First up, Fiscus isn’t your typical “passive income” crypto or some flash-in-the-pan project. It’s big. Really big. World-changing big. And if you really want to get your head around it, it’s going to take some time.
But it's worth it!
In this post, I’ll provide an outline what Fiscus is, how you can potentially earn passive income from $FISC or NFTs whilst contributing to positive impact in the world, and point you in the direction of some deep-dive resources where you can learn more.
Note: the $FISC token has not launched yet – there were issues on launch day (22/23 April depending on what part of the world you live in). I'll update when have confirmed news on the next steps.
May 2022 update: Fiscus are going stealth, reviewing their tokenomics, getting an audit and building the off-chain revenue BEFORE launching, rebranded (new name etc – now Meranti Finance) eta Q1 2023. The failed launch was due to a combination of technical issues, including a ‘decimal formatting bug' in the swap function and a developer test transaction that triggered many panic sells. The third-party team who developed the smart contracts and launched the blockchain aspect are external contractors and are no longer working with Fiscus.
Fiscus acknowledge the problems and delays ahead and are offering buybacks, inc a 20% profit' . These will be distributed after they have raised capital, most of which has fallen through due to being reliant on the launch. I will share more info when I have something solid…meanwhile some of this article is no longer accurate, especially the tokenomics, but the overall business case, business model and ethos remains the same – join their Discord (before they go private!) for the latest info…you will need to invest some time to understand what's going on!
Jan 2023 update: A very brief update to say there have been no notable updates that we have been made aware of re Meranti (prev Fiscus) since Q3 when financing was still being sourced post the Fiscus failed launch. Linkedin following is growing (https://www.linkedin.com/company/meranti-finance/) but beyond that, we are still awaiting news.
August 2023 update: It has been a year now since any official update in Discord. Whilst a glimmer of hope still remains, this is probably my biggest disappointment to date. A project with such amazing potential 🙁
Let’s go…
What is Fiscus?
REMEMBER: whilst a lot of this article may be loosely correct eg the rough business model, direction etc, much will be inaccurate and is unknown/unconfirmed due to the change to Meranti!
Fiscus DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), is a blockchain FinTech that generates profit and builds its treasury through “project finance”; the funding of specific projects, generally VERY LARGE projects, such as infrastructure that are either new or in need of expansion.
Specifically, the focus is on ESG – projects that fit an Environmental, Social or Governance remit. ie. good stuff – global positive impact! Many of these projects require millions of dollars in funding to get off the ground.
Essentially, Fiscus are bringing old-world financial structures (project finance mechanisms) on-chain, providing transactional transparency and innovating based on the power of blockchain technology, primarily smart contracts.
All this enables Fiscus to offer very competitive terms and roll out finance much faster than the traditional methods through standardized, streamlined and scalable processes.
It also means they can support projects that may otherwise be overlooked or even blocked by lobbyists etc, even though these projects potentially bring massive global benefits, particularly to the less wealthy.
As you can imagine, there is a huge and growing demand for such off-chain assets to be safely brought on-chain.
That’s only the beginning though, there are other revenue-generating aspects that also grow the Fiscus treasury for the new-world and smaller projects using similar mechanisms and DeFi.
Yes, Fiscus is not what comes to mind when you think “DAO”. ie. it is NOT an $OHM fork!
I believe there are opportunities to gain from Fiscus / $FISC at multiple levels, however overall, I’m here for the long-term potential, financial and waaaaaay beyond.
Which is pretty freakin unreal as you’ll soon see…
What is “Project Finance”?
I come from a startup/tech background, so I have some understanding of funding, venture capital etc, but nothing on the scale of “project finance”. This is very new to me..
Project finance is the funding of specific projects that are capital intensive and usually long-term.
These projects are so big that a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is usually created for them.
A SPV is almost like a mini Company that is isolated from the parent company/owner and only exists for the project – the parent company or project owner carry no risk, however they cannot use the financing for any other purpose.
The finance is offered based on the project's assets (held as collateral) and its projected cash flows. The loan is paid back via revenue.
The project owner or company are not liable in any way, this is referred to as Non-Recourse Financing.
