Flowcarbon 在推出“女神自然代币”失败后向投资者退款 作者：Sarah Emerson，福布斯员工

据《福布斯》报道，由 WeWork 的 Adam Neumann 联合创立的气候科技初创公司在多年来未能推出“Goddess Nature Token”之后，一直在悄悄向投资者退款。

Climate tech startup Flowcarbon, cofounded by WeWork’s Adam Neumann, has quietly been refunding investors after failing for years to launch its “Goddess Nature Token,” Forbes has learned.

据《福布斯》获悉，由 WeWork 的 Adam Neumann 联合创立的气候技术初创公司 Flowcarbon 在多年来未能推出“女神自然代币”后，一直在悄悄向投资者退款。

Since debuting more than two years ago, the startup has struggled to realize its mission of bringing carbon credits onto the blockchain. In 2022, Flowcarbon announced it had raised $70 million in funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz to create a new token backed 1:1 by carbon credits, certificates that companies typically buy en masse to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. Each credit represents a metric ton of carbon dioxide that has been removed or prevented from entering the atmosphere. Tokenizing them would, in theory, make it easier for anyone to participate in the carbon market, a system that some reports have claimed can do more harm than good.

自两年多前首次亮相以来，这家初创公司一直在努力实现将碳信用额引入区块链的使命。 2022 年，Flowcarbon 宣布已从 Andreessen Horowitz 等投资者筹集了 7000 万美元资金，以创建一种由碳信用额 1:1 支持的新代币，企业通常会集体购买碳信用额以抵消其温室气体排放。每个积分代表一公吨已被清除或阻止进入大气的二氧化碳。从理论上讲，将它们代币化将使任何人都更容易参与碳市场，一些报告声称这一系统弊大于利。

But in recent weeks, Flowcarbon has been issuing refunds to people who purchased its “Goddess Nature Token” and waited years for a launch that never happened. According to sources who were contacted by the company last month, Flowcarbon cited market conditions and resistance from carbon registries as the reason for returning buyers’ funds instead of continuing to hold them indefinitely. These individuals told Forbes that the company relayed this information over Zoom calls.

但最近几周，Flowcarbon 一直在向购买其“Goddess Nature Token”并等待多年但从未发布的人们发放退款。据该公司上个月联系的消息人士透露，Flowcarbon 将市场状况和碳登记机构的阻力作为退还买家资金而不是继续无限期持有资金的原因。这些人士告诉《福布斯》，该公司通过 Zoom 电话转发了这一信息。

As part of the refund process, Goddess Nature Token purchasers were asked to sign a release including a broad waiver of claims against Flowcarbon and its affiliates, as well as confidentiality terms, according to a contract viewed by Forbes.

根据福布斯看到的一份合同，作为退款流程的一部分，Goddess Nature 代币购买者被要求签署一份声明，其中包括对 Flowcarbon 及其附属公司的索赔的广泛放弃，以及保密条款。

Flowcarbon did not address a list of questions about the refund. It told Forbes, “It's well known that since last year we have been offering refunds to retail GNT buyers due to the industry delays, with standard and customary terms, as we continue to grow Flowcarbon as a leader in carbon finance.”

Flowcarbon 没有回答有关退款的一系列问题。它告诉《福布斯》，“众所周知，自去年以来，由于行业延误，我们一直在按照标准和惯例条款向零售 GNT 买家提供退款，同时我们将继续发展 Flowcarbon 作为碳金融领域的领导者。”

Earlier this year, Flowcarbon stopped using Discord as a communications channel, telling Forbes that “anonymous users [were] increasingly posting inappropriate content, sometimes of a graphic nature.” Spokesperson Jennifer Owens added that “Email, phone and Zoom are all much more effective for communicating directly and regularly with our audiences, as is X and LinkedIn where we are very active.” Flowcarbon does not appear to have disclosed the recent refunds on any public platform.

今年早些时候，Flowcarbon 停止使用 Discord 作为沟通渠道，并告诉《福布斯》，“匿名用户越来越多地发布不当内容，有时是图片性质的内容。”发言人 Jennifer Owens 补充道，“电子邮件、电话和 Zoom 都可以更有效地与我们的受众进行直接、定期的沟通，我们非常活跃的 X 和 LinkedIn 也是如此。” Flowcarbon 似乎没有在任何公共平台上披露最近的退款情况。

Flowcarbon isn’t the only crypto-carbon project but its profile was arguably the highest, thanks to Neumann’s WeWork renown and a lineup of major backers. “Adam and Rebekah’s vision is a key part of the story and that is really what gave birth to the company,” Andreessen Horowitz general partner Arianna Simpson enthused during the $70 million Series A she led, touting Flowcarbon as “best in breed.” Also on the cap table are General Catalyst, Samsung Next, Hollywood producers Sam and Ashley Levinson and Euphoria producer Kevin Turen, who passed away last November. “There was so much demand for the presale that everyone was asked to help,” a former Flowcarbon employee told Forbes. Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to a comment request.

