By The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in conjunction with BioDiversity Solutions Australia (BDS) has developed a Blockchain-based prototype aimed at promoting biodiversity. The prototype has the potential to enhance investment opportunities and sustainable development of the environment by different stakeholders. The environmental stakeholders are mainly landowners, developers, environmental groups and government agencies dealing with the environment. The prototype aims to provide investment opportunities and developments by creating a blockchain-based platform for trading using a digital token known as BioTokens.
BioDiversity Solutions Australia (BDS) which is the brainchild of the prototype, is a privately owned business with its headquarter in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Reportedly, BDS came up with the BioTokens concept in an attempt to understand the challenges and potential benefits of the Biodiversity Offset Scheme in Australia. The offset scheme was put in place and expanded in 2017 by the government of Australia.
What are BioTokens?
BioToken is set to enable developers, landholders, environmental groups and government agencies to trade in biodiversity credits. The trading will enable these stakeholders to offset the impacts of development on the environment. The credits are programmed to be generated by the landholders especially those who intend to protect the biodiversity in their lands in eternity. Elaborating further on the invention, Sophie Gilder, the CBA’s head of Experimentation and Commercialization for Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Emerging Technology said:
“This innovative prototype creates an accessible, transparent online marketplace where valuable biodiversity credits can be securely managed and traded using ‘BioTokens’ on blockchain — transferrable digital tokens which represent unique biodiversity assets. Our vision is that by digitizing biodiversity credits and building a marketplace where they can be bought and sold, we can invest in and protect our natural environments.”
Reportedly, there are no transparent market places to trade biodiversity credits in Australia. The blockchain-based prototype therefore comes in handy to provide the much needed accessible, secure and liquid marketplace where biodiversity credits can be bought and sold. The prototype thus will give different stakeholders a platform to invest in and conserve the natural environment.
According to reports, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has also hinted to the possibility of adopting the BioTokens concepts and applying it in other sectors. The sector which the bank aims at are those that are limited in terms of resources. The bank intends to use the blockchain-based prototype in the management and allocation of scarce resources such as intellectual properties and water rights.
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