Cardano Catalyst Proposal

Powering a Community Cooperative using Cardano, by selfdriven & Beyonders Collective

Applicant

Name

Mark Byers

Type

Entity (Incorporated) selfdriven Pty Ltd

Summary

Budget Information

200,000 ADA

Time (Duration)

10 months

Translation Information

No / English

Problem Statement

It is difficult for non-technical cooperatives to engage with the Cardano network in a meaningful way.

Solution Overview

Work with the Beyonders Collective to deliver a real use project, based on a co-developed open-source kit. From definition to decentralised auto-provisioned system using Cardano.

Supporting Documentation

https://energy.selfdriven.foundation/cardano-catalyst/proposal/community-cooperative/

Project Dependencies

Project Open Source

Yes (MIT/Apache‑2.0/CCO).

Theme Selection

Real World Applications: Business Service

Campaign Selection

Cardano Use Cases: Prototype & Launch

Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others)

We can not find any existing product or catalyst proposal that can work from an “intent definition” to a “fully provisioned decentralised cooperative system”.

Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.

It will demonstrate the existing generic functionality available in the selfdriven network On-Chain (Cardano) Interace and Human Interface,customised for this particular use case - incliding the ability to self-actuate to auto-provisioning by intent definitions (templates).

https://coop.selfdriven.app - based on the existing https://org.selfdriven.app.

Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics

Per community:

In total per community:

Number of communities:

Your Project and Solution

Solution

Build and pilot a full on-chain operating model for a cooperative, then release it as a reusable and open-source “Community Cardano Kit”.

Define → model the cooperative → deploy the Cardano smart contract kit → onboard members → go live.

Membership NFT / credential

Manages cooperative membership + voting rights

Wallet + USDM / ADA payment flow

Sales + monthly contributions + shared pool payouts

Treasury smart contract

Self-managed community fund with controlled withdrawals

Governance module

Proposals, voting, quorum, configurable rules

SSI

Verifiable identity for roles

Reporting dashboard

Sales, payouts, contributions, member onboarding

Autopay & distributions

Member earnings + recurring contributions

Human-forward Approach

No blockchain knowledge required. Members interact via:

Pilot Deployment

The Beyonders Collective becomes the first production user. They will:

  1. onboard 10 members
  2. accept payments in ADA/USDM for artisan goods
  3. split earnings through the cooperative treasury
  4. govern decisions collectively

All templates, documents, and modules created for the pilot are published openly.

Impact

New Cardano use case for small enterprises and communities; Repeatable kit lowers adoption friction for future proposals; Interoperability with SSI/VC standards; Proof‑of‑good primitives that can extend to recycling, food provenance, and community projects. This increases on‑chain activity, showcases partner‑chain + AVS patterns, and strengthens Cardano’s reputation for accountability with privacy.

This project accelerates real-world adoption of Cardano by enabling everyday cooperatives — not just crypto-natives — to operate on-chain without technical knowledge.

Craft and maker cooperatives represent a large, global, and economically underserved category of community-based organisations. They generate value but are constrained by outdated administrative systems, manual accounting, and trust-heavy cashflow management. By giving them a plug-and-play operating system powered by ADA / USDM, this project turns Cardano into a practical economic engine for grassroots enterprises.

The impact is both direct (for the pilot cooperative) and multiplying (for the broader ecosystem):

Direct Impact

Systemic Impact

Network Effects

Each cooperative that launches using the kit creates:

This means one successful project becomes a catalyst for many more, without requiring repeated Catalyst funding.

Why this matters for the Cardano mission

Cardano aims to support prosperity and participation for all. Cooperatives — especially craft, cultural, and local-enterprise groups — are a perfect match:

By giving these communities digital sovereignty through Cardano, this project directly advances:

Impact beyond the pilot

Because the kit is open-source and designed for non-technical adoption, the model can scale into:

Each new deployment reinforces Cardano as the blockchain of real-world community economics.

This proposal delivers high ecosystem value because:

This is not “blockchain for cooperatives” — it is cooperatives powered by Cardano.

Capabilities & Feasibility

The selfdriven Foundation was founded in 2019 and the team is highly engaged within the Cardano community. It has a robust organisational structure and includes a professional services team - selfdriven.services/team.

Mark Byers (selfdriven Co-founder)

Mark is a qualified Engineer and has 30+ years experience delivering internet based high-grade solutions to market, including the vision to co-found the entityOS.cloud service in 2000.

