1.2 Vision

The Pawtocol vision is to introduce the new era of decentralization and transparency to the pet industry.

Network participants will be incentivized to collect and feed data to Pawtocol’s AI - which in turn will make AI-enhanced diet and care recommendations for crowd-verified food products, toys, and service providers. Pawtocol will naturally reward quality businesses by allowing their products and services to appear in targeted in-app recommendations and open doors to a vast audience of new potential customers.

The market for electronic pet wearable devices is on the rise and in need of a unified ecosystem for a pet owner to connect their devices and stay updated on their pet’s well-being through a single interface. Pet technology will be given an interconnected platform where various pet tech wearables and IoT devices can connect, share their data, and interact via the Pawtocol API.

Across many industries, the platform business model has become a crucial building block for waves of technological innovations. The most advanced digital products and services that come to market today are based on platform business models; a model that most business owners have begun to explore and intend to make core to their growth strategies. Pawtocol uses a platform business model--and is the first pet technology platform to incorporate AI learning along with a blockchain-based incentivization structure. [1]

2.2 Value Proposition

Pawtocol provides value to platform participants in a variety of different ways, using a wide range of tools.

2.3 Product

Pawtocol offers an all-inclusive platform that emphasizes transparency, traceability, and crowdsourced verification to produce unbiased health-related recommendations for pet parents/owners. The aim in building this platform is to create a system that can seamlessly integrate into the average pet parent’s life, and simplify informed decision-making.

The platform is enhanced by IoT connected devices, an advanced AI, and a digital currency, which serves as the basis for a micro-economy rich with trusted pet products and services.

Pawtocol’s data collection and normalization will create a standard language for the pet industry and will serve as the basis for multiple focused API’s and pet health-related studies. The data collected on the platform will benefit every player in the industry and pet parents/owners alike.

Crowd Verification

One of Pawtocol's central themes is putting power in the hands of the consumer. The proprietary crowdsourced verification system does just that.

Through repeated ‘reviews’ sourced from various IoT and diagnostic tools connected to the Pawtocol platform, pet food and products will be proven safe. Once a food product, toy, or grooming product has been vetted by enough users and proven healthy, the product (not the business itself) will gain crowd verification and be considered crowd verified.

Local vets and service providers will have a more traditional path to accruing reputation. As results (pet wellness outcomes) accumulate via crowd-sourced data collection, veterinarians will have unbiased information to back their performance record. Additionally, businesses will gain exposure from positive reviews made by users who transacted with the business through the Pawtocol platform.

This is not a checkmark that verifies membership, but a badge that represents statistically proven quality.

Data Marketplace

Pawtocol will create a first-of-its-kind data marketplace, facilitating the exchange of pet data.

Data is a valuable modern-day commodity. With the influx of pet wearable devices, pet owners are collecting more detailed data than ever before. Collected in isolation, this data has little value. However, when detailed data is aggregated and given insight with analytics, its value increases exponentially.

Pawtocol will provide researchers, marketers, manufacturers, and veterinarians with an opensource platform to request, purchase, organize, and analyze the detailed pet data captured across the platform. Pet parents/owners on the platform will decide who their data is shared with and will always retain ownership of the data. This means parents/owners will be able to monetize their own data, bringing balance to the data economy in the pet industry.

Product & Service Marketplace

Pawtocol will create a hybrid e-commerce marketplace where pet parents, vendors and service providers can freely buy and sell pet products and services through the app. All goods and services sold will be in a constant state of quality assurance conducted by users on the platform.

The underlying currency facilitating trade between all parties for both the product and data marketplaces will be UPI Tokens. UPI tokens will smooth out the onboarding process and enable participants to transact instantly, safely, easily, and securely.

2.4 Key Components & Supporting Technologies

2.5 Key Components & Supporting Technologies

Centralized databases have proven to be far too easily hacked, abused, or tampered with. As a result, consumers have become increasingly sensitive about their data. Pawtocol decentralizes and distributes user data, adding multiple layers of cryptography to make sure that user data can only be viewed by the users themselves.

