[Proposal setup] Proposal title
Please provide your proposal title
Retrai: AI Recruitment Platform with Cardano-Verified Trust
[Proposal Summary] Budget Information
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
45000
[Proposal Summary] Time
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
6
[Proposal Summary] Translation Information
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
Yes
Original Language
en
[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement
What is the problem you want to solve?
Rampant job scams in Indonesia, with 7000+ victims losing millions in total, combined with inefficient hiring processes make recruitment slow, costly, and stressful for both companies and jobseekers.
[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation
Supporting links
[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
No dependencies
[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
All outputs will be open-sourced under the MIT License for the 6-month funded period, including frontend portals, backend services with AI interview integration (excluding API keys and third-party model weights), blockchain modules and Cardano smart contracts, and deployment docs without sensitive credentials. After the period, some parts may close-source, but blockchain modules will remain open for the Cardano ecosystem.
[Theme Selection] Theme
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.
Business Services
[Campaign Category] Category Questions
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).
Retrai’s innovation is the fusion of blockchain trust with AI efficiency for the HR sector. It uses Cardano's immutable ledger to power a transparent employer review system, directly combating rampant job scams in Indonesia. Our AI-led interviews provide deep insights into soft skills that CVs miss, helping recruiters make better decisions. While established job platforms exist (such as JobStreet or LinkedIn), Retrai builds a verifiable on-chain reputation system, a unique trust layer that centralized competitors cannot replicate.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
Our prototype will demonstrate these core user flows:
- Jobseekers can take AI-led interviews, apply for jobs, and submit on-chain reviews. They can also flag employers (secure/fraud) by providing evidence for moderation.
- Recruiters are able to screen these AI-vetted candidates, manage the hiring pipeline, and comment on reviews.
- An admin dashboard allows moderators to investigate flagged employers, review the submitted evidence, mint a final on-chain status (fraud/secure), and revoke platform access from verified scammers.
- Guests can preview interview clips to encourage sign-ups.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
Within the 6-month execution of this project, we will have:
On-Chain:
- ≥75 verified employer reviews minted on Cardano.
- ≥200 total Cardano transactions from platform activity, including review mints, employer comments, and fraud/secure flags
Off-Chain
- Full public release of Retrai with integrated AI interviewer and Cardano review minting
- ≥200 jobseeker accounts created
- ≥150 AI BEI interview completions recorded
- ≥10 legitimate job ads posted by at least 5 company recruiters (≈2 job ads per recruiter)
[Your Project and Solution] Solution
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
The Problem
Indonesia faces a dual challenge in recruitment: rampant job scams costing trillions of rupiah annually, and inefficient hiring processes that make recruitment slow, costly, and stressful for both companies and jobseekers. Jobseekers often apply blindly to unverified employers, while recruiters spend excessive time filtering unsuitable candidates.
Our Solution
Retrai is an AI-powered recruitment platform integrated with Cardano blockchain for trust verification. Here is the detailed breakdown of this platform:
- On-Chain Employer Reviews
Jobseekers who apply to a position are prompted to review their experience (e.g., “Were you contacted about your application? Briefly describe.”). To ensure efficiency and transparency, the hash of each new employer review is automatically minted on-chain after a jobseeker submits it. This creates an immediate, tamper-proof record. A community-driven flagging system routes exceptions to our Community Manager, who will investigate and manually mint a 'fraud' or 'secure' status on-chain. This creates a fully transparent and accountable moderation history. This increases trust by discouraging fake postings, as scam employers risk public negative reviews permanently stored on the blockchain and the immediate removal of their access to the platform's applicants.
- AI-Led Interviews
Candidates complete an interview simulation. The interview simulation is based on the gold standard in recruitment, which is Behavioral Event Interview (BEI), focusing on past behavior to predict future performance. Even though this method is widely used, we also integrate our interview questions with non-BEI questions (hypothetical questions) to cover the need of companies who don't mainly use BEI. Retrai’s AI asks hyper-personalized questions based on the submitted CV, simulates professional recruiters, and provides tailored feedback for improvement. This improves efficiency by giving recruiters reliable data beyond a CV and helps jobseekers understand their strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, it also adds more value to jobseekers.
- Shareable Interview Links and Feedback
After completing the AI interview, candidates receive a shareable link containing their interview video and AI-generated feedback. Viewers can watch without signing in, but at the halfway mark they are prompted to sign in to continue. Candidates can embed this link in their CVs or LinkedIn profiles, creating a unique way to portray their soft skills beyond text. This also acts as a powerful marketing loop, as every shared link promotes Retrai organically while reinforcing trust in jobseekers.
