Please describe your proposed solution

The zkFold and Liqvid teams will enable RWAs issued on Cardano to be included in Liqvid’s on-chain RWA baskets. A basket is a chain of smart contracts that aggregates RWAs issued by various entities across different networks, consolidating them into a unified master smart contract in the final network, where the user (investor) purchases the basket. This approach allows investors to acquire baskets composed of various RWAs using liquidity from different networks in a single transaction, without the need to bridge liquidity or manually manage positions across different blockchains.

Additionally, RWAs issued on Cardano can also be used as collateral within Liqvid’s integrated lending protocol. This will provide RWA holders (including those on Cardano) access to secondary liquidity without having to exit their position (basket).

To achieve this, we will deploy our smart contracts (VAULTS) on the Cardano blockchain and establish cross-chain communication with Liqvid's basket smart contracts via the Asterizm infrastructure. The VAULT smart contract will lock RWAs (referred to as original RWA or oRWA) issued on Cardano and send a message through Asterizm to the nRWA issuing contract, notifying them of the deposit. All issued nRWA tokens will then be locked in the Liqvid master smart contract, ensuring a 1:1 backing of the RWA basket tokens purchased by investors.

Detailed Description:

• The receiving Liqvid smart contract (VAULT) accepts the RWA tokens on the Cardano chain (designated as oRWA).
• The receiving Liqvid smart contract locks the oRWA tokens on the Cardano chain.
• The Liqvid issuing contract (derived from Asterizm’s asset tokenizer) issues new tokens in a cross-chain native (omnichain) standard on a one-to-one basis with the locked tokens in the receiving VAULT contract (designated as nRWA). These tokens are issued in the network where the smart contract of the corresponding Liqvid basket resides.
• The Liqvid issuing contract transfers nRWA tokens to the Master smart

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Thanks to zkFold and Liqvid, integrating Cardano into the Liqvid Protocol will enhance interoperability and bring new liquidity to Real World Assets (RWAs) issued on Cardano, contributing to the growth of the network’s TVL. Additionally, it will add utility to these assets, as they can be used as collateral for loans in the built-in lending protocol.

Benefits of Integration:

• Enhanced Network TVL: Liqvid offers new liquidity to DeFi protocols and other ecosystem projects within the Cardano network. For example, Liqvid provides liquidity within the Cardano network against assets collateralized in other networks like Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Celo, and others
• Utilization of Tokenized Assets: Tokenized assets issued within the Cardano network can serve as collateral to issue and borrow new liquidity in stablecoins.
• Expanded User Base: Cardano’s integration will allow RWAs issued on the network to reach a wider audience, attracting users from other ecosystems.
• Developer Appeal: By demonstrating the interoperability of RWAs and access to liquidity across different networks through Liqvid, new RWA issuers are more likely to choose Cardano as their home chain. Cardano’s low-cost and highly secure infrastructure ensures reliable transaction execution, making it an ideal choice for RWA tokenization platforms.
• Cardano dApps will benefit from the cross-chain lending protocol that allows holders of tokenized RWA to instantly borrow liquidity in stablecoins against their collateralized RWA tokens on any network.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

zkFold is a leading innovator in L1 and L2 scaling for Cardano, specializing in zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to enhance blockchain performance. As one of the strongest experts in both the Cardano ecosystem and zero-knowledge technology, zkFold is driving innovation. With a team of seasoned Haskell, Rust, and ZKP developers, the company is set to deliver on multiple Project Catalyst initiatives. zkFold’s founder, Vladimir Sinyakov, successfully led the ENCOINS team, launching the DApp on Cardano mainnet. The team continues attracting new players to the Cardano ecosystem. We are proud of our core team which consists of talented and experienced blockchain and smart contract developers.

