Buyer Guide
Buyers on the NCRB marketplace purchase tokenized real-world asset credits — carbon offsets, biodiversity credits, renewable energy certificates, and more. Purchases are instant, on-chain, and verifiable. When you retire a credit, a permanent record is created on the blockchain — your auditable proof of environmental action.
Prerequisites
For Browsing (No Wallet Required)
You can browse all active listings, filter by asset type, country, SDG goals, quality band, and price without connecting a wallet.
For Purchasing
You need:
- MetaMask installed — see Install MetaMask
- The correct network added — Avalanche or XRPL EVM
- USDC in your wallet on the same network as the listing — see Add USDC
- A small amount of native gas token (AVAX or XRP) to pay transaction fees
- A registered and active account — your wallet address must be registered in the
AccountManagercontract. Contact NCRB to register as a buyer.
Displaying Prices in Your Currency
Prices across the marketplace — listing cards, project pages, and your wallet balance — are shown in your selected display currency. The default is USD.
To change the display currency:
- Click the currency selector in the top navigation bar (shown as the currency symbol and code, e.g. $ USD)
- Choose from the 10 supported currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, HKD, SGD
- All prices update immediately — no page reload required
Your selection is saved in your browser and persists across sessions.
Display currency is for reference only. All transactions settle on-chain in either USDC or the native token of the listing's network (AVAX, ETH, or XRP). The display currency does not affect what you pay.
Browsing the Marketplace
Go to the Trading section of the NCRB dApp to see all active listings.
Filtering Listings
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Asset Type | Carbon, Plastic, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Land, Mining, Water, Renewable Energy, Forestry, Biodiversity |
| Quality Band | AAA, AA, A, BBB |
| Country | Country of the underlying project |
| Vintage | Year range (e.g. 2020–2024) |
| SDG Goals | Filter by UN Sustainable Development Goals the project contributes to |
| Price | Min / max price per unit |
Sorting Listings
- Price — lowest or highest first
- Quality Score — highest rated first
- Vintage — newest or oldest first
- Listing ID — chronological order
View Modes
- Grid — visual card layout with key stats
- List — compact table view for comparing many listings
- Map — geographic view of where projects are located (coming soon)
Understanding a Listing
Each listing card shows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Asset Type | The type of natural capital credit |
| Serial Number | The registry's unique certificate identifier |
| Registry | The organisation that issued and verified the certificate |
| Quality Score & Band | 0–100 score and rating (AAA → BBB) |
| Vintage | Year the environmental benefit was generated |
| Country | Where the project is located |
| Quantity Available | How many units are for sale |
| Price per Unit | In USDC |
| SDG Goals | Hover the SDG chip to see a colored popup of all aligned UN SDG tiles |
| CA badge | Green "CA" badge — the credit has a Corresponding Adjustment applied (Paris Agreement Article 6.4 double-counting prevention) |
| Credit mechanism pill | "Art. 6.4", "CORSIA", or "CDM→6.4" — indicates the compliance mechanism beyond standard voluntary markets |
| IPFS Document | Link to the original verified certificate |
Listing Detail Page
Click any listing card to open the full detail page, which includes:
- Overview tab — project description, compliance badges, SDG alignment, coordinates, certificate serial, and a Persistence Curve chart showing the projected 100-year carbon permanence trajectory with actual retirement events plotted
- Activity tab — full trade history for the listing (buyer, amount, price, timestamp)
Expressing Interest in a Project
Not every credit you want is available as an active listing. You can express interest directly to the project proponent to request a quote or open a negotiation.
Prerequisites
Before you can express interest you must have a complete Account Profile. The platform uses your profile contact details (name, company, email) to route the inquiry to the seller. If your profile is incomplete, the Express Interest modal will prompt you to finish it first.
How to Express Interest
- Open any project — either from the marketplace overview or a project's detail page
- Click Express Interest
- The modal shows your buyer identity (read-only, pulled from your Account Profile)
- Optionally fill in:
- Vintage year — the specific vintage you are targeting
- Volume requested — how many units you need
- Price indication — your target price per unit
- Message — any additional context for the seller
- Click Submit
You will receive an email confirmation at the address on your Account Profile. The project proponent will contact you directly to follow up.
Tracking Your Inquiries
Go to Dashboard → My Inquiries to see all inquiries you have submitted, their current status, and any notes from the registry.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Submitted and awaiting a response from the registry |
| In Review | The registry is reviewing your request |
| Responded | The registry has replied — check your email |
| Closed | The inquiry has been resolved or declined |
You can withdraw an open inquiry from the My Inquiries tab.
Buying Credits
Step 1 — Connect Your Wallet
- Click Connect Wallet in the top navigation
- Select MetaMask in the connection modal
- Approve the connection in MetaMask
- Make sure your active network matches the listing's network
Step 2 — Select a Listing
- Browse or search for the credit you want to buy
- Click on a listing to open the detail view
- Review the quality score, certificate document (IPFS link), and project details
Step 3 — Choose Quantity
- Click Buy
- Enter how many units you want to purchase
- The total cost is calculated automatically
- Check that you have sufficient balance (shown in the buy modal)
For listings priced in a native token (AVAX or ETH), the buy modal shows two tabs: Pay with Crypto and Card · ACH. The Card · ACH tab is coming soon and will allow you to fund your wallet directly with a credit or debit card without leaving the platform.
