Kuro Shiba Grant Proposal for NFT Staking Platform (Beta Live on Mainnet) and Marketplace

Funding Proposals
1

NAME OF PROJECT
Kuro Shiba (KURO)

APPLICATION TYPE
NFT – Financial

PROPOSAL OVERVIEW
Kuro Shiba (KURO) is a creator-driven DeFi project, featuring original artwork, custom design, and blockchain innovation at the exciting intersection of NFTs and DeFi. KURO is inspired by the founder’s love for her real-life black and tan shiba inu, with an aesthetic borrowed from 1990s Sanrio and Bandai. :sparkles:

KURO fairly launched on June 25, 2021 as a community token that rewarded holders and liquidity providers with adorable NFT airdrops, but has since grown to be leader in the NFT space. On December 8, 2021, Kuro Shiba successfully launched the first and only NFT staking platform on Harmony—KURO’s Art Museum (Beta)!

Public beta: https://beta.kuroshiba.one

We encourage all readers to visit the above dApp, where you can see our working product. Check the “Inactive” tab in the Art Museum to see previously released NFTs.

For a detailed account of how NFT staking in the Art Museum (Beta) works, please read this Medium article.

The Art Museum (Beta) has been working flawlessly on Harmony mainnet for several weeks already. The “stake,” “unstake,” and “claim” functions have been 100% bugless thanks to the team’s methodical and pragmatic approach to product development. So far, we have completed the following:

  1. Private testing of NFT staking on Harmony testnet :white_check_mark:
  2. Private testing of NFT staking on Harmony mainnet :white_check_mark:
  3. Public testing of NFT staking on Harmony mainnet :white_check_mark:

We also designed our dApp with aesthetics and dynamicity in mind. Our public beta launched with a platform that works beautifully on desktop, lap top, tablet, and mobile—Apple, Android, or otherwise. Additionally, our design prioritizes simplicity of use, making NFT staking accessible to users who are new to crypto, DeFi, and and/or the Harmony network.

In fact, it is the team’s precision and perfectionism that have enabled the project’s success for the past 6 months, without a single hiccup or blunder. Although the project launched with only 20,000 ONE of total liquidity, KURO now boasts a market cap of over $2.6 million with nearly 4,500 holders, and we are just getting started!

Project Innovation:
We firmly believe in the products we’re building and the innovation that Kuro Shiba brings to the Harmony ecosystem. What’s the fun in launching another DEX, farm, or Ohm fork, when you can develop something brand new?

KURO’s Art Museum (Beta) is not only the first and only yield-generating NFT project on Harmony, but we’re also developing first-of-its-kind Exhibitions to allow staking of curated NFT collections, starting with Dingos and CryptoPigs. Even more, we’re building a Night Market as a one-stop-shop for buying, selling, and trading of stakeable NFTs.

Additionally, we believe our focus on design sets us apart from other projects. Our design ethos = clean, simple, and always custom. We’re incredibly proud to say that we don’t use forked code. From our NFT staking contracts to our dreamy pastel frontend, each aspect of our dApp is designed from scratch to ensure every user interaction with our dApp is smooth, intuitive, and—of course—cute!

From a DeFi perspective, NFT staking allows us to introduce interesting and completely novel yield-generating and NFT rewarding mechanisms. For example, our next NFT drop—Ramen KURO—will have 100% ROI globally. Specifically, 100% of proceeds from the NFT minting will be used as NFT staking rewards, allowing users to recoup their entire NFT minting fee over time so long as they (a) mint and stake their NFT right away and (b) timely claim their KURO rewards.

The above mechanism not only describes a paid-for NFT that generates KURO yield over time, but also means the user can eventually receive a “free” NFT, meaning the NFT can be considered a reward for stowing away their KURO tokens in the staking contract to be gradually released. Either way you look at it, KURO’s Art Museum (Beta) incentivizes users to stake Kuro Shiba NFTs, transact KURO tokens, and interact daily with the Harmony blockchain.

Further, we are in the prototyping and planning phase for Kurogotchi, a 3D, interactive, and gamified version of our stakeable NFTs. Kurogotchi will allow users to mint, feed, accessorize, and train their very own pet Kurogotchi right on the blockchain. Gameplay will include modifiers that can increase yield—or even decrease yield (such as if your Kurogotchi is hungry or lonely)—depending on how the user takes care of their Kurogotchi. This will be the subject of a separate grant proposal, but is built on the same NFT staking fundamentals as described here.

We’re so pleased to have found our niche at the intersection of NFTs and DeFi on Harmony. Not only is Kuro Shiba the first and only protocol to have achieved NFT staking on Harmony, we have so much more to build—including Fish Ponds (staking LP tokens to catch fish, then redeem your fish for yield-generating NFTs) and other dynamic token staking mechanisms. Please see below for our detailed funding request.

