White Paper LOT
The Land Ownership Token
Planting Food Forests
A Global Project
Image
Inactive account ID 12019, Africa, desert landscape
Through Pixabay, under creative commons
downloaded 14. July 2018
ABSTRACT L.O.T.
A crypto-currency backed by land and trees
PREVIEW PROSPECTUS
Audio English
Photographer
Landscape Sabine Schwoaze from Austria, accessed May 2018
Through Pixabay, under creative commons
downloaded 14. July 2018
A project of investors like you and me
KORPOS is a project of investors like you and me, united to purchase degraded farmland, in order to recuperate the plots into productive ecosystems, growing top quality food for humans and (wild) animals.
Innovative farmers, who only want to grow by regenerative agriculture, will be tenant farmers on the land. They will be audited with severity by certifying foundations like Demeter and the Rainforest Alliance.
the mission
The mission is to turn around the destruction caused by conventional toxic agriculture and the food industry, like deforestation, erosion, desertification, extreme weather, pollution and loss of biodiversity.
made possible by Bitcoin technology
We bypass the usual financial institutions that tend to subsidize the destruction. To pay for this project we rely on the new way of crowdfunding:
Selling ‘shares’ of the land – called Tokens – in a crypto-currency system and registering these securely on the Blockchain. The tokenholder is entitled to trade these for other cryptos or fiat money on crypto-exchanges. The more land we can purchase and improve, the more m2 a token stands for, so the higher the value of one’s token can become.
Real value,
true securities
and future(s)
This will be a new form of privatization of resources: not as usual for the big multinationals, but decentralized, ecologically sustainable, completely transparent and accessible for all human beings and future generations. Our goal is to revolutionize the future of land management.
INDEX
Part I.
What does this project aim to accomplish
1 - Fix urgent problems
Droughts, heatwaves, torrential rains, hurricanes, floods, scarcity of drinking water and (non-toxic) food, extinction.
Line of thought
Extreme weather and loss of biodiversity show correlation with deforestation, erosion, desertification, pollution. Thus with conventional and traditional agricultural methods (not just with fossil fuels!).
We take a look at the numbers (how much deforestation? etc).
And we search for the immediate countermeasures, the first aid against extreme weather as we now experience it on the globe.
3 - The Ideal land use exists
Regenerative agriculture, scientific study results.
Line of thought
What is regenerative agriculture? And how much does it produce in comparison with conventional?
Scientific study shows: it is more economically viable than conventional agriculture. And has a lot of extra benefits.
5 - What's in it for you as an investor
Apart from a good conscience…
Logic of increasing value
Recuperation of degraded land increases it’s value.
Buildings that get constructed for storage and processing of the harvests are also adding value.
PLUS with each purchase of land, there is more square surface in each token.
7 - Go-to-market-strategy
ROADMAP
Subject
Roadmap 2018 – 2022 in detail
2 - Causes
Overpopulation or is it something else?
Line of thought
We think overpopulation is not the real cause of degradation of the land. Agricultural ways could change fast if the vice grip of the collusion between industry, financial institutions and governments would be lifted from the people, media and science.
4 - How to accomplish this Ideal
We The People can fund the change, not waiting for politicians.
Line of thought
Small investors, like you and me, can support innovative regenerative farmers on a grand scale through the crypto-world, under strict auditing and transparency.
After the initial crowdfunding/ sale of the tokens, the selling of the infinite harvests will make possible further expansion.
6 - Token Allocation
Everyone with a few dollars should be able to participate, so we create an abundance of tokens.
Line of thought
We love the original idea of the crypto-currency technology: break-through financial exclusion,
The amount of LOTs will be pegged to the world’s population number, to express the finite nature of our planet. This is a symbolic number. There will never be so much LOT in circulation.
First of all we need to avoid a hostile take over by the industry cartels we are bypassing. To grow food in a sustainable way is a rebellious act. So the majority of LOT must be locked up in order that the company and foundation always keeps the majority of votes to secure the project. We love democracy and decentralization too, but in the struggle against destructors it could be tricky.
And secondly, the company and foundation keeps LOTs in reserve to be able to pay the yearly costs of: developers, notaries, land right lawyers, taxes, the distributed ledger (blockchain or tangle), exchanges and expenses of the volunteers/ teammembers.