- Profile Enhancement
Interview results and feedback are integrated into the candidate’s profile, visible to recruiters for faster shortlisting. This improves efficiency by reducing screening time and enabling data-driven selection.
- Fraud Reduction
By minting employer reviews on Cardano, fraudulent job postings are exposed, creating long-term accountability for companies. Crucially, once an employer is verified as a scammer through this process, the Community Manager will immediately revoke their platform access, preventing them from receiving any further applications. This increases trust in the recruitment ecosystem.
- Time-to-Hire Improvement
The average hiring process in Southeast Asia often exceeds the global average of 38–44 days due to manual screening and low trust (source: https://talentport.com/average-time-to-hire)..) Retrai’s AI evaluations and blockchain verification streamline hiring, significantly reducing time-to-hire while improving quality.
By addressing trust and efficiency simultaneously, Retrai improves hiring outcomes for both sides while bringing tangible, on-chain activity to Cardano.
Our Business Model
- B2C: In beta, each jobseeker account gets 3 free attempts of AI-led interviews and the feedbacks. If they want to get more attempts, they can buy the packages of AI-led interview + feedback.
- B2B: In beta, each recruiter account gets 3 free job ads. If they want to post more, they can buy the packages of job ads.
- Posting company review is free. We rely on the B2B operations for our main revenue stream.
[Your Project and Solution] Impact
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
- On-Chain Utility & Transparency
Retrai will introduce a new category of on-chain activity in the Cardano ecosystem: blockchain-verified employer reviews created by jobseekers themselves. These are not speculative transactions; they represent trust data tied to real-world economic activity. Every verified review, fraud report, and status change is a Cardano transaction, creating a transparent record that companies cannot tamper with. Over time, this creates a public ledger of employer credibility, accessible to anyone.
- Strengthening Cardano’s Presence in the $6B+ HR Tech Market
The Indonesian HR tech market alone is valued at USD 6.01 billion (Kumar, 2024, Ken Research) and is still growing rapidly. Retrai brings blockchain into a space historically untouched by it: recruitment. By embedding Cardano into the employer verification process, we make it part of the infrastructure for hiring in Indonesia and eventually Southeast Asia. This positions Cardano as the go-to blockchain for trust-based B2B and B2C applications beyond finance.
- Reputation Growth & Differentiation
Most blockchain adoption stories revolve around DeFi, NFTs, or speculative markets. Retrai instead presents a high-visibility, high-social-impact application: fighting job scams, improving hiring quality, and educating the public on blockchain’s role in trust-building. This narrative strengthens Cardano’s positioning as a socially responsible, utility-first chain, differentiating it from competitors.
- Reusable Open-Source Infrastructure
Our verification smart contracts will be open-sourced for the length of the 6-month project, enabling other Cardano-based projects to adopt or adapt them for any trust-based application, from supplier vetting in supply chains to service provider reviews. This creates a multiplier effect where other developers can build on our work without reinventing the wheel.
- Scalability Across Southeast Asia
While Indonesia is the entry market, Retrai is designed to scale. Countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia face similar hiring fraud and efficiency challenges. Once the model is proven locally, the same blockchain infrastructure can be deployed in these markets with minimal modification, increasing Cardano adoption region-wide.
- Indirect Marketing Through Jobseekers
Every jobseeker who completes an AI-led BEI interview can share their interview video via a link, embedding Cardano-backed trust elements into their CV or LinkedIn profile. This acts as organic marketing: recruiters, peers, and even casual viewers are introduced to the platform and to Cardano’s role in powering it.
7.Education of the General Public
Visitors to Retrai, even if they are not registered users, will have access to a dedicated “About Cardano” page. This explains, in clear and accessible language, how Cardano secures verification data, why blockchain is tamper-proof, and how this benefits everyday users. This helps demystify blockchain, turning casual exposure into understanding, and understanding into trust.
Source:
https://www.kenresearch.com/industry-reports/indonesia-hr-tech-market
[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?
- HR Domain Expertise
Led by an HR professional with deep experience in recruitment process design and Behavioral Event Interview (BEI) implementation, ensuring industry-standard assessment quality
- Extensive Talent & Recruiter Networks
Strong connections to recruiter communities across industries, as well as direct access to large pools of fresh graduates and university students via academic and career networks. This ensures a steady pipeline of both jobseekers and recruiters from day one.
