Discord | Twitter | Instagram | By Nihar Neelakanti CEO, Ecosapiens

Welcome to the Ecosapiens alpha! We are excited to offer you the opportunity to test our first collection of digital collectibles, designed to make it easy, economical, and culturally rewarding for anyone to make a positive impact on the planet. With the Ecosapien carbon-backed NFT, you can offset your entire year's worth of carbon emissions with just one click, financing forest protection and reforestation projects and showcasing your real-world impact.

This guide will help you understand the mechanics of our alpha launch and how to participate.

Obtaining the Level 1 Ecosapien

The Ecosapiens alpha is a limited-time opportunity to test our first collection of digital collectibles. There will be a total of 350 Ecosapiens available to mint during the alpha period. This section provides a brief outline of the timeline and mechanics of the alpha.

During this season, we will focus on Eco, the main character in the Ecosapien saga. After the Season 1 alpha is complete, we will release a new batch of Ecosapien collectibles with modified economics, characters, and other features.

Participation is highly sought-after, so we have designed a system to ensure that our most invested community members have the chance to mint an Ecosapien before anyone else. The alpha will begin on February 22nd when we will allow Greenlisted users to mint the Chrysalis. The Chrysalis is a digital collectible with no unique traits that evolves into a Level 1 Ecosapien. Think of it as an egg that hatches an Ecosapien, or as a mint pass. Each Greenlisted user is limited to 1 mint and will have 24 hours to claim their Chrysalis using their Greenlist spot before we open up minting to waitlisted users. The first 250 Greenlist spots have been awarded to the top players of the EcoPoints game. We are currently issuing 100 additional Greenlist spots to community members on an application basis and waitlisting the runners-up of the EcoPoints game.

After a period of 1 week, and after every Chrysalis is minted, we will allow holders to evolve their Chrysalis into a Level 1 Ecosapien by infusing 16 tons of CO2 into the Chrysalis, giving birth to a fledgling Ecosapien. The Level 1 Ecosapien mint is scheduled for March 1st, 2023. This will cost the ETH equivalent of $500 USD. The amount in ETH terms will be determined by the spot prices on mint day.

In order to mint an Ecosapien, you will need to have a Chrysalis. If you do not have a Chrysalis and want to mint an Ecosapien during the alpha, you will have to purchase an Ecosapien or Chrysalis on secondary markets.

Overview:

• The Season 1 alpha will have 350 pieces, starting with the Chrysalis.

• The Chrysalis is a free-to-mint NFT (no carbon) and is the first step in your Ecosapien journey.

• You must own the Chrysalis to be able to mint a Level 1 carbon-backed Ecosapien.

• Evolving a Chrysalis into a Level 1 Ecosapien will offset 16 tons of carbon.

• The Chrysalis mint begins on Feb 22nd. You can exchange your Chrysalis for a Level 1 Ecosapien on March 1st. Every week after you can evolve your Ecosapien to the next level (a total of 7 levels) by infusing additional carbon.

Leveling Up: Impact-2-Earn™

Subsequently and throughout the run of the Ecosapiens alpha, you will be able to level up your Ecosapien through our Impact-2-Earn™ system.

During weekly evolution periods, you can add more traits that visually enhance and add rarity to your Ecosapien by sequestering more carbon. This allows you to showcase your positive impact on the planet and means that an Ecosapien can continue sequestering carbon long after its initial minting. Each additional level will sequester an additional 2 tons of carbon and will cost $100 in ETH (determined by spot prices at the time). A fully leveled Ecosapien that reaches the level cap of 7 will have sequestered 28 tons of carbon, the ​​equivalent of two years' worth of carbon output for the average American.

Once the season is complete (after the 8 week evolution period) you will no longer be able to evolve your Ecosapien. There will be unique utilities only offered to those who evolve fully to Level 7.

Hatching your Chrysalis: When the 1st evolution period begins, you infuse 16 tons of carbon (a little over a full year's worth of carbon emissions for the average American) to transform your Chrysalis into a Level 1 Ecosapien.

Beyond first evolution: On a weekly basis, a new evolution period will begin. During which, Ecosapien owners can infuse additional carbon (2 tonnes @ $100) to evolve their Ecosapien to the next level and unlock the next trait(s) in the sequence (background, exoskeleton, etc.).

If you follow through with each evolution until the end, you will end up with a fully evolved and complete Ecosapien that uniquely showcases your repeated impact on the planet. In the process you will have also sequestered 2 years worth of carbon emissions (28 tons). Each piece will be distinct, and some may be more valuable and rare than others.

Rarity

Each Ecosapien has 9 categories of traits, each with its own rarity type. Ecosapien traits can have one of five (4) possible rarity types, ranging from the least rare ("Common") to the most rare ("Prime"). These rarity types are "Common," "Special," "Alpha," and "Prime." Each rarity type has a consistent chance of occurring for each trait (see the chart below for probabilities and outcomes). The categories of traits are "background," "environment," "exoskeleton," "small minerals," "small flora," "medium flora," "large minerals," and "large flora."

At Level 1, your Ecosapien will start with two traits: background and environment. As you level up your Ecosapien through Impact-2-Earn™ events, you’ll add additional traits resulting in a more complete Ecosapien, while increasing the overall rarity of your Ecosapien.

• A Level 1 Ecosapien will only have the Background and Environment traits.

• A Level 2 Ecosapien will have new Exoskeleton and Endoskeleton traits.

• A Level 3 Ecosapien will have new Small Mineral traits.

• A Level 4 Ecosapien will have new Small Flora traits.

• A Level 5 Ecosapien will have new Medium Flora traits.

• A Level 6 Ecosapien will have new Large Mineral traits.

• A Level 7 Ecosapien will have new Large Flora traits.

