SNEKbot: A Telegram Trading Bot to Onboard 900M Monthly Active Users to Cardano

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Snek (Ronan Kuczaj)

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

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Nikita Melentjevs (https://twitter.com/onewisemelon)

Clark (https://twitter.com/clarkyex_)

DoctorCNFT (https://twitter.com/DoctorCNFT)

Travis Bailey (https://twitter.com/TravisxBailey)

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

6

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

No

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

We will enhance SNEKbots capabilities to enable a seamless trading experience directly through Telegram and Discord, providing the easiest and fastest onboarding process to the Cardano ecosystem.

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

Yes

[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.”

The bot relies on Telegram’s Bot API. Use of the api is free of charge based on Telegram API TOS. The bot uses DexHunters aggregator to process all user transactions for best rates across all DEXs.

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

No

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

The core platform, bot service, and the underlying data feeding our application will not be open-sourced. This includes proprietary components essential for securing users' data privacy. Keeping these components proprietary ensures a high-quality user experience and protects sensitive information.

However, some components may be open-sourced under the MIT License in the future. This decision would allow further development and integration into other projects.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

TL;DR:

There is an extreme lack of support for Cardano on popular social applications and navigating through Cardano Dapps can be complex for newcomers. SNEKbot is directly integrated with Telegram and provides a secure, functional and simple way to hold and trade Cardano native assets. With this proposal, we will improve the trading experience with new features, expand our user base to Discord, promote data transparency with an open data analytic website and streamline the onboarding process with a Fiat on-ramp solution.

Proposed solution:

We plan to execute the following solutions:

• Security enhancement: Perform an audit of our codebase by an independent third party and implement the industry's best practices and processes
• Trading experience enhancement: Develop new features including Alerts channels, Notifications, Watchlist and global trading statistics
• User base expansion: Develop a Discord version of SNEKbot
• Data transparency: Develop an open data analytic website for everyone to visualize and search SNEKbot data
• Efficient onboarding: Identify a potential Fiat on-ramp solution to integrate directly with SNEKbot

Telegram trading bots have had a significant impact on cryptocurrency trading, primarily by providing users with automated tools for executing trades, monitoring market conditions, and accessing real-time data. Telegram is one of the largest social media applications and is much used within the tech industry. A lot of projects and creators are reaching out to their community using Telegram. The platform has easy onboarding and developers can build applications on top of it.

SNEKbot is perfect for novice and advanced traders who may not have the technical expertise or time to actively monitor the markets. It provides the fastest trading experience as users don’t need to open multiple apps and connectors to trade. Traders can also rely on SNEKbot to find the latest token and don’t need to worry about which DEX to use since it is directly integrated with Dexhunter aggregator.

Through our platform, users will be able to:

• Visualize their portfolio (holdings, valuation, token performance, profitability)
• Search and access token data (policy ID, price, market cap, liquidity, wallet balance)
• Manage their positions (predefined 1 click Buy or Sell orders or custom orders)
• Customize their trading settings (Buy order amount, Sell order %, slippage, max price impact)
• Add tokens to their Watchlist
• Access alert channels (new tokens, new pools, new burns)

We aim to deliver the easiest and fastest trading solution on Cardano, accelerating blockchain onboarding and adoption. We will prove our impact by providing transparent updates and progress as we complete the listed milestones.

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

SNEKbot will make Cardano trading more accessible to a wider audience, including novice traders who may not have the technical expertise or time to actively monitor the markets, making onboarding easier than ever.

The success of SNEKbot brings immediate value to the Cardano community with an increase of trading volume and active users. BONKbot, which is SNEKbot’s equivalent product on Solana, generates an average of $30M in trading volume per day with 335,000 cumulative users. BONKbot played a huge role in Solana’s growth over the past 6 months. We believe SNEKbot can impact the Cardano ecosystem in a similar way. Impact can be measured by analyzing the open source SNEKbot usage data (total active users and volume over time) as well as the Cardano ecosystem data as a whole.

We plan to share the outputs and opportunities resulting from our project through various channels. This includes regular updates to the Cardano community, presentations at relevant events, and publications on Snek (41k followers), Dexhunter and SNEKbot platforms and social media channels. We are committed to maintaining transparency and openness, and we will actively seek feedback and suggestions for improvement from the Cardano community.

[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?

Snek expertise:

• Created the most traded token on Cardano
• Fostered one of the largest communities on Cardano
• Delivered several products
• Created several partnerships with high-profile projects and ecosystem figures
• Great understanding of the market
• Powerful brand and marketing strategy

Dexhunter expertise:

• Biggest DEX aggregator on Cardano
• More than 50% of Cardano daily swaps go through DexHunter
• Created the first DCA system on Cardano
• Created the first stop-loss on Cardano

Core Dev Team Expertise: 

• Lead Backend Engineer at jpg.store, the premier marketplace on the Cardano blockchain
• Over two years of experience in developing specialized applications specifically for Cardano and its ecosystem
• Significant contributions to Cardanos core libraries such as Lucid and Scrolls
• Expertise in Cardano smart contracts, off-chain transaction building, and data indexing for various use cases
• More than five years of experience as a Software Engineer

On the day of March 22, 2024, we successfully launched SNEKbot’s as an MVP. At the time of writing, we have over 2,500 users, have completed more than 1,500 swaps, and have completed more than 300,000 ADA in volume. The bot has had zero downtime, and has not suffered any major errors or issues.

