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Fund 15 - Cardano Use Cases: Prototype & Launch

Akyba Protocol is a decentralized savings and micro-credit primitive built natively on Cardano.

It transforms traditional community finance models, ROSCA “tontines” and ASCA rotating credit groups, into transparent, verifiable, and autonomous state machines using:

• Cardano’s eUTxO ledger
• Aiken smart contracts
• CIP-68 membership identity tokens
• State Thread Token (STT) for deterministic state transitions
• Collateral-backed economic guarantees

This repository contains the source code, diagrams, specifications, and Catalyst deliverables for the Fund 15 prototype.

A functional prototype for both ROSCA and ASCA is already deployed on the Preview Testnet:

Current capabilities:

• Create ROSCA or ASCA groups
• Mint STT + CIP-68 tokens
• Join groups
• Execute Init / Join flows
• Early Contribute, Distribute, and Loan Application flows (ongoing)

This Prototype will evolve into the full Catalyst deliverable.

Community savings systems (ROSCA/ASCA) are widely used across Africa, Asia, and emerging markets.
Yet they suffer from:

• lack of transparency
• manual bookkeeping errors
• fraud and mismanagement
• unverified participants
• no structured collateral model
• no fair or auditable loan governance
• no digital identity
• no dispute-resistant rules

Billions of dollars circulate informally with zero automation or verification.

No blockchain protocol today provides:

• fully on-chain ROSCA cycles
• CIP-68 identity + collateral
• slashing mechanisms
• fair loan voting
• immutable group rules

Akyba fills this gap decisively.

Cardano is uniquely suited for ROSCA/ASCA primitives because of:

Perfect for state machines like:

---
---
title: ROSCA
---
stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR

    Group: Every Round

    Init: Creator Init
    Join: Member Join
    Leave: Member Leave
    Start: Creator Start
    Contribute: Creator and Members Contribute
    Distribute: Distribution Phase
    SlashCollateral: SLASH COLLATERAL
    TopupCollateral: Top-up Collateral
    InsufficientCollateral: INSUFFICIENT COLLATERAL
    Rejoin: Rejoin
    End: Creator End
    Withdraw: Member Withdraw

    if_state: Any missed Contribution?
    state if_state <<choice>>

    [*]  --> Init
    Join --> Leave
    Join --> Start
    Init  --> Start
    Start --> Group
    state Group {
        Contribute --> Distribute
        Distribute --> if_state
        if_state --> SlashCollateral: Enough Collateral
        if_state --> InsufficientCollateral: NOT Enough Collateral
        SlashCollateral --> TopupCollateral
        InsufficientCollateral --> Rejoin
        if_state --> Contribute: Next Round
    }
    Group --> End
    End --> Withdraw
    Withdraw --> [*]

---
---
title: ASCA
---
stateDiagram-v2
    Locked: Contribution Phase
    Unlocked: Lending Phase

    Init: Creator Init
    Join: Member Join
    Leave: Member Leave
    Start: Creator Start
    Contribute: Creator and Members Contribute
    ApplyLoan: Apply Loan
    CloseLoan: Close Loan
    VoteLoan: Vote Loan
    RepayLoan: Repay Loan
    LiquidateLoan: Liquidate Loan
    Kick: Creator Kicks Inactive Members
    End: Creator End
    Withdraw: Member Withdraw

    state loan_approved <<choice>>
    state miss_deadline <<choice>>

    [*]  --> Init
    Join --> Leave
    Join --> Start
    Init  --> Start
    Start --> Locked
    state Locked {
        Contribute --> Contribute: Until Lending Phase
    }
    Locked --> Unlocked
    Unlocked --> Leave
    state Unlocked {
      ApplyLoan --> CloseLoan: Cancel Loan
      ApplyLoan --> VoteLoan
      VoteLoan --> loan_approved
      loan_approved --> CloseLoan: Loan Rejected
      loan_approved --> miss_deadline: Loan Approved
      miss_deadline --> RepayLoan: Before Deadline
      miss_deadline --> LiquidateLoan: After Deadline
    }
    Unlocked --> Kick
    Kick --> End
    End --> Withdraw
    Withdraw --> [*]
    Leave --> [*]

• safer smart contracts
• clearer type system
• faster audits
• ideal for financial logic

Each member has:

• UserToken
• RefToken
• LoanApp Token (ASCA)

Bound directly to wallet + metadata.

• Efficient collateral
• Predictable fees
• Long-term sustainability

Akyba is built for Cardano, not a port from EVM.

A detailed report is provided in:
/docs/ecosystem-research.md

Findings:

• No existing project implements a full ROSCA or ASCA protocol on Cardano.
• No CIP-68 identity-based savings circle exists.
• No on-chain loan governance mechanism is available.
• No collateral-slashing primitive exists for community finance.

