The PackagePortal Whitepaper:
Blockchain for E-commerce Delivery Data & Loyalty Rewards
An exhaustive introduction to the PackagePortal platform.
Abstract
The PackagePortal is a platform that incentivizes online shoppers to scan the shipping labels on deliveries with their mobile device. This enables real-time delivery confirmations & feedback about the delivery experience directly from consumer to shipper, circumventing carriers & their surcharges. The ecosystem leverages smart contracts for the tokenization of scan data, and the transferability of its value, rewarding users for scans in the form of tokens ascribed redemptive value within the platform. Online merchants and retailers are able to use PackagePortal to reconnect with their shoppers at the moment of delivery, and easily operate blockchain based loyalty campaigns, as they collect valuable consumer and delivery data, accompanied by driver ratings.- See full document here.
Welcome to PackagePortal
Package Portal Inc., is an American based software company incorporated in 2019 in the state of Wyoming. The company offers a software-as-a-service product in the logistics space structured as a B2B2C offering.
The PackagePortal app provides a transparent data bridge between online shoppers and shippers, by leveraging the trustless programmability of on-chain smart contract transactions, and the tokenization of tracking numbers.The platform enables e-commerce merchants and their consumers to exchange delivery data and value, independent of whatever carrier may be providing transportation of their goods.
Who created PackagePortal?
Package Portal Inc. was founded by J.G. Whitley and Gabriel Chaney. The CEO is a business owner and entrepreneur in the logistics industry, while the CTO is an experienced full stack engineer and team lead. The two began laying the framework for PackagePortal in the summer of 2019 after being awarded a ZilHive ecosystem grant for the idea. Two key hires early on bolstered the collective expertise of the company, and together the team of four brought the original idea to life — and to market — in just over a year, having shipped a functional product and service at the end of Q4–2020.
Blockchain for regular people
PackagePortal takes a unique and careful approach to tokenization and digital assets. The company believes that it can be a crypto onramp for millions of people in the physical world, who know nothing of encryption or bitcoin. However, rather than acting as another fiat gateway for buying or selling crypto, PackagePortal enables users to earn crypto by simply scanning the labels on their deliveries.
The PackagePortal team carefully and thoughtfully accepts this responsibility, hoping to care for new entrants into the blockchain space, and we are eager to educate and equip them to properly navigate the technology and their newfound digital sovereignty.
As online purchasing habits increase globally, we offer a platform that allows shippers and shoppers to monetize and fact-check the delivery process. Our mission is “to reunite online shoppers and shippers at the moment of delivery”. We fulfill that by facilitating the ownership and transfer of delivery data and the value it creates. As a team, we intend to build upon each foundation laid, with a roadmap that weaves throughout various touchpoints of retail delivery and e-commerce order fulfillment.
The Case for Delivery Data Tokenization
Traditionally, the life-cycle of package tracking begins when a customer makes an online purchase, and ends when a driver scans that order as delivered. What most people don’t see happening beneath the surface, is that merchant then using a software solution to locate the cheapest delivery carrier in the buyer’s region. The merchant will print a label and then entrust their valuable product to whatever carrier has the fastest turnaround for the lowest price. Then, buyers and sellers both sit idly by, monitoring facility scans for updates until an eventual driver scan indicates the package has been dropped off & marked as delivered.
The glaring problem with this process is found at the end. Not only do drivers make errors, but their scans merely capture GPS & a timestamp indicating: “I put that package, in that place, at that time”. This desperately lacks trust and finality. Packages left on doorsteps are subject to theft, damage, and in some cases spoilage, before ever being actually retrieved by the customer who paid for the product and ultimately funded that delivery service.
At PackagePortal, we believe tracking can only truly end with the customer themselves indicating: “yes; i did indeed get my delivery; at this time and this place…and in this condition”.
By enabling online shoppers to scan their own shipping labels, merchants can get real time confirmations, as well as feedback about carrier performance and shipment conditions. Since merchants and consumers can get their own independent datasets that are free from carrier bias, delivery companies and drivers can be held accountable to better service and honest data. Additionally, the customer and driver are not inconvenienced or forced to exchange un-sanitized devices for traditional signatures.