Breaking tradition

The business model of traditional free platforms such as Facebook and Google relies almost entirely on the monetization of user data. This model erodes user privacy, often leads to advertising forced upon the users and fails to compensate users for their role in the construction of valuable datasets.

Pawtocol inverts tradition. It protects privacy, provides fine-grained control of information exchanges and facilitates monetization of data sharing.

User Custody of Data

With Pawtocol, users decide when and with whom their data is shared and most importantly, they reap the benefits of sharing it. Advertisers, researchers, and other third parties can offer tokens in exchange for limited insight into user data points.

3.1 The Bottom Layer

The tech world faces many challenges regarding how to handle general data protection regulation (GDPR), the “right to be forgotten”, and the possession/retention of data. Pawtocol aims to attack these problems at the source. In our view, most of these challenges are resolved with a new approach to data architecture that doesn’t presume that all data must first be centrally stored and then carefully managed. The Pawtocol approach rests on user custody of their own data and information sharing on a need-to-know basis. Users are given control and insight into sharing proposals, tools to anonymize shared information, and currency in exchange for cooperation.

Pawtocol’s Solution: The bottom layer of Pawtocol’s architecture is about addressing these concerns with a censorship-resistant, privacy-focused solution. Users must be able to reap the benefits of the system without surrendering data to the system. Pawtocol’s bottom layer is a platform-agnostic, privacy-first, general-purpose data storage layer that uses Ethereum and distributed storage. This layer provides sovereign ownership of data, suitable for a period of increasing concern about data privacy.

The next challenge is that authentication in all forms is at cross purposes with user privacy. Distinguishing between users is important for practical reasons but this does not imply that the persons behind the IDs necessarily need to be revealed. Similarly, confirming the authenticity of data reports is vital if the data is to be trusted. But, identifying an accountable individual is not the way to do so. Rather, it is one way to do it, and not the best we can do.

Pawtocol reframes data authentication by proving that data was collected by specified methods (e.g. type of device), by members with certain properties (e.g. must be a verified veterinarian), and is about pets with certain properties (e.g. must be a poodle of a certain age). The Pawtocol proving grammar expresses such requirements. Pawtocol proofs establish those facts without revealing which user, which device or which pet.

A third challenge relates to well-known edge cases. With so much data under the users’ control, it’s important that the users themselves are protected from data loss that could result if the files were in their physical possession. And, with everything relying on their digital identities it’s important to have solutions for key recovery and probate. Pawtocol solves for data persistence using reliable distributed storage, and for key recovery in a way that greatly simplifies Ethereum user onboarding and using the system with multiple devices such as a smartphone and a laptop.

The benefit to users is custody of their own information and fine-grained control of information disclosure to others even while they enjoy the features and conveniences of applications. Pawtocol’s solution addresses the rising demand for strong data privacy in applications of all kinds.

3.2 Records Keeping

With medical records, lab results and life data in Pawtocol, improved pet care will be possible at any veterinarian’s office. This will create an opportunity for veterinarians and animal hospitals to gain a competitive advantage.

3.3 Data Marketplace

It is proper for each pet parent to maintain their own records of all information gathered about the life of their pet. Pawtocol is a repository for this information. It is a decentralized, organized repository of records with provenance. Pawtocol inverts the idea of monolithic centralized databases and creates a network composed of millions of smaller databases. Zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure enable communication (trading information) while safeguarding privacy. The economic ramifications are massive.

It is well-known that data is valuable, in the aggregate. Pawtocol proposes that individual data must, therefore, have economic value. Centralized data collection systems generally fail to recognize and account for the value of individual data points. The result is the formation of massive companies built on processes that harvest vast amounts of data, without paying for it fairly, then trading it for considerable value. The distortion of efficient market pricing leads to concerns about user privacy as aggregators effectively resell information without the informed consent of the users.

There are legitimate reasons to create large datasets with informed consent. Scientific studies and marketing studies need data. Such studies are costly and rely on information provenance. Generally, things that are worth doing have economic value. Pawtocol organizes verifiable data under user control and enables trad. Pawtocol creates a new market of facts.

