A SUSTAINABLE PLATFORM
A SCALABLE, LOW-CARBON BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABILITY
For our ecosystems to be sustainable, the infrastructure itself must first be sustainable. VechainThor, vechain’s layer-1 blockchain, offers an energy-efficient, user-friendly, open platform for collaboration.
The platform features a new Proof of Authority mechanism – PoA 2.0, that strikes a much-desired balance between speed and security. The result? Scalability and lower energy consumption, making it the ideal blockchain to jumpstart sustainability initiatives.
Over the years, several assessments have demonstrated the platform’s energy efficiency, but we’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. The 2022 carbon footprint of vechain’s core network of 101 authorities’ nodes was calculated to be 4.46 t CO2e/year, ranking vechain as one of the most energy efficient blockchains, using just 0,000216 kWh of electricity per transaction, or roughly 0,004% of other comparable blockchains.
AN INCLUSIVE PLATFORM FOR ALL CONTRIBUTORS
As a public blockchain, VechainThor is highly accessible by nature and provides an open platform for developers, individuals and organizations of various natures to interact and collaborate.
When we said we wanted everyone to be able to take part, we meant it. Possessing a cryptocurrency is not necessary to take advantage of the platform, thanks to fee delegation, which puts our platform into the hands of just about anyone. Likewise, enterprises’ needs to process complex transactions are met through multi-task transaction mechanisms. Interoperability has been one of our guiding principles as we develop our infrastructure, so users encounter a platform where countless Web3 features are within reach.
The continual development of our platform serves a central mission: becoming the platform of choice for sustainability. The way we choose which technological features to develop and how to customize and prioritize them over time is based on this mission.
TECH FOR SUSTAINABILITY
WHERE THERE IS SYNERGY, THERE IS SUCCESS
We propose a new framework for collaboration that unites people, enterprises and institutions to achieve their joint missions. Technology advances nearly at the speed of light, and we put that to our advantage. Digital innovation provides us with a perfectly suited environment for tackling sustainability challenges in an unprecedented way. Through various proofs of concept, we have proven our ability to do so. But we know we can evolve with technology to become even more efficient, addressing concerns that affect a vast range of global users at the same time.
Sparking significant change is what we aim for. And to do so, we must enable scalable collaboration among all stakeholders. Technology is our ally in achieving what was formerly inconceivable. Processes become fluid and fast, but also transparent and tamper-proof. When everyone’s actions are evident and accounted for across a digital ecosystem, trust is inherent. Trust is also implicit in Web3, where everyone is an owner and co-creator with full control of their own data. In this new reality where comprehensive value is attributed to actions and exchange is incentivized, trust thrives.
THE BIOSPHERE
Trust is at the heart of a thriving and synergistic collaborative network. The lack of trust in technology has been problematic for innovation to take hold, but we knew a solution was to be found. So, we turned to nature. It was the Earth’s biosphere that inspired the development of our Blockchain Biosphere for Sustainability. Growing, healthy communities where everyone plays their part in a concerted effort for good, where transparency facilitates efficiency and intelligent resource allocation – this is the example nature gave us.
BETTER TOGETHER
Teaming up to address sustainability is no small task. Just consider the range of impact of a daily commodity such as a cup of coffee: it spreads from cultivation to distribution, consumption to recycling. The transition to a more sustainable world requires transparent, trustworthy processes along each step, which substantiate claims and can eventually serve to inspire others to join the process. The collective action of individuals globally is what will make a sustainable world go ‘round. Fortunately, trust propels collective action.
DISTINCT COMMUNITIES, MODULAR ENVIRONMENT
As vechain, we are the custodian of the blockchain platform infrastructure that connects the Biosphere and enables partnerships that support and connect ecosystems. Each ecosystem is a distinct community with its own unique business model, stakeholders, incentives, value flows and technology requirements, which is possible thanks to the modular, scalable environment that allows for agile development. The nature of the infrastructure empowers all to be active in the development of thriving, interconnected ecosystems.
