for good in our worlds, inspire hope, and empower action. Cardojo aims to accelerate progress in this direction, using the tools available to us, and yet to be in the hands of those in Asia, for instance.
<u>Synergy with other Project Catalyst funded proposals:</u>
In order to have greater impact at scale and to support ecosystem growth aligned with Cardano 4 Impact Community Initiatives, we will explore leveraging the research and work our team members are engaged with as part of the Cardano4Climate (C4C) team.
Fund 8 funded proposals that connect with our vision and mission at Cardojo are the impact lead and community lead generation models, to inform and guide our Cardojo framework and approach:
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Cross-Chain Impact Lead Generator
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Community Lead Generation
<u>Cardojo</u>
If we are funded via Project Catalyst, we will explore and document our legal and financially compliant journey from the start, to register as a For Benefit/Social Enterprise.
We will proceed to onboard companies and projects that align with our vision of a #Blockchain4Good, #NFT4Good business/company.
We will explore and open all avenues into the ecosystem and accompany companies and projects towards achieving their goals, be it via tokenizing impact or using NFTs for fundraising and community building. We have connections and collaborations throughout the Cardano and broader Blockchain4Good ecosystem, and will turn to our advisors, partners and experts for their relevant expertise and services where and when applicable.
Cardojo aims to be accessible to those who would benefit from our services, who with the help of these tools could improve their business triple bottom line of positive impact on people, planet and profit but don't know how and can’t afford expensive consultants.
Cardojo can help them on their journey of innovation and impact. For instance, with their uniquely created and crafted NFT collection with the help of our team, their community of holders can share their staking rewards via impact driven SPOS with a pool/treasury that can be used to further finance consulting businesses and communities. This is the long term aim. This first phase will demonstrate the proof of concept works and that there is indeed an opportunity and demand for this.
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
<u>Why is it important?</u>
In order for wider and eventual mass adoption of Cardano (and blockchain in general) to occur, the key step is the onboarding stage.
Cardojo aims to demystify blockchain, Cardano, and NFTs and act as a bridge for businesses and organizations based in Asia to understand the utility and potential of NFT technology.
<u>Context</u>
The top 4 countries for NFT adoption in the world are in Asia. They are:
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Malaysia
- Vietnam
We are focusing our initial efforts on the top 3 countries for this Cardojo proof of concept.
<u>UN Sustainable Development Goals</u>
Out of 163 countries that have adopted the UN SDGs as measures and have data for open access, measuring each country’s progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia rank as follows:
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Philippines- https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/philippines 95/163
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Thailand- https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/thailand 44/163
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Malaysia - https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/malaysia 72/163
https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/rankings
If funded, we will be able to build a foundation and framework for sustainable funding.
Cardojo will bring diverse people together as demonstrated by the makeup of our core team, advisors and partners.
Cardojo will bring together a collective network of experienced OG and ‘under the radar’ creatives, artists, developers, moderators/marketing personnel, consultants, business development experts and more, together, with the view to on board those external to Cardano, who stand to benefit from the opportunities available.
Cardojo will leverage its network to serve businesses and companies that are aligned with our Blockchain and NFT4Good values, and provide bespoke support and guidance, and leverage our talented and experienced team to advise and create NFTs that will appeal and onboard the Asian public and their communities.
The Project Catalyst funds will allow us to coordinate and enable us to have the resources to finance virtual or physical meetups within Asian communities. Additionally, funding will provide us with the resources to cover the costs of marketing and communication, and temporarily cover the costs for moderators in Discord and community management until we are able to self-finance our operations sustainably, as we carry out outreach work and deliver services to relevant and interested small, medium sized and large business and organizations.
and offset the costs associated with outreach to relevant and interested small businesses and organizations.
Community members and participants of Cardojo, operating as the Asia focused branch within the umbrella of Cardojo, can find a role that best utilizes their talents and fulfills their passions.
Cardojo activities will include:
- Onboarding businesses, companies and people who are unfamiliar with blockchain, crypto, NFTS, and Cardano
- Consulting them on the use-cases and what is possible in the space
- Value for their business, project
- Guidance on how to navigate this journey
- Accompany them to become legally compliant and financially sound from the start
With Cardojo, new entrants to the ecosystem will be able to see what is out there and what is possible, introduced by real people, to real projects.
With our focus on Asia initially, this proposal is actively building a team made up of people who are active and flourishing in the space, having a positive impact, and aligned with Cardojo’s Vision and Mission, and are Asian/connected to Asia.
<u>Our advisors and partners:</u>
Cardojo will achieve success on its vision and mission with the support of Cardano community members who are actively involved with projects in the ecosystem.
