Power peg token system

Abstract

We provide a power peg token system that equalizes the varying power unit prices for each power supplier. [Solution] In the power peg token system, the node 20 provided by the administrator pays each power supplier the consideration for the claims provided by the nodes 10 provided by each power supplier, multiplies the power guaranteed by the claims by a leveling coefficient (k) for each power supplier to convert it into power peg tokens of equivalent unit value, sends a transaction to the platform to trigger the issuance of these power peg tokens, and when the platform receives confirmation from the node 30 provided by the user that power peg tokens have been used as payment for supplied power, it extinguishes the claims for the amount of power used by dividing the power peg tokens by the leveling coefficient (k) of the power supplier that used the power.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system that pegs digital assets (hereinafter referred to as tokens) in blockchain technology that functions as virtual currencies or certificates to electricity.

Background Art

[0002] Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are said to become a base currency replacing the US dollar, but their usage range is still limited. One of the reasons for this is that there is no collateral for value, resulting in a large fluctuation range.

[0003] To eliminate the large fluctuation range, there are stablecoins pegged to the US dollar such as DAI, USDT (Tether), and USDC (Circle). However, due to the US dollar peg, they only serve as an auxiliary to the US dollar and do not act as a safety valve during a sharp drop in the US dollar.

[0004] Instead of pegging to the US dollar as described above, the inventor of the present invention proposed pegging to electricity in Patent Document 1. In this Patent Document 1, an exchange that issues value information purchases a power supply guarantee from an operator that retails electricity such as a power plant, and issues value information corresponding to this power supply guarantee, thereby selecting electricity as the backing for the value of the value information. That is, a model that tokenizes future power supply claims is proposed.

[0005] Furthermore, the inventors have proposed Patent Document 2 as an improved version of the system described in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 2 describes a value information system that includes a server computer owned by an issuing institution that issues value information such as cryptocurrency, and client computers owned by users of the value information, wherein a client-server network model is established between the server computer and the client computers, providing the server with information it holds to the client, and an autonomous distributed P2P (peer to peer) network model is established between the client computers. The server computer receives power supply guarantee information from a power retailer that guarantees to supply power when requested by the client computer for the tax amount or part of the tax, issues value information corresponding to the received power supply guarantee information, transmits the issued value information to the client computer in response to a request from the client computer, and when it receives information from the power retailer that the value information has been used for a power supply request, it deletes or invalidates the power supply guarantee information that underpins the value of the value information, and the client computer receives the value information, transmits the received value information as payment currency to other client terminals, and transmits it to the power retailer as payment currency corresponding to the power used.

[0006] Patent Document 3 proposes a method for managing electricity transactions that is suitable for providing consumers with an environmental value certificate proving that they have transacted with a power generation company that generates electricity using renewable energy. Specifically, the method for managing electricity transactions involves a system in which a transaction management server that stores and manages accounts held by power generators and accounts held by consumers in a distributed ledger on a database, and a certificate issuing server, which are connected to each other via a network, and when a power generator that generates electricity using renewable energy sells electricity to a consumer, the system provides the consumer with an environmental value certificate at the consumer's terminal that proves the consumer is using the power generation means, wherein the transaction management server, based on reverse power flow data received from the power generator's power meter, A method for managing electricity transactions has been proposed, comprising: a grant step of granting a corresponding amount of environmental value tokens to the power generator account; a transfer step of moving the environmental value tokens from the power generator account in the database to the customer account when a transaction is concluded between the power generator and the customer; and an issuance step of issuing the environmental value certificate based on the environmental value tokens moved from the power generator account to the customer account when the certificate issuing server receives an application instruction for the environmental value certificate from the customer's terminal, and transmitting the environmental value certificate to the customer's terminal.

