GLOSSARY 

 

Some terms will be used in many parts of this                   

document. Here we define and clarify their             

meaning to avoid misunderstandings. 

Ethereum: A decentralized platform that runs           

smart contracts, which are applications that run             

exactly as programmed without any possibility of             

downtime, censorship, fraud or third party           

interference. 

Blockchain: It’s an open, distributed ledger that             

can record transactions between two parties           

efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.               

The continuously growing list of records called             

blocks are linked and secured using cryptography. 

The Ethereum blockchain: It is a Blockchain,             

with a Turing complete scripting language that             

enables the processing of Smart Contracts on the               

Blockchain. When we mention “Blockchain” in this             

whitepaper, we are referring to the Ethereum             

blockchain specifically. 

Digital game: An electronic game “boxed”           

digitally that can be downloaded from the             

Internet. It involves interaction with a user             

interface to generate visual feedback on a video               

device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. 

Cartridge: A representation of a digital game in               

the (Ethereum) Blockchain that guarantees         

unicity and signed by the game developer to give                 

an assurance of authenticity. 

Lotus Token (LTS): It’s a standard Ethereum             

ERC20 token. It is a sub-currency used to trade                 

and fund games. 

LIP: the Lotus Investment Program.   

 

 THE PROBLEM

  Sharing a game with a friend or a family member                   

was as simple as handing over a game cartridge.                 

This rare phenomenon for digital games is still               

very common on other type of video games media                 

(e.g. game consoles). Sadly, this familiar feature is               

not possible in most digital games for PC. 

 

The existing distribution platforms for digital           

games are a good opportunity for game             

developers to make a profit from their hard work.                 

But those platforms take away a great piece of                 

the developers’ revenue for themselves (typically           

30%). How can small dev teams grow in a good                   

pace if they are being held back by 30% in profits                     

wherever they publish their games at? 

 

 

Moreover, some indie game developers         

constantly struggle to finance their projects,           

which is a barrier for their creations to come to                   

fruition. Although crowdfunding platforms like         

Kickstarter or Indiegogo have help a few teams,               

they don’t allow to fund a game project without                 

bureaucratic requirements, they don’t release         

funds quickly and lack transparent automated           

rules without third party interference. Besides,           

they don’t focus on gaming projects alone so               

contributors have many divergent interests. 

 

 

 THE SOLUTION : THE LOTUS PROTOCOL 

  Lotus Core is a decentralized platform for             

players, developers and investors built on top of               

Ethereum. 

In Lotus Core, players will be able to 

trade games with friends, developers will 

earn 100% of the revenue derived from 

selling their digital games, and also 

receive funding from crowdfunding 

campaigns within the platform.     

 

A new way to register and distribute 

digital games 

When a game is purchased or loaned in the Lotus                   

Store, the Lotus Protocol creates a digital game               

through a Smart Contract with a digital signature               

and records it in the blockchain, which allows the                 

software developer to guarantee the authenticity           

of each copy of software and giving players access                 

to their game even when the user is offline. 

This way, Lotus Core seizes the opportunities             

inside a new market of digital games traded               

securely within the blockchain to represent the             

ownership of property. 

Ownership of software 

The Lotus Protocol allows players to have a direct                 

relationship with developers by being able to             

prove ownership of software without third           

parties, as the ownership proof will reside in the                 

blockchain and not in the servers of a company.                 

Players will be able to use this software like if it                     

was a physical copy, meaning they’ll be able to                 

exchange it or sell it to other players. These                 

trades and exchanges will be made up by Smart                 

Contract rules to protect them from piracy while               

also giving benefits to developers. 

     

 

 USE-CASES 

  

Buying Process 

In order to guarantee the ownership, Lotus Core provides an API to create unique cartridges in the                                 

blockchain. The validity of cartridges will be given by the recipient address. This implies that the developer                                 

will have a direct relation with the final user and consequently get 100% of the profits per sale.                                   

Additionally, the cartridges will be digitally signed in order to allow the use of valid cartridges even in                                   

offline mode. 

This process is useful when someone wants to know the number of copies of a digital game and the history                                       

of each one. It also serves as a customizable and convenient DRM protection system, allowing to use the                                   

software in offline environments and write rules to share the software previously sold. These rules will                               

allow the final user to share or exchange her games: 

Lotus Core provides a channel for communications between software developers and final users without                           

taking part in the sale process, making the software distribution a truly decentralized experience.