Eventually the ideal is to do smartdrops to people who are fighting for the environment, like indigenous people who need our support.
8 - Partner-Organizations
Mainly possible auditors and controlling organizations. But also knowledge providers.
Ideas
The first organizations we will try to partner are: Rain forest Alliance, Demeter, Fair Trade, Soil Association. They are most in line with our ideals
We will ask for guidance of the Dutch financial watchdog: Autority Financial Markets. So potential investors can be sure we are to be trusted.
For knowledge about farming techniques we will try to partner with univerities and known pioneers and experts in permaculture/ agroforestry.
More suggestions for auditors very welcome!
Part II.
Details about the project
9 - Implementation
How the funds will be used; your budget put to work
The spelling out of first projects
How will the site that the founders donated be made productive? What infrastructure is necessary and which implementation steps.
Second, what is the plan for the next purchase after the crowdfunding – where, how many hectares, focusing on which products. Extra income generators like agro-turism (boutique-hotels, tree-houses, what are the costs of construction).
How to find the right tenant farmers (criteria)
11 - Budgetisation
Expected turnover agroforestry and boutique hotels, overhead, taxes, net profits
An overview of the available data
How much does regenerative agriculture produce in comparison with conventional. Extra benefits. Data of exemplary farms and agro-turism. Estimation of turnover on the two first sites.
13 - The Company KORPOS
all the details
Synopsis
All the details:
Locations, operation (services and products), legal status, brands, assets, value of the assets (buildings and land), capital/ debts, team, advisors, future job vacancies, future plans
15 - Transparancy and Control
Public Ledger, tracking on Blockchain/ tangle, webcams, yearly change of accounting firm, independent Audit commission, ethical commission, Eco certification and beyond.
synopsis
Financial flows of the company and of the foundation will be visible for the public on a ledger (like blockchain or tangle/ hashgraph). Products will have tracking on the blockchain. Farms will show with webcams what is happening on the fields.
Control is actively done by:
– every book-year another accounting firm
– an independent Audit Commission with at least 1 financial expert
– an ethical commission (members of the foundation, they check the company staff en departments and publiah a yearly report)
– the farmers will be controlled and certified by organisations like the Rain Forest Alliance and Demeter and Fair Trade
10 - Market survey
vision on chances, opportunities, obstacles, risks
Line of thought
Chances: growing demand organic produce, more consumers have a plant-based diet and even the glutenfree trend is helping because agro-forestry is very good in growing tubers and pulses instead of grains.
Advantage of multiple crops together is that when a disease hits, the farmer still has the other crops to make a living from.
Opportunities: public is fed-up with scandals in food production; public is ready to go digital; living outside cities is attractive again (think of all the reality shows about emigrating and farm life, at least in Europa that is a big trend).
The highly educated like engineers and architects and IT want to work practical (think ‘posh farmers’ trend, in the same line as ‘posh plummers’).
Obstacles:
– compliance is uncertain when the rules are non-existent or keep changing
– scaling of the project, when successful the growth could become too fast. So before launching everything must be fully automated in very sound smart contracts and with a very secure and smooth wallet. For the so called ‘unbanked’ it would be great to be able to sell paper wallets,
Risks:
– hacking, hostile take-over attacks, price manipulation for produce or pump and dump with the crypto
– struggles with local governments, project-developers, land-confiscations
– natural disasters, political instability, wars
12- Marketing
How to tell the world that we exist.
Line of thought
We hate those usual marketing techniques where you get stalked by pop-ups and repeated emails, being manipulated into buying something. We want to build our relationships peaceful, calmly, in total openness and honesty. Advertisements for cryptos are forbidden at Facebook and Google etc. But you still can start your own channel there, and we can advertise on the alternatives. So that is what we need to do to tell the world that we exist.
We will offer content. Such as warnings for scams in the crypto-world. And become a knowledge hub for people who also want to farm regenerative. Or for people who want to plant trees and crops in communal gardens in their neighborhood in the city.
14 - The Foundation
All the details
Synopsis
Location, tasks, influence on the policy of the company, legal status, assets, capital/ debts, team, advisors/ commissions, future vacancies, future plans
16- Legal Affairs
obligations, responsibilities, liabilities
Synopsis
Know Your Customer (KYC), official registration land ownership, compliance local land use rules, compliance European financial regulation (Dutch: Autoriteit Financiele Markten). General Terms and Conditions, dispute settlement.