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

Telegram Alerts & Notifications

A: Milestone outputs

• Separate telegram bot designed to monitor and share information on newly created tokens, LP for tokens and token burns done through Snekx | Cardano Token Minter

B: Acceptance criteria

• Whenever a new Token gets minted through Snekx | Cardano Token Minter, a notification should be send to a telegram channel with information about the actions and tokens
• Whenever an LP gets burn through Snekx | Cardano Token Minter, a notification should be send to a telegram channel with information about the action and tokens
• Whenever an LP gets created through Snekx | Cardano Token Minter, a notification should be send to a telegram channel with information about the action and tokens

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• A functional telegram bot that posts alerts and notifications designed to help increase visibility for traders in the ecosystem
• Successful integration with actions done through Snekx | Cardano Token Minter
• Different channels/topics for different actions (new tokens, new liquidity pools, new burns etc)
• When a new event happens a message will be sent to the corresponding alert channel/topic

Legal Review And Documentation 

A: Milestone outputs

• Secure legal advice, incorporation, and a written Terms of Service agreement (TOS) 

B: Acceptance criteria

• Obtain a general use Terms of Service agreement written and reviewed by a authorized law firm
• Consult with legal counsel on appropriate measures regarding incorporation, licensing, and general legal compliance

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• TOS to be published on website and linked to users when installing the bot
• References and legal documentation to be published on the snekbot website
• Status and/or Approvals for any licenses will be shared from official channels

Discord Integration

A: Milestone outputs

• A discord bot will be created with the same set of features as the SNEKbot telegram trading bot + alerts integration

B: Acceptance criteria

• The bot creates a new account for you
• You are able to search tokens with policy ID or ticker to see stats and buy them
• You can manage your portfolio for all cardano native tokens with ease
• You can buy and sell tokens
• You can edit settings (slippage, portfolio view, price impact etc)
• You can withdraw your ADA to any native cardano address
• You can Export your wallets seed phrase
• You can view alerts for things like (new tokens, new lp, new burns etc) 

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Discord bot with similar functionality to SNEKbot trading + alerts bot
• Discord bot functions as intended
• Discord bot will be shared publicly for official use

Audit of infrastructure and codebase

A: Milestone outputs

• An audit of the codebase/infrastructure is conducted
• If found any mid/high/severe security vulnerability found is solved

B: Acceptance criteria

• Completing any changes or additions requested by the auditor

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• A document of certification and an official statement completion of audit from the company providing said audit.
• Audit will be published on the Snekbot website

Overall completion of the Trading Bot and documentation

A: Milestone outputs

• A finalization and completion of all previous milestones
• Making all evidence of said milestones publicly available and easily accessible.

B: Acceptance criteria

• Notifications and alert system built for both telegram and discord bots
• Legal review, documentation, and TOS implementation completed and published on snekbot website
• Discord trading bot creation, implementation of features, QA/QC testing, and public launch.
• Full audit of infrastructure and codebase, as well as providing ease of access to audit documentation

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Notifications and alert bots will be functioning as intended and publicly available
• All legal documentation, including the TOS will be published to the snekbot website
• Discord trading bot link will be provided and available to the public
• All audit documentation will be shared and uploaded to SNEKbot’s website.

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

The project will be delivered in partnership by Snek, Dexhunter and a core dev team. 

Snek

Socials:

• Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/snek 
• Website: https://www.snek.com/

Core contributors: 

• Goofycrisp (https://twitter.com/goofy_crisp )
• MrGoldenhour (https://twitter.com/golden_Rapha )
• Rami (https://twitter.com/CardanoRami )
• Sal (https://twitter.com/Salmander0 )
• MasterofC (https://twitter.com/MasterofCTO )
• Max Maher (https://twitter.com/Maxwell_Maher )

Roles:

• Marketing & content creation
• Go-to-market strategy
• Sale pipeline & CRM
• Business Development
• Partnerships with other key Cardano projects 
• Partnerships with crypto KOLs (Key opinion leaders)
• Partnership with projects from other chains (mainly SOL and ETH projects)
• In charge of project management, legal professional services and marketing and promotion

Dexhunter 

Socials:

• Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/DexHunterIO 
• Website: https://app.dexhunter.io 

Core contributors: 

• Nikita Melentjevs (https://twitter.com/onewisemelon )
• Edoardo Salvioni

Roles:

• In charge of supporting backend and frontend development, and supporting marketing and promotion

Core dev team

Core contributors:

• Clark (https://twitter.com/clarkyex_ )
• DoctorCNFT (https://twitter.com/DoctorCNFT )
• Travis Bailey (https://twitter.com/TravisxBailey )

Roles:

• Development and maintenance of bots 
• Development of new features and integrations
• Maintaining support for users via discord tickets
• In charge of code auditing, cloud services, backend and frontend development and documentation

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

• Code Auditing: 50,000 ADA
• Cloud Services: 10,000 ADA
• Backend and Frontend Development : 70,000 ADA
• Legal professional services : 70,000 ADA
• Marketing and Promotion : 30,000 ADA
• Documentation : 10,000 ADA
• Project Management : 30,000 ADA
• Miscellaneous and Contingency: 30,000 ADA

Total Budget: 300,000 ADA

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

The growth of SNEKbot represents excellent value for the Cardano ecosystem by:

• Developing tools that’s used to onboard users from outside of Cardano easily, by allowing them to trade their favorite cardano native token without having to download a cardano wallet or learn what specific apps or exchanges to use.
• Expanding SNEKbot capabilities making it easier to use while adding additional functions to make onboarding from other chains more seamless.
• Increasing trading volume across the chain with more advanced trading tools.
• Combatting the lack of Cardano tools on major apps like Telegram and Discord 

This investment will help the development of the Cardano ecosystem by onboarding new users to our chain and making it easy for anybody without a wallet to be able to trade their favorite native tokens with the click of a button along with tools to help increase visibility and access across the ecosystem.