Milestone 3 – Project Development: In Progress
Building on the insights from milestone 2, our collaboration with MesoReef DAO moved from research into action. After meeting with the DAO’s founder, our team began designing MesoReef’s first application. What started as a proof of concept soon evolved into a much larger, more complex initiative than our initial scope allowed. To stay aligned with our resources and the mission intent, we chose to refocus our efforts on delivering tangible value.
We revisited the original idea proposed by the founder to develop a web app for reef regeneration attestation. At the time, the idea was a high-level concept showcasing a basic EAS. We set out to refine and expand this early concept, not to over-engineer it, but to create a usable, lightweight application that could evolve and grow over time.
This required our team to dive deep into the world of marine biology and coral restoration practices to ensure scientific and practical relevance. Our research informed the development of the tool that will serve NGO, academic and citizen scientists, with a broader mission in mind: to help nature through verifiable, transparent records of restoration activity.
This direction strongly connects with lessons learned from our earlier work: Enaleia Hub, a non-profit that faced similar challenges in demonstrating impact without overextending its operational capacity. Restoration initiatives like coral planting require months, often years, before measurable results can be shared. Our challenge, then, became: how might we design a platform that benefits MesoReef DAO, its peers, its donors, and the public while ensuring transparency and permanence?
Existing centralized systems already provide valuable visibility but remain vulnerable to funding shifts and political cycles. DeSci, by contrast, would offer a permissionless and immutable infrastructure for maintaining public scientific records.
What we did:
Throughout the design & development phase, we tested multiple Web3 tools to reduce user friction and improve reliability:
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Tooling experiments: We conducted proof-of-concept trials using various wallet providers, testing their compatibility with EAS and cross-platforms.
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UX and architecture iteration: We evaluated native vs. web deployment and discovered that many third-party integrations were either incompatible with react-native, or simply not sustainable financially for open-source, mission-driven use.
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Design evolution: We briefly created and later discontinued the wireframe for the MesoReef DAO website after the project scope changed, as MesoReef independently decided to move forward with another partner. That work was redirected into the design logic for refinement of the reef regeneration attestation app.
Key takeaways:
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Building a public-good project in a Web3 way remains challenging due to a lack of incentives and limited accessibility tools.
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Most existing technologies are built with financial use cases in mind rather than ecological or research-oriented applications.
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Pricing models for blockchain services often do not support small non-profits or open research initiatives, quickly becoming financially unsustainable as usage grows.
We advocate for the introduction of public-good pricing tiers and ecosystem support structures for builders in the DeSci and sustainability spaces.
What’s Next:
We are currently designing & developing the coral restoration attestation platform, which allows marine organizations to record and verify restoration events, particularly outplanting activities onchain. The platform is designed to scale toward a broader ecological verification framework while remaining lightweight and accessible.
This milestone update reflects progress, adaptability, and focus rather than completion. We aim to launch the first public version of the app in the coming weeks.
References:
FlowState Update
In parallel, our team completed FlowState’s branding and landing page design, now viewable here:
This update represents the iterative nature of Pollen Labs’ work, embracing pivots as opportunities for refinement, maintaining alignment with our mission, and continuing to bridge design-driven innovation with the Ethereum ecosystem.
