M3tering Protocol

@M3tering

From a web3 initiative to a progressive project!

Last year, we approved the first solar project on our protocol, hosted a web3 event at the University of Nigeria, and successfully audited our smart contracts.

Here's how we plan to increase our impact this year

17

10:03 AM • Jan 10, 2024

We started 2024 with huge ambitions to scale our mission in Africa by bringing more solar projects on-chain. At the beginning of the year we had three objectives:

• To deploy the protocol on-chain

• To increase our network of solar projects in Africa

• To form new partnerships that lead to increased impact in the Global South

Reflecting on the year, we put together an impact report focused on the three objectives we set out to achieve in 2024.

Launch on Gnosis chain and Decentralised Exchanges

M3tering protocol launched on Gnosis chain in April 2024. This was a huge milestone for us and for the global Web3 ecosystem. We got added to a growing list of Web3 projects focused on real-world problems in the Global South. M3tering protocol became the third recognised DePIN project from Nigeria and the first focused on the energy sector.

The protocol's launch was closely followed by the launch of the native token, Solaxy (SLX). Solaxy launched on two major decentralised exchanges: CowSwap and Balancer. Solaxy (SLX) is at the heart of the protocol, acting as an incentive for the development of new solar projects in Africa. Learn more about Solaxy tokenomics here.

Totalled 7 Live Solar Projects in 2024

We took learning points from our first solar project in 2023 and applied to six other solar projects in 2024. We partnered with The Solar Foundation, Helpers Social Development Foundation, and Tech and Sun to develop and onboard six different solar projects to the protocol.

We gathered new insights from these projects through summer. The key outcome was a hardware redesign of the smart meter to ensure that it easily adapts to large-scale solar projects. 30 new smart meters were mass produced and deployed on the protocol to that effect.

Toured Web3 Africa

This year, we visited major Web3 hubs across Africa, setting the stage for future collaborations with aligned individuals and groups. We attended the Web3 Lagos Conference in Lagos, the Startup South 9 in Port Harcourt, and ETHSafari in Kenya.

We formed new relationships within and outside these events with Web3 stakeholders throughout the year. We plan to share more information about these partnerships as they materialise in 2025. You can join our discord to stay updated.

2025 In-View

In 2025, we aim to build on the momentum achieved in 2024.

Towards the end of 2024, we kick started a few projects and highlighted them in “Full Inclusion”.

TL;DR:

• Develop and integrate a solar-powered microgrid in Nigeria

• Deploy the multi-chain version of the protocol

• Build a solid developer community across all compatible chains

If you are reading this, you have been a great part of our success this year. For that, we are very grateful! 

Stay safe and see you in 2025 🌞

Proposed Plans

Few weeks ago, in one of our weekly community calls, Mmerichukwu hinted on M3tering Protocol’s plan to develop and deploy its first industrial solar project on-chain. Just last week, Christwin also spoke of plans to develop a microgrid that could power up to 100 households in Nigeria. The development of this microgrid would be orchestrated in collaboration with Arkreen Network and its community, who are seeking to collectively own and deploy a microgrid on the protocol.

These projects, which are the first of its kind on the protocol, can be considered as the early initiatives of the second phase of M3tering Protocol — a phase that involves developing and deploying large-scale solar projects around Africa.

It is well understood that solar power plants and other large-scale solar projects can be challenging to adapt to decentralised energy networks. A few key challenges include local policies, incompatibility with our smart meters, and high maintenance costs. For this reason, we have taken several steps to ensure the seamless deployment of industrial renewable energy projects on the protocol.

In mid October, we all saw the news of an incoming upgraded Maxwell (the smart meter used in solar projects on M3tering protocol). Maxwell's upgrade aligns closely with the need to deploy large scale solar projects on the protocol. The smart meters are being designed to take on significantly increased electrical power, process more on-chain data, and ensure the integrity and security of the protocol. This new upgrade signifies just how much effort the team has put into this new purpose; The Full Inclusion.