By enlisting the support of experienced OGs in the NFT/ CNFT space, with the belief that we are stronger together, Cardojo seeks to:
- Create more value creation opportunities for each project
- Bring more eyes to the projects
- Connect project teams with others in this Cardojo ‘Catalyst’ facilitated Collective and wider impact Cardano Community ✊
Those who join the Cardojo network, and seek to take on the role of lead generation to help onboard external businesses and individuals into the Cardano ecosystem, can do so armed with the confidence, knowledge, resources and tools to successfully onboard and enable people and businesses to explore and discover what may benefit them from entering the Cardano ecosystem.
These new entrants who may be unaware of what is possible by integrating such technology, and how this looks tangibly, and what their business or NFT project could potentially look like, need not look further than the members of our Cardojo Collective.
Being of Asian heritage isn't necessary to join the Cardojo community!
You need to however agree with our vision and mission, and see the potential and need to support our fellows in Asia to join this growing, diverse and decentralized Cardano community.
Our Cardojo team will work to connect and onboard communities and stakeholders based in Asia, and present them with what is possible, and who is doing what in the ecosystem.This in turn will help them get a sense of what's tangibly possible for their business, project and community.
With our growing network of advisors and partners, our onboarding process will enable new entrants to the Cardano ecosystem to have the chance to access our network of experts. Our consultant services will draw on this wealth of collective intelligence and resources.
The Cardojo network, with a focus on Asia for this proposal, will facilitate knowledge and cultural exchange, with participation being flexible.
<u>How big is the potential market?</u>
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NFTs rose to become a $40billion market in 2021. - https://www.ft.com/content/e95f5ac2-0476-41f4-abd4-8a99faa7737d
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There is a positive correlation between awareness of NFTs and ownership of NFTs - https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-current-state-of-worldwide-nft-adoption
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According to Google trends, out of 70 countries around the world, the search term NFT is most searched by consumers in Asia and Oceania - https://www.statista.com/statistics/1265980/nft-online-search-interest-country/
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According to research from Finder, NFT adoption in Southeast Asia is rising, with the region having the highest adoption rates worldwide. Finder’s online survey polled over 28,000 people across 20 countries and asked about their NFT ownership status. The Philippines ranks first with 32% ownership, Thailand second with 27%, and Malaysia third with 24%…As documented by Finder, the current forecast is that the adoption of NFTs will be as high as 41% in the region. - https://techcollectivesea.com/2022/03/07/nft-adoption-southeast-asia/
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“Southeast Asia, with nearly 700 million residents, has one of the world’s fastest-growing populations; 480 million of them are active internet users and more are coming online. By 2040, Asia is estimated to make up half of global GDP and 40% of global consumption, with much of it coming from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a report by Pinebridge Investments found.” - https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/14/crypto-southast-asia-2022/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACxS37BZBm-EERLRYC5q4niKmL0E638RL5wAjDuCUlkaEqZXvZMm-EL47SERdbzdF-K4XcUGqVNHZbAI11vgthk499dbhYcyFMQksG3f5zS4ewl8HQFuD0jYbMq_lr2AV0HGkSs5LqXMx8cUrvdKIb0z7Z0w4xi0nu-2VXEFvGS6
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“Of the world’s estimated 1.7 billion unbanked people today, 290 million are in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, for instance, 71% of the country’s adults do not have access to a bank account, equating to more than 51 million people.” - https://forkast.news/central-southeast-asia-fastest-growing-regions-cryptocurrency/
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“Southeast Asian nations may also wish to establish further initiatives designed to educate the public and promote social responsibility around blockchain, such as outlining due diligence procedures and best practices around crypto assets, as well as ethical cryptocurrency mining. An educated and socially responsible populace would reduce the need for heavy-handed regulations as far as possible, thereby allowing for a conducive business environment, and also ensure that users themselves are adequately protected.” - https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/blockchain-in-southeast-asia-striking-a-balance-between-innovation-and-protection/
<u>Philippines:</u>
“In the Philippines, where cash remittances account for more than 9% of total GDP, cryptocurrency wallets are becoming the preferred tool for such transfers. Cash remittances increased by 5.2% year on year in the first 11 months of 2021, to US$28.4bn. Cryptocurrency is a cheap way of sending remittances for large unbanked populations, as long as they have sufficient access to smartphones and the internet, as in the Philippines.” - https://www.eiu.com/n/cryptocurrency-regulation-diverges-across-asia/
<u>What we have already accomplished:</u>
Raz has been working on connecting the dots between Cardano and Sustainability. He joined Steve as Co-Founder of Cardojo, having connected with a shared passion for martial arts, education and anime. Not to mention a common belief of the power of Cardano and its community to be a force for good and to drive positive change in our world.
