Emrals: A Blockchain Investment Token Backed by Physical Emeralds

What is Emrals

Friends, imagine if every time you picked up litter from the street or properly disposed of recyclables in a bin, you received a reward—wouldn't that be great? Emrals is a blockchain project designed just like that, an “environmental rewards game” aiming to incentivize community cleaning and environmental activities through cryptocurrency.

Simply put, Emrals targets anyone who cares about the environment and is willing to contribute to community cleanliness. Its core scenario is to make it easy for people to participate in environmental protection in daily life via a mobile app and smart trash bins (called eCan), earning Emrals tokens as rewards.

A typical use case might look like this: you open the Emrals mobile app, find an area nearby that needs cleaning, or spot an eCan smart trash bin. When you clean up litter or correctly dispose of recyclables, the app recognizes your action (for example, by uploading a photo), and you receive Emrals tokens. What can you do with these tokens? In the future, they may have more uses, such as redeeming goods or services, or participating in community governance.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

Emrals’ vision is straightforward and meaningful: to make communities around the world cleaner and more sustainable through innovative means. The core problem it aims to solve is how to effectively motivate people to participate in everyday environmental actions, since such actions often lack immediate and visible rewards.

Emrals’ value proposition lies in combining blockchain technology with real-world environmental actions, creating a “Dash for trash”—a system that links crypto rewards directly to actual community cleaning work. Unlike traditional environmental projects, it’s not just about advocacy, but about driving behavioral change through economic incentives. It emphasizes transparency and open source, aiming to build an actively engaged community.

Technical Features

Emrals has some interesting technical features. Instead of building a brand-new blockchain from scratch, it is based on a mature and proven blockchain project—Dash.

• Based on Dash: Think of Dash as a powerful “skeleton,” and Emrals builds its own “body” on top of it. Dash is known for its Masternode technology, which Emrals inherits.
• Consensus Mechanism: Emrals uses a hybrid consensus mechanism of Proof of Work (PoW) and Masternodes.
  • Proof of Work (PoW): Like Bitcoin, miners validate transactions and create new blocks by solving complex mathematical problems, consuming computing power to secure the network.
  • Masternodes: These are special network nodes that require staking a certain amount of Emrals tokens to operate. Masternodes participate in network governance, provide advanced features like instant and anonymous transactions, and receive the majority of block rewards, offering a stable funding stream to support environmental cleanup activities.
• Algorithm: Emrals uses the X11 algorithm, a chained hash algorithm composed of 11 different hashing functions, designed to improve mining fairness and resist ASIC miner centralization risks.
• Real-world Solutions: Emrals goes beyond the digital world, deploying IoT-connected smart trash bins called eCan. These eCans can sense whether trash is properly disposed of and issue Emrals rewards accordingly. The Emrals mobile app also allows users to report litter, organize cleanups, and interact with eCan devices anywhere in the world to earn rewards.

Tokenomics

The core of the Emrals project is its token EMRALS, with an economic model designed to support environmental activities and incentivize community participation.

• Token Symbol: EMRALS
• Issuance Chain: Based on the Dash blockchain (Dash is a standalone blockchain, not an ERC20 or similar token standard).
• Total Supply: Maximum supply is 25,000,000 EMRALS.
• Issuance Mechanism: Distributed via mining (PoW) and Masternode rewards.
• Inflation/Burn: The specific inflation rate depends on block rewards and mining speed, but no explicit burn mechanism is mentioned.
• Token Utility:
  • Rewarding Environmental Actions: Users earn EMRALS by cleaning up litter, recycling properly, or reporting trash.
  • Masternode Staking: Running a Masternode requires staking 1000 EMRALS.
  • Governance: Masternode holders typically have voting rights in Dash-like projects, participating in key project decisions.
  • In-ecosystem Spending: As the project develops, EMRALS may be used to redeem services, goods, or participate in other ecosystem activities.
• Token Distribution and Unlocking:
  • Block Rewards: Each block reward ranges from 5 to 25 EMRALS.
  • Masternode Rewards: Masternodes can receive 80% of block rewards, providing strong incentives for maintaining the network and delivering services.