#SwitchElectric | GG20

@whyNotSwitch

It's been a while coming but the new generation of our smart meters are finally here!

Meet Maxwell, the hardware catalyst for decentralised energy in the Global South

Getting coupled

16

9:15 AM • Oct 14, 2024

In addition to upgrading the smart meters, we are now in talks with locals and project owners in Nigeria. The team is on the lookout for the best places to build microgrids and develop industrial-scale solar projects in Nigeria. In the next few weeks, there will be some travelling to various locations across the country to verify and validate the potential of microgrids in prospective areas. Also, we are open to recommendations from community members as this will help us make the most informed decision. If you know of household areas or businesses that could benefit from a new solar plant, signify, and we would be in-touch with you. Shoot us a DM on discord 😉

This “new” development isn't really new. We have been clear since day one about our mission to increase renewable energy adoption in the Global South and this new phase of the protocol sits at the heart of this mission.

Thanks to a number of partnerships, we kicked off with smaller impact projects in Nigeria that validated our technology and value in the local energy sector. We are now certain of the impact we could make across the entire African continent and beyond. In the coming months, you can expect to see increased collaborations that foster the deployment of solar projects from around Africa on the protocol.

If this future resonates with your core mission then you should be a part of this new phase of M3tering Protocol. We have weekly community calls, every Saturday and would be excited to learn of new ways we could go about achieving the goal of equal energy access in the Global South.

An index asset in the financial or blockchain world serves as a representative measure of an ecosystem, sector, or protocol’s overall activity and performance. In the crypto space, assets like Ethereum (ETH) are often described as "index-like" because ETH's price tends to correlate with overall activity on the Ethereum blockchain: high transaction fees, growing user adoption, and increasing use cases for smart contracts. To understand Solaxy’s indexing capabilities, we must first examine its relationship with the protocol’s core activities, the nuances of bonding revenues and energy provider behaviours.

At its core, Solaxy is designed to be minted exclusively from revenues generated by energy providers selling electricity through the protocol in a precess we refer to here as bonding. This is simply the process where energy providers allocate a portion of their revenues into a bonding curve contract, to mint Solaxy tokens along a linear bonding curve where the price of Solaxy increases with the total supply minted. See the documentation linked below for the technicalities.

Mint & Distribution | M3tering

The DePIN token, which we've named Solaxy ( SLX) following a successful naming conteston the community Discord server, can be minted by anyone using a token bonding curve mechanism. This mechanism relies on an algorithmic approach embedded within a smart contract, where a reserve of sDAI stablecoins backs the creation of SLX tokens.

https://m3tering.whynotswitch.com

For a deeper understanding of bonding curves and their applications in DeFi, this guide offers a comprehensive explanation.

Energy infrastructure, particularly renewable projects like solar, often operates on time frames spanning decades. Providers might choose to bond their revenues from electricity sales to mint Solaxy, as a way to gain exposure to the compounding value of the protocol’s collateral pool over these long horizons, particularly if they believe in the sustained adoption of the protocol. This arrangement is designed to create a feedback loop between real-world infrastructure performance and tokenized financial incentives. However, the relationship between Solaxy and these revenues is not absolute—it is opt-in. Providers are not obligated to bond revenues, meaning their participation is entirely optional. This opt-in nature is critical to understanding Solaxy’s dual role as both a health and financial index asset?

There are conditions under which Solaxy is not a reliable measure of the M3tering protocol’s financial performance. These scenarios often arise when the bonding rate (i.e. the proportion of revenues that energy providers choose to bond into Solaxy) diverges significantly from the protocol’s actual revenue flows.