The fees charged for delivery confirmation today are atrocious. At the time of writing, average rates exceed $5 per signature (see the bottom of page 8 here, or look at this). At PackagePortal, we believe this price point to be unjustified, and a huge barrier to entry for thousands of merchants who want delivery confirmations, but who’s margins don’t support such an expense per unit.
Nevertheless, without an incentive, customers won’t participate, and carriers will continue to monopolize delivery data. This is why PackagePortal exists. We can offer confirmations and more robust data, at a fraction of those carrier rates. We achieve this with software that tokenizes each scan, allowing us to capture and share the value created with those users that are generating it. Now, when a PackagePortal user scans an approved tracking number, a smart contract writes the scan data to the Zilliqa Blockchain, and issues a proof-of-receipt-token to that user, as a means of measuring scans and rewarding shoppers.
PORT: Proof-Of-Receipt-Token
PORT is our flagship token. It provides a mathematically secure means of converting scan data into substantive units of measure, for the accreditation of users participating in the delivery process with the PackagePortal app. The act of a consumer scanning a shipping label and providing instant feedback, creates important data points that brands and shippers can use to improve their order fulfillment processes and expenses. PackagePortal is a platform for users to create this data, which the company then sells to e-commerce merchants. The value captured from selling that scan-data, is then passed back to the users generating it, via PORT tokens.
PORT tokens have a redemptive value on the PackagePortal platform that remains static. Every scan of an authorized tracking number will earn at least 1 PORT. Users may collect & redeem these tokens on our platform for products, merchandise, &/or services facilitated by PackagePortal and its network of retail merchants.
Users who decide not to redeem tokens right away, will have the ability to earn more tokens by staking or providing liquidity for PORT pairs. Alternatively, users may also convert PORT into ZIL in order to access the larger ecosystem of applications and services integrated with the Zilliqa network.
The Ecosystem
E-commerce deliveries happen everyday, on every continent, with hundreds of millions of shipments happening daily, and exponential growth year over year. So in theory, a successful business model for PackagePortal demands billions of tokens to be minted as we grow over the years. In order to balance such an inflationary supply of tokens into the future, while maintaining front-loaded value to our earliest adopters & partners, the PackagePortal ecosystem will support 3 iterations of the PORT token’s life-cycle.
- Phase One: PORT
- Total Supply — 10 Million — for Early Adopters
- Phase Two: XPORT
- Total Supply — 100 Million — for Gaining Traction
- Phase Three: MPORT
- Total Supply — 10 Billion — for Growth & Scalability
Phase One — PORT
The original PORT — Total supply is capped at 10 million tokens; see chart. Team Tokens vest over a 2 year period bi-annually. Treasury tokens vest monthly over a 20 month period. 500k tokens have been reserved for Staking & LP Rewards, with 200k allocated for operations. Another 100k each is reserved for liquidity bootstrapping on ZilSwap and Uniswap, with 100k set aside for an advisory board.
A total of 7M tokens (70%) of the max supply is locked in the Portal contract, to be mined by user scans or earned as rewards. Those who earn and hold these tokens, will constitute our earliest adopters, and will therefore be eligible for premium prizes and rewards, and have the ability to participate in platform governance.
Merchants and couriers lock PORT in order to enact their membership and access scan data. Users can earn and lock PORT in order to participate in governance and ecosystem incentives.
PORT was issued as scan rewards to early users from Q4–2020 through Q2–2021. In Phase Two, our second token replaced PORT for scan credits; with a 10x supply increase being denoted by the roman numeral “X”. This token has a ticker symbol of XPORT.
Phase Two — XPORT
XPORT — This token will be introduced only after all 10 million PORT have been successfully unlocked from the scan contract. Total supply is capped at 100 Million — 10 times the supply of PORT. This supply is proportional to the early growth rates of a startup with increasing user adoption, in a retail delivery industry with parabolic growth curves into the year 2025.
XPORT will carry the same redemptive value as PORT on our platform; however while holders of the original PORT token will be eligible for premium rewards, prizes, and bounties, XPORT holders gain static redemptive value alone and have no eligibility for premium rewards or governance.
