WeWork’s Neumann’s Climate Firm Refunds Crypto Token Holders After Failed Launch: Forbes

2022 saw the birth of a new company that secured a $70 million investment from firms such as Andreessen Horowitz. Their vision? To digitally represent carbon credits on the blockchain and issue a token where each token corresponds directly to one carbon credit.

Carbon credits serve the purpose of lessening the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, enabling owners to compensate for a specific quantity of emitted carbon dioxide. Essentially, each credit symbolizes one metric ton of carbon dioxide that has been eliminated or absorbed.

Instead of buying carbon credits traditionally from project owners or brokers, Neumann’s startup aims to trade them as cryptographic tokens.

As a researcher, I’ve discovered that approximately 54% of the total $70 million funds acquired by Flowcarbon were generated from the sale of the Goddess Nature Token, or GNT for short.

However, it appears that the firm is contacting token holders in an effort to return their investment, attributing the termination of the token to adverse market conditions and pushback from carbon registries, as reported by sources knowledgeable about the situation to Forbes.

According to Flowcarbon’s statement to Forbes, it has been providing refunds for GNT purchases made by retailers since last year, due to delays within the industry. This is done under standard and customary terms while Flowcarbon aims to maintain its position as a leading figure in carbon finance.

As a researcher, in my own words, I would express it as follows: In July 2022, our CEO, Dana Gibber, shared with the Wall Street Journal that we had temporarily halted the launch of our token to allow market conditions to settle. This decision was made following significant instability in the crypto market due to the FTX collapse and a cautionary warning from carbon credit registry Verra regarding the tokenization of credits, which are usually retired upon purchase.

As numerous nations strive towards carbon neutrality, the conventional carbon credit investment market has grown increasingly profitable, with a total worth of over $330 billion in the year 2022.

Transforming these credits into tokens on the blockchain was done to enhance transparency and make it easier for investors to access this vast market. Lately, the tokenized trading project Neutral, along with DLT Finance, a German brokerage firm, have established a regulated platform supported by blockchain technology for carbon credits, allowing investors to trade them.