Summary:

  • Art Museum: staking of multiple Kuro Shiba NFTs per wallet
    → Rewards in KURO
    → Already in beta on mainnet
  • Exhibitions: staking of multiple curated guest NFT collections
    → Rewards in ONE, MIS, COINKX, or other tokens
    → Entry fee in KURO
    → Launching soon
  • NFT marketplace
    → Mint, buy, sell, and trade stakeable Kuro Shiba NFTs
    → Buy, sell, and trade stakeable curated guest collections
    → Small platform fee in KURO
    → Launching soon

TEAM
Our main team consists of: persimberry (art and design), totodile (solidity and backend dev), Slim Jim (animation), jonathan (frontend dev), matt cl (frontend/backend support), and sm0nks (node.js and general blockchain support). We’re happy to provide our Github and credentials under an NDA. 🕵🏻‍♀️

PROPOSAL ASK
$100,000 ($10,000 per week for 10 weeks)

The Kuro Shiba team has accomplished the foregoing innovation with our own personal funds—we launched with 0 presales or outside funding, and fully organic growth—but now humbly requests a generous equity-free grant from Harmony to help the team recoup our out-of-pocket expenses, as well as to fund ongoing development of our NFT-focused DeFi protocol.

funding request info graphic
funding request info graphic2389×2317 512 KB

We humbly request $10,000 per week for 10 weeks.

Detailed Breakdown:

NFT viewer – $2500

  • Purpose: display all Kuro Shiba NFTs in connected wallet
  • Status: already somewhat available on public beta (can view dApp-compatible NFTs in the Art Museum) but need to develop a dedicated dashboard that enables full-size viewing of current NFTs and future generative NFTs

NFT transferer (“Airmail”) - $2500

  • Purpose: transfer Kuro Shiba NFTs between wallets
  • Status: already available on public beta (can transfer beta NFTs here) but need to complete frontend with new and improved UI showing all NFTs in connected wallet and enabling selection of token ID

QOL updates - $5000

  • Claimed tokens: purpose: show tokens claimed; status: contract is working on testnet but need to integrate compatibility with frontend and deploy to mainnet
  • Multiple staking: purpose: stake multiple NFTs; status: contract is working on testnet but need to integrate compatibility with frontend and deploy to mainnet
  • Additional MM integration: example: switch to Harmony if on another network; status: in progress
  • Improved UX: examples: dark mode, custom hover effects, hover info/data; status: in progress
  • Continued updates based on user feedback

NFT compatibility with staking contracts - $2500

  • Purpose: convert Legacy NFTs (DaVinci HRC-1155) to New Era NFTs (Kuro Shiba HRC-1155)
  • Status: needs work

NFT compatibility with marketplace contracts - $2500

  • Purpose: upgrade stakeable NFTs to also be compatible with KURO’s “Night Market,” i.e., NFT marketplace currently in development
  • Status: needs work

Art, web design, product design - $5,000

  • Purpose: original artwork, graphic design, UI design, UX design, with full sets of web animations, Discord emojis, and Telegram stickers
  • Status: some static art, web design, graphic design, and UI/UX are complete for existing pages

NFT staking frontend - $5,000

  • Purpose: converting static web/graphic/UI/UX design to dynamic dApp experience, integrating frontend with smart contracts and Harmony blockchain, dynamically switch between different devices
  • Status: beta dApp already released to mainnet but requires aforementioned updates and continued development

NFT staking backend - $30,000

  • Purpose: developing robust and secure smart contracts for the staking of Kuro Shiba HRC-1155 tokens to earn yield in the form of ONE, KURO, major coins, or other HRC-20 tokens
  • Status: simple NFT staking contract already deployed to mainnet (see https://beta.kuroshiba.one/museum) but only works for HRC-1155 and can only stake 1 copy of each NFT per wallet currently

NFT incubator (“Exhibitions”) - $20,000

  • Purpose: providing a “guest artist” NFT staking platform on which any verified NFT collection (e.g., Dingos, CryptoPigs) can stake their own NFTs to earn yield in the form of tokens that the guest artist provides (e.g., ONE, major coins, other HRC-20 tokens, etc.) plus entry fee paid in KURO
  • Status: needs work. Dingos will be the first guest artist in our NFT incubator but their NFTs are HRC-721 so we will need funds to develop a new HRC-721 staking contract and new frontend

NFT marketplace (“Night Market”) - $25,000

  • Purpose: providing a one-stop-shop where users can mint, buy, sell, and trade stakeable HRC-1155 Kuro Shiba NFTs, including forward compatibility with HRC-721 tokens in case we open the Night Market to other NFT collections in the future
  • Status: marketplace contracts are working on Harmony testnet, need to build a backend to manage buy/sell history, filter NFTs by price and collection, display NFTs for sale; need frontend design and code

METRICS FOR SUCCESS

  • 5,000 KURO holders
  • 1,000 NFTs staked
  • 10,000 KURO holders
  • 5,000 NFTs staked
  • 5 guest NFT collections staked
  • 10 guest NFT collections staked
  • 1,000 beta dApp users
  • 5,000-10,000 full dApp users

EXTERNAL LINKS

18 Likes
2

Putting my support in for this, the KURO team are a great group and this dapp looks to add a lot to the Harmony ecosystem.