[0007] Patent Document 4 discloses a power trading support system for multiple power generation facilities and multiple consumers, comprising: a supply quantity acquisition unit for each power generation facility that acquires the amount of electricity generated at the power generation facility that has been transmitted to a predetermined power network; a token issuance unit that issues tokens corresponding to the supply quantity to the first account of the power generation facility on the blockchain; a demand quantity acquisition unit for each consumer that acquires the amount of electricity received from the power network; a transmission quantity determination unit that determines the amount of electricity that is deemed to have been sent from the power generation facility to the consumer for each pair of power generation facility and consumer; and a transaction issuance unit that issues a single transaction to the blockchain for each power generation facility, with the first account as the sender and the second account of each of the multiple consumers that make up the pair as the destination, transferring an amount of the token corresponding to the amount of electricity transmitted for each consumer. The transaction issuance unit is implemented by worker devices, and multiple worker devices each issue multiple transactions simultaneously and in parallel.

[0008] Patent Document 5 discloses a power trading management system that manages power plant accounts and consumer accounts using a blockchain network, as a system for managing the contract of consumer usage rights for electricity and the traceability of electricity supply and demand while ensuring authenticity, and comprises: usage right issuance means for issuing usage right tokens for electricity supplied from power plants to power plant accounts; application acquisition means for acquiring application information for the use of supplied electricity from consumers; usage right transfer means for transferring usage right tokens to consumer accounts based on the application information; power generation performance issuance means for issuing power generation performance tokens related to power generation performance to power plant accounts; usage performance acquisition means for acquiring electricity usage performance information from consumers; and power generation performance transfer means for transferring power generation performance tokens to consumer accounts based on the usage performance information and the usage right tokens of the consumer accounts.

[0009] Patent document 6 describes recording the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources in a ledger as energy tokens, and issuing, trading, and redeeming them in fixed units such as 1 MWh.

[0010] Patent document 7 discloses a method for tokenizing the amount of electricity generated at a power plant and matching it with consumer usage on a blockchain. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0011] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6006266 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6779454 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 7225823 [Patent Document 4] Patent No. 7498491 [Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2025-052768 [Patent Document 6] US2023-0067556A1 [Patent Document 7] WO2017-199053A1 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0012] Patent documents 1 and 2 function well when the unit price of electricity remains within a roughly constant range. However, actual electricity prices fluctuate greatly depending on the relationship between supply and demand. Electricity generated at power plants in sparsely populated areas of Hokkaido cannot be transmitted to large electricity consumption areas due to transmission capacity and other reasons. As a result, large regional disparities in electricity unit prices occur, and there are also large differences in unit prices depending on the power generation method, such as hydroelectric, thermal, solar, and wind power.

[0013] Patent documents 3 to 6 describe systems for ensuring the traceability of renewable energy, but they do not disclose anything about the price stability of power peg tokens. Furthermore, while Patent Document 7 tokenizes the amount of electricity generated at a power plant, it does not equalize it, so it cannot be used in a stable manner like StableCoin. [Means for solving the problem]

[0014] To solve the above problems, the power peg token system according to the present invention includes nodes provided by multiple power suppliers, which are issuers of claims that guarantee the future supply of power within an acceptable range; nodes provided by the power peg token administrator; nodes provided by the power peg token users; and a platform equipped with a token contract, a conversion smart contract, and a liquidation smart contract on the blockchain.

[0015] The Ethereum blockchain is an example of a platform that executes decentralized applications via smart contracts. The Ethereum blockchain features conversion smart contracts, which trigger the conversion and issuance of power peg tokens. In addition to the Ethereum blockchain, other smart contract-enabled platforms include Solana, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche, and NEAR Protocol.

[0016] Here, "guaranteeing future power supply within an acceptable range" includes the use of power peg tokens by users as payment for their electricity usage. Furthermore, the nodes include various computers, smartphones, and smart cards.

[0017] The node held by the administrator executes the payment of the consideration of the claim provided by each power supplier to each power supplier, generates a normalization coefficient (k) for equalizing the value of the unit power pegged token without depending on the power supplier that provided the claim, and transmits an update transaction of this normalization coefficient (k) to the conversion smart contract.