Part I.
What does this project aim to accomplish
Clean food and water
for humans and wild life,
biodiversity, climate stability.
Audio English
Photographer
Treehouse suspension bridge Nicole Nile Germany
Through Pixabay, under creative commons
downloaded August 27, 2017
Our Narrative
The first chapter of this paper identifies what we feel are the most urgent problems of our time, on which we as consumers and producers could have influence. Leaving aside the threat of war and diseases (seems impossible to influence those forces in this phase!), we focus on environmental problems: habitat destruction (deforestation, desertification), extinction, erosion of top soil, pollution, droughts, floods (extreme weather), and the resulting scarcity of clean drinking water and non-toxic food.
Causes of environmental problems
To come up with a solution, one first has to analyze the causes. So in chapter 2 we look at the usual explanations for those environmental problems. This is what you learn at school and hear in documentaries:
“a public that doesn’t implement environmental measures (lack of awareness and discipline), not enough rules nor control, and especially: overpopulation (with humans and/or livestock)”
But permaculture creates 5x more ‘room’
But this analysis does not satisfy us. It puts the blame on the people’s side, and that does not have to be the case. Furthermore it leaves the individual fairly powerless to make a real change.
In chapter 3 we show that the Earth can sustain much more people and animals (domestic or wild) when you implement permaculture methods of land use. No problem there, the know how is available for every climate. And it is even more economically viable.
So who wants to maintain the status quo?
Logical thinking: people at the top want to keep their advantages
So why are the methods of chapter 3 not en mass taught, propagandized and implemented? Back to Chapter 2: When you search further, you find many examples of power structures, cartels, oligarchy and nepotism, working to keep the status quo, exploiting consumers and producers where ever possible for their money and labor.
Maybe these are the remnants of feudalism and colonialism, still built in the fabric of society. Interesting topic for historians. The fabric of society might stay inflexible for a long time after these past processes, presumably because of human nature:
Where people work together in the top of a hierarchy, they tend to exchange advantages and do their best to keep it that way.
We see a chance to bypass these power structures
So are we powerless to change the status quo? We at KORPOS think we still can turn the tide if we mimic nature: do like the other animals when they are preyed upon: assemble! because there is safety in numbers. If we, the 99% normal people, would unite in a project for land acquisition and right land use, caring for our common future on this planet, the ‘powers that shouldn’t be’ would be played out. They are a minority.
Internet of value offers an attractive way to unite on a grand scale
The new technology, the ‘internet of value’ – blockchain/ public ledgers and crypto-currencies, offers a possibility to unite us on a grand scale.
And even more advantageous: we do not need a majority of participants awoken from their selfie slumber. It would be alright if they just joined in for the money (chapter 5 and 6).
A confirmation of the potential of cryptos for freedom and independence we find in the defiant reaction of governments and financial institutions towards this technological development. They feel threatened and try to vilify it by all means (“cryptos are for money laundering and terrorism“).
In our roadmap (chapter 7) and choice of partners (chapter 8) we show how we plan to keep our reputation impeccable, so they have no chance to villify our project.
Chapter 1
The Urgent Problems We Want To Solve
deforestation, extreme weather like droughts and floods, desertification, extinction, pollution, scarcity of (clean) drinking water and of (organic) food
Audio English
Photographer
Devastation Marion Wunder Germany
Through Pixabay, under creative commons
downloaded May 21, 2018
Detailed Roadmap
✓ History 2009 – 2017
2009 - 2010
Minas Gerais, Brazil
Acquisition of Land
9+ hectares degraded farmland in Brazil.
Financed by the founders of KORPOS (life savings).
2010 - 2016
Construction of the buildings
By the founders, every winter traveling from the Netherlands to Brazil.
Building the school and living areas + shelter for abandoned animals..
2017 - now
Around buildings
Soil recuperation & planting
Trying out various methods (see videopage). Steep learning curve: adapting to the local conditions and soil deteriation – which shows severe degradation by round-up & the plow.
Fences, planting
Preliminary work: fences! to protect the future trees against our own cows, chickens and goats. And against the cattle and horses of the neighbors.
Start of the tree nursery (divers species of fruit, nut and native trees). Planting wherever possible.
second half 2017
Learning, Thinking, Ripening
LOT Idea, start website
Learning about everything in the crypto-world. Meanwhile continuing planting.