Because PackagePortal is confident that sustainable revenue will be secured moving into Phase Two, we will eliminate premining after Phase One. This means 90% of the total supply of XPORT (90 Million) will be locked in the scan contract for mining, with the remaining 10% (10M) earmarked as ecosystem funding for the provision of Staking and LP Rewards and network maintenance.
Once all 100 million XPORT tokens have been mined by user scans and are in circulation, a new token and supply will be introduced to continue rewarding new & existing users for each scan into the future. This token will be a 1000x supply increase from the original PORT, with the roman numeral “M” indicating such, having a ticker symbol of MPORT.
Phase Three — MPORT
This token will be introduced only after all 10 million PORT and 100 million XPORT have been successfully unlocked from the scan contract. Total supply is capped at 10 Billion — 1000 times the supply of the original PORT, indicated by the roman numeral prefix “M”, with a ticker symbol of MPORT.
MPORT’s redemptive value will be half of the redemptive value of PORT and XPORT. MPORT’s total supply is designed to sustain increased global shipments and accompanying scans into the foreseeable future.
By the time MPORT begins circulation, PackagePortal will be self-sustaining and profitable. Forecasts indicate that in just a couple of years, scans from daily active users will increase exponentially, as both the number of total users, and the scan count per user increases in a world more and more dependent on delivery of essential and non-essential goods.
Redemptive Value of Tokens
Each variant of PORT has a uniqueness to its intrinsic value within the PackagePortal ecosystem. Users may redeem tokens on the PackagePortal platform at any time, for prizes, products, &/or services. The values of each token in USD is as follows:
- PORT — $1.00*
- XPORT — $1.00
- MPORT — $0.50
The original PORT and XPORT will both be worth $1 within the platform. However, original PORT holders will be eligible for exclusive rewards, premium prize allotments, and governing rights, while XPORT holders gain redemptive value alone. After both PORT and XPORT are fully mined, MPORT will then be introduced, with half of the redemptive value of its predecessors.
Redemption Value vs. Market Value
The redemptive value of each token is listed above, and will be maintained by Package Portal Inc. within our platform, in perpetuity. Setting this precedent enables us to protect users from the volatility of public and external markets, providing a safe harbor for the maintenance of the value they generate when scanning deliveries.
The market value of any token created by PackagePortal, will be determined by market forces outside of our control. The company has no control over public or secondary markets, therefore exchange rates may vary.
*Please note: Exiting our platform and trading our tokens in public or external markets comes with inherent risk of loss. Users are expected to do their own research before attempting to remove tokens from our ecosystem. While we encourage users to take digital sovereignty, exiting our platform should only be done by those who are experienced in such matters, and legally able to do so in whatever jurisdiction(s) they may be subject to.
Neither the company, nor its agents or officers, will ever imply, insinuate, or otherwise communicate that any token created by the company, may increase or decrease from the values we’ve assigned them above. No tactic or strategy shall be conducted, nor will any directives be given, that would seek to stir speculative expectation of financial gain by the trading or exchanging of our tokens outside of our platform.
A token becomes an “unregistered security” when profits are promised, implied, or expected. Package Portal Inc. is a legal entity subject to the regulatory control of the great United States. As such, we seek to curate and sustain a reputation of trustworthiness & consumer care in an arena marred by scams and shams.
To that end, our token(s) value is fixed within our platform, and its value sustained therein. If tokens are sold by the company at any time, the price will match the static redemptive rates shown on the previous page. This is meant to insulate our users from external risks, and eliminate any implication of potential profiteering from the trade, swap, or resale of our tokens.
Smart Contract Token Issuance
Tokens are issued programmatically. Each time a user scans an authorized tracking number from one of our merchant partners, a token will be issued to the (zil) wallet that user provided in the PackagePortal app’s account settings. If the user has not yet added a wallet address, then scan credits will be stored on our servers until a wallet is identified so tokens can be disbursed.
Please note that this auto-send function is fully functional, but has been temporarily disabled until network processes are validated &/or audited. During this stage, users will be sent tokens manually every week on Sundays before midnight UTC. After successful mainnet probing, the auto-send script will be redeployed, and users can expect tokens to arrive in their wallets within minutes after scanning approved codes.
