What is Spirals Protocol?
Spirals is a protocol that builds regenerative infrastructure directly into any proof of stake blockchain.
By using Spirals, validators directly fund public goods projects by allocating a portion of their yield rewards to a treasury governed by the membership community.
Any individual or DAO can choose to stake with validators running Spirals, turning their staking token balance into a climate impact funding machine!
Staking to a validator running Spirals allows one to receive normal staking rewards as well as voting rights, used to decide on core protocol changes, climate expert committee members, natural asset treasury management, and more.
Spirals Protocol is proud to be launching on Celo.
🌎 What’s the big idea?
Our current economic paradigm rewards extractive behaviors that undermine the fundamental life support systems of our planet. Looking around, it’s not hard to see this mechanism in action. It is considered ‘good economics’ when forests are clearcut, rivers are dammed, fish are removed from the sea and formerly common land is privately pillaged for its minerals.
As Charles Eisenstein says in Sacred Economics, “Today’s economic system rewards selfishness and greed. What would an economic system look like that, like some ancient cultures, rewarded generosity instead?”
A new, more open and accessible economy is already being built by the DeFi (decentralized finance) movement. Proof of Stake blockchains have become the preferred technology of choice due to their already low carbon footprint and efficient design. However, just because these new financial instruments are decentralized does not mean they address the dissonance between ‘economic growth’ and ‘ecological destruction’.
Enter: ReFi (Regenerative Finance), a movement building an economic system that rewards generosity, supports climate action and the rehabilitation of the environment.
Spirals Protocol is building ReFi infrastructure for an ecological economy.
An unfortunate reality for most impact projects is that funding is very hard to come by. Neal Spackman describes this as the ‘Valley of Death’, saying “This stuff is incredibly hard and complex. But the worst part of it all is that a significant amount of resources are required up front, and almost nobody is willing to supply them.” Luckily, there is a solution.
The regenerative cryptoeconomic tools Spirals is building will create a much needed perpetual funding mechanism to help high-impact projects in climate, carbon and other public goods cross the chasm of the ‘Valley of Death’. It also creates an opportunity for any organization to bring externalities into their economic model.
Spirals Protocol brings the growth of any Proof of Stake blockchain into resonance with planetary health, establishing a foundation of regenerative economic infrastructure to make future generations proud.
🤝 Who is Spirals for?
Spirals Protocol plugs into the foundation of any Proof of Stake blockchain and is directly used by validators and stakers. Treasury funds are used to support impactful regen projects, creating a more habitable planet for everyone.
Validators
Spirals Protocol allows any Proof of Stake validator to direct a portion of their block rewards towards the Spirals Treasury to fund impact projects. With just one command, validators can integrate Spirals and become a part of the ReFi ecosystem, providing a meaningful value proposition to attract more climate conscious stakers to their node. Spirals is free to use for any Validator Partner, with funds programmatically churning out of the block rewards.
Stakers
Individuals, DAOs, or any other entity holding Proof of Stake tokens can choose to stake with a validator running Spirals Protocol. It’s a seamless way to ‘vote with your crypto’ in support of climate and impact projects by simply choosing a validator that shares your values by using Spirals. Staking with a Spirals Validator means you don’t need to sacrifice your rewards to add momentum to a flywheel of regenerative capital creation.
Impact Projects
The Spirals Treasury will be used to fund the frontier of projects working towards an ecological economy and the regeneration of the Earth. We are particularly interested in purchasing and supporting the development of Carbon Forward Contracts, EcoCredit Methodologies, and Impact Certificates. The more validators and stakers use Spirals, the more funding becomes available for quality across climate and public goods initiatives.
Life on Earth
Generations from now will look back on this time in human history with delight or with despair. We will collectively rise up to the task of mitigating climate change and ecological destruction, or we will not. As the great Bucky Fuller said, “The future is a choice between utopia and oblivion.” Choosing to use Spirals Protocol and supporting impactful projects tips the scale towards a future where all life on Earth can thrive.
⚙️ How does Spirals work?
Using Spirals is easy! As a validator, all you are one click away from integrating with the protocol. As a staker, you don’t have to do anything different except for choosing your favorite validator running Spirals. Everyone involved is considered a part of the Spirals member community, which unlock a suite of opportunities to participate in governance and allocate Treasury funds to projects.
Impact Committee
To ensure that all projects supported by the Spirals community are of the highest quality and impact, the Spirals community will elect a committee of experts to vet projects before they receive allocations. Considering the complexity of the climate crisis, this will be a cross-disciplinary team with knowledge across carbon markets, regenerative agriculture, ocean restoration, permaculture and whatever else the community chooses.
The dApp
The app is how you interact with the whole Spirals ecosystem. It serves as the hub of governance where you can vote on proposals, elect Impact Committee members, and adjust your influence on the distribution of Treasury funds to projects you want to support. Key impact metrics are available on a clean dashboard, which easily allows you to view and manage the staking balances you have with Spirals Validators on any chain.
Launching on Celo
Building on Celo is quickly becoming the new standard for climate crypto projects. Impact is at the core of Celo’s ecosystem and has attracted a community of builders working towards a better world. We are excited to work directly with Celo to make validator infrastructure regenerative by design, and to bring Spirals to other L1 proof of stake chains in the near future!
☀️ Stake with Us!
Because Spirals is a protocol that can work with validators on any proof of stake blockchain, we decided to run our own Spirals Validator on Celo! After all, if we’re building a protocol that works with validators, we should probably be one too :) Connect with us through the links below to stay in the know as we launch!