There is a lot of work prior to financing the project — studies, contracts, permits etc all need to be in place; everything needs to be known.
Only after the project details are fully documented can the financing terms be negotiated.
After terms are agreed, the funding is provided aka “Project Close” and the project begins.
The private lenders for these projects are often Family Offices (massive estates to manage; extremely high-wealth!) and Institutional Investors, however they require the project owner to have 10% “set aside” for the project in order to qualify for the loan.
The Set Aside value can vary but 10% is the norm.
That 10% is a sizeable chunk when projects cost 100M!
These projects are accustomed to paying massive fees/interest and giving away 30-40% equity in return for finance.
How does Fiscus fit in?
FiscusDAO have reworked the massive fees paid and the equity sacrificed via traditional Project Finance into their on-chain “Revenue-as-a-Service” system.
These fees and equity now equate to Treasury ROI, Third-Party Burn (3PB), NFT Sponsorship Rewards, NFT Voting Rewards, NFT Governance Rewards, NFT Royalties and more.
All this whilst making the process faster and less costly than the traditional route.
Not only does Fiscus provide the Set Aside, whilst holding the funds securely in the Fiscus Treasury via smart contracts, it manages the project funding process too and becomes the borrower.
Enter…
Fiscus Funds
Fiscus has created 5 SPVs (called Fiscus Funds) to manage financing on behalf of projects, all of which will be evaluated for ESG. Each focuses on a different sector and will be managed by professional fund managers;
- Fiscus North: raw materials, such as mining, agriculture/farming and commodities.
- Fiscus South: finished goods, such as manufacturing, utilities/energy, and construction.
- Fiscus East: services, retail, real estate, communication, financial services, and hospitality industries.
- Fiscus West: emerging technology, infrastructure, public good, and education.
- Fiscus Central: crypto and DeFi based – yield farming, lending, nodes, mining, metaverse, and the support and furtherance of Fiscus Plus.
These 5 Fiscus Funds will be the borrowers for projects utilizing FiscusDAO – the fund will apply for funding and then distribute to projects. All projects will be assessed regarding their ESG and overall positive impact they aim to have in the world.
How do Fiscus Funds work?
As far as the treasury is concerned there are just 5 customers/projects; the 5 Fiscus Funds.
This ‘funding of funds’ smooths out the process rather than having many individual projects (from a treasury perspective).
When the project gets funded aka ‘Project Close’, 75% of the Set Aside comes back to the Fiscus treasury as a fee ie. if the Set Aside was $1M, then $750K goes into the treasury.
The other 25% is used to purchase $FISC and burn it aka the Third Party Burn (3PB) which makes $FISC deflationary and, in theory, the token price should increase (a lot!).
Basically, as soon as the project receives the funding (which is held in a Fiscus Fund SPV), the treasury recoups 100% of its loan (which has never actually left the treasury) 🤯.
There'll be more on 3PB later!
Yes; if you’ve been following along, you’ll have noticed that the Set Aside (from the Fiscus Treasury) is being “lent” to a Fiscus Fund, which then controls it 🤯.
In essence, the Fiscus treasury grows risklessly.
And there’s more: Fiscus gets a recurring royalty on the project’s gross revenue!
The minimum initially is set to 7%, except Fiscus Central Funds (blockchain) where it is a minimum of 20% gross revenue. These get distributed as follows;
- NFT Level 1: 5%
- NFT Level 2: 15%
- NFT Level 3: 75%
- Fiscus Treasury: 5%
These are big projects; some have annual revenue projections in the Billions 🤔. However many of the projects are very long-term and as such it will take some time before royalties commence.
More on NFTs later.
Also worth noting is that Fiscus Funds are permitted to use a portion of the borrowed funds for alternative investments and DeFi (beyond the project itself), which also feeds back into the treasury.
Are any projects lined up?
Yes! As of mid April, there are over 25 Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) signed to receive over $25B in funding, and we’ve heard that several have progressed to the next level of promissory notes.
There are around 100 more in the pipeline.
Many projects relate to reducing carbon emissions and day-to-day stuff we take for granted such as access to healthcare, education, clean water and food. Their potential impact on humanity and the world we live in is huge.