The most straightforward case is when the bonding rate is low, despite stable or growing revenues in the protocol. In such situations, Solaxy’s minting activity does not accurately reflect the financial success of the protocol. This decoupling can occur for several reasons. Providers might opt out of bonding their revenues, even if the protocol itself is performing well, choosing instead to withdraw earnings directly for operational expenses or reinvestment into physical infrastructure. In another scenario, a decline in bonding might not stem from poor revenue performance but from broader macroeconomic factors, such as falling energy prices, liquidity constraints or heightened market volatility, prompting providers to minimize exposure to tokenized assets. Alternatively, risk aversion or distrust in the protocol’s stability could discourage participation in bonding. These behaviours reduce Solaxy’s ability to serve as a financial index since its performance no longer mirrors the underlying revenue flows. However these behavioural shifts tell us more about the sentiment and engagement of participants—the health of the protocol—than about its immediate financial flows.

Conversely, Solaxy becomes a robust financial index asset when the bonding rate is high, meaning that energy providers are consistently choosing to allocate a significant portion of their revenues into Solaxy, aligning closely with the protocol’s actual revenue performance. High bonding rates signal that energy providers find value in participating in the ecosystem, whether through the potential for compounding returns via sDAI, speculative gains from Solaxy’s price appreciation, or simply aligning with the protocol’s long-term vision. This alignment creates a feedback loop where robust revenue flows and provider trust reinforce each other, making Solaxy a reliable measure of both financial and ecosystem health.

In this scenario, Solaxy’s minting activity and market activity are closely tied to the scale and efficiency of energy infrastructure participating in the protocol. Energy infrastructure, such as solar panels, often operates over multi-decade lifespans, creating a stable, recurring revenue base for providers. By bonding revenues into Solaxy, providers can align their financial incentives with the protocol’s success, accelerating their break-even timelines and capturing speculative upside. This extended horizon ensures that Solaxy’s role as an index asset for the M3tering protocol is grounded in the tangible, recurring activity of the protocol.

High bonding rates, irrespective of whether revenues and financial success within the protocol are high or low, reinforce Solaxy’s position as a credible financial index. A well-designed index asset is not meant to solely reflect positive performance; rather, its value lies in transparently and accurately representing the underlying financial reality of the ecosystem it indexes. When energy providers continue to bond revenues during periods of low financial success—whether due to trust in the protocol’s long-term potential, speculative optimism, or strategic positioning—Solaxy still functions as a mirror of the protocol’s activity. In such cases, the bonding activity and resultant price of Solaxy convey valuable information about the network's dynamics, even if those dynamics reveal challenges or inefficiencies. Similarly, if providers bond heavily during periods of high revenue, Solaxy amplifies the visibility of the protocol’s prosperity. This duality underscores Solaxy’s strength as a financial index: it is not a judgment of success or failure, but rather a reflection of reality, offering stakeholders and participants clear insight into the state of the M3tering protocol at any given time.

Solaxy occupies a unique position as a potential index asset for the M3tering protocol, bridging the gap between real-world infrastructure performance and tokenized financial incentives. Its credibility as an index hinges on the behaviour of energy providers, particularly their willingness to bond revenues into the protocol. When bonding rates are high, Solaxy emerges as a powerful financial index, accurately mirroring the protocol’s economic activity and adoption. In contrast, when bonding rates decline, its role shifts toward reflecting external sentiment and speculative behaviour, making it less reliable as a financial measure but still informative as a health indicator. This duality highlights the importance of understanding Solaxy’s dynamics in context, as it oscillates between being a credible financial index and a broader health signal.

This nuanced relationship underscores the importance of context in evaluating Solaxy’s signals. By understanding the drivers behind bonding behaviour—whether they stem from financial constraints, trust in the protocol, or broader market dynamics—we can better interpret Solaxy’s value as both a financial and health index. As decentralized infrastructure networks like M3tering continue to evolve, assets like Solaxy offer valuable lessons on the interplay between real-world utility and tokenized incentives, highlighting the complexities of measuring success in hybrid ecosystems.