[0018] The conversion smart contract of the platform multiplies the power compensated by the claim by the updated normalization coefficient (k) for each power supplier and converts and issues it into power pegged tokens. When the settlement smart contract of the platform receives from the node held by the user that the power pegged token is used as payment for the supplied power, it executes the extinction of the claim for the amount of power used by dividing the power pegged token by the normalization coefficient (k) of the power supplier where the power was used.

[0019] Also, the token contract of the platform functions as an execution point that accepts the balance and transfer ledger of each address, and issuance (mint) and extinction (burnFrom) with limited authority The conversion smart contract and the settlement smart contract are configured to satisfy the constraint that the measured power consumption (the power actually used) always matches the power consumption obtained by dividing the power pegged token by the reciprocal of the coefficient (k) at the time of settlement.

[0020] The normalization coefficient (k) only needs to be such that when multiplied, the unit value becomes equivalent regardless of which power supplier the issued power pegged token is from. The average value of the power unit price of each power supplier / the power unit price of all power suppliers in the country, the power unit price of each power supplier / the power unit price of a specific power supplier, the power unit price of each power supplier, or a coefficient determined by the administrator for each power supplier can be used. When the normalization coefficient (k) changes over time, the latest coefficient is adopted.

[0021] The power supplier includes, in addition to power plants and power companies, ordinary households equipped with power generation facilities. The administrator is not limited to a stock company, and national institutions, companies commissioned by the state, and local governments are also considered, and it is possible that the administrator and the power supplier partially overlap.

[0022] In addition, the provision of claims from each power supplier to the administrator is not only carried out at the request of the power supplier, but also at the request of the administrator when the claims from a specific power supplier are insufficient.

[0023] The payment of consideration from the nodes held by the administrator to the power supplier is made by offsetting against already circulating power pegged tokens, currencies such as yen and dollars, or the taxes to be paid by the power supplier.

Advantages of the Invention

[0024] According to the present invention, when issuing power pegged tokens using smart contracts by adopting an Ethereum blockchain or the like as a platform for constructing a distributed application, the value of each unit of power pegged token is multiplied by a leveling coefficient equivalent to the power backed by the future power supply compensation claim provided by each power supplier, so that it is converted into power pegged tokens with no power unit price difference, and thus it can be used as a virtual currency or certificate that is not linked (pegged) to currencies such as yen and dollars.

[0025] Compared with gold, although power has equipment limitations, it can be produced as much as possible, has no weight, and has excellent characteristics as an exchange partner such as easy transportation (power transmission). On the other hand, as the only drawback, the power unit price varies greatly depending on the manufacturing means (hydraulic power, thermal power, solar power, nuclear power...), season, time zone (daytime and nighttime), user (large enterprise and ordinary household), and region, and tokens linked (pegged) to power could not be realized. However, the only drawback of power is eliminated by the present invention.

[0026] Also, even when it drops sharply due to an earthquake or war, etc., the power pegged token can be used as the consideration for power consumption, and it can hedge against a sharp drop in the price of the currency.

[0027] This system is a model where funds are obtained by issuing bonds in advance and then used to supply electricity in the future. Therefore, small-scale power plants can use this as a source of funds for initial investment and equipment upgrades. Furthermore, power generation facilities (especially hydroelectric power plants) built in sparsely populated areas often have excess capacity relative to demand. This system, by issuing power-pegged tokens, aims to correct economic disparities by supplying tokens linked to electricity to the market, even without a physical increase in power supply.