Raz has been actively working on driving the Cardano ecosystem towards impact purposes. With a focus on research, stories and projects in the Blockchain4Good and NFT4Good space, and tools for the community with the Cardano AIM SDG Proposer Tool, and SDG Search Tool. Raz is Co-founder of Sustainable ADA, and a founding member of Cardano4Climate, The Catalyst School, and UN and SDG Coordinator at wada. Co-founder of A Samsudin Brother’s Projek and Creator of Streets of ADA.
Known as Kame Coin in the Cardano community, Steve founded the weekly space Cardojo with co-host and artist Edwin Nieves. Cardojo meets weekly for a discussion on martial arts, fitness, philosophy, NFTs, Web 3, and the Cardano community. Currently, he’s active at work on creating Kame Krew, a #NFT4Good, #Blockchain4Good NFT project focusing on raising funds for a rural Muay Thai gym trying to provide a safe home for children impacted by poverty. Kame Krew is part of the Cardojo umbrella and will continue to work to promote awareness and change the lives of children affected by poverty!
<u>What does success look like?</u>
The success of our project will mean that we will have created a first foothold in Asia, with a focus on Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, for onboarding and bridging businesses and communities into Cardano and NFTs.
Cardojo can act as a portal and launchpad that can be used for more similar projects across Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, and across Asia, and beyond!
The positive ripple effect will be immense, with our initial targeted ‘clients’ that are traditionally as of now disconnected from the Blockchain, Crypto and Cardano worlds. They will be inspired, and able to feel confident and empowered to carve a sustainable business path for themselves, their teams, their communities as architects of the future, and role models in their community.
<u>Long term vision:</u>
6 months:
We have onboarded 6 Asian businesses.
They are now active Cardano community members, and have brought their community onboard to the Cardano community, or grown their community with the support of Cardojo and the network.
The businesses are aware of the steps they need to take to be legally compliant in France and their country of origin in order to take the necessary steps from the start.
The companies and projects are proposing in Project Catalyst.
Cardojo is sustaining its operations sustainably via consultant paid services, NFT sales.
These stories are shared on the Sustainable ADA news platform.
Companies and businesses building on Cardano that are considered #Blockchain4Good projects/ #NFT4Good projects can enter the Positive Blockchain open access database for greater cross chain cross fertilisation.
12 months:
We have onboarded 12 Asian businesses.
They are now active Cardano community members, and have brought their community onboard to the Cardano community, or grown their community with the support of Cardojo and the network.
The businesses are aware of the steps they need to take to be legally compliant in France and their country of origin in order to take the necessary steps from the start.
The companies and projects are proposing in Project Catalyst.
Cardojo able to sustain its operations sustainably via consultant paid services, NFT sales.
Our onboarded businesses are contributing their success stories and case studies to our growing network for community benefit and collective intelligence.
These stories are shared on the Sustainable ADA news platform.
Companies and businesses building on Cardano that are considered #Blockchain4Good projects/ #NFT4Good projects can enter the Positive Blockchain open access database for greater cross chain cross fertilisation.
<u>How will the outcomes of your project be communicated or marketed once completed?)</u>
We will communicate our proposal updates and project progress via our websites and social media pages.
Stories of successful onboarded companies and projects will be shared on the www.sustainableada.com news pages, with the view of further spotlighting #Blockchain4Good projects, and #NFT4Good projects.
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
<u>Working on this project whilst managing an existing workload: </u>
Working and managing diverse responsibilities and workloads will require constant communication between team members. Group members must be clearly aware of individual responsibilities and plan accordingly to meet project expectations. We are all deeply invested in ensuring we have sustainable work practices whilst bringing our visions of success for this project to life.
<u>Working in a decentralized team:</u>
Similar to the above, communication is key. With project members in different time zones, communication and consistent meetings are going to be keys to Cardojo’s success. On the other hand, what is perceived as a challenge can be a strength - with a decentralized, global team, team members will be that much more effective in the onboarding process and be ready to respond to questions or concerns from businesses or companies. Our core team are all experienced in this regard.
<u>Working in a space with legal and financial uncertainty: </u>
We are including legal and financial professionals based in France and seeking to find the appropriate professionals in the jurisdictions we are working to onboard business from. As part of the Cardojo journey of registering as legally compliant entities, our operations from the start will be documented for community benefit, as well as providing this service for those we onboard to ensure we provide a full package for those we serve.
<u>Currency exchange volatility:</u>
Can exchange ADA into a stable coin (Djed TBC) or fiat accordingly upon receival of funds.
<u>Operating in a context that may be sensitive with cultural awareness:</u>
We are a diverse team made up of Asian individuals with experience of living and working in Asia, with Asians, and have a deep understanding of the cultural norms and nuances that will prove beneficial in communicating and onboarding processes. Crypto can be seen as a subject of contention and we are all well versed in handling such discussions and topics with patient understanding and sensitivity with regards to privacy and non disclosure agreements where appropriate.