Last updated 9 months ago
Telegram marketplaces are fragmented, hard to search, filter and have no integrated secure payment system.
Telegram bot that aggregates products from verified seller channels into one centralized marketplace with secure ADA payments.
This is the total amount allocated to Markado: The Smart Bot for Centralized Shopping on Telegram..
Please provide your proposal title
Markado: The Smart Bot for Centralized Shopping on Telegram.
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
45000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
5
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Telegram marketplaces are fragmented, hard to search, filter and have no integrated secure payment system.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
No dependencies
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
MIT License
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.
Marketplace
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).
Our solution leverages Telegram’s thriving commerce ecosystem by aggregating verified seller channels into a unified, searchable marketplace. Key features:
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
Our MVP is a Telegram bot marketplace aggregating listings from verified seller channels into a searchable, filterable catalog. Features:
AI-powered aggregation for structuring, categorizing, and deduplication.
Buyer tools: search, sort, filter via menus.
Seller onboarding with verified channels.
Secure ADA payments via P2P or escrow.
Trust & safety: fraud checks, filters, reviews.
The project can be accessible as a Hosted public bot with testnet ADA, live demos, and GitHub documentation.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
On-chain Metrics (verifiable via Cardano explorers):
Off-chain Metrics (via bot analytics & database logs):
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
The fragmented and informal nature of existing Telegram marketplaces creates a major barrier for both buyers and sellers: discovering relevant products is inefficient, transactions are insecure, and trust is limited. Our solution directly addresses these issues by building a Telegram-based marketplace bot that seamlessly aggregates, organizes, and secures commerce — all within the familiar Telegram environment.
Centralized Product Aggregation & User-Friendly Experience
By connecting with verified seller channels, the bot uses AI-powered scraping to collect product listings from across Telegram’s vast network of marketplaces. These listings are automatically categorized, de-duplicated, and structured into a comprehensive, searchable e-commerce database. This consolidation transforms fragmented chats into a unified, user-friendly marketplace accessible via intuitive Telegram menus and inline buttons. Buyers can effortlessly browse, filter by price, category, and relevance, and navigate large catalogs through efficient pagination — all without leaving Telegram or jumping between multiple chats.
To ensure the best experience, we are designing the bot’s UI/UX to leverage Telegram’s native interface features, making product discovery simple and interactive. We plan to share detailed Figma designs demonstrating the streamlined flow that empowers users to find products quickly and confidently.
Seamless Cardano Wallet Integration for Secure Payments
Recognizing that payment friction undermines many informal marketplaces, our bot integrates directly with popular Cardano wallet connection methods supported within Telegram. Buyers can connect their wallets smoothly without cumbersome steps or leaving the app. Payments are made exclusively in ADA, leveraging Cardano’s low fees and fast settlement times to facilitate accessible and secure transactions. Our system supports both direct peer-to-peer payments and an optional escrow model to protect both buyers and sellers, enhancing confidence and reducing fraud risk.
AI-Powered Intelligence for Safety and Relevance
Beyond simple scraping, our AI agent plays a crucial role in ensuring a clean, trustworthy marketplace. It automatically detects and removes duplicate listings, flags suspicious or fraudulent products, and filters prohibited items, all in real time. This intelligent filtering greatly improves the quality and safety of the shopping experience without manual intervention.
Future Integration with Cardano Ecosystem Innovations
To further build trust and innovation, we plan to integrate with emerging Cardano ecosystem tools. This includes identity verification solutions enabling verifiable KYC, reputation tracking, and enhanced dispute resolution. We also envision incorporating NFTs to represent product ownership or digital receipts, unlocking new possibilities in provenance and loyalty programs. These features will extend the marketplace’s capabilities while solidifying ADA’s role in everyday commerce.
By bringing together fragmented seller listings, seamless ADA payments, AI-powered safety, and cutting-edge Cardano integrations within the Telegram environment, our solution uniquely empowers millions of users to transact more easily, safely, and efficiently — solving the core problems of Telegram-based commerce at scale.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
Our project drives meaningful ADA adoption by unlocking real-world utility within Telegram’s vast and active user base, especially in emerging markets where Telegram is a dominant commerce platform. By providing a trusted, seamless way to pay with ADA inside a familiar chat environment, we lower barriers for millions of users to engage with Cardano for everyday purchases.
Together, these impacts contribute to Cardano’s mission of growing a robust, user-friendly, and real-world ADA economy with tangible benefits for emerging markets and global users.
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?
Our team combines hands-on experience in Cardano dApp development, Telegram bot engineering, and DevOps infrastructure, making capable to deliver this project. We have built decentralized applications on Cardano, deployed production-ready Telegram bots, and managed cloud infrastructure, giving us direct expertise across the blockchain layer, application layer, and deployment layer where this solution will live.
Blockchain Developer – Skilled in smart contract design, integration with Cardano infrastructure, and ADA-based transaction flows.
Telegram Bot Developer – Experienced in building scalable bots with payment and marketplace features, ensuring smooth user interaction.
DevOps Engineer – Ensures secure, reliable, and scalable deployment. Experienced in CI/CD pipelines, server optimization, and monitoring, enabling smooth operations and uptime for a global user base.
This cross-functional expertise ensures we can bridge secure on-chain payments with a familiar Telegram experience, while maintaining the infrastructure reliability and security needed for growth.