What we call “traditional energy” today was once the pinnacle of innovation back in the 19th century. At that time, it was the ideal scalable system to ensure gradual global energy access. It has now been 142 years since Thomas Edison launched the first commercial power station and yet, almost one billion people live without electricity in 2024.

Reflecting on the history of traditional energy systems and the industrial needs at the time of its inception, I could understand the need for energy systems to be centralised — Government bodies needed to regulate energy generation and distribution to support factories; fossil fuels were relatively cheaper; and electricity was an innovative technology.

In the long run, this implied four things for the general public:

• We had no control over the entire energy transmission process.

• We mostly depended on fossil fuels and hence contributed in magnitude to climate change.

• We relied on centralised energy systems and experienced large scale outages. 

• We paid more to maintain large scale power plants.

Decentralised energy, on the other hand, has the potential to eliminate the 21st century problems like climate change, unequal energy access, resource depletion, environmental degradation, etc. Decentralised energy transforms energy generation and consumption in a way that increases accessibility, reliability, and sustainability. The main pillars here being “reliable”, “sustainable”, and “accessible”.

Traditional Energy and Its Challenges

Traditional energy involves the typical operation mode of energy generation and distribution that is seen in many countries today. In such systems, responsibilities like power generation and electricity distribution are the responsibilities of a single authority (e.g the government), the source of energy is carbon-based fuels, and the entire energy operation is carried out with little to no input from energy consumers. 

Traditional energy had its benefits. Through the rise of traditional energy, electricity became a household utility and this phase was somewhat cost-effective. However, it came at a cost to the health of the planet. Traditional energy relies mostly on fossil fuels, which is the single largest source of carbon emissions. Scientists have discovered that the continuous use of fossil fuels up until 2050 would result in catastrophic environmental issues affecting food production, sea levels, and weather events all over the world.

In the case of developing regions, traditional energy failed. Half of the African population still live without access to electricity and the other half struggle with unreliable electricity. Corruption-infested governments benefit from the centralised nature of traditional energy and this has contributed largely to the increasing energy poverty in developing regions.

In addition to climate change and increasing energy poverty, we now face various energy-centred problems that traditional energy systems can’t be scaled to resolve them. Therefore, we need to turn to a decentralised, sustainable means of generating, distributing, and consuming energy.

Understanding Decentralised Energy

Decentralised energy involves the use of renewable energy powered grids to generate and distribute electricity at a smaller scale. With decentralised energy, towns and cities could become self-sufficient by generating their own electricity using small energy grids.

Decentralised energy is still a developing concept with various models – practicals and theories. The practical models are being used in developed regions around the world and the theoretical models are still in development. For instance, in some cities in the US, energy consumers that own solar panels can sell their excess energy to the national grid. And when they need to, they can buy energy from the national grid. This 2-way grid concept, known as net metering, allows energy consumers to play a part in generating energy for the national grid. This instance is only a partial application of  decentralised energy. Most regions have not fully embraced decentralised energy yet and only apply it to a small extent – which is a good sign of change.

The Potential of Decentralised Energy

The beauty of decentralised energy is that it aims to compensate for the failures of traditional energy. Simply put: where traditional energy failed, decentralised energy would not.

The world is transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy so as to avoid foreseen uninhabitable conditions. This transition, however, is taking so much time that we may not meet set goals by the United Nations that assures global habitable conditions. While developing regions are scrambling to achieve net zero emission, the Global South is still struggling to provide reliable energy to its population. In some rural areas, women still use coal to cook and households are powered by petrol generators. Rather than scaling centralised national grids to power an entire country with renewable energy, we should focus on fostering decentralised energy generation. This approach involves creating small networks of interconnected renewable energy mini-grids in towns, cities, and villages that enables communities to buy and sell electricity directly from one another.

Instead of scaling national grids to meet renewable energy standards, developed regions should be empowering their cities and smaller communities to generate their own electricity.

Instead of awarding renewable energy grants to national governments in developing regions, international organisations should foster decentralised energy by awarding these grants to local communities. In decentralised energy networks, everyone is equally responsible for their energy generation and distribution.