Redeeming PORT Tokens
PORT can be redeemed for various merchandise, products, and services facilitated by PackagePortal and its network of partners and affiliates. Users will have the ability to send their tokens to PackagePortal’s Admin wallet on the Zilliqa blockchain, and complete a form to denote which product or service they wish to claim.
The redemption process requires a minimum amount of PORT to be redeemed at once. Users can earn and save until they reach their desired token count, and redeem those tokens when their goal is reached, for whatever item they’ve decided to claim.
How is the Redemption Value of PORT maintained?
Redemptive Value for all ecosystem tokens are backed by the sale of scan data. Our business model is a consumer facing B2B service, in which participating merchants and shippers are charged a $1 fee for each tracking number they submit for scans. This fee is 5 times cheaper than competing carriers, so PackagePortal is able to immediately cut cost for shippers using these services, and redirect the value of the sale back to shoppers.
Effectively, each consumer scan equates to a delivery confirmation & rating submission, which PackagePortal sells to shippers. The value of those sales are encapsulated in the PORT token, and issued to the user responsible for generating that data.
How is the Market Value of PORT determined?
Market value is determined by forces outside of our control. As the laws of supply and demand collide with market sentiment and economic conditions, pricing in external markets may vary greatly. Please be cognizant of the financial risks of buying or selling our tokens from secondary markets, rather than earning them with our mobile app and using them within our ecosystem.
Token Burns & Buy-Backs
No amount of any token supply will ever be burned by the company, its officers, or agents for the purpose of influencing or swaying external market value in any way. Neither will the aforementioned “buy back” any tokens from external or secondary markets, to burn them in efforts to reduce circulating supplies, and consequently impact market value.
Regulatory bodies in many jurisdictions (including the United States) consider this to be a form of intentional price manipulation, and concerted effort to boost speculative exchange rates, by decreasing the supply against its market cap. Instead, PackagePortal promises that the value of each earned token will remain constant on our platform, and that the company will use every resource available to broadcast that value unilaterally.
Fungibility
Users who decide not to redeem their tokens within our platform, can exit into other applications built on the Zilliqa and Ethereum protocols via ZilSwap. The company will create a liquidity pool proportional to token distribution and user adoption. Creation is facilitated by the company, so as to prevent bad actors from setting misaligned exchange rates.
PORT will be priced at $1 at the time of the pool creation. Likewise, the future listings of XPORT and MPORT will be priced at $1 and $.50 respectively. Market value may vary or differ from redemptive value. The company will use its platform, resources, and social profiles to communicate that any departure from these values, whether in sale price or bid ask, is unwarranted, and that all risk is assumed by the user at the time a swap is conducted.
Governance
As technological and legal advancements accompany dynamic token distribution & holder demographics, the Board will put forth Proposal-1 which will decentralize control and governance over multiple aspects of the PackagePortal platform.
Upon implementation, holders of the original PORT will be given on-chain voting rights for various decisions involving, but not limited to:
- Rewards Distribution
- Staking & Liquidity Pool Yields
- Premium Prize Sourcing
- Campaign Participants
- Charitable Donations
*Please note: No proposals have yet been submitted, nor will be submitted until after all 10 million PORT are in circulation, and platform stability has been demonstrated. Upon the last PORT being mined from our scan contract (when XPORT is introduced), Proposal-1 will be issued to the public. In the months leading up to that time, drafts will be made public so that community feedback and participation in the review process will influence its structure.
*Governance and voting rights will also be afforded to gZIL holders. Details will be put forth as users begin scanning the final 1 million PORT.
Holder Rewards
An alternative to redeeming tokens for prizes right away, is for users to hold PORT for an extended length of time. Staking those tokens allows for an encrypted demonstration of commitment to our platform. This level of user engagement will validate our use-case, and strengthen community resolve to scan packages into the future. In order to reward users for such commitment, a portion of each token’s supply will be allocated for rewards. Early stage crediting for global tracking numbers will be capped at 1 PORT per user, per day. These limitations will be lifted as shippers are onboarded, and PORT holders set forth proposals.