[0028] Because electricity prices vary even within limited regions of a country, this system is effective for issuing local currencies, and it is also possible to set an expiration date (for example, two years from the date of issuance). To encourage the use of power peg tokens, it is possible to set up a system where, for example, if power peg tokens remain unused for a certain period (more than one year), the administrator will charge a management fee based on their usage. Furthermore, since electricity prices vary greatly from country to country, it would also be effective as a common currency for, for example, the Asian region or among CPTPP member countries. Furthermore, smart contracts on the blockchain can be used to restrict token transfers. For example, a whitelist restriction could be implemented that allows transfers only within the same region and between participating merchant wallets. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0029] [Figure 1] Overall configuration diagram of the power peg token system according to the present invention. [Figure 2] Diagram illustrating the administrator node and the Ethereum blockchain. [Figure 3] Sequence diagram of the power peg token system according to the present invention [Figure 4] Block diagram illustrating the issuance request for power peg tokens and the updating of coefficient (k). [Figure 5] Block diagram explaining the disappearance of the common power peg token. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0030] As shown in Figure 1, the power peg token system according to the present invention consists of a node (10) provided by the power supply entity, a node (20) provided by the power peg token administrator, a node (30) provided by the power peg token users, and a platform (40) such as the Ethereum blockchain. A general-purpose computer can be used as a node and consists of common hardware such as a CPU, ROM, RAM, HDD, BIOS, communication interface unit, input unit such as keyboard and mouse, and display.

[0031] In the embodiments, Hokkaido Electric Power Company is described as power supplier HOK and Tokyo Electric Power Company as power supplier TOK as examples of power suppliers. However, the present invention can be applied to countries other than Japan, and although the Japanese yen is used in the embodiments, the same applies to dollars, euros, Chinese yuan, etc.

[0032] Power peg tokens (EPTs), managed by administrator nodes (20), are built on the Ethereum blockchain (40), which is built on a globally distributed network. Each node on the network holds all or part of the blockchain's data (ledger) and performs verification, propagation, and synchronization of new transactions and blocks.

[0033] User A, who has received power peg tokens (EPT) as salary via the internet, sends power peg tokens (EPT) to User B's node (10) as payment for goods. User B then sends power peg tokens (EPT) to User C's node (10) as compensation for labor. Furthermore, when user C uses the Power Peg Token (EPT) not as currency but as payment for their own electricity usage, it is considered that the token has been converted into electricity.

[0034] As shown in Figure 2, the header of each block in the Ethereum blockchain records the hash value of the previous (parent) block, a timestamp, the state root, etc., and the body of each block contains the transaction. Smart contracts are deployed by the creation transaction, and their code and state are held on the world state side.

[0035] The system sequence is explained based on Figure 3. Power supply TOK and power supply HOK's nodes (10) send signals to the administrator's node (20) requesting the issuance of a debt that guarantees future power supply. This "guarantee of future power supply" includes the use of power peg tokens as payment for power already supplied. Furthermore, if the supply of power peg tokens becomes insufficient, the administrator node (20) can issue bonds to the power supply node (10).

[0036] As shown in Figure 3, when an administrator receives a request to issue electricity supply receivables via a node (20), if there are no problems after considering the details of the request, such as whether it is within the range of power generation capacity or the amount of tokens already issued (credit), the administrator sends a transaction to the Ethereum blockchain (40) to issue electricity peg tokens.

[0037] When issuing power peg tokens, the administrator will perform a leveling process to ensure that the unit value of all power peg tokens is equivalent, regardless of the origin of the power supplier. The leveling method involves multiplying the power guaranteed by the bonds by a leveling coefficient (k). Possible equalization coefficients (k) include the electricity price of each power supplier divided by the average electricity price of all power suppliers nationwide, the electricity price of each power supplier divided by the electricity price of a specific power supplier, the electricity price of each power supplier, or a value determined by the administrator.