Flowcarbon 并不是唯一的加密碳项目，但由于 Neumann 的 WeWork 声誉和一系列主要支持者，它的知名度可以说是最高的。 “Adam 和 Rebekah 的愿景是故事的关键部分，这才是公司诞生的真正原因，”Andreessen Horowitz 普通合伙人 Arianna Simpson 在她领导的 7000 万美元 A 轮融资中热情洋溢地说道，并称赞 Flowcarbon 是“同类中最好的”。名单上的还有 General Catalyst、Samsung Next、好莱坞制片人 Sam 和 Ashley Levinson 以及去年 11 月去世的 Euphoria 制片人 Kevin Turen。 “预售需求如此之大，以至于每个人都被要求提供帮助，”一位前 Flowcarbon 员工告诉《福布斯》。安德森霍洛维茨没有回应置评请求。

At least $38 million of that $70 million round was raised through the sale of Flowcarbon’s token, though it’s unclear if that figure includes retail buyers. Venture capital firm Fifth Wall bought $4 million worth, and did not respond to questions about whether it has also been refunded. At one point, Flowcarbon had a “requested minimum purchase amount” of $25,000 for presale participants, it told Forbes earlier this year, but insisted it was “never intended as a floor” and that many purchases were for less.

在这 7000 万美元的融资中，至少有 3800 万美元是通过销售 Flowcarbon 代币筹集的，不过目前还不清楚这个数字是否包括散户买家。风险投资公司 Fifth Wall 购买了价值 400 万美元的资金，但没有回应有关是否已退款的问题。今年早些时候，Flowcarbon 曾向《福布斯》表示，预售参与者“要求的最低购买金额”为 25,000 美元，但坚称这“从来没有打算作为底线”，而且许多购买的价格都较低。

Crypto’s heyday gave rise to a number of startups looking to tokenize carbon credits: The idea was that the blockchain could make them easier to buy and sell. In traditional carbon marketplaces, credits are typically retired after purchase to redeem their emissions benefits and remove them from circulation. But in 2021, millions of retired carbon credits were tokenized by projects like Toucan and KlimaDAO, causing some of the world’s largest carbon registries — standards bodies that oversee massive offset databases — to worry their value was being counted twice. In November 2021, before Flowcarbon had even publicly launched, the prominent registry Verra cautioned against the practice.

加密货币的鼎盛时期催生了许多寻求将碳信用额代币化的初创公司：他们的想法是区块链可以使它们更容易买卖。在传统的碳市场中，信用额通常会在购买后退役，以赎回其排放收益并将其从流通中删除。但到了 2021 年，数百万已退役的碳信用额被 Toucan 和 KlimaDAO 等项目代币化，导致一些世界上最大的碳登记机构（监管大规模碳抵消数据库的标准机构）担心它们的价值被重复计算。 2021 年 11 月，在 Flowcarbon 公开推出之前，著名的注册机构 Verra 警告不要这种做法。

The voluntary carbon market, which purportedly allows companies and individuals to cancel out their emissions footprints, grew to roughly $2 billion in 2021. But over the past few years, a series of investigations found that some of the projects supplying credits to registries like Verra had exaggerated their benefits, failed to actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or been linked to alleged human rights violations. A marketplace report found the value of carbon credits fell dramatically last year as a result of these claims. In May, the Biden administration announced a set of federal guidelines intended to steer buyers toward higher quality offsets.

自愿碳市场据称允许公司和个人抵消其排放足迹，到 2021 年增长到约 20 亿美元。但在过去几年中，一系列调查发现，一些向 Verra 等登记机构提供信用的项目已经夸大其好处，未能真正消除大气中的二氧化碳，或与涉嫌侵犯人权行为有关。一份市场报告发现，由于这些声明，去年碳信用额的价值急剧下降。五月，拜登政府宣布了一套联邦指导方针，旨在引导买家购买更高质量的补偿。

While Flowcarbon has stated that only unretired, certified credits would back its token, meaning only token holders could claim their offsets, Verra’s announcement had a chilling effect on its launch

虽然 Flowcarbon 表示只有未退休的、经过认证的积分才会支持其代币，这意味着只有代币持有者才能申请抵消，但 Verra 的声明对其发布产生了寒蝉效应