Mark has been involved in the Cardano ecosystem since 2019 and has a strong technical understanding and involvement in community projects and a co-initiator and contributor to the Eastern Cardano Council.

linkedin.com/in/marknbyers

Bence Lukács (selfdriven Co-founder)

Bence is a former sports trainer and school teacher with 10+ years of experience in Digital Education, Higher Education Organisational Development and building open learning and collaboration (infra-)structure.

Bence also researches Blockchain through the lens of social sciences, focusing especially on Openness, Open Science and DeSci.

At the selfdriven Foundation he is the Organisational Lead, managing projects and organisational operations as well as supporting the development of the educational frameworks. He is engaged in the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) Cardano Community and an IntersectMBO member, participating in the Decentralised Education, the Decentralised Trust & Identity SIG and (co-hosting & attending various) Constitutional Workshops.

linkedin.com/in/bencelukacs

Damian Noonan (selfdriven Co-Founder)

Damian has over 20 years experience delivering technology projects as part of strategic transformation initiatives, with expertise particularly Salesforce, MuleSoft and its emerging technologies. As co-founder of recently acquired Tquila ANZ, Damian has experience in building teams and delivering enterprise solutions.

linkedin.com/in/damian-noonan

Dirk Van Onsem (Beyonders Collective Co-Founder - Business + Purpose)

Executive leadership corporate experience as VP at Nike Inc. leading large teams across 12 countries in EMEA, growing $3B+ annual net revenue, partnerships, and strategy. IEMBA from Vlerick Business School, Certified Coach & Facilitator. Recent facilitation work with Voltage Control team for Cardano/IOG Constitution workshops, including General Assembly in Buenos Aires (Sep-Dec 2024) and more recently the Midnight City Simulation workshop in Buenos Aires (Aug 2025).

linkedin.com/in/dirkvanonsem

Cassia Elizabeth Jayani Patel (Beyonders Collective Co-Founder - Science + Community)

Conservation, sustainability strategy, and multi-stakeholder engagement with international agencies, governments, private sector, and grassroots communities in executive leadership roles at nonprofit Oceanic Global, tech startup Anthropogenic, convener Earth One, and mobility startup Global Passport. Environmental Engineering degree from Columbia University.

linkedin.com/in/cassia-elizabeth-jayani

Jamie Anley (eyonders Collective Co-Founder - Innovation + Storytelling)

Built and sold high-profile London-based creative design agency JAM Design after 30 years of mission-aligned design projects, cause marketing and leadership purpose quests. Co-Founder of Moving Beyond intersectional climate convener building community and bridging polarized siloes. Facilitator and inner work expert.

linkedin.com/in/jamieanley

About the Mallorca Hub with Crafts-people as the Focus

The Beyonders “BioHub” in Mallorca is a catalyst empowering island-led innovation in the Balearic archipelago bioregion. Our thesis is to address the underexplored opportunity to focus on place-based innovation and empower local changemakers. Like a venture studio we work at every stage of the project from inception, through team building, validation, MVP development, and ultimately financing and adaptive scaling (aligned with ecosystemic intelligence). The flagship startup spinning out of the Nursery will crack the market on biochar with a contextual, scalable, blockchain-enabled cooperative model for farmers.

Feasibility is high for three reasons:

  1. The team has already delivered similar end-to-end systems

The project team has deployed complete organisational operating systems with: - smart contracts - SSI identity - payments - governance - onboarding toolkits

This reduces both discovery and execution risk.

  1. Clear and staged delivery plan

The milestones cover: 1. Analysis and UI/UX design 2. Technical build 3. Pilot and onboarding 4. Open-source public release

Each milestone has objective acceptance criteria, measurable outputs, and verifiable evidence.

  1. Pilot partner committed from the outset

The Beyonders Collective provides a live organisational environment to validate: - payments - member onboarding - governance - treasury distribution

This avoids the “build it and hope someone uses it” problem.

The required technology stack — Cardano smart contracts, wallets, USDM (optional), and web dashboards — is well understood and within team capability. No unproven protocols or dependencies are required for success.

Teams

Milestones

Summary

MILESTONE #1 —

Title

Project Management Plan & Foundation

Outputs

A comprehensive project plan document that outlines scope, stakeholder mapping, work-breakdown structure, risk register, QA approach, communications strategy, and a detailed project delivery calendar, ensuring every participant has clarity on responsibilities, sequencing, milestones, decision points, and success measures throughout the execution of the community cooperative pilot.