Pawtocol is a price-discovery marketplace for high-quality and provable information. Users will be offered UPI to provide specific information, not the whole picture. For example, consider a study related to a certain breed of pet eating a certain type of food. The buyer would specify qualifying pets, qualifying products, the well-being data requested (and qualifying methods of collection), and the bid for qualified responses. The user would take the offer by providing proof-of-purchase of qualifying products, proof of the pet’s breed, and well-being metrics that meet the criteria for the study. All of this would be anonymous, transparent, and done with the pet owner’s consent.

3.4 Phased Build-Out

At this point, Pawtocol has solved the biggest problems with data protection and identification and has proven it to be a worthwhile project. The smart contracts for most basic functions are in place, and issues with storage and zero-knowledge proofs have been resolved. This means applications can be plugged in on top of the Pawtocol architecture that has been created.

The next step is developing the user experience (UX) that would enable any user to be comfortable using the platform. Once Pawtocol is launched, the development of the UX will begin, likely taking 4-6 months.

By having better onboarding than any other system in operation and knowing our customers better, the Pawtocol offering has the potential to become the leader in the pet industry.

Pawtocol eventually intends to become a decentralized app store for anything pet-related. This will encourage others to come and build on top of their layers. The existing architecture will attract other developers because it will quickly help people get to the market.

The first step in the build-out is achieving network effects and a non-trivial user base so Pawtocol can attract vendors, developers, and other participants to the network.

3.5 Technology Stack

Pawtocol’s technology stack will consist of the Ethereum blockchain, IPFS, and variety of mobile front end applications.

The platform is being built out on the Ethereum blockchain because it is considered to be the most decentralized, established, and successful smart contract platform. Launched in 2015, Ethereum introduced the concept of a smart contract to the blockchain world and opened up the capability to created Decentralized Applications (DAPPs). Ethereum has gained popularity as an ICO platform due to the simplicity of ERC20 token generations.

The Pawtocol design team has devoted considerable effort to resolving transaction volume scaling and the user experience. The system is designed to minimize the load on the Ethereum network and to minimize the cognitive load on end-users. We use Ethereum to prove, minimalistically, the authenticity of claims exchanged between peers. We use UPI to abstract away implementation details such as paying for gas.

IPFS, or InterPlanetary File System, is a protocol and network that delivers a content-addressable, peer-to-peer method of storing and sharing hypermedia in a distributed file system.

Similar to a torrent, this system allows users to not only receive but also host content. IPFS is built around a decentralized system of user-operators who hold a portion of the overall data, creating a resilient system of file storage and sharing.

Pets are elevated to the level of full participants in the system, with parents (or guardians) who can act on behalf of them. Pets themselves are users, identifiable by traits such as the Blockchain Digital Dog Tag. Each pet identity is a logical container for data about themselves, while the pet owners are signing authorities for the pets. Certain public information is disclosed publicly on the dog tag, however, most data is private. The public identifiers on the tag help others to identify the pet. This is similar to medic alerts bracelets for humans and is an improvement on the RFID implants currently used on pets.

The Blockchain Digital Dog Tag will familiarize users with the different treatment of public and private information in the system. The process is intuitive but contrary to traditional privacy controls, largely because it is clear and serves the users first.

In the future, Pawtocol expects to use batteryless Bluetooth dog tags. These obtain enough electricity from the ambient RF spectrum and operate without requiring batteries or recharging.

4.2 Token Ecosystem

The Pawtocol platform will target and cater to four different types of users, as described below:

4.3 Token Offering Details

4.4 Initial Exchange Offering (IEO)

Until now, Pawtocol has been funded by its founding team. In order to assure future growth and facilitate a successful launch, Pawtocol has engaged a respected international IEO Marketing and financial group to launch and market an IEO. The intention is to raise sufficient funds to take the platform through launch and to financial stability.

The plan is to list on a top exchange to widely distribute tokens, obtain liquidity, drive awareness. We intend to also list on other exchanges following the initial exchange listing in order to be able to have global trading volume, which additionally catalyzes exposure to new markets.

