Making Money and generating impact by investing in ESG using Blockchain
By: Stefan Rust
Tags: Impact, Esg, Tokenization, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

Making Money and generating impact by investing in ESG using Blockchain Stefan Rust Follow Jul 2 · 7 min read

Sonic.Capital is decluttering de-fi for investors who want to make money while also making a positive contribution to the planet. With our latest product, Sphere, you can safely invest in projects generating a positive environmental and social impact.

The big issues facing the Impact industry are threefold;

How do we use blockchain technology to advance environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria How do we attract bright young and driven talent into the market and How do we explain that there are huge financial rewards here —

and is it just a question of stitching them together?

This is a very different conversation from the current FOMO chatter that arises every time Bitcoin goes on a bull run. And even in the current market dip (‘buy the dip’) the serious and often volatile value locked into cryptocurrencies tends to skew conversations away from the meaningful. We can’t all be day traders; we don’t want to be day traders — we want to create.

Right now, it is hard on the Millennial and Gen-Z generations. Never before have a cohort of young workers been more educated but compared to recent generations they own less and owe more.

A recent TikTok video by Dan Price sums up the Millennial situation. link

He points out that at the same age Baby Boomers controlled 21% of all wealth, Generation X controlled 9% but Millennials control less than 5%, of which 2% of that wealth is owned by one person, Mark Zuckerberg.

Something has gone wrong with the system — and the planet and that’s not a coincidence, it’s both a symptom and an opportunity.

At a recent dinner party I attended, the conversation turned to student debt. In contrast to most Europeans universities where free or sponsored education is available, the average American student exits the halls of learning saddled down with debt the size of a modest home mortgage.

Student Debt, CareersWiki.com

Unless we look to fix this, to turn it around, our young people are going to get sucked up on the treadmill of work without being able to look up ahead and at the future.

Working to pay off debt is very different from working in general; it’s an extraction not a development.

In the same way, for generations people have been rewarded for extracting value from the planet rather than developing it. The two ideas are traditional and ultimately exploitative.

Wealth has been derived from example gold mining — which extracts the precious metal but poisons our rivers and hollows out the seams. Wood is the same; forests are cleared without regeneration and whole landscapes butchered in the course of progress. Coal scars a landscape and a people. We cut down the world’s oxygen lungs in the Amazon or chase the whales to near extinction.

Micro fact: Scientists have also discovered that whales increase ocean phytoplankton, microscopic plants that consume CO2 and create oxygen. These small but mighty, phytoplankton are responsible for capturing 40 percent of all CO2 produced and are responsible for at least 50 percent of all oxygen on earth. link

How can we reward the custodians of the resources on our planet instead?

The answer lies in blockchain technology.

We can embed and secure the governance, tokenize our resources where we can freely and openly exchange those tokens. It’s revolutionary, simple and highly effective. transcending physical borders

It’s also happening now. One such project is the Regen.Network. This project began in the US. It evaluates the biodiversity on ranches in Australia and quantifies the results. It then monitors the land using satellite technology. Based on the acquired and monitored data they convert this into carbon credits. From there it is tokenized, registered on the Regen blockchain, secured and maintained by multiple third party validators. These tokens can be purchased by any entity looking to offset their carbon footprint.

“A t Regen Network we are investing in regenerating ecosystems and inviting you to join this movement. Part of our aim is to reverse climate change through carbon removal. At the heart of this objective is the support of impact investors focused on getting paid for positive ecological contributions.”

Christian Shearer, Founder of Regen Network Development, Inc.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/microsoft-uses-blockchain-technology-to-purchase-soil-carbon-credits-in-australia There is an increasing number of companies and entities looking to offset their footprint.

Reward the custodians.

To highlight how the custodians are directly rewarded on another project, is the example of Suku which works in supply chain management. Suku works with individual farmers to reward them for providing provenance data for up-chaining to the conscious consumers. The project provides rewards in the form of tokens which have real value and can be spent on Suku’s marketplace. In addition, these tokens can also be used to raise micro loans in fiat.

“We believe that rewarding farmers and creating a transparent farming system is critical to the values of conscious consumers. SUKU is expanding its growing ecosystem, collaborating with key stakeholders to address major issues facing the planet”

Yonathan Lapchik | CEO | www.suku.world

Micro fact: Micro loans to people in the developing world are loans with huge repayment ratios and good performance

Further Rewarding the custodians.

Back to micro loans and consider the Kiva project where cash-rich people can loan micro sums which are translated into loans for people on the other side of the world — the internet was able to directly connect impact investor and local entrepreneur. The former could be a student with beer money and the latter a single mother weaving baskets to support her family.

Now technology is providing the automated market makers matching funds to loans — and one-to-one was about to be supplanted with many-to-many. Tokenization is the new gateway to giving — with rewards. DeFi has revolutionized this space allowing the many-to-many model to operate successfully at scale with yield..

The trick is to seek out the DeFi projects that facilitate impact investing. DeFi automates the process whereby people provide liquidity, earn rewards and the funds are then accessed by a third party or parties. By picking funds that work in regenerative spaces the investor can earn money and do good at the same time. This is a key message. The world does not have to operate on a zero sum basis; this is a major paradigm shift and one which will find resonance with Millennials, Gen-Z and investors alike.

Reward the impact investors: people can earn money by investing in the renewable farming of the planet, thereby helping save the planet and feeling good about themselves — the last part, while intangible, is about as good an argument as can be found.

So, while DeFi provides the answer to impact investing without having to contact individual recipients, how do investors locate the right projects?

This is where Sonic Capital comes in.

We are building a product that allows the first steps in providing financial rewards for investing or participating in these blockchain companies working in this space.

Blockchain is the tool that ensures the ledger is secure, decentralized and open so that everyone can see the contributions. The projects are decentralized so no one entity can manipulate it or orchestrate outcomes. The entities supporting the decentralization are rewarded for providing this security.

Sphere: provides investors the rewards for securing the verification and authentication of the activities of these projects collecting the rewards for this verification and authentication. Investing through Sphere does two main things;

first of all investors receive rewards in the token and

secondly the demand for tokens may increase when attached to successful projects.

Sphere creates value without the complexity while introducing trust. It does this by allowing investors to take part in the crypto revolution without any of the complexities and yes still participate in the financial rewards. It does this through the onboarding of people with fiat — doesn’t matter if it’s Hong Kong dollars, Indian rupees or Euros. All investors will get a share certificate which is your proof of ownership and a representation of the value and let Sphere do the rest.

Sonic Capital has partnered with Tavis Digital, a Swiss asset management company focused on digital assets. As a spin-off of FINMA-regulated Tavis Capital, the company leverages huge expertise in portfolio and fund management. The management of Tavis Digital is very experienced in working with and investing in ESG and Impact relevant assets and thus ensures that only eligible projects will be financed.

“We are thrilled to launch this first-of-its-kind impact investment product, together with Sonic Capital, focusing on the most attractive Blockchain for Impact applications, while providing professional asset management services and easy access for investors”

Christian Speckhardt, Impact Investment Veteran & Partner, Tavis Digital.

The product is available as a bankable security with a Swiss ISIN. Investors can buy the product through their bank without having to complete any additional KYC process.

Reward the impact investors!