Acceptance Criteria

A single PDF plan in the repo with: scope, stakeholder map, work‑breakdown, risk register, QA plan, comms plan, and delivery calendar.

Evidence of Completion

Link to GitHub repo with the plan (versioned PDF/MD), release tag v0.1, and visible commit history.

Delivery Month

1

Cost (ADA)

20,000

Progress (% of Project Completion)

10%

MILESTONE #2 —

Title

Design & Build Discovery, Cooperative Modelling & UX / System Design Smart Contract Suite, Identity Integration & Dashboard Development

Outputs

Membership contract, treasury module, payment flows, governance module, onboarding dashboard

Design:

Build:

Acceptance Criteria

Design:

Build:

Evidence of Completion

Design:

Build:

Delivery Month

5

Cost (ADA)

80,000

Progress (% of Project Completion)

50%

M3: MILESTONE #3 —

Title

Use & Reflect - Live Deployment with The Beyonders Collective + Workshops

Outputs

Member onboarding, payments go-live, training resources, video walk-throughs, case study docs

Acceptance Criteria

Evidence of Completion

Delivery Month

8

Cost (ADA)

60,000

Progress (% of Project Completion)

80%

MILESTONE #4 —

Title

Document & Socialise Public Release of the “Community Cardano Kit” for Repeat Deployment

Outputs

Acceptance Criteria

Evidence of Completion

Delivery Month

10

Cost (ADA)

40,000

Progress (% of Project Completion)

100%

Final Pitch

Project Team

The selfdriven Foundation team has been working for more than five years at the intersection of community governance, decentralised identity, and practical real-world blockchain adoption. We specialise in building systems that make complex Web3 tooling usable by everyday people, with a strong focus on education, cooperatives, and inclusive economic participation.

This proposal is led by a multidisciplinary team combining:

The team already has production deployments of organisational operating systems across education, insurance, health, and community development — giving us direct experience delivering end-to-end systems, not just proof-of-concepts.

We are confident executing this proposal because we have:

The team is strengthened by strategic collaboration with members of The Beyonders Collective, who will operate as the live pilot partner. Their direct participation ensures that every design and technical decision is grounded in real cooperative needs, not abstract assumptions.

The cultural philosophy of the team is simple:

If everyday communities cannot use it — it is not adoption.

Our experience, track record, and community-first approach position us to deliver a reliable, repeatable, and community-beneficial operating model for cooperatives on Cardano, and to do so in a way that can be scaled and replicated globally.

Budget & Costs

M1 – Project Management Plan – 20,000 ADA

Project Management: Scope definition, stakeholder mapping, work-breakdown structure, risk register, QA plan, comms plan, delivery calendar – 18,000 ADA

Tools & Admin: Project repository setup, version control, reporting templates, meeting facilitation tools – 2,000 ADA

M2 – Design & Build – 80,000 ADA

Solution Architecture & Design: Use-case design, process mapping (inputs/outputs), data schema definition, public/private data categorisation – 5,000 ADA

Community Cardano Kit Development: Core build of Community Cardano Kit components, integration with Selfdriven.network On-Chain, SSI & AI interfaces – 50,000 ADA

selfdriven / Cardano Network Integration: Mapping to Cardano assets, AVS/partner-chains setup, integration of AVS features including Midnight compatibility – 10,000 ADA

Interface Enhancements: Updating On-Chain interface reference and implementing UI/UX improvements for community onboarding – 10,000 ADA

Testing & Quality Assurance: Internal QA, functionality verification, interface validation, regression testing – 5,000 ADA

M3 – Use / Test – Pilot – 60,000 ADA

Deployment & Setup: Deploy Community Cardano Kit in BioHub pilot environment, configure network and infrastructure – 5,000 ADA

User Onboarding & Training: Create onboarding pathways, run training workshops, support initial users – 35,000 ADA

Field Testing & Feedback: Run live tests, gather feedback, analyse performance data, make adjustments – 15,000 ADA

Reporting & Review: Document test results, lessons learned, and recommendations for scaling – 5,000 ADA

M4 – Document / Socialise / Publish – 40,000 ADA

Documentation: Compile final public docs, onboarding materials, reports and technical integration notes – 30,000 ADA

Community Engagement: Presentations, social media promotion, partnership announcements, case studies – 5,000 ADA

Production & Publishing: Video walkthroughs, assets, website updates, graphical comms – 5,000 ADA

Value for Money

High leverage:

A reusable Kit + a real pilot. Delivers open standards, working code, and a public case study that others can clone. Strengthens Cardano’s positioning for verifiable community processes using partner‑chains and AVS, while keeping costs modest and outcomes concrete.

