Possibly the most ambitious attempt at Blockchain conservation is about to launch with the completion of EcoBit’s ICO.
As Blockchain technology enters the mainstream, use cases are continually expanding beyond the uber-technical to embrace and seek to resolve some of the world’s major challenges.
In terms of environmental welfare, traditional schemes face a constant battle with legislation, bureaucracy, corruption and even sabotage from deployment countries.
Now, EcoBit, a Blockchain initiative and coin with support from the Malaysian government and United Nations (UN), hopes to take a decisive step forward.
The startup, which has comprehensive plans for conservation on an international scale, has so far raised over $4.5 mln via its token sale.
“In phase one, we secured one mln acres of tropical rainforest with Kelantan state government in Malaysia. It is the largest ever carbon credit project in Malaysia,” CEO Mr. Tang told Cointelegraph.
In total, EcoBit has a three-phase roadmap to create fully-fledged eco-friendly communities for human habitation. In the first instance, however, this will take the form of a conservation-based guardianship of rainforest in a contract which will run for 30 years.
Climate Protector Sdn Bhd is spearheading the project using EcoBit technology, with lawmakers in Malaysia’s Kelantan province signing the deal this week in a ceremony featured on national television.
The UN, while not involved directly, is the de facto standard for the project’s milestones.
“As we have strong connections with the government, for most of our project we will work closely with them,” Tang continued.
“We are doing a UN-REDD led project, which complies with all their protocol and standards. The assessment will be done according to their standards, verified by independent auditors, certified by them. We do not consider them as a partner but as compliance to their standards and certifications.”
The funds powering phase one will likely become only more sizeable. The sale of the startup’s ECOBIT token, which ends June 15, has already raised around $5 mln in Bitcoin, Ethereum and NEM contributions.
“Our team members are not the typical youngsters who never handle a multimillion dollar project. Our team members’ age ranges between 30 to 60 and consists of dignitaries and an ambassador too, and we have a council handling the funds,” Tang added.
On a technical level, hardware wallet Trezor will be responsible for the security of what is raised in the ICO.
The backup seeds will also be dispersed, thus ensuring the council “has no single point of failure,” says Tang.
The project’s partnership with NEM, meanwhile, is a recent one, with investor enthusiasm spilling over into its XEM asset, which gained considerable ground following the announcement.