IEO proceeds will be used primarily for Research & Development and Operating Capital (discussed in 4.7).

Collecting capital through the two traditional financing methods – debt and equity – can be expensive and time-consuming. By using an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) as an alternative instrument for financing, we intend to gather funds faster and in a way that allows our earliest supporters to share in our growth. The purpose of the IEO is to bring in developers, marketing personnel, a legal team, designers and many other talented people on board. This will require additional funds. Offering an Initial Token Sale instead of a traditional venture capital rounds enables the community to participate in the success story, rather than limiting it to a small, selected number of traditional venture capital funds.

4.5 Allocation

We will be working diligently to price, market, and structure the IEO. We will work with market makers seeking to ensure narrow spreads and with exchanges to ensure liquidity.

Pawtocol’s token supply will consist of 1 billion tokens, with 580,000,000 tokens allocated for private and public sale.

Private Rounds : 20% of the UPI tokens in circulation will be available to private investors.

IEO Stages: A further 38% of the total UPI tokens in circulation will become available through as series of Initial Exchange Offerings (IEO).

4.6 Reserve

42% of the tokens will be allocated to the Pawtocol Reserve and used to develop the project and community as follows:

Marketing & Community Development: 3% of the tokens will be reserved for marketing and community development efforts such as hosting tournaments, experiential marketing campaigns, and VIP experiences. This is an important marketing reserve to host campaigns that are large enough in scale with significant enough rewards to create viral events that onboard millions of users.

Partnerships: 5% of the tokens will be awarded to partners who are important to the long term success of Pawtocol. It will be our partners who become our distribution channels and who will onboard a large number of users to the ecosystem. Partners are essential to the growth of Pawtocol so partners who add the most value to growing the Pawtocol network, need to be properly incentivized to advocate for Pawtocol within their communities.

Bounties: 5% of the tokens will be given to community members who participate in bounties and who join the Pawtocol ambassador program to grow the network in their region. We will be creating a granular bounty model that considers and rewards all positive behavior in the Pawtocol ecosystem including hosting events, translating materials, sharing content, posting research, making bets, inviting friends, among others.

Team & Advisors: 10% of the tokens will be released to founders and early team members and advisers over a 4-year period to ensure that the founders and team stay aligned with the long term success of the project and that selling pressure is mitigated.

Operations Reserve: The remaining 19% of the total token allocation will be kept in an operating reserve that will act as the Pawtocol treasury and will be deployed in a way that will most effectively scale the Pawtocol ecosystem and ensure wide distribution of the UPI token. We will release our treasury management plans following the public launch of the UPI token.

4.7 Use of Proceeds

The majority of the capital raised and token allocation will go to developing, marketing, operating, administration and growing the Pawtocol network and ecosystem as the value of the UPI token will be directly tied to the growth of the Pawtocol ecosystem.

The proceeds will go to sales & marketing efforts, personnel, management and admin, exchange listings, services/supplies, experiential marketing, and regulatory fees.

Research and Development expenses will include the below items:

• Ongoing development

• Added functionality

• Launching of the mobile app

• Legal and corporate work

• International market expansion

• Marketing and advertising campaigns

4.8 Token Utility

UPI (universal Pet Income) is the token used for pricing goods, services, rewards, and trades within the system. We intend to use UPI to create a more intuitive user experience than is the norm for Ethereum-based applications. In particular, UPI will be used to pay for transactions that require someone to pay for gas, Ethereum’s pricing unit for computations.

The improved user experience is intended to abstract away implementation complexity so users can focus on enjoying the application. A transaction fee will be subtracted from the value of each transaction. A portion of that transaction fee will accrue to Pawtocol to support R&D and community development. A portion of the transaction fee will be burned, reducing the circulating supply of UPI over time.

