The Longhouse Way

Our core values

There are three fundamental values at the core of Longhouse’s vision: wisdom, inspiration, and nature.

Wisdom

Albert Einstein once said: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Longhouse seeks to resolve the environmental problems humanity already created by leveraging a unique combination of natural ancient knowledge and disruptive technology. We call it wisdom.”

Inspiration

We need change on earth to flourish. All change starts within ourselves. Either we change from fear or inspiration - we choose the latter.

Nature

Whatever happens, nature will survive the human species. Nature is our inspiration, and we believe we can learn and develop modern society by reconnecting to her. Through a close connection to nature, humanity will steadily retrace its steps according to her ways to create regenerative and abundant life everywhere.

The Eternal Ecosystem

Our business model is to create a sustainable ecosystem for water. We have identified a solution to distribute the basic amount of clean drinking water needed for survival, preserve water sources, and ensure access to clean drinking water for perpetuity. We reserve monetary and philanthropic incentives for contributors to our ecosystem to encourage their participation.

The ecosystem protects natural resources while it simultaneously manages distribution and consumption. Well owners will be compensated for their generosity and engagement. People can freely trade in water depending on their requirements, while everyone who needs clean drinking water also gets access to it.

The ecosystem requires all parties to act in symbiosis and contribute to sustaining the ecosystem. The ecosystem is based on the idea that everyone has a right to clean drinking water for survival, and it is Longhouse’s duty to protect and preserve it.

In summary, the Longhouse Foundation will through a water charity project guarantee and give away water rights to a total yearly amount of 1m3 (1000 liters) of clean drinking water requirement per person and year. The Longhouse Foundation will achieve this goal through a diversified global portfolio of water sources that meet our strict quality measures regarding water quality and care for water sources. The assets are managed by the Longhouse Foundation, acting as an intermediary between nature and the owner of the water right. Through selling Water150 tokens granting access to drinking water, Longhouse will sustain the survival of the token, the wells and the entire system but it will also finance water for charity.

Blockchain – The Enabler of the Ecosystem

Today, many people around the world know blockchain as the underlying technology for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The main idea is relatively simple: a blockchain is a database that registers information about any event so that it cannot be altered and new information has to agree with the information already available on the database. This description presents the blockchain as a ledger, a place where accountants keep records like expenses, sales, etc.

Blockchain use cases have become more apparent in the financial world, supply chain and even the entertainment industry. However, these pioneer industries are just some of the areas where blockchain can become the technological layer for truly decentralized ecosystems. Blockchain can be a true disruptor in the water supply ecosystem. The systems aim to use two specific functionalities associated with blockchain: DLT and smart contracts.

DLT

The acronym “DLT” stands for “distributed ledger technology.” The term is used interchangeably with “blockchain” even though they don’t have the same literal meaning. In a strict sense, blockchain refers to the specific technical mechanism used in Bitcoin and other platforms, and it is the typical case of a DLT (Corda is an example of a non-blockchain DLT). In a loose description of the blockchain term (the one mostly used in forum discussions), DLT would be just one aspect of blockchain technology - maybe the most important. At its core, DLT is a system that trusts itself without requiring the trust of any external actor or entity.

This “embedded” trust facilitates the decentralization of systems that would otherwise have depended on central actors, authorities, or intermediaries. That is the current state of the water ecosystem. As previously stated, big companies are investing in water sources worldwide with a vision to charge higher prices for a vital resource that is becoming increasingly scarce. In order to disrupt this trend, we need a decentralized ecosystem where small players can participate in fair trades of water resources. However, this decentralization can only be achieved when transparency is guaranteed. Hence, no individual or group controls the information on the supply and price of water.

Furthermore, blockchain allows for the representation and trade of physical or virtual goods as digital assets known as “tokens.” It makes liquid trade markets accessible to everyone, a previously unavailable market in the case of drinking water sources as a resource.

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts have been defined as “automatable and enforceable agreements,” which basically means that they can be read and executed by computers and legally enforced. On a more technical level, they are computing processes that are automatically triggered when predefined conditions are met, for instance, initiating a delivery once payment is confirmed.

Blockchain ensures the irreversibility of entries on a ledger. These events can become the “triggers” of automated and code-controlled processes. It is a revolutionary concept that facilitates the representation and automation of any human-managed process through code in the form of self-executing smart contracts.

In the case of the drinking water ecosystem, smart contracts can govern the interactions between the ecosystem participants. As explained in more detail in subsequent portions of this document, the Water150 token will guarantee the right to drinking water. Each token will give you access to one (1) liter of drinking water per year for perpetuity. The process to guarantee the physical delivery of water will be governed by smart contracts that can be triggered on your mobile phone screen. Also, as the Longhouse ecosystem gets more sophisticated, the data sources that trigger certain smart contracts can be captured through the Internet of Things (IoT) devices installed in water sources and supply systems.