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[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

A web3 token-gating service that allows creators and projects to easily distribute exclusive content to their communities using existing Cardano native assets and wallets as keys.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Our solution's architecture and implementation are quite innovative and thus we would like to keep it closed source in the first stages of the project. However, our vision is to make VAULT3 trustless and fully decentralized (development and governance), which means becoming open source in the future.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Most web services lack effective solutions for sharing confidential data with large audiences. File-sharing apps only allow you to share data with a static list of email addresses, which poses a significant challenge for content creators and their communities.

We have developed the first version of a web3 data-gating solution that addresses these limitations. Through the use of wallets and native assets, content creators are now able to securely and efficiently distribute token-gated content to their audience. This not only unlocks the potential for RealFi utility for NFTs and fungible tokens but also introduces novel ways to engage with web3 communities.

Now, we want to build an admin dashboard for creators to manage, edit, and delete their sharing spaces. This means that they can add or remove their exclusive files and change the access conditions to unlock them. Also, the dashboard will provide important marketing data like:

• How many wallets successfully unlocked the data
• How many wallets couldn't get access
• How many wallets clicked on the set call-to-actions
• Current data hosting duration and costs

This feature is the missing piece of our MVP so that VAULT3 can be used by the community at its' full potential.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

We are providing infrastructure to easily token-gate exclusive content and reward communities. This is especially relevant for creators and projects with tokens (FTs and NFTs).

We defined key success milestones based on the number of active users (content creators and receivers), and shared data (bandwidth) to measure the success of VAULT3.

Short-term KPIs (Q2 2024):

+ 100 monthly active users

+ 100 GB shared (bandwidth)

Mid-term KPIs (Q4 2024):

+ 1000 monthly active users

+ 10 TB shared (bandwidth)

Long-term KPIs (2025):

+ 10000 monthly active users

+ 100 TB shared (bandwidth)

Since this project is developed by Cardano SPOs, our plan is to build strong partnerships within the Cardano ecosystem. VAULT3 should be a tool that won't only enhance the RealFi utility of Cardano's native assets but also revolutionize the way content creators and projects interact with their communities.

After delivering the proposed milestones, we plan to share the project’s outputs with well-known Cardano projects and influencers to build a strong user base that will profit from the value that our project will bring to the space.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Who are we

The VAULT3 team features on-chain confidentiality experts with a strong background in full-stack web development and data science. We also count on the support of LaPetiteADA, a well-known SPO and Cardano influencer, advising us on marketing, community management, and use cases for content creators. 

What we have built in the past

We are seasoned web developers with more than 10 years of joined experience. We have in our web3 portfolio a confidential NFT launchpad called Geniish on the Oasis Network, which was built in less than 6 months. During, the development of Geniish, we also won second place in a 5-day hackathon with a confidential web3 chat called Momentum which uses Oasis' Sapphire ParaTime.

Cardano SPOs and builders

Furthermore, Vito Melchionna and Carolina Isler (LaPetiteADA) are the SPOs of GranADA Pool, and they are also active members of the Climate Neutral Cardano Alliance. In collaboration with the Tetikasa Ala NGO, this alliance of SPOs created the CNC Ala. Which is a permaculture project in Madagascar planting 100k trees to offset Cardano's CO2 emissions, while improving the food security of local communities. This project was funded with donations (25% of each SPO's rewards) via the world's first impact staking ISPO in collaboration with NEWM, Yummi Universe, Cardano Proxies, Earth Natives, Mada's Lemurs, and DripDropz.

Steps and processes

We will implement the SCRUM framework for the agile development of the product. By defining 3-week sprints with set goals, features, and working time, we can easily keep track of the progress and fund distribution to successfully deliver VAULT3 within the expected period. We aim to sync our project management process with Catalyst's committee to provide full transparency on the development and to keep track of the invested funds.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Development started

• Project Infrastructure
• Codebase setup
• CI/CD
• Automatic testing
• Database
• Account login, and base UI for admin dashboard

>Timeline: 1 month

>Acceptance Criteria: Infrastructure setup and available on a private GitHub repo. Account creation and login implemented.

>Budget: TBD

Spaces

• Support viewing, editing, and deleting spaces

>Timeline: 1 month

>Acceptance Criteria: Spaces can be viewed, modified, and deleted.

>Budget: TBD

Files

• Support viewing, adding, editing, and deleting files for a space

>Timeline: 1 month

>Acceptance Criteria: Files of a space can be viewed, added, modified, and deleted.

>Budget: TBD

Access conditions

• Support viewing, adding, editing, and deleting access conditions for a space

>Timeline: 1 month

>Acceptance Criteria: Access conditions of a space can be viewed, added, modified, and deleted.

>Budget: TBD

Key metrics dashboard

• Wallet interactions in a space (successful and unsuccessful unlocks, and call-to-action interactions)
• Current data hosting duration and costs

>Timeline: 1 month

>Acceptance Criteria: Space admins can review key performance metrics and hosting costs of their active spaces.

>Budget: TBD

Beta Release and refinements

• Releasing beta version of the product
• Bug fixing and refinements
• Public release

>Timeline: 1 month

>Budget: TBD

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Aaron Schmid: Co-Founder

Roles: Full stack development, UI/UX design, team lead.

Bio: Aaron Schmid is a brilliant data scientist and a smart contract developer. Before founding the Geniish Protocol, he has been working as CTO for a Swiss MedTech solution. Aaron will be key for our product development and multichain plans.

Vito Melchionna: Co-Founder

Roles: Full Stack Development, UI/UX design, content creation, sales.

Bio: Vito is a polyglot, co-SPO of GranADA pool, and a full-stack developer with more than 7 years of experience. After co-founding the Geniish Protocol, a confidential NFT launch pad, he's ready to build privacy-enabled solutions on Cardano.

Carolina Isler: Co-Founder

Roles: Marketing strategy, community management, content creation, PR (partnerships and sales).

Bio: Carolina (a.k.a. LaPetiteADA) is a well-known #Cardano influencer and co-SPO of GranADA pool. She is an incredibly talented content creator and a self-taught community manager and marketing strategist with more than a year of experience. Carolina has a consolidated community and valuable network in the ecosystem, and she will ensure that VAULT3 stays as close as possible to our users.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Milestone 1:

• Development ₳50,200 / €15,100 (about 238 hours of work)

Milestone 2:

• Development ₳41,800 / €12,600 (about 170 hours of work)

Milestone 3:

• Development ₳41,800 / €12,600 (about 170 hours of work)

Milestone 4:

• Development ₳41,800 / €12,600 (about 170 hours of work)

Milestone 5:

• Development ₳41,800 / €12,600 (about 170 hours of work)

Notice: All ADA prices are calculated from EUR with a ₳ price of 0.30€ as a worst case. The exact hours and calculations can be seen in our budget sheet below. Any budget surplus due to speculative price actions would gladly be returned to the Catalyst fund as soon as the final milestone is delivered.

Get access to our detailed budget plan:

🔗 VAULT3 (Discover our web3 data-gating service 🔐)

🔗 Google Drive (Centralized, No data privacy, Boring 👎)

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

We are a highly skilled and seasoned team with more than 10 years of joined experience. Furthermore, we studied software engineering in Swiss technical universities.

Since the entire team is based in Zurich, Switzerland. We estimated our costs based on average senior software developer (outsourced freelancer) salaries in Europe: €100.- per hour.

We also considered the risk of a 15% fall in ADA prices in the budget.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.