The Deed Protocol - Smart Contracts

This repository contains the smart contracts for The Deed Protocol, which facilitates decentralized Real World Asset transactions via Smart Contracts. These contracts represent real world assets as ERC721 tokens, ensuring seamless integration with external validation services and enabling future enhancements.

Overview

The Deed Protocol uses legal engineering to merge technology with Real World Assets by tokenizing ownership, valaditation and administration. Each property deed or title is represented as a unique non-fungible token (NFT) on the blockchain, providing decentralized, secure, and transparent records of ownership.

Key components of the protocol include:

• DeedNFT: The core NFT representing property deeds.
• Validator: A smart contract that verifies the integrity and authenticity of deed data.
• ValidatorRegistry: A registry for managing and tracking validators responsible for validating deeds.
• FundManager: A smart contract for managaging, distributing and maintaing securtiy over transactinon funds.

Core Contracts

1. DeedNFT

View Contract on GitHub

The DeedNFT contract is the core ERC721 token representing real world assets. It includes several important features:

• Custom Metadata: Each deed is linked to metadata stored on decentralized platforms (e.g., IPFS), which can include detailed property information.
• Validation Integration: Works in conjunction with validator contracts to ensure that deed data is authentic and correct.
• Batch Minting: Supports the minting of multiple deed tokens in a single transaction, reducing gas costs.
• Upgradability: Designed with future enhancements in mind using the UUPS (Universal Upgradeable Proxy Standard) pattern for seamless contract upgrades.

2. Validator

View Contract on GitHub

The Validator contract is responsible for verifying deed data and generating the appropriate metadata URI. This contract works in tandem with the ValidatorRegistry to ensure that only authorized validators can validate deeds.

• Token Metadata Generation: Produces token URIs that expose property details, ensuring that the NFT metadata accurately reflects the underlying property data.
• Operating Agreement Management: Manages operating agreements (legal wrapper) associated to each property, storing and retrieving them as needed.
• Customizable Validation: Offers flexibility to define specific validation criteria for different types of properties or regional requirements.
• Integration with the Registry: Works alongside the ValidatorRegistry to ensure that only authorized validators perform deed validations.

3. ValidatorRegistry

View Contract on GitHub

The ValidatorRegistry contract manages a list of authorized validators, ensuring that only trusted and approved validators can interact with the DeedNFT contract.

• Validator Registration: Allows new validators to be registered, as well as updates or removals of existing ones.
• Centralized Validation Control: Ensures that only trusted validators can interact with the DeedNFT contract, thereby maintaining the integrity of the validation process.
• Governance and Administration: Supports role-based permissions to manage who can add or remove validators, contributing to the overall security of the protocol.

4. FundManager

View Contract on GitHub

The FundManager contract is dedicated to managing funds associated with property transactions and transfers within the protocol:

• Transaction Fee Management: Handles the collection and processing of fees or service charges related to deed transfers and validations.
• Funds Allocation and Distribution: Implements mechanisms to distribute collected funds among various stakeholders (such as validators, platform operators, or other designated parties) based on predetermined rules.
• Secure Financial Operations: Integrates with other core contracts (like DeedNFT and Validator) to ensure that all financial operations are carried out securely and transparently.
• Efficient Fund Handling: Designed to facilitate both deposit and withdrawal operations, ensuring smooth financial transactions within the ecosystem.

5. Interface Contracts

• IValidator
  View Contract on GitHub
  Defines the interface for validator functionality, outlining the functions that any validator contract must implement to interact with the protocol.

• IValidatorRegistry
  View Contract on GitHub
  Specifies the interface for the validator registry, ensuring that implementations provide necessary registry management functions.

6. Proxy Contracts

A critical part of the Deed Protocol is its upgradability via a proxy contracts. The proxy enables contract upgrades without changing the contract address, ensuring the continuity of data and assets.

Features

• Modular Contract Design: Each component of the protocol (NFT, validation, registry, and fund management) is encapsulated in its own contract for clarity and maintainability.
• Role-Based Access Control: Critical functions are protected using role-based permissions, ensuring that only authorized parties (e.g., those with VALIDATOR_ROLE or DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLE) can perform sensitive actions.
• Pausable Operations: Emergency stop functionality is integrated into the protocol, allowing for a quick response in case of system-critical issues.
• Flexible Validator Integration: Multiple validators can be registered and used, accommodating various property types, validation methods, or regional requirements.

Installation and Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js v16+
• Hardhat
• Solidity ^0.8.20
• A wallet provider such as MetaMask for deployments on live networks

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Deed3Labs/DeedNFT-Contracts
   cd DeedNFT-Contracts

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Compile the contracts:

   npx hardhat compile

4. Run tests:

   npx hardhat test

Usage

Deploying Contracts

Deploy the contracts locally or to a testnet using Hardhat. Make sure to configure your network settings in hardhat.config.js.

npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network <network-name>

Interacting with Deployed Contracts

After deployment, you can interact with the contracts using the provided interfaces:

• DeedNFT: For NFT minting, metadata retrieval, and property data management.
• IValidator and IValidatorRegistry: To interface with validation logic and manage validator registrations.
• FundManager: For handling funds related to transactions and fee distribution.

Testing

Run the test suite to ensure that all contracts operate as expected:

npx hardhat test

Tests cover core functionalities such as minting, validator registration, deed validation, and fund management.

License

The contracts in this repository are licensed under the AGPL-3.0. For more details, please refer to the LICENSE file.