The Permissionless Future of Credit Class Creation on Regen Network

Whether you’re a community garden, a farmers’ co-op, or a group of scientists — anyone can start generating ecological credits, test the market, and trial cutting-edge methodologies.

It’s time for permissionless credit class creation on Regen Mainnet. Our goal is to make the Regen Ledger blockchain accessible to everyone, and by doing so expedite the development of nature-based methodologies and credit standards that will help regenerate and restore natural ecosystems. At present, Regen Ledger functions as a permissioned chain. However, these changes would enable the ecosystem to operate more like open, permissionless networks such as Ethereum.

Currently, Regen Network Development on behalf of Regen Registry is the only address on the Credit Class Creator Allowlist. This is similar to how if a project developer went through the process of creating carbon credits through the Verra program, the Verra Registry would be the only party able to approve and initiate credit issuance. With permissionless credit classes, any group could create their own credit classes, regardless of size or affiliation, and deploy standards and governance processes without formal engagement with a carbon registry.

It should be noted that developing a credit class permissionlessly would serve as an alternative to developing credits through the formal Regen Registry program. The Regen Registry program as it stands today will remain unchanged, ensuring the continued provision of high-quality credit origination services.

It has always been a part of the Regen Network vision to empower grassroots communities at a local scale through microcredits. With permissionless crediting, we hope to pave the way for inclusivity and innovation in the carbon markets space and further the decentralization of Regen Network.

Understanding Permissionless Credit Classes

Permissionless credit classes represent a significant shift in the way ecocredits are created. It means that any group, regardless of size or affiliation, can now create their own credit classes. This opens up possibilities for community initiatives, farmers' cooperatives, and scientists to design and deploy standards and governance processes without formal engagement with a registry.

Permissionless credit classes form the cornerstone of a new decentralized, community-centric approach to environmental sustainability. This model enables individual communities to define their own standards for the creation and distribution of ecocredits, a digital representation of environmental impact, or positive externalities. With this framework, communities can autonomously create credit classes that reflect their unique local ecosystems, conservation efforts, or sustainability objectives, moving away from top-down, one-size-fits-all standards. The credit classes, which can include criteria like carbon sequestration, biodiversity preservation, or water quality enhancement, serve as the basis for issuing ecocredits. Once issued, these ecocredits can be traded or sold, incentivizing sustainable practices and encouraging further participation. This system facilitates a more inclusive, adaptable, and direct way of environmental stewardship, aligning economic incentives with ecological responsibility.

The combination of the Regen Group Module and the Regen Ecocredit Module represents a fundamental shift in enabling communities to adopt sustainable practices with the power of decentralized technology. The Regen Group Module allows communities to organize themselves into decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) on the Regen Network, essentially creating an ecological guild. Each group can set its own governance structures and policies, allowing for the decentralized, democratic management of environmental standards.

The Regen Ecocredit Module, on the other hand, provides the technological framework to create, issue, and manage ecocredits in alignment with the community-defined credit classes. This includes the ability to define precise standards for ecocredit issuance based on local ecological context and conservation needs. The flexibility of the Ecocredit Module facilitates the creation of an array of unique ecocredits, thereby generating an ecosystem of diverse, granular, and locally-specific environmental value representations.

In synergy, these two modules empower grassroots communities and innovators to manage their own rigorous process for credit issuance standards. By establishing a localized, permissionless, and adaptable system, they ensure that ecocredits not only reflect the ecological reality of the area but also encourage broad-based participation in sustainable practices. This empowers communities to take ownership of their local environments and the standards that govern their conservation, heralding a new era of bottom-up, community-led environmental stewardship.

Finally, the Regen Data Module provides the critical final pillar in this groundbreaking approach towards decentralized environmental stewardship. It ensures the highest level of on-chain data transparency, thereby acting as the backbone for advanced credit curation. In this structure, every bit of information related to the creation, issuance, and trading of ecocredits is recorded on the blockchain in a tamper-proof and fully auditable manner. Buyers, regulators, and the wider community can access, scrutinize, and utilize this wealth of data, allowing for a much more informed understanding of the exact ecological impact of their purchase. It provides the buyers with a deep-dive into what they are buying, tracing the journey of an ecocredit from its origination to its eventual sale, along with the corresponding environmental impact it signifies.