A platform infrastructure and disparate but interconnected ecosystems are the two core elements of the Biopshere. The infrastructure connects and supports the individual ecosystems, similar to how a power grid connects a community. When a single home is connected to the grid it receives full access to electricity and is integrated into the greater network. Likewise, the platform infrastructure enables the functionality of all ecosystems. Simply put, the Biosphere is a sort of system of interlinked connections and trust that illuminates the reality of everyone involved.
WEB3 IS OUR PATH TO JOINING NATURE'S SUSTAINABLE EFFORTS
A blockchain-based system of information has all the features of the design of a sustainable system: encouraging transparency, enabling individuals, coordinating through decentralization and promoting precise accountability. In the Biosphere, Web3 technology powered by blockchain stimulates and facilitates collective action. The decentralized trust and transparency that only a public blockchain can offer is encoded within VechainThor’s base infrastructure. This is pivotal in facilitating collaboration among all players. Similarly, our developer partnerships enable us to constantly further the exploration of even more technologies to develop a mature Web3 environment where we can support users in an ever-evolving way.
In Web3, every voice matters. Seemingly small actions can generate a positive ripple effect, when multiplied across an entire population. From building up the tech architecture, we’ve expanded our efforts to also foster large-scale enterprise involvement and sustainability-minded individuals. Virtual communities grow from shared interests and goals, globally, and we want to extend that bond even beyond the screen.
IT'S CYCLICAL
From digital to real-life encounters, and vice versa, our lives have become phygital: where the physical and digital merge. At vechain, we aim to serve as a trusted bridge between the two. Through blockchain and other technologies, we can acquire data from the physical world and apply it to the digital space to spur the creation of new notions of value and collaboration. Where trust grows, collaboration follows.
CREATING NEW VALUE
The foundation of any business activity is value. With the transition to a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable world, our definition of value has evolved to include economic, environmental and societal factors. This comprehensive idea of value offers a more accurate representation of societal wellbeing, which is finally made possible by the validation of actions through Web3 and the unique vechain framework.
Web3 gives us unprecedented opportunities to account for and capitalize on sustainable actions.
We believe a token-driven circular economy – that leverages AI and big data analytics – can incentivize sustainable behaviors, like recycling. In the Biosphere, a seller can receive a token for selling a second-hand coat in a fashion ecosystem and then spend that token at a charging station in an electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem. What could seem an insignificant gesture – reselling a coat, instead of disposing of it – is incentivized through tokens. It’s that happy place where sustainability is served, benefiting all the involved players.
Here we are to provide a friendly reminder that working to be more sustainable ought not be a guilt-trip, but an effort to live a healthier lifestyle. And to make it even more inviting, there are games too. In a gamified environment, incentives motivate participation. People are at the center of game design: their motivations and needs shape how incentives are designed in the game. Consider them the games the physical world was never able to provide.
As ecosystem enablers, gamification can enhance community engagement, generate deeper insights into consumer behavior, increase retention and more. After all, everyone wants to have their share of fun. For participants, gamification often promotes feelings of belonging, accomplishment and ownership. How incentives best drive engagement for our community members is a question in continued exploration.
BLOCKCHAIN AT WORK
USE CASES
We have worked to develop a web of differentiated, underlying technologies to show enterprises the transformational potential of blockchain on their businesses. More than just clients, we have formed a strong network of partnerships, constantly striving to lower the barrier to entry for enterprises, while leveraging blockchain technology to create value and solve tangible economic problems. Our experience has allowed us to learn about the specific challenges within multiple industries, and we are evolving to turn those into opportunities to be unlocked and scaled in our Blockchain Biosphere for Sustainability.
See examples of our technology put into practice. As we grow, so do our network and our enterprise alliances. This is the hub where we will continue to share new use cases, which due to the nature of the Biosphere, will become more and more focused on sustainability through Web3 solutions.
MY STORY™
Trademark owned by DNV
A blockchain-powered solution, My Story™ gives brands the capacity to tell the true story of products directly to consumers. Through a dedicated app, people can follow the path of a product from farm to table. Claims are substantiated with facts and photos, verified by a third party and logged immutably on blockchain. Through the interface, the consumer has all the information necessary to assess the product’s origin, environmental and social impact, and authenticity. This information, securely stored on blockchain, generates new value for enterprises across a range of sectors.