Digital signatures and anti-piracy system 

In order to avoid hacking and allow players to access to their games even when they are offline, each                                     

cartridge will have a digital signature impossible to replicate in case a user maliciously attempts to fake the                                   

ownership of cartridges she hasn’t bought. The private key to sign this cartridge will be the same key as the                                       

purchase address. 

 

In detail, the digital game will require a proof of ownership asking the user’s account to sign a random string                                       

with the private key used to buy the game. Doing this will prevent the usage of valid cartridges by users                                       

who did not buy the game. This proof is cheap in terms of computer resources and it can be required at any                                           

time during the game execution in case of a malicious binary modification that skips the first verification. 

It is important to mention that a signature can be verified with only the public address of the signer, but it is                                           

impossible to generate a valid signature without knowing the signer’s private key. 

Download Process 

Aiming to provide a truly decentralized experience Lotus Core needed to come up with a method for                                 

players to download games in a way that it does not carry any associated costs to developers or to Lotus                                       

Core. To accomplish this task we implemented the Lotus Decentralized Storage (LDS), a cloud-based                           

storage system for games running with a different token called Karma, where each game holds the                               

necessary Karma charge to be downloaded a limited number of times per player. Each game is compressed                                 

in blocks and the download process takes place on each individual block, meaning that it consumes one                                 

transaction per block until the download is complete. 

 

   

 

 

To get a better understanding of how Karma will work, consider these conditions: 

● A player can download as many games as he/she wants as long as he/she has enough Karma to pay. 

● Players can gain Karma by: 

○ Acting like storage nodes by lending an agreed amount of local drive space to the network. 

○ Purchasing it on the Lotus Store. 

○ Owning a game for certain amount of time. 

● Players can lose Karma by: 

○ Downloading games. 

○ Purchasing games with Karma. 

Execution or Launching Process 

This is the core of the DRM system, using digital signatures plus the blockchain network to guarantee the                                   

unicity and validity of a piece of software. When a game is launched or executed by a player, the compatible                                       

applications will connect with the background process that verifies the blockchain and keeps record of the                               

player’s digital games. 

   

 

 

Trading Process 

Lotus Core allows players to exchange, gift, lend or sell digital games they own to other players, just like it’s                                       

possible with most physical copies of games. Using the capabilities of Smart Contracts, we are able to write                                   

rules to perform these actions and at the same time benefit developers in case of trades involving tokens. 

 

Funding Process 

Lotus Core offers developers the opportunity to fund their existing or new game projects using Lotus                               

Tokens (LTS), which serve as proof of investment. Developers who get funded will give a small percentage                                 

of their revenue per sale to Lotus Core after launching. 

 If the goal is not reached then the invested tokens are returned to the original owner.   

 ADVANTAGES 

  

For players 

 

Games work in offline mode 

Most of the DRM systems require an active               

internet connection in order to check in real time                 

the ownership of the software. Using           

cryptographic digital signatures we can check the             

validity of any owned cartridge in offline mode. 

 

Access to a new loan market 

Having unique cartridges in the Blockchain plus             

Smart Contracts allows us to tap into new               

business opportunities like loaning systems: for           

instance, we can write a program that gives a                 

cartridge to a player for a limited time and after a                     

while it automatically removes the cartridge from             

the player’s library. 

 

A fair DRM system 

Using Blockchain assets plus the Smart Contracts             

technology we can write rules that specify the               

sale of a game is not a trade barrier for a free                       

market to emerge, allowing the game owner to               

sell, lend or exchange the game after buying it. 

With these Smart Contracts, developers will also             

benefit from these operations. 

For developers 

 

Secure system to avoid piracy 

Lotus Core provides a convenient system to             

check the authenticity of a game copy, letting it                 

check the ownership status even in offline mode. 

Also, the Blockchain introduces the concept           

digital scarcity, which means it’s the only             

technology that allows to create unique           

cartridges to protect the trading process of digital               

games. 

 

Give profits to developers from each operation             

that involves tokens 

The Blockchain assets gives us a series of options                 

to trade games in many ways, allowing the               

creation of new business models and letting game               

developers participate in them. By using Smart             

Contracts we can write trade conditions that             

benefit game developers from these new models. 