Small investment with value in:

This proposal delivers strong value for money because it converts a single funded pilot into a reusable, open-source product that can be adopted by an unlimited number of cooperatives without further Catalyst funding.

Instead of funding technology that benefits one organisation, this funds:

Each future deployment:

The approach is cost-efficient because:

Every ADA requested contributes directly to:

By focusing on production-ready software and real-world economic activation, this project generates multiplying ecosystem value over time, not one-off impact.

Local cooperatives create real value — artisans, cultural groups, food co-ops, First Nations collectives — but they’re held back by spreadsheets, manual accounting, and trust-heavy financial processes.

This project turns a real craft cooperative — The Beyonders Collective — into a fully on-chain organisation using ADA and USDM for sales, income distribution, and treasury management.

And here’s the important part: everything we build becomes a reusable “Community Cardano Kit.”

So once the first cooperative is running, any cooperative in the world can copy the model — no technical background required. That means repeatable onboarding, repeatable transactions, and repeatable value flowing through Cardano long after funding is spent.

This isn’t blockchain for cooperatives — it’s cooperatives powered by Cardano.

One working deployment becomes a catalyst for many more, pushing Cardano directly into everyday community economics. This is grassroots, real-world adoption where it matters most — people helping each other thrive.

Self-Assessment

Self-Assessment Checklist

I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its contribution.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.).

Yes

I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.

Yes

I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.

Yes

I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.

Yes

I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.

Yes

Required Acknowledgements

Ongoing Projects None

Consent & Confirmation

I Agree

Yes

REFERENCES

What is a Crafters Cooperative?

This proposal delivers a reusable Cardano-powered “Community Cardano Kit” that enables local craft cooperatives to run their organisation digitally using ADA + USDM — with membership, treasury, payments, identity, and governance working out-of-the-box.

The pilot partner is The Beyonders Collective, a real craft-based cooperative in Mallorca, Spain. The project converts their existing operations into a fully functioning on-chain model and then publishes everything as open-source templates and onboarding resources, enabling other cooperatives worldwide to copy and adapt the model without technical expertise.

Non-technical cooperatives want to benefit from decentralised finance and shared ownership, but:

This locks everyday cooperatives — craft groups, community associations, art collectives — out of the Cardano economy.

Use-Cases Scope:

More

It is difficult for non-technical organisations to engage with the Cardano network in a meaningful way. From definition to provisioning on Cardano. Work with the Beyonders Collective to deliver a real use project, based on a co-developed open-source kit - from definition to implementation. From prototyping to real use.

Definitions

Primitives: - Cardano: - Addresses - Script Addresses - Plutus Addresses - Transactions

- Trust
    - Identity/SSI - DID/Keri
    - Veriable Credentials

- Economic Assets
    - Treasury
    - Exchange - DeFi

Services (to abstract primitives into Cooperative system): - selfdriven.network including Ouroboros based chain (“OctoChain”) - Cardano Mainnet as AVS

Leveraging:

Outcomes for the Cardano Community

FAQS

Is it too ambitious?

Scope is proven — team has built similar systems before and the whole plan is milestone-locked with a single cooperative pilot.

Who will use it?

The Beyonders Collective is confirmed as the live pilot; the output is a reusable kit for any cooperative globally.

Is it speculation?

No tokens, no hype. Real payments, real users, real income distribution.

Will people outside crypto adopt it?

UX is designed for non-technical users. No blockchain terminology required to participate.

How does it benefit Cardano?

Creates recurring payments, new wallet users, and sustainable grassroots economic activity on ADA / USDM.

What happens after funding?

No further funding required — the kit is open-source and reusable. Revenue model is optional hosted services, not more Catalyst requests.

Is the team capable? Team has delivered smart contracts + governance + SSI + onboarding in real organisations before.

What if the cooperative drops out?

Commitment is formalised before build. If failure happens, the code and kit still launch publicly.

Is the budget fair? Every line item ties to delivery of reusable open-source infra and onboarding — no marketing fluff.

How will success be verified? On-chain transactions + governance events + distribution cycles + documentation + case study.