Fiscus Plus
Before moving on, let's dip briefly into Fiscus Plus which operates within Fiscus Central (on-chain / blockchain projects).
With Fiscus Plus, 20% of revenue goes into a rewards pool from which $FISC holders will receive rewards in stablecoin, claimable in the dApp. A further 20% goes to NFT holders.
Stablecoins can be staked for 122% APY in Treasury Plus in cycles (currently 30-days). These staked stablecoins are used for the Set Aside required for Fiscus Plus funding and have caps based on the levels of funding required per cycle.
The intention is to eventually roll Treasury Plus out to ALL of the funds.
$FISC token / tokenomics
The token for Fiscus DAO is $FISC and its home is the Avalanche AVAX network. When it launches, you will be able to buy $FISC on TraderJoe.
The max supply of $FISC is 100,000,000 (100 million), however tokens are also burned as part of the 3PB (Third Party Burn) financing structure; yes — $FISC will become deflationary.
On launch, 1.3M $FISC tokens will be released.
The initial APY for staking $FISC will be 50,000% and remain constant until 10 million tokens are minted.
A halving of APY will occur every 10 million tokens until the maximum supply of 100,000,000 is reached.
ie. after the first 10 million $FISC tokens have been minted, the APY will drop to 25,000%. After another 10 million tokens have been issued, the APY drops to 12,500% and so on….after all 100 Million are released, the APY stops.
The end goal is the price appreciation of $FISC through continued assimilation of revenue streams and the tokenomics have been designed for exponential price appreciation.
Fiscus has big plans for $FISC to be the highest price token in the crypto world and with the greatest utility!
Which brings us back to…
3PB (Third Party Burn)
Every Fiscus Funds Set Aside involves a buy and burn of 25% of the Set Aside value.
So if a Set Aside is $1M, the Fiscus Fund must buy and burn $250,000 worth of $FISC.
Due to the system design, the amount of $FISC bought by Fiscus Funds, and thus burned, increases over time and so $FISC becomes highly deflationary.
👉 Supply will decrease.
The demand for $FISC comes not only from the crypto market but also from Fiscus Funds who are contractually bound to purchase $FISC on the open market equal to 25% of the Set Aside. That’s pretty big money that increases exponentially as more and bigger deals come on board!
👉 Demand will increase.
The higher the price of $FISC in relation to FIAT, the greater utility it offers (ie. for providing Set Asides). Combine this with an ever-increasing treasury, lack of bull-bear / emotional influence, plus the supply/demand levers and…
👉 Price will increase.
Additionally, $FISC is a governance token.
5 ways to earn passive income with $FISC
Let’s forget the NFTs (for now!) and focus only on the $FISC token.
First, as already mentioned, this is not your typical ‘passive income’ crypto so there are no precise returns or calculators for $FISC holders. Possibly as the project matures this will change.
Here are 5 ways you can earn and grow…
1. Early adopter staking and bonding: There is the opportunity to earn up to 50,000% APY by staking. This halves every 10M tokens that are minted until all 100M tokens are released. You can also bond during this period. See earlier ‘$FISC token’ section for details.
2. Passive income from Fiscus Plus: $FISC holders will receive 20% of all Fiscus Plus revenue via stablecoin, claimable in the dApp.
3. Stablecoin staking: can be further staked on a project basis for 125.22% APY. There will be a cap based on the funding required for that cycle (cycle starting at 30 days)
4. Fiscus introductions: If you introduce a project to Fiscus that is accepted, you will earn compensation and royalties.
5. Price appreciation: when $FISC takes off, it really could break records.
Fiscus NFTs & Fiscus Projects
Fiscus Projects is the term given to any project that seeks to utilize Fiscus Funds for financing, and is where NFT participation begins.
I won’t go into too much detail on NFTs as they are likely to be pretty expensive to purchase, however if you have available cash, buying one could also be a life-changing investment.
There are 3 levels of NFT, aptly named Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.
They are already minted and only available to purchase on the secondary market via Avalanche marketplace, Kalao.
Below are the total quantity NFTs minted for each level.