Ultimately, decentralised energy could be the missing key that helps scale renewable energy, both in advanced countries and developing countries. Additionally, it could play a vital part in eliminating energy poverty at a faster rate in the Global South.

M3tering Protocol’s Mission to Foster Decentralised Energy

In the race to global net zero emissions, the Global South lags due to the heavy costs related with switching to renewable energy. M3tering protocol’s mission in the Global South is to help initiate an economy that rewards and finances the development of renewable energy projects. The native token, Solaxy (SLX), derives its value from the network of solar energy projects and the thousands of facilitated transactions on the protocol. The combined effect affects the value of Solaxy (SLX) tokens, which is used as a reward for solar energy providers in the Global South. You can read more about how Solaxy (SLX) tokens and its value approach in the white paper.

If our mission resonates with you, then get involved with the change we are making in the Global South. Join our community of energy providers and solar enthusiasts in weekly community calls and contribute to the progress of the protocol.

Dedication

This article is dedicated to Izzy/Decentralizedceo, a friend we recently lost and looked up to so much. Please, kindly send love to Izzy’s family by following the Twitter post.

GreenPill Nigeria

@GreenpillNaija

It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our visionary leader and brother @izzylawrence11 His unwavering dedication and relentless pursuit of a better society have left an indelible mark on our community and the world

Jee nkè oma Odogwu!

100

16:54 • 15 Nov 2024

Prior to this summer, I had not interacted with the Gnosis chain on Metamask, so when I tried to buy some Solaxy tokens, I struggled with the process. I hope that with this article, others will find it easier to buy Solaxy on Metamask and therefore, play a part in building a decentralised energy network for Africa. If you find this helpful, please share with your network.

XDAI (pronounced: ex-die) is a stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar and used as the gas fee on Gnosis chain. I could not buy XDAI with a bank transfer on Metamask and so I had to swap my USDT on the Polygon chain for XDAI on the Gnosis chain. To do this, I used Jumper Exchange.

On Jumper Exchange, click “Get started”. Select your preferred chain and token to swap from. In my case, this is the Polygon chain and USDT token. In the second bar select the Gnosis chain and XDAI token.

Connect your wallet and follow through with the transaction by signing the requests on your wallet.

Now, this only works if you have USDT on any of the common EVM chains. Acquiring USDT is easy and the process varies across regions so I won't elaborate further. However, you can either buy on Metamask or on crypto exchanges that operate in your region.

Now that you have XDAI in your wallet, you can proceed to Balancer to swap your XDAI for Solaxy tokens (SLX).

Tap on the menu icon on the top right of your screen and click “Swap”, then select Gnosis chain as the network. Choose XDAI as the token to swap and SLX as the token to receive. Input your preferred amount of XDAI or SLX and connect your Metamask wallet to complete the transaction.

You may not immediately see your Solaxy tokens in your Metamask wallet but all it needs is a little tweak. You need to manually import Solaxy tokens on the Gnosis chain on Metamask.

First, make sure your network is set to Gnosis chain. You can manually set your network to Gnosis chain if you don't find it as one of the available options in your wallet.

Then, you can manually import Solaxy (SLX) with the token contract address: 0xF4F3c1666E750E014DE65c50d0e98B1263E678B8

Tap to verify this contract address on Gnosis chain

This article is based on my personal experience of buying Solaxy tokens on my mobile phone and your experience may differ slightly depending on your device and other unknown factors. Also, this content was created for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Do Your Own Research.

If you want to learn more about M3tering protocol or reach out to the team, join the discord community.

Going forward, this article does not cover the entire aspect of M3tering protocol and leaves many technical gaps. If you're interested in the somewhat technical documentation of M3tering protocol and its intricacies, read the white paper here.