RESEA PROJECT
Dedicated to removing plastic from global waterways, ReSea Project is a community-driven solution to cleaning up oceans and rivers. To implement circularity, we partnered with DNV to track the origin of plastics recovered during clean-up activities and then recycled or upcycled. After identifying critical control points, we developed an app for collectors, recyclers and staff to use to document and upload evidence in real time to the blockchain, with verification of data along each step. These solutions give consumers the proof and documentation to back up the company’s green claims.
BYD
A token reward system for Build Your Dream electric cars. BYD wanted to drive demand for its electric vehicles while incentivizing green behaviors, so we studied and developed a solution enabled by smart contracts and benchmarked against combustion engine emissions. EV drivers are rewarded with tokens for their carbon reduction and can then use their rewards in the associated digital marketplace. The company’s dedication to sustainability is cemented in the minds of clients as they in turn are incentivized to choose BYD.
BUILDING OUR BETTER WORLD
OUR ACTIONS TODAY DEFINE OUR TOMORROW
ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS
Just like collaboration is key in nourishing a sustainable new reality, so it is in spearheading new academic discoveries. We’ve developed a close partnership with the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford to harness our shared expertise. Some of our ongoing research activities focus on building mathematical models for tokenomics and incentivization, with the purpose of making ecosystem compensation more balanced and sustainable. Each contributor brings a different skillset to the ecosystem, yet they also receive different benefits in return. Such compensations may influence the scale and quality of actors who participate in our ecosystem, and ultimately its scale of impact. Studying the dynamics and nuances of these incentives and compensations is instrumental in the successful growth of ecosystems, and in turn, our contribution to sustainability goals.
Likewise, vechain is also a partner of the National University of Singapore. Our latest studies with the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at NUS have been dedicated to potential use cases and collaborations of blockchain protocols for Smart Materials. We are investigating the development of innovative, intelligent materials for a cleaner, more sustainable future. Our aim is to mitigate the challenges of sustainable energy through the creation and application of functional, smart materials, which can potentially provide viable alternatives in green energy extraction. Such innovative materials can potentially revolutionize energy production and control processes, battery technology, catalysis processes, machine-human interfaces, artificial organs and tissues, and smart membranes, just to name a few.
WHITEPAPER 3.0: WEB3 FOR BETTER
Research, innovation, collaboration, and a strategy aimed at long-term viability brought us to today as we seek to multiply individual impact to unleash our collective potential for sustainability. In preparation for the Web3 era, we teamed up with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to undertake an extensive analysis of the sector. The research performed has proven pivotal as we fine-tune our approach to bringing our vision for a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable world to life. In the Whitepaper, we present a new paradigm called the Blockchain Biosphere for Sustainability. Through our analysis of the sustainability challenges faced across industries, we developed a framework to facilitate the scaled collaboration required to tackle such varied issues.
To activate our framework, we analyzed the various Web3 features that would enable us to jumpstart our sustainability initiatives. We argue that our layer-1 blockchain, VechainThor, coupled with Web3 features, may provide the scaled solution to measure this new concept of value and tackle pressing planetary and societal constraints, involving every layer of society in the process.
Powered by Web3, our framework aims to even out the playing field and empower everyone – individuals, businesses and institutions alike – to participate in the development of interconnected ecosystems where every single action is accounted for and its impact is multiplied to benefit all.
As a society, we have attempted to promote a more inclusive concept of value over time, and through tokenization we finally are able to put it into motion. In this new reality, we redefine value to be a comprehensive unit of measurement, spanning economic, environmental and societal factors. We provide some examples of ecosystems we ideated in promising industries to give a taste of what our future reality may look like, but these are just the start. All builders, developers, enterprises, individuals and institutions will own this transition to our better future.
The research we conducted in this new Whitepaper represents the first step in an ambitious project, more research is yet to come in collaboration with advisors, the community, businesses and institutions. In the spirit of collaboration, we remain committed to expanding our partnerships with start-ups, academia, financing partners and developer communities, to systematically promote research and innovation, engage in strategic partnerships and foster co-development opportunities. Together, and with technology, we can leverage blockchain for our better world.