The founding members of the Liqvid team have been active in the blockchain industry for over 7 years, with the past 3 years dedicated to developing cross-chain solutions that solve interoperability challenges. Liqvid team has also founded the Asterizm protocol that has been live on Mainnet for over a year, supporting 20+ EVM and non-EVM networks. It’s also available on the TON and Solana testnets, with a full launch planned for November 2024. Among their achievements is the creation of Chainspot, one of the largest cross-chain aggregators, now supporting 37 networks.

Liqvid is backed by Techstars, Blockchain Founders Fund, Optic Capital, v3entures and Oversubscribed Capital.

This is a highly skilled engineering team composed of PhDs in Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science, and the founding team are alumni of TechStars and Y Combinator. Team won several hackathons including prizes at ETH Global. Liqvid's basket aggregation is led by Konstantin Gamalev, who brings extensive experience in counterparty credit risk management and structured credit products from his work with major Canadian banks, including CIBC and BMO Capital Markets.

One of Asterizm's early investors and its Chief Science Advisor is Dmitry Meshkov, a prominent researcher and former member of IOHK (IOG). Dmitry holds a Ph.D. in Physics and has authored numerous research papers in cryptography, distributed systems, and computational complexity theory. His groundbreaking contributions have been applied in platforms like Ergo, Waves, and Facebook’s Libra project.

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: Create documentation

Outputs: Well-structured documentation for the solution being developed.

Acceptance: Documentation is created and publicly accessible.

Evidence of milestone completion: We will provide a link to the documentation.

Milestone 2: Deploying and testing Liqvid vault smart contract on Cardano

Outputs: The written code reflects the milestone’s objective.

Acceptance: The code is written and publicly accessible.

Evidence of milestone completion: The code is open-source and will be published on GitHub.

Milestone 3: Deployment of cross-chain native token smart contract on Cardano

Outputs: The written code reflects the milestone’s objective.

Acceptance: The code is written and publicly accessible.

Evidence of milestone completion: The code is open-source and will be published on GitHub.

Milestone 4: Integration of price feed oracles into Liqvid vault smart contract on Cardano

Outputs: The written code reflects the milestone’s objective.

Acceptance: The code is written and publicly accessible.

Evidence of milestone completion: The code is open-source and will be published on GitHub.

Milestone 5: Front-end development to support assets issued on Cardano

Outputs: The written code reflects the milestone’s objective.

Acceptance: The code is successfully deployed on the frontend. At least one basket includes assets issued on Cardano, which can be viewed through the publicly accessible frontend (website page).

Evidence of Milestone Completion: Users can interact with a basket of assets, including those issued on Cardano, via the publicly accessible frontend (website page).

Final Milestone: Front-end development and integration of Cardano wallets

Outputs: The written code reflects the milestone’s objective.

Acceptance:

The code is successfully deployed on the frontend, and at least one Cardano-specific wallet is supported through the publicly accessible website page.

Evidence of Milestone Completion: Users are able to interact with the interface, connecting at least one Cardano-specific wallet via the publicly accessible frontend (website page).

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

The zkFold team consists of expert Haskell, Rust, and ZKP developers. ZKFold's team members participated in the development of several successful projects on different blockchains, including Cardano, Polkadot, and Near. The zkFold team won the EMURGO BUILD Hackathon on the zero-knowledge track and took 3rd place in the Battle of the Builders at the Cardano Summit 2023 in Dubai. Also, zkFold's Fund 11 and Fund 12 proposals have been accepted by the community and the team is delivering milestones as promised.

Vladimir Sinyakov

Founder and CTO,

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimir-sinyakov/>

Founder and protocol architect of ENCOINS. Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics. Prior experience includes five years of postdoc in applied mathematics (Control Theory), publishing in top journals in the field. Previously completed a Project Catalyst Fund 6 grant leading the ENCOINS team. ENCOINS is a DApp on Cardano that has been recently launched on the mainnet.

Stanislav Marycev

Co-founder, Business Development.

