Scarce. Purposeful. Liquid. New Global Financial Asset.
Let’s turn Nature Protection into Sovereign Wealth. Together.
1 km² = 1 PROTEA
Join the waitlistThe problem
For fifty years, modern finance has run the world’s balance sheet without its most important asset.
cumulative SDG funding gap
The goals the world has already agreed to are short more than $100 trillion, and the environmental goals are the furthest off track. Not because the capital does not exist, but because nature has no place on the balance sheet where that capital lives.
The system forgot to count the planet.
PROTEA is built to fix that.
The idea
PROTEA is the missing piece of the global financial market.
PROTEA puts nature back on the balance sheet, in the only language markets understand: price. One square kilometre of protected land, one PROTEA. For the first time, protecting nature is the mechanism of value creation, not a cost to be offset.
1 km²=1 PROTEA
Supply is governed by the UN World Database on Protected Areas: a real-world natural metric, updated monthly, verifiable by anyone.
Large-scale human cooperation runs on shared, credible fictions. PROTEA’s is simple and verifiable: protected land is a new form of sovereign wealth.
How it works
From a line on the UN’s map to capital that flows back to nature.
No treaty, no new bureaucracy, no discretionary committee. The mechanism runs on data countries already report and an index the UN already publishes.
01
A protected area is recognised
A country designates protected land. It is recorded in the UN World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), maintained by UNEP-WCMC with IUCN and updated monthly.
WDPA / Protected Planet
One teal cell: 5,000 km² of protected land. Illustrative. Coverage by country: UN WDPA via World Bank. Cells placed schematically within each country. PROTECTED AREA DATA - UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2026)
02
Supply is minted to match: 1 km² = 1 PROTEA
Total supply is pegged to that surface in square kilometres. New tokens are minted only after a monthly WDPA update is confirmed and independently signed.
Report §4, oracle architecture
21M at launch. One cell: 5,000 PROTEA.
03
Tokens are airdropped to governments
PROTEA is distributed free to national governments via their central banks, in proportion to each country’s protected-area footprint.
Report §1, distribution
Via central banks, pro rata. Each block is one country’s share, to scale. Illustrative, not an agreement with any government. Blocks sit near each country; the smallest are too small to draw.
04
The SDG Index governs what can move
Each country’s UN SDG Index score sets how much of its allocation is liquid and how much stays locked: sovereign incentives aligned with environmental performance.
Report §1, governance (UN SDSN SDG Index)
Each score would set its own split. Shown here at one split: 14M liquid, 7M locked. Illustrative, not an agreement with any government. Blocks sit near each country; the smallest are too small to draw.
05
Capital flows back to protection
Markets price the asset, demand rewards the governments that protect the most nature, and the loop closes.
Report §1, investor virtuous cycle
Protected land sets supply. Markets price it. Demand rewards protection. 21M at launch. One cell: 5,000 PROTEA.
The numbers
The first asset class backed by what the world is actually worth.
PROTEA uses the architecture Bitcoin proved, a hard verifiable supply cap on a public blockchain, and inverts the story. Unlike existing instruments, the cap is set by the Earth itself.
- 21M
tokens at launch, mirroring today’s protected surface
- 42M
maximum supply: the global 30×30 target for 2030
- 193
countries airdropped tokens via their central banks
Initial ≈ 21M (today’s protected surface). Cap = 42M, the global 30×30 target for 2030.
A fixed 21M cap: scarcity on narrative alone. PROTEA mirrors it, then anchors it to nature.
The same architecture. The inverse story.
Bitcoin
Currency of distrust
PROTEA
Currency of trust
- Bitcoin: Anti-institutionalPROTEA: Pro-institution, pro-cooperation
- Bitcoin: Supply capped by codePROTEA: Supply capped by the Earth itself
- Bitcoin: Mined by consuming energyPROTEA: Minted by protecting nature
- Bitcoin: Value from scarcity alonePROTEA: Value from scarcity and purpose
Both are legitimate bets. PROTEA is the bet that human institutions can earn trust back. Bitcoin is the bet that they cannot.
The goal post: parity with Bitcoin
Two reference measures track PROTEA against Bitcoin, using circulating supply on both sides. They move with every Bitcoin price tick: a loose, distant goal post.
Snapshot, November 2026
- BTC price
- $77,755
- ×BTC circulating supply
- 20,105,365
- ÷PROTEA circulating supply
- 14,000,000
- PROTEA–BTC parity targetIllustrative
- $111,664
Illustrative reference measures, recomputed from public Bitcoin market data. The parity target is arithmetic, not a prediction, an offer, or a promise of return. PROTEA has no price; there is nothing to buy at this stage.