In many developing regions, solar energy is expensive to own outright and this negatively affects how energy providers offer solar energy solutions. In Nigeria for example, many solar providers struggle with low sales because of how unaffordable solar energy is to energy consumers. To address this issue, energy providers turned to other business models such as solar lease, pay as you go, and instalment payments. You’d think this reduced the barrier to owning solar in the country. It didn’t.

Solar energy capacity in Nigeria only increased by 10% in the past two years, despite growing by 2700% in the last 10 years. Contrary to popular beliefs, solar investments in Nigeria – despite not being sufficient – have increased over the past few years. This points out a common issue in traditional systems; there is no transparent and decentralised way to account for every dollar spent in building solar energy projects, thus leaving gaps for corruption in the system and potentially affecting the relationship with foreign support groups. In the long run, this may lead to a decrease in solar investments in the country.

Therefore, using Nigeria as a case study for the rest of Sub Saharan Africa, there is an urgent need to increase transparency throughout the process, from funding a solar energy project down to monitoring its energy output. Moreso, there's an equal need to increase the trust in our local systems so as to attract foreign investments that can help alleviate energy poverty on the continent.

Studying these energy problems in Africa and developing modern systems to solve them encapsulates the mission of M3tering protocol.

M3tering protocol employs a unique approach to tackle the aforementioned problems. For most parts, the protocol involves two distinct parties – the energy consumer and the energy provider. These two parties interact on the protocol just like they’d do in the real world, but with the added functionalities of the blockchain and binded by a smart contract. This implies that functions such as electricity billing, payment, and access are all coordinated on the protocol without any third-party interventions. This is made possible with a blockchain-powered smart meter, Maxwell.

To encourage the adoption of solar energy, the protocol rewards energy providers with token incentives based on the energy output of their live solar projects. Since many solar energy providers in Africa switched to business models that limit profitability and the ability to build new solar projects, M3tering protocol aims to maximise their profits using the Proof Of Impact model. This mission extends to nonprofits aimed at driving the adoption of clean energy in Africa.

The incentive system is not unique to M3tering protocol and is common with popular DePINs such as Helium and DIMO. In our case, it would motivate energy providers to increase their energy output by developing new solar projects for consumers. This will also attract new solar providers to the protocol, thus creating a flywheel effect known as the DePIN flywheel.

In addition to adopting the DePIN flywheel, M3tering protocol employs coordination mechanisms to ensure the smooth operation of the protocol. We recently launched M3tering DAO and have initiated a bi-cameral governance system to strengthen the community’s power over the protocol. Learn more about this and more in our discord.

This topic comes up a lot. Most times in conversations with people in traditional/Web2 ecosystems. They'd ask, “Why do we need to adopt blockchain and its features for energy solutions?”

The simple answer is, we need to reduce trust gaps in energy financing and maximise the opportunities in clean energy adoption. 

There is so much backroom politics that go into international funding and the development of solar projects in Africa. Apart from media announcements and photoshoots, we have no clue how billions of dollars invested in Africa's solar energy sector have been spent in the last 10 years. The traditional system is purely centralised, creating gaps for corruption and mismanagement of funds, and leaving billions of people globally without access to clean and affordable electricity. In addition to that, blockchain and the vast Web3 resources leads me to believe that this is our best chance against global energy poverty and climate change. This is potentially the best opportunity to involve the global population in our local infrastructure challenges and create rewarding, trustless systems. 

To sum it up, decentralised energy is needed in Africa. This modern concept will help reduce the effects of corruption and politics in decision-making and management of funds while increasing trust and promoting coordination with foreign bodies and the global community to help drive the goal of equal access to clean and affordable energy.

M3tering protocol initially launched on Gnosis chain and is now live on Arbitrum chain with plans to be accessible on EVM-compatible networks. The protocol hosts six solar energy projects (and counting) in Nigeria. We are expanding fast and making an impact across the continent with plans to host solar projects from South America.

Join our community of energy providers and solar enthusiasts in weekly community calls and contribute to the progress of the protocol.