The water credit system

Water scarcity is a global issue. Despite 71% of Earth being water, only 2.5% is freshwater, with just 0.01% usable sustainably. Climate change and pollution are worsening the problem, leading to droughts, heavy rainfalls, and water imports.

• Alternative water sources such as wastewater treatment and reuse help to reduce its primary consumption, but if companies can’t get recognition for doing so their financial benefit might not justify such investments.
• Hypercube, a Swiss regenerative finance company founded in 2023, aims to change that by leveraging blockchain technology. They have developed the first global water credit system to promote the large-scale development of alternative water sources through non-debt funds.
• Hypercube tokenizes water by connecting blockchain APIs to flowmeters that measure water reclaimed by existing facilities. Every processed cubic meter is registered on a public ledger and triggers the issuance of a WTR utility token, which can be traded or retired to offset equivalent water footprint. Each time a WTR is sold, proceeds are used to reward originators, fund new positive water initiatives and cover all infrastructural and operational cost of the entire system making it free for all the stakeholders.

• This innovative approach progressively makes it more profitable to invest in alternative water sources than withdrawing and consuming primary water supplies.
• Since its inception, Hypercube has tokenized a total of 112,650,521 cubic meters of reclaimed water onboarding private and government-owned facilities worldwide. An iron cast foundry in northern Italy was able to leverage royalties from water credits to revamp and extend its water reuse systems, processing over 7.7 million cubic meters of water annually. This means 7.7 million cubic meters of freshwater are no longer withdrawn and therefore remain available for the local community.
• Co-founder and shareholder of Hypercube, Pietro Gorgazzini has co-founded other tech companies ranging from 3d digitization of large infrastructures to supply chain traceability. A passionate impact tech entrepreneur, Pietro is a regular contributor to TedX Talks and active member of the Water Positive Think Tank.