Akyba introduces:

• CIP-68 programmable membership identity
• Collateral-backed fairness rules
• STT-based deterministic group state
• Contribution batching
• Automatic slashing
• Loan application + voting + governance
• UTxO-based disbursement logic
• Zero-custody funds control

Akyba is not DeFi cloning, it is a new category of Cardano financial infrastructure.

/contracts         # Aiken smart contracts (ROSCA, ASCA, CIP-68, STT)
/offchain          # TypeScript backend services
/frontend          # Minimal UI for Catalyst prototype
/docs              # Whitepaper, specs, diagrams, ecosystem research
/docs/diagrams     # ROSCA, ASCA, eUTxO diagrams (PNG)
/scripts           # Utility scripts for local/testnet deployment

Includes:

• Init: to initialize a ROSCA group
• Join: to join a ROSCA group
• Leave: to leave a ROSCA group
• Start: to start a ROSCA group
• Contribute: to contribute to a ROSCA group
• Distribute: to distribute the prize every round
• Top-up Collateral: to increase a participant's collateral
• Rejoin: to rejoin a ROSCA group after being marked as not having enough collateral due to being slashed during a distribution phase
• End: to cancel or to end a ROSCA group
• Withdraw: to withdraw any residual collateral after the group has ended

Includes:

• Init: to initialize an ASCA group
• Join: to join an ASCA group
• Leave: to leave an ASCA group
• Start: to start an ASCA group
• Contribute: to contribute to an ASCA group
• Apply Loan: to apply for a loan after the group is in the lending phase
• Close Loan: to close a loan at any time as long as the borrow action has not been executed
• Vote Loan: to vote on a loan application using the contribution count as the voting power
• Borrow Loan: to withdraw the funds from the pool if the loan is approved
• Repay Loan: to repay a loan
• Liquidate Loan: to get lender's share of collateral of an unrepaid loan
• Kick: to kick inactive members
• End: to cancel or to end an ASCA group
• Withdraw: to reclaim locked ADA by undeploying scripts deployed when joining the group

• IEEE-style Whitepaper (PDF)
  /docs/Akyba-IEEE-Whitepaper.pdf
• ROSCA Specification
  /docs/spec-rosca.md
• ASCA Specification
  /docs/spec-asca.md
• Ecosystem Research
  /docs/ecosystem-research.md
• Technical Diagrams
  /docs/diagrams/*.png

Deliver a fully working prototype deployed on Cardano Preview Testnet with:

• Aiken smart contracts implemented
• Full ROSCA + ASCA flows operational
• Frontend for end-to-end test cycles
• Documentation and user testing reports
• Community feedback integration

gantt
    title Catalyst Milestones
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    axisFormat Month %m
    section On-chain
        Complete ASCA                                                : ON1, 2026-01-01, 1M
        Complete ROSCA                                               : ON2, after ON1, 1M
        Enhance smart contracts to support stablecoins (any currency): ON3, after ON2, 3M
    section Off-chain
        Backend development : OFF1, 2026-01-01, 3M
        Frontend development: OFF2, after OFF1, 3M
    section Community Testing
        Finalize: F15, after OFF2, 2w
    M1: vert, M1, after ON2, 2m
    M2: vert, M2, after OFF1, 1m
    M3: vert, M3, after ON3, 2m
    M4: vert, M4, after F15, 2w

• Full-stack architect: Haskell, Java/Spring, TypeScript, Plutus/Aiken
• GitHub
• LinkedIn

• Senior Cardano smart contract engineer specializing in Aiken, Plutus, and eUTxO design
• Full-stack Web3 developer with hands-on experience in:
  • Aiken contract development
  • CIP-68 metadata token engineering
  • UTxO-based state machine patterns
  • React/TypeScript Web3 frontends
  • Off-chain infrastructure & transaction builders
• Strong contributor to the Akyba ROSCA/ASCA logic implementation
• GitHub
• LinkedIn

• Go to https://aikenakyba.web.app/
• For the run, fill in your Blockfrost API Key
• Set your wallet to Preview Network
• Connect to the dApp

Blockfrost API Key is manually filled once, and then it's stored in localStrorage. Get your API Key by signing in into your Blockfrost dashboard.

You can clear your browser's local storage by viewing the site information, and then select Cookies and site data, manage on-device site data, delete saved data for aikenakyba.web.app

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Step 1	Step 2	Step 3

This dApp has been tested to work properly with Eternl

Coming Soon

Apache 2.0

Email: contact@akyba.app Telegram: (https://t.me/AkybaProtocol) Twitter: https://x.com/AkybaProtocol Discord: (https://discord.gg/f8QPqtX3)