Eco-friendly + Community-oriented: An impact DAO established around coconuts
Updated: Aug 25
Kokonut Network is an eco-friendly and community-oriented agricultural DAO that is building a blockchain-based co-op. This co-op will consist of coconut farms that are under the management of the DAO. This means that a group of people formed an organization with the mission of positively impacting the community around them by growing coconuts. Pretty cool, right?
Kokonut Network founder and core contributor, Alejandro, aka Wasabi (as I'll refer to him for the rest of this article), has become a CharmVerse enthusiast since he first discovered the platform. I chatted with Wasabi a few months back to learn how he was using the platform and to gather some feedback. Since then, CharmVerse has deployed a number of features, so I wanted to sit down with him again and hear his most current assessment of the platform. But first, let me tell you a bit more about Kokonut Network.
Changing the world through coconuts
Coconuts are used across the world for a variety of purposes including food, fuel, cosmetics, and building materials. But this plant is more than the fruit that it bears. Coconut farming has many benefits on its own. It can help protect the environment by providing an alternative to deforestation while also providing jobs in rural, impoverished areas. As an well-managed impact community, Kokonut Network will help to strengthen the local economy and promote sustainable development through a natural process. A process that can't be rushed.
Structure of the DAO
The current structure of Kokonut Network includes land owners, the Core Team, and DAO members.
The landowners own the land on which the coconut plantation will reside. The first plantation is in the Dominican Republic and is owned by 54 families. These families will be paid for use of the land from the DAO's treasury but will not have any voting power within the DAO.
The Core Team is the coordination layer between the landowners and the DAO members. They are currently at the center of the project and their priority is to develop the first plantation. The core team will help the DAO move through the necessary phases of this process and will be directly tied to the success of the project. They will eventually receive a percentage of the DAO treasury for their efforts but will have no voting power. It's also important to note that the core team could eventually be removed through a vote by the DAO if deemed obsolete once the DAO is fully established.
DAO members hold all of the voting power and will have full control of the development phase of the plantation. To become a DAO member, of which there are currently around 50, one must buy a $20 share. This one-time $20 contribution goes directly to the DAO treasury and will then be used to plant a coconut tree and care for it from seed to fruit-bearing tree, which takes about 4 years. FYI the life cycle of a coconut tree is around 20 years. Pretty amazing that $20 dollars will grow and care for a tree that will then produce fruit for the following 15ish years. It's important to note that there is no expiration date to this project as the operation is cyclical and coconut trees are replanted once they stop bearing fruit. Kokonut Network will manage its assets through a simple governance system which looks like 1 share = 1 tree = 1 vote.
Show me the money
With all of these parties involved you may be curious as to how it works. As I mentioned, the DAO members are the only ones with the authority to vote. They are encouraged and empowered to take initiative and make contributions to the DAO, whether that be through writing proposals, completing tasks, or other actions that will best serve the DAO.
Kokonut Network was originally started with Core Team funds, grants, including a recent Gitcoin Grant round in September, where they were awarded $7,000. While the treasury is slowly increasing through the sales of DAO shares they are devising a plan for how the DAO will make money going forward. The plan is to create a supply chain using other coconut farms, creating a farm partnership, while they wait for their current plantation to mature. The DAO will buy coconuts from these other farms and then use them to make products which will then be sold to generate revenue. Intercropping is another strategy the DAO plans to employ. Intercropping is the practice of planting multiple crops in one space. In this case, Kokonut Network will use bananas to make money while they wait for the coconut plants to mature, as bananas yield fruit in a shorter period of time. This will only be done one time at the start of each plantation.
Now that we understand how they plan to make money, let's look at the financial breakdown of the DAO. While DAO members have voting rights, they also have control over the treasury. As revenue is generated, 50% of that will go to the DAO; 40% of which goes directly to the DAO members and 10% goes into the DAO treasury. From the other half of the revenue generated, 40% will go to the landowners and 10% will go to the Core Team. In theory, as the DAO progresses, they will generate enough money to be able to purchase the land for future plantations, cutting out the middle-man or landowners. As I mentioned earlier, the DAO could also choose to eliminate the Core Team to keep that percentage in the treasury as well.
CharmVerse as a central hub
Wasabi stumbled across CharmVerse while he was researching DAO tools. As it turns out, this is a bit of a hobby for him. He likes to read through the landing pages of new apps to educate himself on the new projects. The first thing that made him dive deeper into the platform was the crypto price reference we offer allowing you to embed crypto prices into a page. I found this amusing, as CharmVerse has so many functions and capabilities but this was the clincher. But hey, we've all got our things right? Well, things have certainly evolved since that fateful day that Wasabi found CharmVerse, as CharmVerse has now become what he calls "his central hub." Let's explore some of the features that Kokonut Network is using or has plans to use in the future.
Proposal Builder
Kokonut Network has its first coconut plantation in the works and is very much focused on the coordination and details of the project. The CharmVerse Proposal Builder has been integral to this process. Wasabi is currently drafting the Kokonut DAO Constitution using this feature. The Proposal Builder allows him to privately draft a proposal and from there move through a series of steps to then share it with the community. CharmVerse's access control feature empowers him to define permissions regarding community members' ability to create, review, provide feedback, and vote on proposals. This functionality actively involves members in the proposal creation process, fostering increased engagement during the voting phase.
This feature will be heavily used to refine the details and start building the foundation layers of the DAO. Wasabi even went as far as to say that at "Kokonut, CharmVerse proposals are the blood that gives life to our contributor's program." While the Proposal Builder was one of the features Wasabi was initially sold on, due to the many other features offered, he "believes that CharmVerse is going to be a key tool for [the DAO]."
