CannyCask - Digitising Scotch Whisky Casks

[EckyP243]

Open Grant Proposal: Project Beatha

Project Beatha
CannyCask Whisky Cask Tokenisation Filecoin 18 November 2024.pdf

Proposal Category:
Developer and data tooling

Entity Name:
CannyCask

**Proposer:
EckyP243

Project Repo(s) Please list Github repos used for this project work.
Not applicable

(Optional) Filecoin ecosystem affiliations:
None

(Optional) Technical Sponsor:
N/A

Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this RFP under the MIT/Apache-2 dual-license?: Please respond with "Yes" or "No".
No

Project Summary

Impact

TL;DR
Imagine a world where investing in Scotch whisky casks is as easy and secure as trading stocks. CannyCask leverages blockchain technology to create a secure, global marketplace for buying and selling digitised whisky casks, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and enhancing cask liquidity for investors. Join us in transforming whisky cask investments into a seamless, global experience.
Executive Summary
CannyCask empowers individuals and firms to digitise their Scotch whisky casks. Our patented cask trading platform leverages blockchain technology to help whisky cask investors discover casks beyond their usual reach. For those who already own casks, CannyCask offers an innovative exit strategy by providing a platform to sell casks to a global market, bypassing traditional ‘walled-garden’ whisky brokers.
Powered by CannyCask, our platform verifies the real-world existence of every cask issued and traded. We revolutionise whisky cask investing and trading by offering a bank-grade KYC/AML onboarding experience to users worldwide. Once onboarded, users can buy and sell digitised whisky casks seamlessly.
CannyCask is the first and only Scotch whisky cask tokenisation company approved by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the U.K. Scotch whisky cask regulator. Our innovative approach appeals to both traditional and crypto-savvy investors. Our marketplace enhances cask liquidity and preserves the integrity of our customers’ whisky investments, making it a compelling proposition for investors, whisky brokers, warehousekeepers, distilleries, and more.

Global digitally savvy and traditional individuals looking to buy casks for investment or private consumption purposes. A crypto enabled platform, safety assured via a proof of cask existence (patent pending) process, disrupting traditional ‘walled garden’ whisky cask brokers.

Outcomes

Development Milestones for MVP

1. Business to Customer feature - working code
2. Peer to Peer Feature - working code
3. FIAT and Crypto eCheckout and Payment Rails - penny testing and E2E working code
4. Email, hosting and security data architecture features and testing - support model testing and working infrastructure
5. MVP launch - first cask sold within 1 week of go-live

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

Traditional and Crypto savvy investors or people just looking for an easier way to purchase a whisky cask
TAM and SAM
TAM
Estimated 200million whisky drinkers worldwide
Around 10% (~20m) actively involved in collecting / investing
NFT Market participants as of 2023: 10 million wallet holders globally
Conservative crossover potential (whisky & NFTs) = 1-2%
TAM therefore: 1-2% of 20 million whisky enthusiasts = 200,000 - 400,000 who might consider purchasing a whisky cask via NFT
SAM
Cask prices start at GBP1,500 - GBP4,000, this narrows the audience to HNWIs, Investors and serious collectors
Crypto adoption: around 420 million crypto users globally but only a subset (~10%) engage in high-value transactions
Market readiness: Assume 5-10% of the TAM is reachable in the short-term due to awareness, technology adoption and niche appeal
SAM therefore: 5-10% of the TAM (200,000 to 400,000) = 10,000 to 40,000 individuals globally

Online Marketing Channels (MVP) - via my website partner

1. Search engine marketing
2. Search engine optimisation
3. Social media marketing
4. Affiliate marketing
   Offline Marketing Channels (MVP)
5. Events & trade shows
   NFT Distribution
6. Applied for NFT issuer on Kraken NFT Marketplace

Users will be driven to the CannyCask website using online marketing channels listed previously. KYC will be built into the onboarding process as it's an important regulatory requirement. The platform will be built to scale with demand (Kubernetes, AWS hosted). I'm in the process of agreeing supply chain agreements and already have one letter of intent in place from a warehousekeeper.

Development Roadmap

Development Milestones for MVP

1. Business to Customer feature
2. Peer to Peer Feature
3. FIAT and Crypto eCheckout and Payment Rails
4. Email, hosting and security data architecture features and testing
5. MVP launch

Total Budget Requested

USD 50,000

| Milestone # | Description | Deliverables | Completion Date | Funding |
|===|===|===|===|===|

1. Business to Customer feature > capability for CannyCask to sell to Bob > 31 January 2025 > USD 20,000
2. Peer to Peer Feature > capability for Bob to sell to Alice > 28 February 2025 > USD 20,000
3. FIAT and Crypto eCheckout and Payment Rails > 31 March 2025 > USD 5,000
4. Email, hosting and security data architecture features and E2E live testing and non functional testing > 31 March 2025 > USD 5,000
5. MVP launch > 31 March 2025

Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

Funding will enable the development of my platform.
When tested we can launch right away
The launch will involve a proof of concept on 24 casks of my of personal whisky which I'll sell to CannyCask (for GBP1.0) and digitise and sell online therefore making it a decent proof of concept.
Ultimately I'd like to take in an Angel Investor, ideally someone in the Whisky industry or similar that can help me on the distribution side as we start to scale the business. One point I'd like to make it that scaling the business doesn't necessarily mean selling more casks. Whisky get more expensive the older it gets so a flight to high end, higher value casks could also contribute to a favourable revenue curve.
AWS cloud hosted but my plan is to continue using the same development team on a consultative basis, there's many more use cases such as a Whisky Fund and other interesting concepts that we can explore via ideation and creating feedback loops when we get a client base.

Team

Team Members

Alex Preston (me) although my wife does own 25% of CannyCask! but she doesn't have any controlling power or want to be involved in this project at this stage...

Team Member LinkedIn Profiles

At this stage is it purely myself: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-preston-1025611b/

Team Website

https://rocketserverus.com/wp/cannycask/

Please note that this is still a work in progress

Relevant Experience

The team who will be building my platform have had direct experience building similar tokenisation projects for Oasis Pro. Unfortunately Oasis Pro have run into difficulty and the team are now available to work on my project.

Team code repositories

I don't have any

Additional Information

Own research [email protected]

UK Patent Pending, patent #: GB2404955.3. Regulatory licence (HMRC WOWGR Licence) - GBOG031055500.
I've included a design deck with high level operating models (50,000 feet). I also have most of these models at 10,000 feet and would be happy to go through these with you but would prefer we did this under an NDA if possible - thanks Alex