According to Cointelegraph, Flowcarbon, a blockchain-based carbon credit platform co-founded by former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, is refunding investors after its anticipated 'Goddess Nature Token' (GNT) failed to launch. The refunds have been issued in recent weeks following a year-long wait by investors, including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, for a launch that never materialized. Flowcarbon cited market conditions and resistance from carbon registries as the primary reasons for the refunds.
Flowcarbon has not publicly disclosed the refunds, but a spokesperson confirmed to Forbes that the company has been offering refunds to retail GNT buyers since last year due to industry delays. The refund process reportedly involved asking GNT purchasers to sign a waiver of claims against Flowcarbon and its affiliates, along with certain confidentiality terms. The GNT token was intended to be backed 1:1 with carbon credits, which are certificates that companies purchase to offset their carbon emissions. Tokenizing these credits would theoretically make them more accessible to investors, but few industry players have made significant progress in this area.
Despite the setback, Flowcarbon remains active in the climate industry. The company received $70 million in Series A funding in May 2022, led by Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Samsung NEXT. At least $38 million of that funding was raised through the sale of Flowcarbon’s token, though it is unclear if retail investors were part of that sum. The market for energy and environment-related tokens has a combined market cap of $186 million, with Powerledger’s POWR and Energy Web’s EWT tokens comprising 94% of that market.