Team, Governance, and Funding

Details about Emrals’ core team members, specific governance mechanisms, and funding sources are not fully disclosed in currently available public information. However, based on its technical features, we can infer the following:

• Team Characteristics: The project was founded in 2014, indicating it is a relatively early entrant in the crypto space, likely with a team passionate about blockchain technology and environmental causes.
• Governance Mechanism: Since Emrals is based on Dash, it likely adopts Dash’s decentralized governance model, where Masternode holders vote on project direction and fund usage. This model encourages community participation and gives token holders a voice in the project.
• Funding: The 80% block reward received by Masternodes provides a stable funding source for ongoing operations and development, which can be used for development, promotion, maintaining eCan devices, and supporting community activities.

Roadmap

According to official Emrals materials, the 2020 roadmap is as follows:

• Q2 2020:
  • ✓ Integrate app translation features.
  • ✓ Complete the first v2 version of the eCan smart trash bin.
  • ✓ Apply for listing on cryptocurrency exchanges.
• Q3 2020:
  • ✓ Pilot ambassador program.
  • ✓ Launch global cleaning competition.
  • ✓ Improve app features.
• Q4 2020:
  • ✓ Improve AI features.
  • ✓ Expand eCan deployment locations.
  • ✓ Integrate wallet app.

Please note, these are historical plans from 2020, and there is currently no updated future roadmap information.

Common Risk Reminders

Investing in any blockchain project carries risks, and Emrals is no exception. Here are some common risk reminders:

• Technical and Security Risks:
  • Blockchain Technology Risks: Although based on Dash, any blockchain project may face code vulnerabilities, network attacks (such as 51% attacks, though Masternode mechanisms can partially mitigate this), and software bugs.
  • IoT Risks: eCan smart trash bin hardware and software may be subject to malfunctions, tampering, or data leaks.
  • App Risks: The mobile app may have bugs, user data privacy issues, or be exploited maliciously.
• Economic Risks:
  • Token Price Volatility: The price of EMRALS tokens is affected by market supply and demand, project development, macroeconomic conditions, and may fluctuate sharply or even go to zero.
  • Liquidity Risk: If token trading volume is insufficient, it may be difficult to buy or sell when needed.
  • Incentive Mechanism Failure: If token rewards are not valuable enough to motivate users, or if the verification mechanism for environmental actions fails, project sustainability may be affected.
• Compliance and Operational Risks:
  • Regulatory Uncertainty: Global cryptocurrency regulations are constantly evolving, and future policies may adversely affect Emrals’ operations.
  • Project Development Stagnation: If the team cannot continue developing, promoting, and maintaining the project, or fails to gain enough community support, the project may stall.
  • Competition Risk: Other, more attractive or efficient environmental incentive projects may emerge in the market.

Remember, the above is not investment advice, only risk reminders. Always conduct thorough personal research before making any decisions.

Due Diligence Checklist

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the Emrals project, you can try to find the following information:

• Official Website: The Emrals official website (emrals.com) is the main channel for the latest information and official statements.
• Whitepaper: The project claims to have a whitepaper; it is recommended to read it carefully to understand its detailed technical and economic models.
• GitHub Activity: The project claims to be open source and has a GitHub repository. Check code update frequency, community contributions, and issue resolution to assess development activity.
• Block Explorer: Look for an EMRALS token block explorer to view transaction records, token holder distribution, Masternode count, and other on-chain data.
• Community Activity: Follow its social media (such as Twitter, Discord) and forums to gauge discussion heat, team interaction frequency, and user feedback.

Project Summary

Emrals is an innovative project applying blockchain technology to the environmental sector, incentivizing community cleaning through crypto rewards and aiming to solve the lack of immediate returns for environmental actions. The project is based on the Dash blockchain, utilizing its PoW and Masternode consensus mechanisms, and combines IoT smart trash bins (eCan) and a mobile app to build an online-offline environmental ecosystem. Its token EMRALS has a maximum supply of 25 million, with Masternodes playing a key role in the network and receiving the majority of block rewards.

Emrals’ uniqueness lies in its “Dash for trash” concept and the tight integration of physical-world environmental actions with digital token rewards. However, like all crypto projects, Emrals faces technical, economic, and compliance risks. Investors and participants should fully understand these risks and conduct their own in-depth research, and should not treat this as investment advice.

For more details, users should conduct their own research.