The price at which PROTEA’s circulating market capitalisation would equal Bitcoin’s: BTC price × BTC circulating supply ÷ PROTEA circulating supply.
PROTEA circulating supply assumed at 14M: 7M of the initial 21M stay locked until national SDG scores improve.
PROTEA discount to parity target
n/a
No PROTEA price exists pre-ICO.
PROTEA price ÷ parity target. Undefined until PROTEA trades: today the entire distance to the goal post is the point.
Why it’s different
Not a carbon credit. A new asset class.
Most green instruments repackage an existing one. PROTEA sets out to create something that did not exist: a sovereign-allocated, UN-data-governed asset for the whole planet. Not a conservation campaign, not a donation mechanism, not an offsetting instrument.
Asset type
Carbon creditsProject-level offset credit
PROTEASovereign-level macro asset, UN-data-backed
Participants
Carbon creditsProject developers & NGOs
PROTEANational governments as primary holders
Governance
Carbon creditsDiscretionary committees
PROTEAAutomated via WDPA + the UN SDG Index
Scale
Carbon creditsCarbon markets ≈ $50B total
PROTEAA new asset class at sovereign scale
Sceptics will ask.
Hard questions build more trust than pretending they do not exist.
Isn’t this just another carbon credit?
No. Carbon credits are project-level offset instruments: something is emitted, something else is claimed against it. PROTEA offsets nothing. It is a sovereign-scale asset whose supply is governed by UN protected-area data, held by governments, priced by markets.
What stops a government from selling everything?
Each country’s UN SDG Index score sets how much of its allocation is liquid and how much stays locked in reserve. Breaking the lock carries a reputational burn: the incentive design assumes self-interest, not virtue.
Why would PROTEA have value at all?
For the same reason Bitcoin does: verifiable scarcity plus a story enough people choose to trust. Bitcoin proved the world will pay trillions for exactly that. PROTEA anchors both the scarcity and the story to something real, and the whitepaper treats this question at length.
Data & provenance
The asset is only as credible as its data. PROTEA’s oracle is the UN World Database on Protected Areas: updated monthly, independently maintained, openly cited.
- ~26Mkm²
- of land protected or conserved worldwide
- ~17.5%
- of land & inland water protected
- 312,000+
- protected areas & OECMs in the database
PROTECTED AREA DATA -
The same data lights the globe: coverage by country, UN WDPA via World Bank. Cells are placed schematically within each country.
The expedition
Timeline to ICO.
PROTEA is pre-raise and pre-ICO, roughly 18 to 24 months out. This stage is about building credibility, not selling a token.
Months 1–3
Foundations
- Legal entity incorporated
- Blockchain selected
- WDPA oracle dialogue initiated
- Whitepaper v1.0 published
Months 3–6
Prototype & data
- Smart-contract prototype
- UNEP-WCMC data MOU
- First governments contacted
- Advisors onboarded
Months 6–9
Audit & explorer
- Third-party smart-contract audit
- PROTEA Explorer live (testnet)
- Early MDB engagement
- Seed round
Months 9–12
Testnet & registration
- Mainnet testnet
- Governments pre-registered
- Public speaking programme
- Strategic round
Months 12–18
Invitation round
- Full invitation round
- ICO preparation
- Legal opinions in key jurisdictions
Months 18–24
ICO launch
The team
The founding team.
Patrick de Moustier
Founder
Eric Lafon
Founder
Jérôme D.
Founder
Full bios and advisor roster available to partners on request.
Who it’s for
Five ways into the same idea.
PROTEA is designed to be read by five very different audiences at once. Each gets a different entry point; the mechanics underneath are identical.
Crypto natives
Bitcoin proved demand for scarce digital assets. PROTEA adds the one thing Bitcoin never had: a reason.
Younger generations
Stop protesting. Start holding. The first financial instrument that grows when the world does.
Institutional investors
The first liquid asset class whose supply mechanism is planetary health. Not a fund. Not a credit.
Corporates
Don’t offset. Invest. A transparent, liquid, measurable commitment instead of an accounting entry.
Governments & central banks
For the first time, protecting nature pays.
Join the waitlist
PROTEA is pre-ICO: nothing is for sale. The waitlist is first access to the whitepaper and each public milestone as it ships.
Join the waitlistEvery enquiry reaches the team directly.
The whitepaper is available on request while v1.0 is finalised.