An innovative proof-of-stake tool for blockchain-based fundraising

Venture capital has long been the go-to method for crypto projects looking for funding during the peak of a bull cycle. However, as the 2022 bear market extended, the amount invested by crypto venture capital funds decreased, showing a clear need for a self-sustaining funding system for the blockchain space.

A Cointelegraph Research report shows that while 2022 saw more capital inflows into crypto projects overall, there is a clear decline in monthly funding charts after May 2022 – or the time of the Terra ecosystem collapse.

Web3 and crypto projects that lack access to VC funds need ways to raise money from within, and blockchain technology provides multiple methods, such as initial DEX offerings, security token offerings, and initial exchange offerings. One such method that takes advantage of a unique characteristic of proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains is the initial stake pool offering, or ISPO.

Using the delegation mechanism of a supported PoS blockchain, the ISPO model helps Web3 and crypto projects raise money without custody of investors’ funds. An ISPO starts with a project that launches a stake pool on the blockchain. Users can then stake their native tokens, such as ADA for Cardano, into the pool, delegating the rewards to developers. In return, stakers are rewarded with the aforementioned project’s utility symbol. The whole process gives developers an opportunity to collect money, while users can earn rewards with ISPOs during the bear market.

A new way to participate in betting pools

Since ISPO allows investors to maintain control over their funds, it quickly became a popular method of raising funds for projects, mainly across the Cardano ecosystem. Occam DAO, the decentralized community middleware between leading Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains, recently launched its ISPO-as-a-service fundraising platform to help Web3 developers get funding for their projects.

Occam DAO, which kickstarts its platform on the Cardano blockchain, aims to extend its ISPO services to all delegated PoS blockchains. The platform makes it easy to become an early investor in the next big Web3 project by presenting all available ISPO pools on one main dashboard. Users can easily view information about the number of delegators, active stakes, token allocation and other statistics, and choose a pool to participate in.

The ISPO-as-a service has launched with staking pools for Occam’s reward token CHAKRA and the dual token DAO CURL. The CHAKRA token represents a weighted basket of all incubated project tokens deposited into the staking pool, helping users benefit from the innovation and value provided by the Occam DAO during the bear market. Both projects can be found on Occam DAO’s ISPO platform.

Speaking about launching on the Cardano blockchain, Occam DAO said: “We are excited to provide the Cardano community with opportunities to delegate their ADA and be rewarded for it via our new ISPO infrastructure. We are confident that as a result of our partnerships and incubation services, our community will have access to some of the most innovative projects in the space.”

Considered “the ultimate weapon in the fight against liquidity fragmentation”, CURL is the second project on Occam’s ISPO platform with the goal of streamlining the user experience of liquidity providers and concentrating synthetic liquidity on various Layer-2 networks. The protocol helps aggregate synthetic and bridged tokens on supported networks to improve security and simplicity among blockchains.

“Bear markets are for building” is a phrase that has echoed throughout the crypto space over the past year. Fortunately, development never ends with blockchain. With platforms like Occam DAO’s ISPO-as-a-service, thriving projects can easily find a place to fund their ongoing efforts while crypto users can discover new and reliable ways to accumulate rewards during the crypto winter.