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanislav-marycev/>

Bachelor degree in Business Management. Cardano Blockchain Certified Associate (CBCA). PMP and agile professional with 12+ years of experience in worldwide IT and blockchain projects. Stanislav has experience in leading multicultural international teams (30+ countries) and working closely with top level stakeholders in finance.

Eitan Chatav

Developer

PhD in mathematics, expert in advanced mathematics and physics; probability and statistics, algebra, real and complex analysis. 5+ years of experience with blockchain, NFT, Haskell

Vladimir Morozov

Developer

B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, PhD in Computational Biology. 6+ years of experience with Haskell and Python

Other zkFold’s developers will contribute to this proposal on request.

Liqvid is a highly skilled engineering team composed of PhDs in Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science, and the founding team are alumni of TechStars and Y Combinator. Team won several hackathons including prizes at ETH Global. Liqvid's basket aggregation is led by Konstantin Gamalev, who brings extensive experience in counterparty credit risk management and structured credit products from his work with major Canadian banks, including CIBC and BMO Capital Markets. One of early investors and its Chief Science Advisor is Dmitry Meshkov, a prominent researcher and former member of IOHK (IOG). Dmitry holds a Ph.D. in Physics and has authored numerous research papers in cryptography, distributed systems, and computational complexity theory. His groundbreaking contributions have been applied in platforms like Ergo, Waves, and Facebook’s Libra project.

LIQVID core team consists of:

Denis Polulyakhov

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denispol/

https://x.com/Den_Sur

Co-founder, CBDO

Denis brings more than 13 years of experience to the team. He is also a Techstars London 2023 alumnus and. Denis has been an IT entrepreneur since 2010 and possesses extensive knowledge of the blockchain industry. He founded Carbyn Group, a web3 venture studio (investor and advisor at Chainspot.io, a cross-chain aggregator and router), and has been a public speaker at over 50 blockchain conferences, including prestigious Harvard and Columbia universities. With his in-depth understanding of the market, Denis plays a crucial role in the team as a co-founder and CBDO.

Artem Avdeev https://www.linkedin.com/in/afmx/

Co-founder, Product owner

Artem brings over 8 years of experience to the team. He is an alumnus of Techstars London 2023 and has a strong track record in the crypto industry. Artem co-founded Chainspot.io, a cross-chain aggregator and router, and served as a portfolio manager at Warp Capital, a DeFi Hedge Fund. He also held positions as COO at Indacoin, specializing in crypto and online payments, and as a co-founder and PM at Webstoryz, an e-commerce SaaS platform. Artem has successfully launched several IT and crypto startups, including ventures in VPN, p2p exchange, and payments.

Alex Gotovets <https://www.linkedin.com/in/gotovets-alexandr/>

Co-founder, CTO, senior blockchain and backend developer,

Alex has accumulated over 15 years of experience in the field. Like his fellow co-founders, he is a Techstars London 2023 alumnus. Alex served as the CTO of Chainspot.io, overseeing the development of the cross-chain aggregator and router. He has held various technical leadership positions in companies such as PointPay and Indacoin, specializing in crypto and online payments. Throughout his career, he has successfully managed multiple high-load projects in payments, crypto, e-commerce, and m-commerce.

Alex Yurganov <https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-yurganov-79813415b/>

Fullstack Engineer

Ph.D. Computer Science, Y Combinator W20

15 years of experience. Ex. CTO &amp; Co-Founder at Legionfarm ($1M MRR), 6 years of experience in developing a startup from a small team to an International Company

Stepan Kushtuev <https://www.linkedin.com/in/skushtuev/>

Full-stack

10+ years of experience. Proficient in Solidity for smart contract development. CTO at Chainspot (cross-chain aggregator). Ex: Senior developer at Chronopay (e-commerce and e-payments), Blockchain developer at Indacoin (crypto, online payments), Full-stack developer at PointPay (crypto, online payments), GameFi developer with expertise in blockchain integration.

