Completed projects: Blockchain and tokenization

Projects: Blockchain and Tokenization

2024 – 2025 - Tokenization Platform for the Real Estate Sector.

Coordinator: Marcos Antonio Simplicio Junior
Description: The objective of this work plan is to build a proof of concept capable of demonstrating the potential benefits of asset digitization techniques in the real estate context, using modern tokenization technologies such as Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). This initiative presents great synergy with large-scale projects being developed by the Central Bank of Brazil, especially those that are part of its digital currency under development, Drex. In fact, real estate transactions are considered by the Central Bank itself to be one of the DLT application categories that has the greatest appeal to the population, precisely because it helps solve the problem of transferring high-value properties, such as a house or a car – a problem that each of us normally faces at least once. Project certified by the company INSTITUTO DE PESQUISAS EM BLOCKCHAIN LTDA on 07/02/2025.

2022 – 2024 - Carbon 21: promoting reforestation with the power of tokenization.

Coordinator: Marcos Antonio Simplicio Junior
Description: The Carbon21 initiative builds upon tokenization technologies for encouraging reforestation and forest preservation. Whereas traditional reforestation efforts were mainly volunteer-based, our goal is to build a reliable and transparent platform capable of turning trees into profitable digital assets. Essentially, the project allows landowners to register (part of) their lands onto the platform, dedicating them for the purposes of planting and preserving trees in that area, and then receiving a non-fungible token (NFT) in return. Those landowners can then benefit from Environmental Compensation Laws: anyone who needs to compensate some environmental impact by planting trees could purchase the rights to do so in the tokenized area. The result is a marketplace that facilitates the matchmaking between people/companies needing to perform ecological compensation, and the NFT owners who can provide the area for that purpose. In addition, forested lands registered on the platform periodically generate C21, digital coins minted for the NFT's owner, in an amount that is proportional to the forested area. As any cryptocurrency, C21 is expected to be exchanged among users, as well as traded for goods and services in the real world. Liquidity of C21 can be promoted via partnerships with entities from the private and public sectors who see the value of reforestation-backed tokens, e.g., as part of their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies. The partnership could involve discounts/cashbacks for clients when the payment method is C21, which creates a win-win scenario: while companies can promote their brands with an ESG-conscious initiative, the fees generated in such transactions benefit all users of the CARBON 21 platform. The platform also foresees other ways to generate revenue for NFT owners, like: participating in (micro)carbon markets by aggregating multiple small forested areas; crowdsourcing for sustainable agroforestry businesses; among others..

2021 – 2023 - USP Coin.

Coordinator: Vanderley M. John
Description: (This project is part of the USP Blockchain Research Initiative -- UBRI)The University of São Paulo has a long tradition of collaborating with the private sector, as a supplier of expertise in research and innovation for the creation of novel and better solutions for real-world problems. This type of extension initiative aims to bring science closer to the everyday life and benefit society as a whole, and is among the three pillars of the university, together with teaching and research activities. One particular form of collaboration in this scenario refers to startups, which commonly seek USPs services to enhance their solutions and, consequently, improve their prospects for market growth and results. Examples of services provided by the university include mentoring, consulting, execution of experiments and simulations, statistical analyses, among many others. Sometimes, however, startups face an obstacle when trying to engage in such activities: on the one hand, they commonly do not have the necessary capital to pay for the use of USP resources, given their position in the business life cycle; on the other hand, USP agents need resources to finance their research and extension activities, including the need for purchasing lab supplies and providing scholarships for students and researchers. The result is an ecosystem of complementary needs between startups and USP. The purpose of this project is to bridge this gap, facilitating and encouraging the collaboration between USP and Brazilian Startups. To achieve this goal, we are proposing the creation of a digital currency (a USPcoin, or U$P for short) that can be used within the university for the exchange.

2019 – 2024 - Amazon Biobank: Blockchain as an enabling technology for the Amazon 4.0.

Coordinator: Marcos Antonio Simplicio Junior
Description: (This project is part of the USP Blockchain Research Initiative -- UBRI)This project aims to use Blockchain, BitTorrent, Smart Contracts and related collaborative technologies to create an ecosystem where residents from the Amazonian Rainforest can develop sustainable economic activities community-based economy be remunerated for the vast biodiversity available in the region. This should create an alternative economic venue for the region, reducing inequality and helping with the environmental preservation. The technical/engineering part of project is funded by Ripple, as part of the USP Blockchain Research Initiative, and it is one of the technical branches that support the broader Amazon 4.0 initiative led by the brothers Carlos and Ismael Nobre..

2019 – 2020 - Feasibility of DLT technology (Distributed Ledger Technology) in the healthcare ecosystem in the state of São Paulo.

Coordinator: Marcos Antonio Simplicio Junior
Description: The main objective of the project is to create a secure platform for managing the treatment cycle of rare diseases and thereby (1) reduce the diagnosis time for these diseases, (2) guarantee the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of the data in question, and (3) provide traceability and auditability of the information. Thus, the project combines security technology with a topic of high social impact -- particularly considering that in Brazil alone there are 13 million patients, and many end up dying due to lack of adequate diagnosis and treatment, partly due to a lack of accurate knowledge about the symptoms of these diseases. Highly distributed technologies, many of them associated with the concept of "blockchain," are investigated as possible solutions to the problems of this scenario. Linked to PIPE-FAPESP project 2019/12095-2.