- Level 1: 2,295
- Level 2: 860
- Level 3: 195
DO NOT purchase any Fiscus NFT on Open Sea – they are not real/valid.
4 ways to earn with NFTs
Some of these are super-passive, some less-so. NFTs can be bought on Kalao.
1. NFT Sponsorship:
For a project to get the go-ahead to enter the 2-week vetting period, they need to be “sponsored” by 400 NFT holders (275 * L1, 100 * L2 and 25 * L3….ie. around 9-13% of each level) .
This is an open market and so project owners may offer incentives to receive sponsorship.
2. NFT Voting:
After getting sponsorship approval, the project needs to be vetted and voted in.
Every level of NFT gets a vote. Each vote for an approved project gets paid $50. The payment is made upon Project Close (ie. when the funding is approved). These rewards do not come from the treasury — they are structured into the deal.
3. NFT Governance:
Level 2 and Level 3 NFTs also stand to earn via governance, set at 0.5% of the overall project funding. Per year. Yeah; that’s a lot of wonga! 💰
Governance could be via monthly or quarterly participation (exactly what “participation” means is not yet known) and will be paid quarterly. They are split evenly between L2 & L3’s who participate. Again, these rewards do not come from the treasury — they are structured into the deal.
4. NFT Royalties:
Finally, do you remember the royalties I mentioned earlier? If you forgot, here they are:
- NFT Level 1: 5%
- NFT Level 2: 15%
- NFT Level 3: 75%
- Fiscus Treasury: 5%
The minimum initially is set to 7% of the project's gross revenue — with a minimum of 20% for Fiscus Central Funds (blockchain). Annually!
This royalty is claimable by ALL NFT Holders regardless of their activity, however they must be claimed in a given timeframe. Unclaimed rewards will revert to the rewards pool.
Remember, these are long-term projects and so royalties are not expected for some time.
Security & Compliance
Audits are not yet done but on-chain is expected to be completed shortly after launch, while off-chain audits will be conducted by PWC with first commencing approximately 4 weeks after launch.
There is a 5/7 multi-sig, meaning 7 people can approve transactions and 5 are required to sign off on treasury funds.
Chainlink as the partner for on-chain oracle and Finicity (owned by Mastercard) for off-chain oracle – they do the asset verification, transaction tracking between Fiscus and the projects.
Due diligence is carried out by Kroll who also investigates and carries out dox/due dil on team members (also, projects brought to the table by professionals such as Waywaya will already have had significant prior dd and also more dd by the end financing companies eg. Mynizaga). Three law firms are involved in keeping compliant.
More documents are expected post-launch.
Team
More info on the team will be coming soon, including the fund managers.
Meanwhile, this dropped in the 22nd April Fiscus Friday:
- Kyle Sarwal – CEO & Co-Founder
- Princess Viray – CFO & Co-Founder
- Ken Chang – CTO & Co-Founder
- Kevin Schoenewolf – COO & Co-Founder
- RP – CCO & Co-Founder
- Tram – CXO & Co-Founder
- KingHeron – CCO & Co-Founder
Phil and Dony will be inside of Fiscus Central working on elements of Fiscus that have been unspoken until now, including and not limited to:
- Fiscus Bank
- Protocol/Token Buyouts & Takeovers
- Business & Personal Credit On-Chain
👀 😵💫 👀 😵💫 👀 #wow
Resources
Fiscus is a massive project that takes some time to get your head around. It takes you to read things multiple times and in various formats.
The best resource is Discord which among many things includes a documents section for Project MOUs, and hosts the Fiscus Friday chats: https://discord.gg/fiscusdao (spend several hours/days here!!)
You’ll also find docs on the Fiscus website: https://fiscusdao.finance/documents/
And articles on Medium: https://medium.com/@FiscusDAOteam
If Twitter’s your bag, go follow: https://twitter.com/FiscusDAO (and also check out this awesome thread).
So, what's your thoughts? Can $FISC become the highest-price crypto token with the greatest utility? Can it change the world? 🤔
That’s all for now.
Catch yas later, Fiscalites!
NOTE: This post is a work in progress and will be updated as more information becomes available. As always, if you notice any errors drop me a message via the contact form…and remember; DYOR 🙂