Member Directory
Another feature of which Wasabi is a big fan is the Member Directory. This directory is automatically built as people join a space and pulls in data to build out their profile using ENS, Lens, and Link3 to unify their identities across web3. In addition, member profiles are auto-populated with Snapshot and on-chain proposal/vote history giving insight into the members' contributions to their communities. There is also the ability for admins of the space to customize the profile properties and permissions and choose what properties are displayed. That being said, members have the option to pick which records to show in their profiles, allowing them to manage their privacy. The Member Directory also displays the role of each member as well as the time zone in which they reside.
Token-Gating
The access control that can be harnessed through CharmVerse has proven to be Wasabi's favorite feature. It allows admins to assign roles and grant permissions and "gives so much freedom in one place" as Wasabi put it. You can get quite granular with these permissions as they can be applied to individual pages.
Wasabi recently created a token gate for content around a grant the DAO applied for. He used the NFT needed to apply for this specific grant as the required token holding to access the content. The grant committee was then able to access and review the information that was for their eyes only.
This also gives him the ability to see how many people entered the space through the token gate and who those people were. As he explained, this type of information could be vital to him and the DAO when scouting for future investors.
Forum
The Forum is a feature that Wasabi was eagerly anticipating and one that he feels is often overlooked by communities. Kokonut network uses the Forum to communicate and gain feedback from the members and discuss topics that will have a major influence on the future of the DAO, such as their DAO Constitution. This single topic requires many detailed discussions that will decide on the guidelines of the DAO going forward. Hot tip: He also found it important to note that CharmVerse allows you to import your Discourse to the CharmVerse Forum, which will save you $100/month!
Notion Import
CharmVerse has been called the Web3 Notion, and we understand that it can be daunting to move all of your work over to a new platform. But fret not, because we offer a Notion Import feature to which we have recently made improvements! I mentioned this to Wasabi and he was aware and impressed by the improvements we had made to the process saying it was much improved over the first time he attempted this. He has been using this import function as an excuse to go through his folders and clean up any now obsolete documents.
Bounties + Voting
While Kokonut Network has yet to post bounties or hold official votes, Wasabi has familiarized himself with these features and has big plans for them. He is looking forward to running their first community-wide bounty, referencing a mini eco-resort that will come to be in the future. Bounties will be used to engage the community in the layout and design of the resort.
Currently, Kokonut Network is focused on high-level documents to create the foundation of this impact community. They want to prioritize educational and onboarding materials so they are ready to onboard members in a streamlined way. However, Wasabi assured me that they "are going to be running everything on CharmVerse and using every feature."
Grants
Web3 Grants play a vital role in sustaining projects in this ecosystem, particularly during challenging market conditions like bear markets. Kokonut Network is no exception, as they have consistently achieved success in various Gitcoin Grant cycles. Ensuring the well-being of the Kokonut Network community is a priority for them. As they expand their presence in the ReFi sector, they have a long-term vision of orchestrating and overseeing grants to foster the advancement of the ecosystem that aligns with their core values and principles.
The CharmVerse features highlighted by Wasabi alleviate much of the burden associated with organizing and implementing a grant initiative. Details of the grant process, for both, the grantee and the grantor, can exist all in one place and the Forum serves as a collaborative space for transparently shaping the program. Proposals can be built to select grant recipients and once recipients are chosen CharmVerse can be used to track milestones and payments. Additionally, the Member Directory facilitates effortless networking, making connections smoother than ever before.
CharmVerse + Impact DAOs, unite!
Essentially, an impact DAO is a community of people that come together to do good for the world. Kokonut Network is an agricultural DAO, which is a form of impact DAO. This DAO is a proof of concept to show that this format of being based around a specific commodity works. Meaning, it can be done with other commodities, such as grapes or avocados.
In this example of an impact DAO, Kokonut Network is growing a fruit that is used all across the world for a variety of purposes. The plantations on which these coconuts are grown are owned by impoverished land owners that don't have the resources to develop the land. The landowners will now be paid for the use of their land and have the opportunity to work on the plantations and earn wages. Kokonut Network will become a major employer in the area and have a direct impact on the landowners, their families, as well as the surrounding community.
CharmVerse loves empowering web3 impact communities by giving them a platform to manage their everyday operations. Kokonut Network will use CharmVerse to host all of the DAO information, onboard new members, post and pay out bounties, create and submit proposals, make decisions, collaborate, and coordinate. CharmVerse will remain free for web3 impact communities to encourage them to continue doing good for the world.
Wasabi and his commitment to web3
Every time I speak with Wasabi, I hear such enthusiasm in his voice when talking about web3 and the capabilities it offers. Old onboarding systems can be lengthy, decision-making processes are slow, not to mention the cost-prohibitive format that the infrastructure of traditional organizations requires. Web3 is working towards solving many of these issues. It is truly a global industry that opens up infinite doors for collaboration and coordination.
Wasabi's enthusiasm for web3 and his work with Kokonut Network has allowed him to connect with a widespread community. I have run into Wasabi at virtual events I have attended and his name has been mentioned more than once during Twitter spaces I have hosted, by the guests I am interviewing. Some of them learned about CharmVerse from Wasabi, others are connected with him through the impact DAO world. I look forward to following his journey and am glad to have such an amazing supporter in our corner. As Wasabi put it, tools like CharmVerse do the heavy lifting of writing the code and building the platform so web3 communities can focus their energy on coordinating the resources and people to achieve their mission.
Looking toward the future, Wasabi envisions CharmVerse playing a key role in the operations of Kokonut Network they continue to grow and develop and he can't image operating and scaling the project with out the power of CharmVerse.
Continue to do good things for the world
Web3 is the future and quite an inspiring space. With people like Wasabi and organizations like Kokonut Network, it's hard not to get excited about it. At CharmVerse, we are committed to building a platform to support web3 communities looking improve the world.
