# Carbon Pools ## The Problem Carbon credits are an illiquid asset class, meaning that often, they cannot be bought and sold quickly or efficiently. This illiquidity stems from the significant differentiation across projects, vintages, and other characteristics, each effecting a specific credit's market price. Low liquidity poses challenges for stakeholders in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). On the supply side, project developers may struggle to sell their credits quickly at market prices. For buyers, sourcing credits often involves relying on a network of intermediaries or engaging in lengthy over-the-counter (OTC) transactions. Additionally, the lack of transparent pricing data makes it difficult to assess whether a deal is fair. ### A Balancing Act When carbon assets are bridged and tokenized into TCO2s, they retain their unique characteristics through metadata, such as project- and vintage-specific attributes. Carbon pools introduce a level of standardization by bundling TCO2s with similar characteristics, enabling deeper market liquidity and more efficient transactions. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.toucan.earth/toucan/carbon-pools.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.