Crypto crowdfunding platform launches DEX for project-specific tokens

Hot on the heels of launching its crypto-powered crowdfunding platform in May, a blockchain firm dedicated to supporting R&D for hi-tech projects is entering the DeFi space with its own decentralized exchange.

The core of Tecra’s business is the Tecra Space crowdfunding platform, which supports start-ups focused on technology, innovation and sustainability. It supports them by tokenizing the intellectual property (IP) of these fledgling businesses for small investors interested in backing projects that can do well while doing good.

Each project supported by Tecra Space offers its own tokens, which can be purchased with Ether, Tether stablecoins and TecraCoin (TCR) and also by credit card, PayPal or bank transfer, a native cryptocurrency currently listed on the Hotbit exchange and Uniswap DEX. Now, Tecra has announced plans to launch its own Tecra DEX early next year, which will list Tecra Space project tokens as well as TecraCoin and popular cryptocurrencies.

Tecra has gained financial support — and credibility — from the EU’s Smart Growth Programme and Poland’s National Centre for Research and Development, as well as winning the Startup Grand Slam at the 2019 World Blockchain Summit Taipei. It was also a Singularity University finalist for the 10 best startups in Eastern Europe, awarded on Google Campus in Warsaw. 

Curb your DOGE

One important feature that will set the Tecra DEX apart from other centralized and decentralized exchanges is that it will list “quality tokens of real companies,” with marketable projects, according to Przemysław Karda, CEO of Tecra.

That is a point core to the identity of Tecra, which uses the tagline “science, not fiction” — a swipe at what the company calls “the current trend of tokens with superficial value.” (Notably the canine-themed Dogecoin and Shibecoin, according to the Tecra whitepaper.)

To earn a spot on Tecra Space, projects must gain the support of the Tecra community and pass an expert evaluation. The first to do so is Expanse Plus, a Polish project to fund a pair of rooftop solar power plants totaling 1.4 MW — one of which will be among the biggest in the country. Other projects vying for a spot include electric bicycles, shipping container-mounted industrial 3D printers, an NFT-based platform for tokenizing real-world assets, and a Nigerian self-driving taxi company.

“There is also an important idea behind Tecra — a technological counter-revolution,” Karda says. “Tecra strives to bring improvement to everyone’s lives, instead of only benefitting the 1% of the richest and most powerful.”

Burn to earn

Investors have a number of ways to profit by backing Tecra Space projects, starting with the 7% commission levied on successfully funded projects. Of that, 3% will be distributed to project token holders, 2% burned and 2% kept as the Tecra Space fee.

In addition, funded projects must commit to buying back a substantial amount of their individual tokens with TCR over time. Expanse Plus, for example, issued 1.5 million SUN tokens to pay for its solar power farm. Some 80% of the farm’s revenue will go toward buying tokens from the market and burning tokens from the Tecra DEX.

The coin will soon be listed on another centralized exchange.