ensurance

Ensurance is proactive protection for natural assets—funding ecosystem safeguarding from day one with a clear path to permanent protection.

why

Traditional insurance is reactive. It compensates after damage occurs. But ecosystems can't be un-destroyed. Once a watershed is degraded or a species extinct, no payout restores what was lost.

Ensurance flips the model:

The $1 trillion annual biodiversity funding gap can't be closed by philanthropy or public funding alone. The legacy system undervalues nature, leaving funding and projects trapped in a chicken-and-egg loop: no market demand without supply, no supply without capital, no capital without returns, no returns without demand.

Ensurance breaks this loop with a member-owned blended-finance structure that connects two types of capital.

what

the three states

Every natural asset exists in one of three ensurance states:

UNENSURED  →  ENSURED  →  ENTRUST

The goal is moving natural assets from UNENSURED through ENSURED to ENTRUST—permanent protection in perpetuity.

members and participants

The ensurance protocol distinguishes between two tiers of engagement:

Members are members of groups first (each group has its own governance), and groups are members of the protocol. Anyone can build clients on top of the protocol's onchain contracts.

Members invest in the protocol as flow investors, stock investors, or both. Participants also invest, for their own reasons (arbitrage, speculation, conviction). The distinction is protocol membership and distribution eligibility, not intent.

the two-sided capital structure

Ensurance operates as a member-owned blended-finance protocol where two types of capital work in one system. Flow investors (value side) invest in risk reduction and resilience through premiums and certificates. Stock investors (cost side) provide capital for yield, secured by the real assets that protect the ecosystems within. These are functions, not roles — the same member can be both.

┌─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┐
│  FLOW INVESTORS (value side)    │  STOCK INVESTORS (cost side)    │
│  Fund VALUE                     │  Finance COST                   │
├─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│  • Invest in risk reduction    │  • Provide capital for yield    │
│    and resilience              │  • Real asset as security       │
│  • Ecosystem service benefits   │    until ENTRUST               │
│    without owning or managing   │  • Yield from premium stream   │
│    land                         │    + protocol distributions    │
│  • Can be on both sides         │  • Can be on both sides         │
│    (e.g. insurer, utility)      │    (e.g. real estate operator)  │
└─────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘
                    ↓                           ↓
              Both receive distributions as premiums flow
              in, proceeds flow out, and natural assets
              move from UNENSURED → ENSURED → ENTRUST

Flow investors create yield for stock investors, the protocol, and even themselves — the system is circular.

flow investors (value side)

Members who invest in risk reduction and resilience. Their risks and dependencies on ecosystem services make protection cheaper than failure:

Flow investors fund ensurance by paying premiums on policies or buying certificates (lines and coins). An insurer, for example, can be a flow investor AND a stock investor on the same deal.

stock investors (cost side)

Members who provide capital for yield, secured by the underlying real assets that protect the ecosystems within. They are a sidecar to the protocol — their capital is secured by the real asset as collateral, and their yield comes from the premium stream:

Stock investors fund or own the real asset itself (or as partner). Certificate sales from flow investors fund the agent account for the asset, which distributes yield to stock investors based on IRR calculations. Once IRR targets are met, the natural asset transitions to ENTRUST — permanent protection.

opportunity for all

Beyond risk reduction and yield, the protocol offers arbitrage and speculation to all members and participants through trading coins and certificates. The natural cap rate spread (value vs cost) creates embedded opportunity across all instruments.

premium sources

Premiums are the recurring payments that fund protection. They come from flow investors — members whose risks and dependencies on ecosystem services make protection a rational investment:

Premiums are flexible. By adjusting the time horizon, annual costs can fit different budgets:

Higher premiums accelerate the path to permanent protection. Minimum premiums protect year-by-year without building toward ENTRUST.

yield and distributions

The protocol generates three types of yield:

Distributions (not dividends) flow to members who hold certificates in wallets connected to their agent account. Distributions are not limited to financial value — they include all types of value flowing through the protocol: ecological, cultural, social, and financial.

Distribution eligibility:

• Must be a member (have an agent account)
• Must hold certificates in the same or user-connected wallets
• Participants who hold certificates but lack an agent account do NOT receive distributions

This creates a clear incentive: become a member to receive distributions.

ensurance components

protocol roles

The ensured is nature itself — and by extension, all of society that depends on ecosystem services. Unlike traditional insurance where the policyholder is the insured, in ensurance the policyholder participates in nature's protection. They are not the primary beneficiary; nature is.

Any member can source deals, onboard new members, create instruments, and propose natural assets. The protocol rewards this activity onchain.

how

how it works

Ensurance triangulates three values:

1. Flows Value — Annual ecosystem service value (VALUE)
2. Stocks Value — Real asset cost (COST)
3. Member Capital — Funding from both sides

Flows Value ($/yr)  =  VALUE
     │
     ├── Determines par value of certificates
     ├── Determines premium capacity
     │
Stocks Value ($)  =  COST
     │
     ├── Sets purchase price of certificates
     ├── Sets acquisition target for stock investors
     │
Natural Cap Rate (%)  =  VALUE / COST
     │
     └── The spread — economic engine of the protocol

the value gap

The gap between flows value and viable premium is the value gap:

Flows Value:         $1,449,703/yr
Stocks (land cost):    $294,250
Natural Cap Rate:          493%
Viable Premium:         $50,000/yr
───────────────────────────────────
Value Gap:          $1,399,703/yr

The value gap represents nature's subsidy to the economy—ecosystem services delivered but not paid for. Ensurance begins closing this gap.

certificate mechanics

Certificates represent participation in ensurance:

Only the minimum certificates required for ensurance are issued. The rest remain on Nature's Balance Sheet—held by the protocol for nature itself.

the flow cycle

Flow Investors (premiums, certificate purchases)
        ↓
   Agent Account (natural asset)
        ↓ (IRR calculation)
   ┌────┴────┐
   │         │
 Yield    Stewardship
   │         │
 Stock      Natural
 Investors  Assets
        ↓
   Once IRR met → ENTRUST

Certificate sales from flow investors fund the agent account for the asset. The protocol calculates IRR and distributes yield to stock investors. Once IRR targets are met, the natural asset transitions to permanent protection.

path to ENTRUST

1. Slip Assessment
   ↓
2. Policy Issuance
   ↓
3. Premium Payments + Certificate Sales (ongoing)
   ↓
4. IRR Targets Met
   ↓
5. ENTRUST Status
   ↓
6. Permanent Trust (stewardship continues via distributions)

Once ENTRUST is reached, the natural asset enters permanent trust. Stewardship funding continues through distributions; the asset is protected in perpetuity.

ensurance vs other mechanisms

Ensurance combines proactive protection with a clear path to permanence—something no other mechanism provides.

related

• approach — Philosophy and blended finance rationale
• certificates — Specific ensurance instruments (policies and lines)
• coins — General ensurance instruments
• natural-capital — What ensurance protects and the natural cap rate
• natural-assets — The foundation ensurance moves toward permanent protection
• framework — Valuation methodology
• proceeds — How value flows through the system
• vaults — Institutional-grade access to ensurance
• duna — Protocol governance and structure