Konstantin Gamalev <https://www.linkedin.com/in/kosty-gamalev-41b59b1a/>

Konstantin has extensive experience in counterparty credit risk management and structured credit products within major Canadian banks (CIBC and BMO Capital Markets). 10+ years Credit Risk Management, Structured Credit Lending Products, Risk Management OTC Derivatives Trading (Toronto, Canada).

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Documentation and Project Management: 75,000 ADA

1 Technical writer @ $1,350 per month for 3 months = $4,050 (~11,900 ADA)

1 Blockchain developer @ $3,500 per month for 5 months = $17,500 (~51,500 ADA)

1 Project manager @ $1,315 per month for 3 months = $3,945 (~11,600 ADA)

Deploying and testing Liqvid vault smart contract on Cardano: 189,700 ADA

3 Blockchain developers @ $3,500 per month for 5 months = $52,500 (~154,400 ADA)

1 Backend developer @ $3,000 per month for 4 months = $12,000 (~35,300 ADA)

Deployment of cross-chain native token smart contract on Cardano: 50,000 ADA

2 Blockchain developers @ $3,500 per month for 2 months = $14,000 (~41,100 ADA)

1 Backend developer @ $3,000 per month for 1 month = $3,000 (~8,900 ADA)

Integration of price feed oracles into Liqvid vault smart contract on Cardano: 50,000 ADA

2 Blockchain developers @ $3,500 per month for 2 months = $14,000 (~41,100 ADA)

1 Backend developer @ $3,000 per month for 1 month = $3,000 (~8,900 ADA)

Front-end development to support assets issued on Cardano: 69,200 ADA

1 Frontend developer @ $3,000 per month for 3 months = $9,000 (~26,500 ADA)

1 Backend developer @ $3,000 per month for 3 months = $9,000 (~26,500 ADA)

1 Blockchain developer @ $3,500 per month for 1 month = $3,500 (~10,300 ADA)

1 Web designer @ $2,000 per month for 1 month = $2,000 (~5,900 ADA)

Front-end development and integration of Cardano wallets: 66,100 ADA

1 Frontend developer @ $3,000 per month for 3 months = $9,000 (~26,500 ADA)

1 Backend developer @ $3,000 per month for 2 months = $6,000 (~17,600 ADA)

1 Blockchain developer @ $3,500 per month for 1 month = $3,500 (~10,300 ADA)

1 Web designer @ $2,000 per month for 2 months = $4,000 (~11,800 ADA)

Total: $170,000 = ~ 500,000 ADA

No dependencies.

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The project requires a deep understanding of Cardano smart contracts, blockchain backend infrastructure as well as expertise in Liqvid cross-chain lending protocol’s implementation. As we pay competitive salaries to our developers, we've arrived at the budget breakdown above. Ultimately, the project's cost is comparable to other Cardano projects of similar scale.

The cost of integrating Cardano into the Liqvid Protocol represents significant value for money due to the long-term benefits it will bring to the Cardano ecosystem. By enabling the interoperability of Real World Assets (RWAs) across multiple blockchains, including Cardano, the project will enhance liquidity, attract new users, and drive the growth of TVL on the network.

Key Value Propositions:

1. Increased Liquidity: Integrating Cardano will allow RWAs issued on the platform to interact with other networks, unlocking liquidity from chains like Ethereum, TON, and Solana. This will help attract more capital into Cardano-based assets.
2. Expanded Use Cases: The integration will give RWAs issued on Cardano utility beyond basic tokenization. For example, these assets can be used as collateral for loans in Liqvid's built-in lending protocol, providing further incentives for investors and developers to choose Cardano.
3. Developer and Issuer Appeal: By offering a cost-effective, secure, and interoperable solution for RWA tokenization, Cardano becomes a more attractive choice for RWA issuers. This can lead to increased adoption of the network, with more projects choosing Cardano as their home chain.

Ultimately, the integration will drive adoption, boost liquidity, and increase the overall utility of the Cardano ecosystem, justifying the investment required for this project.