- Preliminary Market Validation
The problem of job scams, especially in Indonesia, have been discussed a lot. Official reports and market research show that over 7,000 Indonesians became victims of job scams in 2024 alone, with total financial losses exceeding IDR 90 billion (~USD 5.8 million). These scams not only cause significant economic harm but also erode trust between jobseekers and employers, making the recruitment process even more stressful and inefficient.
On top of that, our team has done a preliminary study to recruiters in Indonesia, and this study revealed:
- 72% cite difficulty assessing soft skills from CVs alone, particularly communication, problem solving, and adaptability.
- 68% identify poor-quality CVs as a top barrier to efficient hiring.
- 61% are highly interested in AI-led video interviews to save time in early screening while maintaining consistency and objectivity.
- 54% expressed concerns about fraudulent job postings and falsified employer claims, supporting the need for blockchain-verified employer reviews.
These insights confirm that Retrai directly addresses the two most pressing gaps in Indonesia’s hiring landscape, which are trust (through Cardano-powered employer reviews) and efficiency (through AI-led BEI simulations).
- Technical Team
Includes a skilled AI engineer, blockchain developer, frontend developer, and UX designer with proven delivery records, including previous success launching a Project Catalyst–funded product.
- Validation Plan
- Conduct pilot programs with selected recruiters to test AI interview accuracy and blockchain review workflow.
- Leverage recruiter and student networks for controlled early trials.
- Measure progress against on-chain KPIs (reviews, interview completions, transactions) and off-chain KPIs (user adoption, recruiter engagement) before public rollout.
- Risk Mitigation
Gradual rollout strategy, 10% budget contingency, and formal partnerships with universities and recruiter networks to ensure early traction and credibility.
Source:
Tribun News – 7,000+ victims & IDR 90 billion losses in 2024
https://www.tribunnews.com/metropolitan/2024/07/03/7000-lebih-korban-penipuan-lowongan-kerja-rugi-rp-90-miliar
Kompas – Job scams surge in Indonesia
https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2024/07/04/090000165/penipuan-lowongan-kerja-marak-kerugian-tembus-rp-90-miliar
Detik – Police data on employment scam losses
https://news.detik.com/berita/d-6914453/polri-ungkap-kerugian-penipuan-lowongan-kerja-capai-rp90-miliar
[Milestones] Project Milestones
Milestone Title
Core Platform & Immediate Review Flow
Milestone Outputs
- Functional recruiter sign-up with email OTP and profile management
- Functional jobseeker sign-up with email OTP and profile management
- Job posting creation and listing (publish/unpublish)
- Job application flow with visible success confirmation
- Functional employer review and comment system
Acceptance Criteria
- A recruiter completes OTP verification and successfully saves profile edits
- A jobseeker completes OTP verification and successfully saves profile edits
- A recruiter creates a job, publishes it, and it appears in the public listing within ≤5s
- From 20 test submissions, ≥95% of applications return a success confirmation screen
- After a successful application, the review form loads ≤3s, submits successfully, and the employer can comment on that review and the comment is visible
Evidence of Completion
- Screen recording showing recruiter OTP sign-up and a saved profile edit
- Screen recording showing jobseeker OTP sign-up and a saved profile edit
- Screen recording of create → publish → job visible in listing (ID shown)
- Screenshot/export of 20 application attempts with ≥95% success + one confirmation screen capture
- Screen recording showing post-apply review form appearing, successful review submission, and the employer’s comment submitted and displayed
Delivery Month
2
Cost
12000
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Blockchain Integration for Employer Reviews
Milestone Outputs
- Review Receipt schema (hash-only; no PII on-chain) + verifier script published
- Testnet minting pipeline for automated employer reviews upon submission
- Fraud-flag button that routes items to a moderation queue with reason codes
- Admin function/script to manually mint a "fraud" or "secure" status transaction that references an original review
- Review detail page shows explorer links for the initial review and any subsequent status mints.
Acceptance Criteria
- Verifier validates a sample receipt against schema; recomputed hash = PASS.
- A submitted review automatically triggers a minting transaction on testnet within 5 minutes
- A flagged review appears in the moderation queue ≤10s with the selected reason code
- The admin function successfully mints a "fraud" status transaction on testnet, visible on an explorer
- The review detail page correctly displays working explorer links for both the automated review mint and the manual status mint.
Evidence of Completion
- GitHub link to the public repository containing the schema file and the verifier script. A screenshot showing the verifier script successfully validating a sample receipt hash will be included.