Liquidity Provision
Liquidity pools will be created on ZilSwap to provide users the ability to exit the PackagePortal platform, and participate in the wider ecosystems of applications being built on Zilliqa and Ethereum. Holders who provide liquidity within those pools, will receive LP tokens that denote their pool share. Every PORT locked in a sanctioned pairing, will earn the following rewards:
Phases 1 and 2:
0.1 PORT per 1 PORT —
- Reward supply capped at 500,000 PORT
- 100k at launch. No less than 25k per quarter thereafter. See Chart
0.1 XPORT per 1 PORT
- Reward supply capped at 5,000,000 XPORT
Phase 3:
0.5 MPORT per 1 XPORT
1 MPORT per 1 PORT
*Reward supply capped at 500,000,000 MPORT
Snapshots taken at randomized block heights will determine holdings. Disbursements will be automated in early 2021. Prior to automation, rewards will be distributed weekly on Sundays, before midnight UTC. After automation, rewards will be distributed on a schedule that is measured in network block confirmations.
Staking
Staking contract will be deployed in early 2021, with all subsequent LP and Staking reward distributions being automated. Wallet support will be announced prior to deployment.
Sanctioned Token Pairings
ZilSwap:
- PORT/ZIL
- XPORT/ZIL
- MPORT/ZIL
- PORT/gZIL
Community Led Growth
The lifeblood of PackagePortal is scan data. In order to succeed, the platform must collect and sell that data. We know there’s nothing in business more valuable than network, and no force as powerful as community. So as we grow and strengthen both internally and externally, we have elected to offer an even split commission to community members who refer online merchants to PackagePortal and subsequently engage with our platform. Commission is as follows:
- 50% of any revenue generated by the new referral.
- For the first 6 months of any finalized contract.
- Paid in $USD (may elect to receive payment in $ZIL in permissible jurisdictions).
Quite simply, if you send business our way, we’ll give you half of whatever our product and service generates from that client. Anyone shipping items online can benefit from our service. Yet, many of them need to be educated as to why…this is the nature of nascent technology and innovative solutions for ordinary problems. Nevertheless, we’ve witnessed communities come together to produce some incredible outcomes and contribute in wonderful ways. Our hope is that our network of users and supporters will produce opportunities for growth, and if so, those efforts will be rewarded equally & handsomely.
Please send referrals to inquiry@packageportal.com Your email should contain a link to, and description of, the referral company, as well as CC’ing your point of contact within the organization.
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Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other category of advice. Nothing contained in this document constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Package Portal Inc., or its agents to buy or sell financial instruments. No content should be interpreted as a guarantee of any type of return or promise of financial gain. Tokens created and issued by Package Portal Inc. [we, us, our, the company] including but not limited to PORT, XPORT, MPORT [the tokens] are not designed to be instruments of speculative investment. We make no promise, claim, inference, or implication of any profit or “ROI” to be realized from the external trading of our tokens in secondary markets.
The tokens exist for consumptive purposes, as a means of exchanging value on, and in connection with, our own platform and ecosystem. The tokens have a fixed internal value and constant redemption rate for items, services, & products available within our platform, or the platforms owned by our strategic partners &/or affiliates. Any supply of tokens in circulation possesses immediate usability in our ecosystem. Be aware that exiting our platform, or removing the tokens from our controlled ecosystem is done so at your own risk, having acknowledged the general counsel provided in this disclaimer. Users of the PackagePortal platform are expected to be aware of the laws or regulations of their local jurisdictions. It is the obligation of the user to evaluate if use of the platform would be unlawful under any law or regulation of the jurisdiction they’re subject to. Use of the platform is an acknowledgement & acceptance of this disclaimer.
Addendums:
Version Modifications
1.1 — January 2021
1.2 — February 2021
- Copied Vesting Schedule chart from Phase 1 to Holder Rewards section.
- Clarified early stage crediting cap.
- Added language for the use of LP tokens as units of measure.
1.3 — May 2021
- Slight language changes to Phase 1 and Phase 2 for XPORT acceleration.
- Linked to Pier One: XPORT Proposal.
