The Solution we offer using smart contracts is Black Rhino. A way for everyday users to democratically support endangered species and climate conservation efforts using tools in blockchain. Our goal is to build a decentralized platform to provide opportunities in emerging markets for organizations, while providing users a rewarding and engaging experience.
DeFi applications provide a lot of value for users in other blockchain ecosystems. We want to be the first one that gives back. For our first protocol, we will be developing a Raffle Pool. Users will be able to enter the pool to win part of the stake each week. Part of the proceeds and fees from each pool will go directly to support one of our non-profit partner organizations. This will be accomplished by building a DeFi Staking Pool on top of a third party staking service, such as Adax or Ergo. Part of the yield generated will be randomly selected and sent to one of the stakers via smart contract. The rest of the yield will be split between our non-profit organizational partners and the project treasury. This will work similar to a raffle. Eventually, the protocol will be governed by users who are staked in the pool. This way users will be able to choose which organizations will be supported each week. Users who participate, but do not win, will also be eligible to receive NFT rewards.
Each transaction on the Pool will be certified as carbon-neutral, and eventually carbon-negative, through our partners such as Nori, Aerial, Moss, and more TBA.
For future projects we plan to build on the success of this first protocol and continue to grow Black Rhino with an NFT platform, Global staking protocols, A portal enabling fundraising in cryptocurrency and NFTs, as well as a native token which will power our ecosystem.
This first protocol is in parallel with our collaborative projects we are currently working on with our partner organizations. We have currently partnered with three endangered species and climate conservation organizations to explore opportunities in blockchain including NFT related projects, which we have proposed here: https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/403182
For everyday cryptocurrency users, as well as those interested in the space, important issues like energy consumption are becoming more relevant everyday. Finding ways to consistently deal with these issues in efficient ways are a constant challenge. Cardano is considered an industry leader for energy efficient solutions in this space, and therefore should have DApps that lead the way as well.
Besides being functional, DeFi applications need to be fun, interesting, easy to use, and rewarding for users in order to attract users. Black Rhino will provide an enjoyable and rewarding experience for users by building a an easy-to-use protocol which will enable users to give back as well as earn rewards for participating. The goal is to attract users and promote DeFi on Cardano.
Utilizing the Cardano chain we aim to a build a solution which will enable users to interact with everyday tools in DeFi and support non-profit organizations. This will provide the Cardano ecosystem with a DeFi application which gives back, offsets energy consumption and provides value to everyday users.
The main challenge our project faces is sustainability, and overcoming the perception of the blockchain industry amongst the conservation community. Maintaining an eco-friendly and carbon-neutral experience on our platform, and with our NFT related projects, is crucial. The blockchain industry is heavily criticized for its impact on the environment and we are aiming to change this narrative. We will overcome this challenge by building and operating on Cardano, which aligns with our sustainability goals. We will also work with carbon removal and climate conservation organizations such as Pleistocene Park, Cardano4Climate, and Moss, every step of the way which will allow us to measure our carbon output, and ensure our platform is Carbon-Negative.