- A short screen recording demonstrating a test user submitting a review, which then automatically triggers a transaction that appears on a testnet explorer. A CSV file of ≥20 testnet transaction hashes will also be provided as supplementary proof.
- A screen recording showing a user clicking the "fraud-flag" button on a review, and that same review immediately appearing in the backend moderation queue with the correct reason code.
- A screen recording of the admin dashboard where the Community Manager verifies a flagged review and uses the manual function to mint a "fraud" status transaction to the testnet, with the successful transaction shown on an explorer.
- A live URL to a review detail page on your test server, showing clickable explorer links for both the initial automated review mint and the subsequent manual status mint.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
12000
Progress
40 %
Milestone Title
AI-Led Interview Simulation
Milestone Outputs
- Interview module (BEI + non-BEI) with ≥20 dynamic question variants
- AI feedback report (strengths, growth tips, example answer) embedded in profile (ID & EN)
- Hybrid avatar with visemes lip-sync during interview playback
- Shareable link plays first half without login, then sign-in gate; link analytics tracked
- Performance & accuracy targets met (p95 load, STT accuracy)
Acceptance Criteria
- In a batch of 10 interviews, logs show ≥20 unique variant IDs (using Gemini or equivalent LLM)
- Recruiter view shows the feedback report in Bahasa & English for a test profile (any templating/PDF stack)
- Avatar lip-sync desync <250ms on a 60-sec clip using Azure TTS visemes or equivalent viseme-capable TTS
- Public share link plays to 50% then prompts login; dashboard records views & conversions (any analytics)
- Interview page p95 load <2.5s (3G-Fast) and STT accuracy ≥90% on a 3-min benchmark using GCP STT or equivalent
Evidence of Completion
- Export/log of 10 sessions listing variant IDs + brief screen recording
- Two sample feedback PDFs (ID & EN) + profile embed screenshot
- Screen recording of avatar playback with overlaid viseme timeline
- Live test link + dashboard screenshot of views→sign-ins
- Lighthouse/WebPageTest screenshot + STT accuracy calc sheet
Delivery Month
4
Cost
7000
Progress
70 %
Milestone Title
Go-To-Market & User Acquisition
Milestone Outputs
- Pilot recruiters onboarded (≥5) posting ≥10 legitimate job ads
- Campus/community activations (≥4) driving sign-ups
- Public KPI dashboard (accounts, interviews, ads, reviews, on-chain tx)
- Interim on-chain targets reached (≥50 reviews, ≥100 total tx)
- Support & moderation runbook + SLAs operational
Acceptance Criteria
- ≥5 recruiters have live accounts and ≥8 total ads are published (any auth/CRM tooling)
- ≥4 events executed or equivalent digital campaigns yielding ≥150 cumulative accounts (any event/campaign stack)
- Dashboard public URL shows daily/weekly charts and CSV export (any dashboard tech)
- Counters show ≥50 verified reviews and ≥100 total on-chain tx (any chain provider/explorer)
- SLA doc states triage ≤2 business days; ticket log evidences compliance (any ticketing/store)
Evidence of Completion
- MoUs/emails (PDFs) + URLs to the live job ads
- Event photos/screens + admin export of account count
- Dashboard URL + sample CSV export
- CSV of tx hashes + screenshot of aggregate counts
- Published runbook/SLA PDF + ticket log export
Delivery Month
5
Cost
7000
Progress
90 %
Milestone Title
Final Acceptance & Project Close-Out
Milestone Outputs
- Public platform stable with uptime & error-rate targets
- Final KPIs achieved (≥75 reviews; ≥200 total tx; ≥200 accounts; ≥150 interviews; ≥10 ads by ≥5 recruiters)
- Security & compliance finalized (Probely re-scan; ToS/Privacy/Moderation v1.0 live)
- Open-source release of contracts & schemas with README and verifier example
- Close-Out report & video published with public announcements
Acceptance Criteria
- Status page shows ≥99.5% uptime last 30 days and <1% 500-error rate over 7 days (any status/monitoring)
- Dashboard confirms all final KPI thresholds met (any analytics/storage)
- Probely Free re-scan shows no high-severity findings; policies accessible in footer (any site stack)
- Public GitHub repo has a tagged release with README, schema, and verifier script (any OSS license)