Milestone Title
Implement Telegram Bot Interface
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Bot implements necessary commands and user interface to search, filter and buy cateogries.
Basic error handling (e.g., invalid inputs).
Documentation for bot usage. Should cover command list, setup instructions, and architecture overview (Markdown/PDF).
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
2
Cost
13500
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Implement E-Commerce Backend and ADA Payment
Milestone Outputs
Product API: RESTful endpoints (GET /products, POST /cart, etc.)
User accounts: Telegram ID-linked profiles storing order history.
Cart: Redis/Session-based cart with expiry.
ADA payments: Integration with Cardano wallet (e.g., Eternl/Nami)
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
3
Cost
9000
Progress
50 %
Milestone Title
AI-Based Scraping
Milestone Outputs
Scraper: Python script using:
telethon to fetch messages from target channels.
LLM to extract standardized product data from messages
Distributed task queue implementation for multiple serialization
Acceptance Criteria
Accuracy: Scraper extracts 90%+ of products in 3+ target channels (manual verification).
Format: Data stored inside a structured relational database.
**Security: **No critical security flaws.
Evidence of Completion
Dataset: 100+ sample products (serialized).
Video: Scraper running live + parsing results.
Test report: Pytest output with coverage.
Delivery Month
4
Cost
9000
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Deployment & Closeout
Milestone Outputs
Production deployment:
Docs:
User guide: How to use bot (PDF/Google Doc).
Technical manual: Deployment steps, API reference.
Video: 5–10 min demo covering all features.
Acceptance Criteria
Uptime: Bot responds 99% of time during 7-day trial.
Completeness: All prior milestones verified by reviewers.
Docs: No critical gaps visible and video matches proposal goals.
Videos: A collection of demo vidoes showcasing how to use the application
Evidence of Completion
Delivery Month
5
Cost
13500
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
We use an hourly model to ensure transparency and accountability. Each team member will contribute full-time (~160 hrs/month) over 5 months, for an estimated 800 hours per person.
Surafel Fikru – Team Lead & Blockchain Developer
800 hrs × 15 ADA/hr = 12,000 ADA
Samuel Wondimagegnehu – Software Developer
800 hrs × 13 ADA/hr = 10,400 ADA
Kirubel Fikru – DevOps Engineer
800 hrs × 13 ADA/hr = 10,400 ADA
Project Management & Coordination (included in team lead role)
Additional allocation for coordination overhead = 5,200 ADA
Subtotal: 38,000 ADA
Social media promotion (Twitter/X, Telegram growth, community updates) – 2,500 ADA
Design & content production – 1,000 ADA
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
This project represents excellent value for the Cardano ecosystem, delivering a working decentralized marketplace experience on Telegram within 5 months, at a cost of 45,000 ADA (~$42,750 at $0.95/ADA).
Our budget is based on hourly rates between 13–15 ADA/hr (~$12–$14/hr), which is aligned with skilled software development wages in Ethiopia.
By global standards, these rates are far below typical freelance blockchain developer costs, which often range $40–$80/hr on platforms such as Upwork or Toptal.
This ensures Catalyst is funding work at cost-efficient regional rates without compromising on quality.
Onboarding new users: Telegram is one of the most widely used communication apps globally, especially in emerging markets. By enabling ADA payments inside Telegram, we lower the barrier for first-time crypto users.
Increased on-chain activity: Every purchase made through the bot generates on-chain ADA transactions, boosting Cardano’s network utility.
Practical utility of ADA: Instead of being used primarily for staking or speculative purposes, ADA becomes a medium of exchange for everyday commerce.
Competing ecosystems (Ethereum, BSC, TON) already host Telegram commerce bots, but development costs are 2–3x higher than our budget.
With Cardano, Catalyst achieves the same impact at a fraction of the cost, proving that low-cost innovation is possible in emerging markets.
~84% of funds go directly to development (team compensation).
The remaining budget is responsibly allocated to marketing, infrastructure, and Catalyst reporting, ensuring both delivery and accountability.
No funds are wasted on unnecessary external consultants or inflated overhead.
Terms and Conditions:
Yes
Our project is being delivered by a committed three-member team with complementary skills across blockchain development, software engineering, and DevOps infrastructure. Each member is actively engaged and brings prior experience relevant to this proposal.
Surafel Fikru – Team Lead & Blockchain Developer
Surafel leads the project, overseeing overall strategy, coordination, and delivery. With hands-on experience building Cardano-based decentralized applications, he is responsible for the design and integration of secure ADA-based payment systems and ensuring compliance with the Cardano ecosystem’s best practices.
Samuel Wondimagegnehu – Software Developer
Samuel is responsible for building and maintaining the Telegram bot, including user-facing functionality such as product aggregation, search, and purchase flow. He brings expertise in scalable bot development and ensures the marketplace is intuitive and accessible to all users.
Kirubel Fikru – DevOps Engineer
Kirubel manages the infrastructure, deployment, and monitoring of the system. He ensures the marketplace is secure, scalable, and reliable, implementing CI/CD pipelines, server optimization, and robust monitoring to minimize downtime and support growth.
Together, this team provides the complete set of skills needed to design, build, and operate Markado, without the need for additional hires or external collaborators.