Step 4 — Approve USDC
Before your first purchase (or if your USDC allowance is too low), you need to approve the marketplace contract to spend your USDC:
- The portal will show an Approve USDC button if needed
- Click it — MetaMask will prompt you to sign an ERC-20 approval transaction
- Confirm in MetaMask and wait for confirmation
This is a one-time step per network. Future purchases on the same network will not require re-approval unless you buy more than the approved amount.
Step 5 — Confirm Purchase
- Click Confirm Purchase
- MetaMask prompts you to sign the
RWAMarketplace.buy()transaction - Confirm in MetaMask
The marketplace contract:
- Transfers your USDC to the seller (minus the 2.5% platform fee)
- Transfers the RWA tokens to your wallet
- Records the trade on-chain
Settlement is instant — tokens arrive in your wallet in the same transaction.
How On-Chain Settlement Works
NCRB trades use an atomic swap model. Everything that needs to happen in a trade — payment, token delivery, and fee distribution — happens simultaneously inside a single blockchain transaction. There is no waiting period, no manual handover from the seller, and no counterparty risk.
The Listing Escrow
When a seller creates a listing, the RWA tokens are locked into the marketplace contract immediately. The seller no longer holds the tokens directly — the contract holds them in escrow for the duration of the listing. This guarantees that the tokens exist and are available when a buyer purchases them.
What Happens in a Single Transaction
When you click Confirm Purchase, the smart contract executes all of the following atomically (all-or-nothing — if any step fails, the entire transaction reverts and nothing changes):
Your USDC payment
│
├──► Seller receives their share
│ (listed price minus platform fee)
│
├──► NCRB treasury receives platform fee (2.5%)
│
├──► Aggregator receives royalty (if purchase is routed via an aggregator)
│
└──► RWA tokens transferred from escrow to your wallet
Why This Model Matters
| Traditional model | NCRB atomic swap |
|---|---|
| Buyer pays → waits → seller manually sends asset | Payment and delivery in the same transaction |
| Risk of seller not delivering after payment | Impossible — contract enforces delivery atomically |
| Requires off-chain reconciliation or trust | Fully on-chain, no counterparty risk |
| Settlement delay (hours to days) | Instant (one block confirmation, ~2 seconds on Avalanche) |
If Something Goes Wrong
Because settlement is atomic, partial failures cannot happen. If the contract cannot complete all steps (e.g. insufficient USDC balance, token no longer available), the entire transaction is reverted — your funds are not deducted and no tokens move. MetaMask will show the transaction as failed.
You can verify every trade in a block explorer. Each buy() transaction shows the exact USDC amounts sent to each recipient and the token transfer to your wallet — all in one transaction hash.
For a full breakdown of how clearing and settlement works per registry — including tokenization lifecycle, serial number formats, and off-chain retirement steps — see the Clearing & Settlement guide.
After Purchasing
View Your Holdings
Go to Dashboard to see:
- Total RWA tokens held by asset type
- Portfolio value in USD (based on real-time oracle prices)
- Environmental impact metrics (tCO₂e offset, kg plastic, etc.)
Go to Portfolio for a detailed breakdown:
- Holdings by asset type with allocation percentages
- Value per holding in USD
- Environmental impact by category
Selling Credits
If you want to sell credits you hold:
- Go to Trading → My Listings
- Click Create Listing
- Select the token, set quantity and price per unit
- Click List — MetaMask will prompt you to approve the token transfer to escrow and sign the listing transaction
- Your listing appears in the marketplace immediately
To cancel a listing:
- Go to Trading → My Listings
- Find your listing and click Cancel
- Confirm in MetaMask — tokens are returned to your wallet
Retiring Credits
Retiring a credit means permanently removing it from circulation — the token is burned and your claim is recorded on-chain. This is the step that creates your auditable proof of environmental action for ESG reporting, SBTi claims, or VCMI compliance.
Retirement functionality is available through the Dashboard. The BuyerClaimsRegistry contract records:
- Your wallet address
- The certificate serial number retired
- The standard claimed (e.g. VCS, GS4GG)
- The timestamp
This record is permanent and publicly verifiable.
Platform Fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Trading fee | 2.5% of the purchase price, deducted from the seller's proceeds |
| Gas fee | Variable — paid in AVAX (Avalanche) or XRP (XRPL EVM) |
There is no fee to browse listings or create a buyer account.
Supported Standards
Credits on NCRB are verified against industry standards including:
- ICVCM Core Carbon Principles (CCP) — carbon credit integrity
- Verra VCS / Gold Standard / ACR / CAR — carbon registry verification
- SBTi Net-Zero Standard — science-based targets alignment
- VCMI Claims Code — Silver, Gold, and Platinum buyer claims
- UK Biodiversity Metric 4.0 — biodiversity net gain
- Kunming-Montreal GBF — global biodiversity framework
For a full list of supported standards by asset type, see the Asset Types FAQ.