By transforming the centralized command-and-control approach to a model of open community innovation, the Regen Data Module also empowers communities to take bold strides in combating climate change and driving biodiversity regeneration. It opens up a world of possibilities for innovators to leverage this data, creating new models and solutions to meet the urgent demands of the world for climate action. Thus, the Regen Data Module, in conjunction with the Group and Ecocredit Modules, paves the way for a democratized, transparent, and data-driven revolution in ecological conservation.

Why now?

Over the past two years, Regen Mainnet has reached a pivotal turning point, and we believe it’s time to engage the community in a conversation about the future of credit class creation. Currently, the creation of credit classes on Regen Network is managed through an on-chain allowlist of credit class creators. However, we believe it’s time to transition to a more inclusive and innovative approach. Initially, we introduced the permissioned approach to credit class creation, seeking feedback from the community. The allowlist consisted of a fixed set of wallet addresses, managed by on-chain governance through $REGEN token holders.

Since then, RND has worked closely with partners to steward the creation of credit classes. As of now, the Regen Registry has two approved credit classes and three published methodologies, with two methodologies and credit classes actively in public comment. Additionally, RND has formed key partnerships with City Forest Credits and Toucan Protocol, creating credit classes for managing credits from other registries on Regen Network.

Shifting Focus to Credit Originators

During this time, our software team successfully launched Regen Marketplace as the primary web-based interface for interacting with Regen Ledger. This platform enables credit suppliers and holders to sell carbon credits to buyers, supporting important ecological work led by credit origination partners. With the Regen Marketplace now live, RND intends to shift its software development focus back to serving credit originators. In the coming years, our priority will be building software tools that support origination partners in developing and launching new protocols for various types of ecocredits, including carbon credits, biodiversity credits, and water credits.

Expanding Accessibility

Regen Registry is built on the understanding that ecological systems are inherently complex, and creating a one-size-fits-all solution does not address the financial constraints, access to scientific resources, and site-specific limitations which prohibit the development of many ecological regeneration projects. Regenerative projects have great potential to benefit from carbon markets, but the current process can be time-consuming, expensive, or simply inaccessible. Additionally, project developers have limited ability to co-design and create bioregional or practice-specific crediting programs that best suit their needs. More often than not, projects are left without access to their own data and uncertainty about credit quality.

To make credit origination tools more widely accessible, we believe it’s the right time to enable permissionless credit class creation on Regen Mainnet. This shift will promote a greater diversity of credit class standards and quality protocols, fostering inclusivity and innovation. It aligns with our vision of allowing grassroots communities to value ecological health at a local scale. Permissionless credit classes have been available on the Regen Redwood testnet for the past year, and we are excited to adopt them on Regen Mainnet, marking a significant milestone towards the full decentralization of Regen Network.

Impacts on Regen Marketplace and other concerns

Enabling permissionless credit class creation raises concerns about potential lower quality or fraudulent credits. To address this, we believe in a diverse ecosystem of credit quality standards, relying on layers of curation and rating systems. We have implemented a filtered view on Regen Marketplace to clearly distinguish credits enrolled or endorsed by Regen Registry, ensuring transparency for buyers.

Volume Increase

As the barriers to credit minting are lowered, we expect increased traffic on the blockchain and marketplace. More groups will utilize the token minting system to represent their own ecocrediting systems and test novel approaches.

We want your input

At Regen Network Development, we believe that by enabling permissionless credit classes — while maintaining quality standards — we can democratize the tools and lower barriers to entry for a dynamic and innovative community around the future of the voluntary carbon market. We invite the community to share their thoughts, comments, questions, and concerns as we embark on this transformative journey towards the full decentralization of Regen Network.

Voice your opinion on the future of permissionless credit class creation on our Commonwealth forum. Join the conversation and contribute to Regen Network’s decentralized credit solutions.