The current plan is based on:

• 1.5% transaction fee

• 25% of the transaction fee burned

• 75% of the transaction accrues to Pawtocol

• Burn stops when 50% of the initial supply (500 million tokens) is destroyed

5.2 Market Assessment

The pet industry is experiencing tremendous growth, with the pet technology sector attracting the most attention from investors. Between 2012 and 2016, venture capitalists invested nearly $500 million in pet technology alone.[6]Well over half of the households in the US (~85M) own a pet.[7]Americans spend approximately $86 billion on pets every year.[8]Grand View Research estimates the global pet care market will be worth $202.6 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 4.9%.[9]

Many parties (pet parents, vets, etc.) are demanding trustworthy food and care providers are brought to the forefront.[10]The industry is heading towards a more truthful and transparent future - one where pet owners are more aware, informed and invested in their pet’s lives.

Humanization/Premiumization of Pets

More health-conscious pet owners have sparked growth in the premium food and products category often referred to as premiumization.[11]

Pet owners are seeking out higher-quality organic and natural foods, high-end accessories, and better care, all in the best interest of their pets.[12]As the demand for healthy pet products rises, so too will the demand for transparency around those products.[13]

New Generation of Pet Owners on the Block

Tech-savvy millennials make up more than half of small animal ownership and drive pet industry sales. Millennials use technology to optimize their lives, including pet ownership.

The Pet Owner Paths research study, sponsored by Merck, found that millennials chose 24/7 chat or texting availability as one of their top options when asked what they most valued as a veterinary service offering.[14]

Pet Wearables & The Internet of Pets

Nearly half of all dog owners have an electronic tracking device for their pet, up from last year’s results of 36%.[15]These devices track pet health activity, GPS location, and other health metrics.

Grandview Research estimated the global pet wearable market size was at USD 1.4 billion in 2018.[15]The market for the medical diagnosis & treatment application devices is on the rise as well, expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.7% from 2014-2025.[15]

Pet Food Recalls

In March 2007, the largest recall in the pet food industry occurred but not before it caused the deaths of hundreds of cats and dogs.[16]Today is no different; globally in 2016, more than 80% of new pet food products had a health claim.[17]

Platform Economies

Most groundbreaking digital products and services that come to the market today are based on platform business models. Pawtocol plans to bring this trend to the pet industry, having seen similar interconnected platforms emerge in various industries. All the required technologies exist today, Pawtocol will apply existing technologies and create a platform to allow all users to communicate and trade both data and product.

5.3 Competitive Analysis

COMPETITIVE ASSESSMENT

To date, there is no platform focused on building something similar to Pawtocol. There are a handful of centralized and platform-based projects targeting specific needs in the pet ecosystem, e.g. medical records, animal recovery, GPS wearables, etc.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Pawtocol is building an ecosystem, the first truly multi-faceted protocol for pets. Rather than looking at niche-specific platforms as competitors, Pawtocol considers them to be potential partners who will provide key insights to users on the platform. The Blockchain Digital Dog Tag will put pet owners at the forefront of Pawtocol’s ecosystem but we will encourage participants to connect additional IoT devices, to supplement data collection efforts.

FIRST-MOVER ADVANTAGE

As with any new market, the first entrant generally holds the advantage. Pawtocol will leverage this favorable position by building tech, improving existing assets, and growing its already talented multi-disciplinary team to create a barrier preventing would-be competitors from entering the market with similar goals.

POTENTIAL PARTNERS

As noted Pawtocol does not seek to compete with tech and pet health platforms in the space, but rather to become the key connective tissue within the space (something that is yet to emerge) and allow these various other companies to integrate directly with the Pawtocol platform. Pawtocol will target companies, tech, and services that are a good fit for the platform such as EZ Vet Clinics, WAG Walking, and subscription services such as Bark Box, but will keep the door open for new and existing entities looking to access the Pawtocol user base, and add to the depth of data collected on the platform.

5.4 Opportunity Size & Revenue Model

A TECH TREND

Many exciting opportunities exist for Pawtocol both in pet tech and connecting the currently fragmented pet industry and its data. With proper timing and marketing Pawtocol seeks to carve out a meaningful share of the ‘growing pet industry pie’.