 

 

Access to funding capital to launch a new or                 

existing project 

Taking advantage of the Lotus Core platform,             

developers can receive funds to build their games               

following their roadmaps and meeting our           

guidelines. This is the perfect platform to develop               

new projects for, as it forges an honest               

relationship with investors in a win-win relation             

by using the advantages of the Blockchain to be                 

transparent in all the aspects of the process. 

For investors 

 

 

 

 

 

Invest in projects you believe in 

Lotus Core created the Lotus Investment           

Program (LIP) to let developers find investors             

who fund their projects by creating reward-based             

crowdfunding campaigns. LIP writes Smart         

Contracts to define the terms of funding, by               

setting up a percentage per sale to be returned to                   

the investor(s), as well as defining the terms of an                   

eventual refund in case of a campaign that does                 

not meet its funding goal. 

 

Transparent and honest relation 

LIP comes with a feature called Secure Funds,               

which unlocks funds to developers only if certain               

milestones are accomplished. These milestones         

will be approved by investors through a             

decentralized and transparent voting system.         

Besides, the LIP reduces bureaucratic barriers to             

fund projects. 

   

 

 OPPORTUNITY 

  The games industry has shown tremendous growth in global adoption and revenue during the last two                               

decades, and still is in constant grow year-by-year. In 2016 the game industry made US$ 104.4 billion in                                   

revenue. In 2017, it made US$ 116 billion in revenue, representing a 10.7% growth compared to 2016. 

In the US alone, they took in about US$9.5 billion in 2007 and grew to $30.4 billion in 2016 (ESA annual                                         

report), a growth of 31% in 9 years. 

To build a great product and establish an engaged community that will generate value to players,                               

developers, publishers and investors alike, we cut down the value chain into four layers. 

 

#1 The distribution layer 

Using the platform is free. This matches our               

principle of not interfering in the game exchange               

(cutting the middle-man). 

Publishers and developers will be able to publish               

and sell their games in the Lotus Store free of                   

charge, and they can pay to promote their games                 

within the Store. 

#2 The capital and publishing layer 

We created the Lotus Investment Program for             

several reasons, one of them is that Lotus Core                 

can participate in the success of emerging             

markets for video games by investing in projects               

we believe are amazing, and obtaining returns             

after they are released. 

 

#3 The production and tools layer 

This is a great opportunity for Lotus because it                 

provides brand new tools for developers to             

integrate their games with the blockchain           

ecosystem. 

Potential solutions go from blockchain DRM           

based alternatives, access to new APIs to             

loan/free trial games, secure transactions of items             

and currencies inside games, among many others. 

#4 The software platform layer 

Developers can purchase a membership to the             

Lotus Partner Program, which allows them to             

access exclusive benefits such as a pool of select                 

players matching their target audience to           

play-test their unfinished games, as well as an               

analytics dashboard with metrics and results of             

the testing sessions. 

 

 LOTUS CORE PLATFORM 

  

Lotus Core/API 

This is the process that will be in charge of validating and keeping the Blockchain transactions updated. It                                   

implements a wallet to keep your tokens and digital games and an API to be used by third party apps in                                         

order to verify game ownership. 

Lotus Store 

This is a digital distribution platform that uses the Lotus Core API to run the trade operations. This                                   

platforms will also serve as a showcase for developers to launch new projects and be funded by individuals                                   

or investors. 

 

 

 LOTUS TOKEN SALE 

  

Hardcap & Allocation 

Only 1 billion token supply (1,000,000,000) LTS. 

10% Presale, 60% Public Sale and 30% Reserved. 

Pre-sale (10%) 

Hard cap: 100 million LTS 

Start date: March 21, 2018 

End date: April 21, 2018 

Price: 1 ETH = 35,000 LTS 

Stage Bonus: 50% = 17,500 LTS 

Minimum pre-sale goal: No minimum 

Public (60%) 

Hard cap: 600 million LTS 

Start date: May, 2018 

Price: 1 ETH = 35,000 LTS 

Minimum funding goal: 1000 ETH 

• Tier 1: Stage bonus: 30% (10,500 LTS) 

• Tier 2: Stage bonus: 15% (5,250 LTS) 

• Tier 3: Stage bonus: 0% 

Reserved (30%) 

10% Community (locked by 1 month) 

10% Marketing & Partnerships (locked by 2             

month) 

5% Development Team & Advisors (locked by 4               

month) 

5% Development Team & Advisors (vesting for 2               

years) 

Any unsold tokens will be distributed equally             

among all the token holders after the crowdsale               

event ends.