[0038] The following example shows a case where the leveling coefficient (k) is calculated as the electricity unit price of each power supplier divided by the average electricity unit price of all power suppliers nationwide. In the case of the power supplier (Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc.) HOK, if we assume that the amount of electricity (kWh) compensated by the bond is 2.0kWh, the power supplier's electricity price is 10 yen, and the average electricity price of all power suppliers nationwide is 20 yen, then the leveling coefficient (k) = 10 / 20 = 0.5, and the power peg tokens to be issued are: 2.0(kWh) x 0.5 = 1.0(EPT) This is the result. Furthermore, in the case of the power supplier (Tokyo Electric Power Company) TOK, if we assume that the amount of electricity (kWh) compensated for by the bond = 1.0kWh, the power supplier's electricity unit price = 25 yen, and the average electricity unit price of all power suppliers nationwide = 20 yen, then the leveling coefficient (k) = 25 / 20 = 1.25, and the power peg tokens to be issued are, 1.0 (kWh) x 1.25 = 1.25 (EPT) This is the result. In other words, the bonds issued by the power supplier (Hokkaido Electric Power) HOK guarantee a greater supply of electricity than those issued by the power supplier (Tokyo Electric Power) TOK, but Tokyo Electric Power (TOK) can issue a larger quantity of power peg tokens.

[0039] An example using the electricity unit price of each power supplier as the leveling coefficient (k) is shown below. In the case of the power supplier (Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc.) HOK, if we assume that the amount of electricity (kWh) compensated for by the bond is 2.0kWh and the power supplier's electricity price is 10 yen, then the issuance will Power peg tokens are 2.0 (kWh) x 10 (yen) = 20 (EPT) This is the result. Furthermore, in the case of the power supplier (Tokyo Electric Power Company) TOK, if we assume that the amount of electricity (kWh) compensated for by the bond is 1.0kWh and the power supplier's electricity price is 25 yen, then the issuance will Power peg tokens are 1.0 (kWh) x 25 (yen) = 25 (EPT) This is the result. If the unit price of electricity from each power supplier is used as the leveling coefficient (k), it will indirectly be pegged to a circle.

[0040] The value of a unit power peg token can also be made transparent by using the power unit price of each power supplier / the power unit price of a specific power supplier or a value determined by the administrator as the leveling coefficient (k). Using a value determined by the administrator increases the administrator's flexibility.

[0041] Furthermore, once a bond is converted into a power peg token, it loses its connection to the bond from which it was issued. As a result, the value of the issued power peg tokens is leveled out, and it becomes possible to merge and subdivide power peg tokens with each other.

[0042] As shown in Figure 4, the administrator node (20) obtains the price per unit of power (power price) for each power supplier from the spot market price (JEPX) via an oracle. The administrator node (20) signs the power price, source identifier, timestamp, nonce, etc., and sends the transaction to the transforming smart contract with this signed data as an argument.

[0043] The conversion smart contract determines the amount to be issued based on the issuance request and the electricity price, and sends an issuance command to the token contract. The token contract issues (mints) electricity peg tokens (EPT) based on the command, and the authority to issue is limited to the address of the conversion smart contract.

[0044] To use Power Peg Tokens (EPTs), users access the administrator's site via the internet from their own node, pay a fee or check their balance, and once approved, the Power Peg Tokens are sent from the Ethereum network to the user's wallet.

[0045] Users who receive power peg tokens can use them as cryptocurrency (P2P in Figure 1) or certificates, and power peg tokens can also be used as a subject for arbitrage trading.

[0046] In other words, the system attempts to equalize the differing electricity prices of each power supplier by multiplying the guaranteed electricity supply by the electricity price per unit. However, due to various factors, the unit electricity price changes slightly and over short periods of time. Therefore, although the electricity price is updated, small discrepancies occur even within a 10-30 minute period. This discrepancy can be used to conduct arbitrage trading of local electricity peg tokens.

[0047] Alternatively, power peg tokens (EPTs) can be used as payment for electricity consumption. When power peg tokens (EPTs) are used as payment for electricity consumption, i.e., when redemption is performed, the debt is fulfilled, and therefore the power peg tokens (EPTs) must be destroyed (burned).

