The project will use newly-developed green technology to produce an important resource for manufacturing — also creating a cutting-edge fintech instrument.

ZrCoin is crowdfunding investment to deploy a brand new industrial technology. The team, which includes leading materials scientists and blockchain experts, has developed a process for recovering zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) from waste materials. Zirconium is a critical commodity, used as a refractory material in the production of ceramics and in nuclear facilities, due to its stability under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. At present, zirconium is mined from the earth, with harmful impacts to the environment.

New industrial and financial technologies

‘Our team of international scientists has spent several years and over $1 million in developing this new technology. We now want to start production of our green zirconium,’ comments Andrei Nikonorov, a financial and blockchain expert. ‘We know that not only is our product more cost-effective and of higher quality than the alternative, but it is also more environmentally friendly. Despite this, the banks are not interested in lending money to start this kind of project, and we are unwilling to go down the VC route, since this inevitably entails giving up control over your own company.’

Instead, ZrCoin will crowdfund the investment needed to build the factory and purchase the necessary machinery, using the Waves blockchain to host the token. ‘It seems fitting that a new kind of green industrial process should be launched hand-in-hand with the emerging grassroots financial technology of blockchain,’ continues Nikonorov. ‘We have been very impressed with the Waves platform, and their token facilities and DEX will make it easy to create, distribute and trade ZrCoins.’

Crowdsale

ZrCoin will sell blockchain-based options for synthetic ZrO2 — an entirely new kind of financial instrument — with each ZrCoin representing 1kg of the underlying commodity. ZrCoins will be sold at a discount to the price of zirconium, starting at $1.40. Once the production facility has been built and the company starts shipping the product to its buyers — many of whom have already registered their interest — they will start buying back ZrCoins at the market rate for ZrO2, which is currently around $2.80. ZrCoin can therefore be used by factories to purchase zirconium, or by traders to speculate on its value.

ZrCoin’s crowdfund will launches at 00:01 UTC on 11 May 2017 and will last until 23:59 UTC on 9 June 2017. For more information or to register for further updates, visit www.ZrCoin.io.