According to Grand View Research, 69% of millennials are likely to use technology to keep track of their pets.[8]Mobile device apps such as Wag Walking, who raised $300 million in funding,[18]DogVacay who raised $50 million,[19]and Rover who raised $155 million,[20]continue to flood into the market to fill the demand.What is more impressive is that these applications continue to create new markets, for example, 95% of the users of Wag Walking have never hired a dog walker before.[21]The services industry will experience continued innovation as pet ownership particularly by millennials (now the largest segment of pet owners) continues to grow.[22]

CAPTURE RATE

The initial pet owners to adopt the Pawtocol platform will likely be a combination of Millenials and pet health-focused owners - those who purchase raw food, for example.Millennials are the primary pet-owning demographic (35 percent of pets are owned by Millennials) and according to UBS,[23]they will be worth $24 Trillion by the year 2027. This generation is a major focus of Pawtocol.[24]

Initially, Pawtocol will focus on dog and cat parents and capturing participants from the larger pet markets (USA, China, Russia, Brazil, Japan, and Canada).

ADDRESSABLE MARKET

Grand View Research projects the global pet care market will reach USD 202.6 billion by 2025 at a growth rate of 4.9% CAGR. Additionally, there are: [8]

• 90 million dogs and 94 million cats in the US

• 62 million dogs and 53 million cats in China

• 15 million dogs and 13 million cats in Russia

• 6 million dogs and 13 million cats in Brazil

• 2 million dogs and 7 million cats in Japan

• 8 million dogs and 9 million cats in Canada

Reducing the initial target market (412 M) to account for: [25]

• 7.9% to account for the global population of those 65 years of age and older

• 19% to account for those under the age of 10 who may not be technologically adept

• 15% of those aged 10-65 to account for those who do not own a smartphone

These adjustments bring Pawtocol's addressable market down to a conservative size of 256 million dogs and cats. Given a functional platform in year 3 Pawtocol anticipates the ability to capture 1% of this addressable market and 3.5% of the addressable market in year 5.

REVENUE STREAMS

Pawtocol will have diverse income streams composed of traditional advertising services, hardware sales, and revolutionary platform-specific revenues.

5.5 Go To Market Strategy

The Pawtocol team’s first priority is building out the platform itself. It would be a waste of resources to invest in attracting members to a platform that is yet to be built. The 4 proposed steps of the strategy are outlined below.

DEVELOPMENT

During development, the marketing team will focus entirely on brand awareness. Pre-app marketing efforts will be mainly guerrilla marketing and word of mouth, establishing Pawtocol’s affinity to pet tech and developing a trustworthy image in multiple niche pet communities.

VENDOR ONBOARDING

Once the user base has reached a considerable size, the marketing team will pursue product and service providers. Early business adopters will benefit from being among the first to access our users and potentially claim new lifetime customers with their quality products.

USER ONBOARDING

Once the platform is built to an MVP level, the team will begin paid marketing to pet owners in order to rapidly build an active user base and will utilize the existing partnership with Global Digital Assets to attract the blockchain community. During this initial phase, Pawtocol will build the user base by offering the Blockchain Digital Dog Tag with a free + shipping and onboarding fees plan.

TECH FULFILLMENT

With a user base and an active business community in place, the development of the technological ecosystem will begin. Continued development and improvement to the platform, AI, and API will follow ensuring that user expectations are being not only met, but exceeded.

BLOCKCHAIN DIGITAL DOG TAG

Every company requires a core go-to-market plan and a good scalability plan. Pawtocol’s go-to-market strategy leverages existing relationships and customer lists within the space.

Karim’s past in the pet space, especially at AnimalBacker.com, has given him a deep understanding of the differences in marketing towards the owners of different pet breeds.

As a CPA marketer with a specialty in bringing down acquisition costs for customers, the plan for the go-to-market strategy is based on building a viral following using pre-existing “fans” from past products.

The core of Pawtocol’s go-to-market strategy is around giving away a Blockchain Digital Dog Tag to customers for free and charging for one-time onboarding. This free product strategy would be revenue and cost neutral and cost the customer under $9. The goal of this campaign isn’t to make a profit but to instead create a network effect at breakeven. Pawtocol intends to develop and execute this campaign in the short-term as an initial means of building a user base.