[0048] In this case, as shown in Figure 5, the user's node (30) sends power peg tokens to a clearing smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain as payment for the supplied electricity. The clearing smart contract verifies the signed meter reading data (including contract identifier, measurement period, measured electricity amount, nonce, timestamp, etc.) received from the meter reading gateway and matches it with the amount of tokens requested for payment. If the match verification is successful, the clearing smart contract calls the burnFrom function of the token contract on its own authority to extinguish (burn) the claim. As a result, the payable token (claim) is removed from the ledger, and at the same time, MeterMatched and Burned audit log events are recorded. In case of a mismatch or data not received, the transaction is put on hold, and if rematching cannot be done within the specified time, a refund is processed. Furthermore, the execution authority for the token contract's burnFrom will be limited to the address of the liquidation smart contract only.

[0049] Once issued, it is unclear which power supplier's debt the power peg tokens were converted to. On the other hand, the amount of electricity that can be purchased with 1.0 (EPT) varies by region. For example, when traveling in Hokkaido in an EV, it is possible to exchange it for cheaper electricity peg tokens and use them, so there are also expected benefits in terms of actual demand.

[0050] Thus, when electricity peg tokens are used as payment for electricity, that is, when they are redeemed, the claims issued by the electricity supplier that supplied the electricity used are extinguished. To achieve this, the power peg tokens used are divided by the latest coefficient (k) of the power provider that supplied the power used, converted to power used, and then the debt is burned in a liquidation smart contract. In this way, power peg tokens can be used regardless of which power supplier issued the bond or which power supplier supplied the electricity.

[0051] In the above, it was stated that information indicating that the user used power peg tokens as payment for electricity usage would be sent directly to the Ethereum blockchain's settlement smart contract. However, in this case, since the administrator has already paid the electricity supplier for the electricity, the administrator could receive the payment (power peg tokens) from the user and then issue instructions to the settlement smart contract from the administrator's node. In other words, the administrator's node may be involved in the process.

[0052] The Electricity Peg Token (EPT) is originally pegged to electricity, and by multiplying it by a coefficient to link it to currencies such as the yen (or dollar), it becomes an extremely stable token backed by both yen and electricity. In other words, when the yen or dollar is stable, it can be used as a cryptocurrency or certificate, and if the yen or dollar plummets, it can be used as a risk hedge by purchasing electricity. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0053] 10…Nodes of power supply units 20…Administrator node 30... User node 40…Ethereum Blockchain

Claims

1. A power peg token system comprising nodes of multiple power suppliers who are issuers of bonds guaranteeing future power supply within an acceptable range, nodes of the power peg token administrator, nodes of users, and a platform equipped with token contracts, conversion smart contracts, and liquidation smart contracts on the blockchain, The nodes provided by the administrator execute the payment of the consideration for the claims provided by each power provider to each power provider, generate a leveling coefficient (k) to make the value of the unit power peg tokens equivalent without depending on the power provider, and send a transaction relating to the leveling coefficient (k) to the conversion smart contract. The aforementioned token contract executes the process of issuing power peg tokens, The aforementioned conversion smart contract converts the electricity guaranteed by the bond into an electricity peg token by multiplying it by a leveling coefficient (k) for each electricity supplier. When the aforementioned clearing smart contract receives confirmation from the user's node that power peg tokens have been used as payment for supplied electricity, it extinguishes the claim for the amount of electricity used, calculated by dividing the power peg tokens by the leveling coefficient (k) of the power supplier from which the electricity was used. A power peg token system characterized by the following features.

2. The power peg token system according to claim 1, characterized in that the leveling coefficient (k) multiplied when converting the claims into power peg tokens is the electricity unit price of each power supplier / the average value of the electricity unit prices of power suppliers nationwide, the electricity unit price of each power supplier / the electricity unit price of a specific power supplier, or the electricity unit price of each power supplier.

3. The power peg token system according to claim 1, characterized in that payment of consideration from the node provided by the administrator to the power supplier is made by offsetting it with power peg tokens already in circulation, currencies such as yen or dollars, or taxes payable by the power supplier.

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