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IOHK's Project Catalyst to encourage Cardano blockchain projects
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IOHK's Project Catalyst to encourage Cardano blockchain projects

News Desk
News Desk
January 31st, 2023
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IOHK, one of the most innovative blockchain research and development companies, this week launched the first funding round of Project Catalyst, the company’s decentralized governance project. The $250,000 available, provided in the native cryptocurrency ada, will encourage entrepreneurs to build on top of the Cardano blockchain.

Community members can submit proposals and vote for which ones to fund.

The $250,000 funds a pilot, with an eye to controlling $70 million in ada each year.

Proposals include:

  • A tiny houses project, powered by solar energy and underpinned by the Cardano blockchain, to tackle the housing crisis, democratize land ownership and give the homeless the opportunity to to get off the streets. 
  • A remittance system underpinned by Cardano to tackle the difficulties offshore workers face sending money to their native countries. Unfortunately, many lose around as much as seven per cent every time they send money home, but with a blockchain-based system these fees could be almost entirely eliminated. 
  • Using Cardano to enable large-scale medical trials, harnessing existing medical data. This has the potential to provide good indicative data on the best course of action when identifying treatments in significant health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Cardano would enable the provision secure and anonymous medical data, as well as allowing trial subjects to monetize their own medical data.
  • A system to cut out the middleman when distributing tamper-proof tickets and verifying access to events, combatting problems with outlandish fees and ticket touting. 
  • Building and promoting new channels to support and encourage women in the blockchain space.

“Following the launch of Cardano’s decentralised era in July, the platform has continued to accelerate,” IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson said. “One of our goals has always been to ‘reinvent’ venture capital and make it fairer, and this fund is the next piece in the puzzle to achieve this. The fund, combined with its democratic voting system, means that every ada holder can be a part of making key decisions for the future of the ecosystem.

“IOHK and Cardano are privileged to have a creative, committed and talented community behind us, who share our goals of democratising finance and essential services, and this shines through in some of the brilliant proposals we have received during the test processes. Looking ahead as we hand the keys to the community, this bodes very well for the future of Cardano.”

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