In order to showcase what the range of rarity one can expect by fully evolving their character, we ran a Monte Carlo model with 5000+ simulations. This is visualized in a bell curve that showcases the range of possible outcomes of your Ecosapien’s rarity ratings as a fully evolved Ecosapien. The graphic below and associated observations illustrate the distribution of outcomes.

These are the quick takeaways: A fully evolved Ecosapien will have the highest rarity ratings, and of course, a fully leveled Ecosapien is a nod to your compounding impact, as an L7 Ecosapien nearly doubles your carbon credit ownership and offsets 2 years of emissions in the process.

Details and mechanics of Impact-2-Earn™ during the alpha #1:

• Each evolution after the L1 Ecosapien (Level 1 → Level 2 → Level 3, etc.) will sequester 2 additional tons of carbon for each level.

• Infusing the 2 tons of carbon required for each level will cost $100 (determined by ETH spot prices at the time).

• During each evolution, we will burn the previous digital collectible and you will receive the new one, maintaining a fixed circulating supply of 350 pieces. (Burning and minting will incur a small amount of gas fees).

• Those who are unable to mint a Chrysalis through early access will be able to buy one in the aftermarket. This is true for the Ecosapien as well.

• Each Chrysalis and each Ecosapien (levels 1-7) is tradeable, giving existing owners the opportunity to sell on the market and new owners the chance to join at any time.

• Catching up (part 1): If you miss an evolution period (for example, if you were traveling), you can still catch up to the current evolution level during the alpha period by infusing the missed carbon plus the new carbon required to catch up. You can catch up as long as evolutions are "in-season" during the first 10 weeks of the alpha. For example, if someone buys a Level 2 Ecosapien on OpenSea and the next evolution in season is Level 5, they can catch up by infusing 6 tons of carbon (2 tons per Level x 3 missed Levels) to get to the current Level (L5).

• Catching up (part 2): You cannot pick and choose what level you want to catch up to. You can only catch up to the Level currently in season. For example, if you have a Level 2 Ecosapien, and we are now at Level 7 (the last level) of the season, you can only catch up to Level 7. You cannot choose to go to level 4, 6, or any other Level than the current Level cap (in this example, level 7). So don’t worry if you fall behind on evolutions or if you jumped into the season by buying an Ecosapien on OpenSea. Just know that you can only catch up all the way to the current level cap.

• After the Season 1 alpha period is complete, you can no longer infuse carbon and level up your Ecosapien. At that time, your character will be ‘complete’ and no longer modifiable. Evolve your Ecosapien fully while you can!

EcoPortal Login and Onboarding

In order to mint an Ecosapien during the alpha, you will need to register to the EcoPortal. To do this, you will need to login using your preferred web3 login wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, etc). After logging in, you will be guided through a quick onboarding process that will prepare you to mint your own Ecosapien.

In the task center on the right side of the dashboard, you will need to confirm your email and complete a quick KYC process. This is required by US regulations and will only take a few minutes. We will use your email to send updates and reminders about drop dates and other activities in the Ecosapien Community. We have partnered with Persona KYC to ensure that your information is kept safe. The most common reason for the KYC process failing is due to submission of blurry photos or an expired ID, so please make sure you take high-quality photos of an up-to-date government-issued ID. If you encounter any difficulties, our live chat and Discord support are always available to assist you. Once your email and KYC are confirmed, you'll be able to mint and upgrade your Ecosapien.

We understand that there are still projects that do not require KYC, but as we are a venture-backed company that intends to position itself as one of the top digital collectible projects, we must comply with US regulatory requirements. This is something, for example, that Bored Ape Yacht Club and Dapper Labs does.

If you purchase an Ecosapien in the aftermarket and intend to evolve and infuse carbon, you will also need to complete KYC on the Ecoportal. If you plan to simply hold the Ecosapien in your wallet and trade, you will not need to log in to the Ecoportal. You will only have to do KYC once per wallet.

Quests & Ecopoints

To ensure that our most invested community members get first dibs on a mint, we designed a Quest system that involves tasks to show your value to the community and positively benefit the planet. We had over 3000 players competing to be in the top 250 to earn a spot in the alpha. Even if you didn’t make the top 250 players, we still encourage you to play the game. There will be unique rewards for players who don't quite make it to the top 250, and there will also be further alpha & beta releases ahead of the public launch, so maintaining your rank on the Quest system will still be useful. On January 15th, we Greenlisted the wallet addresses of the top 250 people so they can participate in the Ecosapien alpha, and the runners-up will be prioritized as waitlisted users.

Final Notes

It's important to note that this first batch is an experiment and should be viewed as a real alpha by the community and collection owners. Some things will work, and some will break. We will learn throughout this process and iterate quickly.

During this initial alpha, we will be observing how users interact with their Ecosapien carbon collectibles. Are they drawn in by the art? The added impact? How many Ecosapiens will reach full evolution by the end of the season? We will be evaluating these variables and many more over the course of Impact-2-Earn™ alpha #1, which will inform us about how the next alpha will go and ultimately lead to a public launch of the Ecosapien digital collectibles.

If you're interested in participating in this unique experience and making a positive impact on the planet, join the alpha. You can gain early access to the Chrysalis by going to our Discord and applying for the remaining Greenlist spots or getting on the waitlist. Alternatively, you can buy a Chrysalis or an Ecosapien on secondary markets after mint!

Disclaimer: like all living organisms, this white paper, vision, and roadmap will continue to evolve. What is documented here in this white paper is not a guarantee of what will ensue at the time of drop. Ownership of the NFT does not intend to guarantee access to future products or services. All opinions discussed in this white paper are subject to change without notice. Nothing written here is intended, nor is it, financial advice. You must make an independent decision as to whether or not our thesis and vision are attractive to you. Terms and conditions subject to change.

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