7 Likes
3

Can’t wait for what’s to come for Kuro. Team is awesome and transparent, the new dApp is also looking good. One of my favorite harmony coin

6 Likes
4

It has been great watching this project progress over the past quarter and the team has put in the time to keep their community updated and deliver on features. I look forward to them achieving their goals and bring more options for us users of the harmony ecosystem.

6 Likes
5

I’ve been part of the Kuro shiba community for a few months now and so far I’ve noticed that this project already has a lot of cool features that I use daily like the nft staking. It’s nice to see how much effort the team puts into expanding on that and more! Excited to see what’s coming next from the Kuro Shiba team.

5 Likes
6

While my initial investment into Kuro was more of a impulse but it is also my first NFT project to invest in, I have since invested more into Kuro because of the team willingness to engage with the Kuro community and what they have released so far but very interested to see the results in the future. So wish them success in this grant proposal and bring on the ramen :smile:

6 Likes
7

KURO has achieved a non-forked unique utility dApp, which is super rare on Harmony these days. Hope you guys get the grant and can keep building!

6 Likes
8

The KURO community is unlike any other I’ve seen in crypto. Everyone is always supporting each other, and there are no moonbois present in the discord seemingly at all.

Community members are encouraged to create and show their creative sides - and I guess, as a result, the dev team has grown a lot since its beginning.

I’ve been a holder since the start, and have sat through numerous voice AMA’s and watched as they have delivered on every promise they’ve made. They have the perfect team to achieve these goals, and I hope they get what they need to create the preeminent ArtFi and GameFi community of the entire Harmony Blockchain.

4 Likes
9

Kuro is the type of innovation and community that makes crypto so amazing. Their work is unique, professional, and cute as. The team is welcoming, transparent, and demonstrated their capability. I wish the kuro team all the best and support them completely.

3 Likes
10

Been with KURO since the start, gotta love how far the team has come. Community wise it is one of the finest places to be. And you can see the work the team put into getting this far. Hope they get this grant so they can get KURO even further!

3 Likes
11

Big kudos to this project - even in such early days, incredible strides have been made with regard to identity, vision and cultivating a strong, genuine community.

Excited in particular for Kurogotchi, and the premise of staking other NFTs in the ecosystem.

3 Likes
12

I’m not the biggest fan of meme coins, especially on a young chain like Harmony. The recipe usually goes:

Fork a project
Do some crappy NFT’s
Promise something big in the works
Keep doing NFT’s
Push back launch of the big thing

I can think of at least 5 projects to do this off the top of my head. Some of which were actually showcased on the recent Harmony video.

HOWEVER, Kuro has broken that trend by actually delivering the first of a kind utility on the chain. This is code that is not forked - and they did it without the grant in the first place.

If they get the grant, I can imagine massive things for the team in the future.

5 Likes
13

I have never heard of Kuro Shiba , but looking at their achievements made me feels like I have lost something. And have you guys saw toto nfts ? Did Vincent van Gogh just dropped that in Kuro Shiba Da Vinci ?

3 Likes
14

Thanks for the kind words. We do indeed have some massive things planned :muscle::nerd_face:

2 Likes
15

This project should be the standard for all crypto projects. Honest, hardworking developers. Organic marketing and growth. Clear roadmap and history of delivering on milestones. Strong community and real engagement. Honestly there isn’t a project that deserves a grant more than this one, and they should be asking for more in my opinion.

3 Likes
16

Typically, honest coincides with transparency. Is dev team doxxed?

17

We’re not publicly doxxed for personal and professional privacy, but we’ll gladly dox ourselves to Harmony if they approve our grant proposal.

4 Likes
18

Im reading right now and this is a promising project i might say…, the design was clean and gorgeous, nfts are hell cute and im loving the website. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: best community in harmony ecosystem

4 Likes
19

I have been thoroughly impressed with the work of the KURO team. It takes dedication, diligence, and belief in your product to create a new platform, and the flawless deployment of their custom non-forked dApp is proof of their commitment to those values.

Community growth appears to have been totally organic, with enjoyable and healthy discussions and engagement in their Discord channel, not only from the community, but with the Core team joining in, too.

With a solid core team working on the dApp and being involved in the geniunely friendly and welcoming community, I would have no concerns backing this proposal; it will be exciting to see where KURO can head in 2022.

4 Likes
20

I’ve been into so many projects in harmony as I am super bullish in this blockchain. One of the best projects that caught my attention is the KURO SHIBA due to its simple and clean nft and web design. I’ve been a constant supporter and follower ever since i discovered this project. What I am more bullish about aside from its token and nfts is the community itself. The whole team are approachable, transparent, and easy going. The project continuously grows and delivers beyond my expectation. Best community by far here in Harmony and I cant wait for the future development of this project!

LFG KURO SHIBA!!! :blue_heart:

3 Likes