2018
first half of 2018
coordination through skype (no travel-pollution)
✓ Formation of core-team
Continuing design website in detail, start writing white paper.
Of course: always continuing soil recuperation & planting on the pilot site
SECOND HALF 2018
Learning the rules
Consultation advisors and developers
Consultation of the Dutch ‘SEC’ (= AFM Authority on Financial Markets)
Legal advice, compliance with (new?) regulation
Consultation cryptographer: Research which platform/ blockchain (Cardano? Iota? Waves? Nem? etc)
Feedback on white paper & policy –> improvement of the plans; finishing touch website
zoom in: Q4 - 2018
In The Netherlands
Registration in the Netherlands, compliance, developers
Register as Foundation and as company in the Netherlands
Focus on compliance with (new?) regulation, transparency.
Finding developers to construct wallet, smart-contracts, test-net.
Meeting potential regenerative farmers; tenancy contract drafts
2019
Q1 - 2019
Worldwide
Promotion of the Project
Spreading the word in social media and alternative media.
Expansion of the team of volunteers. Farmers start production on the pilot site
Wallet development (Android and IOS)
Test-net development, tracking of the produce research (Walton chain?)
Q2 - 2019
Malta?
Application for Listing on Exchanges
Testing wallet and network
Research exchanges (entrance-costs?)
Application for listing on exchanges. First on our wish-list: Binance on Malta, and all the Dutch exchanges.
Setting up local distribution of upcoming vegetable harvests.
Q3 - 2019
hackproof
Launch Land Ownership Token – LOT
Only if everything is hack-proof!
Q 4 - 2019
Extra land Purchase, recuperation monitored by universities nearby
Start recuperation of degraded land on a grander scale.
Planting more Forest Gardens. First in Brazil, but soon teams worldwide,
Inviting universities to send students biology/ ecology to monitor the increase of biodiversity
2020
First half 2020
Community building
Setting up little eco-factories to process the harvests
Meanwhile acquisition of land continues.
processing of the harvests creates jobs in rural areas.
setting up local distribution channels
Top quality food, locally distributed
For example: coconut-oil, gourmet coffee, finest cocoa and chocolate, nuts and seeds, bush food/ superfood (vegan raw foods) like Jatoba-custard and ice-cream. blue non-gmo corn nacho chips, dried herbs and spices, tea-blends, sauces, pesto, curries, fruit-juice, wine, vinegar, berry-jellies, marmalade, medicinal honeys, gluten-free/ grain-free dough, cookies, medicinal mushrooms, natural cosmetics, etc.
Second half 2020
certification
Application for certification, quality audits
First on our wish-list: Demeter, Rain Forest Alliance, Fair Trade, Soil Association
Branding, marketing, promoting.
And managing and planting the land continues
2021
year 2021
Tree hotels
Start building Boutique Hotels, for example Tree-houses,
around the farms
Designed with the future canopy in mind, for extra revenues beside the harvests. Eco tourism around the farms.
Second half 2021
workshops
Develop educational workshops for the public
Combine the eco tourism with educational workshops for the guests and farmers from the surroundings. Advanced students of universities nearby are invited to lecture.
Of course the activities of 2020 continue.
2022 and further on
Year 2022
Together
Partnering with the landless protectors of the Earth
The land they protected/reforested is threatened by Project Developers
Certain individuals and indigenous peoples are on the brink of losing control over their common land because local officials licensed developers to exploit the area. Example: Mr. Y. Sawadogo in the Sahel and peoples in the Amazon. They need financial help to become official owners, be it through legal fights or via acquisition of their land for them by us.
Ongoing
Worldwide
Continuation, evaluation & expansion
Buying more land with the profits of the harvests
Growing as big as physically possible. Also in the colder climates with other vegetation.
Of course we keep evaluating, keeping surveys among the token-holders and participants. We adjust the program accordingly, but never deviate from the principles: Nature knows best, and there must be always room for people AND nature/ biodiversity.
For now, this preview of the white paper ends here. We will present the whole content after consultation with our advisors.
Thank you for your patience. Please return.
Let’s Do Something Better Together
Image
Inactive account ID 12019, Africa, desert landscape
Through Pixabay, under creative commons
downloaded 14. July 2018