- Report (PDF) + 3–5 min video live; announcement posts acknowledge Project Catalyst support (any channels)
Evidence of Completion
- Status page export (PNG/PDF) + error-rate chart
- Dashboard screenshots + CSV exports and on-chain tx CSV with explorer links
- Latest Probely scan PDF + URLs to ToS/Privacy/Moderation
- GitHub links to release/tag + screenshot of verifier output
- URLs to report, video, and public announcements
Delivery Month
6
Cost
7000
Progress
100 %
[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
1). Manpower (6 Months) (based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia) — $24,240 → 30,300 ADA
- Business Executive and HR Domain Lead: $3,840 or ~4,800 ADA
- Project Manager and Blockchain Engineer: $5,520 or ~6,900 ADA
- Fullstack Engineer #1 : $3,840 or ~4,800 ADA
- Fullstack Engineer #2 : $3,840 or ~4,800 ADA
- UI/UX Designer: $3,600 or ~4,500 ADA
- Community Manager: $3,600 or ~4,500 ADA
2). Infrastructure and Development Tools — $1,991 → 2,488.75 ADA
A) Compute & Networking (self-hosted) — $840 → 1,050 ADA
- 3× VPS (Hostinger KVM8) prepaid 12 mo — $720 → 900 ADA
- Backups & off-site object storage — $120 → 150 ADA
B) Blockchain infra & fees — $300 → 375.00 ADA
- Blockfrost Hobby (12 mo) — $190 → 237.50 ADA
- Mainnet fee subsidy (~750 tx) — $110 → 137.50 ADA
C) Database — Included (PostgreSQL on VM; covered by compute)
D) AI runtime, speech, realtime media, avatar — $750 → 937.50 ADA
- Gemini API (reasoning/feedback) — $100 → 125 ADA
- Google Cloud Speech-to-Text (~5,000 mins) — $400 → 500 ADA
- LiveKit (self-hosted WebRTC) — $0 → 0 ADA
- Hybrid avatar (Azure TTS visemes) — $200 → 250 ADA
- Storage allowance (clips/thumbnails) — $50 → 62.50 ADA
E) Email & monitoring — $101 → 126.25 ADA
- Google Workspace (1 account) — $101 → 126.25 ADA
- Monitoring via Prometheus/Grafana — $0 → 0 ADA
3). Operations — $4,492 → 5,615 ADA
- Email OTP — $0 → 0 ADA
- Security — $0 → 0 ADA
- Probely Free for continuous vuln scanning (reports & rescans)
- Legal & Compliance — $742 → 927.50 ADA
- iubenda Privacy Policy (Pro) — $42 → 52.50 ADA
- Termly (cookie banner/CMP & consent logs) — $100 → 125.00 ADA
- Local counsel review (ToS, Privacy, Moderation/Appeals) — $600 → 750.00 ADA
- GTM & Outreach — $1,650 → 2,062.50 ADA
- Universities & recruiter groups; light collateral/comms
- Meetings & Coordination — $2,100 → 2,625.00 ADA
- Co-working / room credits — $900 → 1,125.00 ADA
- Local transport — $600 → 750.00 ADA
- Refreshments / print / supplies — $300 → 375.00 ADA
- Remote tools/recording/misc buffer — $300 → 375.00 ADA
4). Contingency — $5,277 → 6,596.25 ADA
(Approximately 17.2% of subtotal to account for ADA price volatility and unforeseen project costs)
Grand Total — $36,000 → 45,000 ADA
[Final Pitch] Value for Money
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
From the Cardano ecosystem perspective, this budget delivers three distinct layers of value:
- Driving Real-World Adoption of Cardano in Southeast Asia
- Every verified employer review (hash-only receipt) submitted by a jobseeker is minted as a transaction on Cardano, adding real-world, user-generated trust data to the chain. With a funded pool for ~750 Cardano transactions and a 6-month baseline of ≥200 (stretch 300) on-chain events, the marginal on-chain fee is about USD 0.16 per transaction (0.2 ADA at USD 0.80). The 45,000 ADA grant primarily funds the product build and a 12-month infrastructure runway; as adoption continues into months 7–12, the effective cost per on-chain event keeps declining while Cardano’s publicly verifiable trust graph compounds in value. These transactions are not speculative DeFi/NFT activity. Each represents a verified employer review, an employer comment, or a fraud/secure flag, that benefits both Cardano and users.
- Tapping into a Multi-Billion-Dollar HR Tech Market
- According to Kumar (2024) via Ken Research, the Indonesian HR technology market in Indonesia is currently valued at USD 6.01 billions, and is still growing rapidly. By anchoring core platform functionality to Cardano (trust reviews, immutable interview records), Retrai positions Cardano at the infrastructure level for a sector that will see continued growth regardless of market cycles. Even capturing a small percentage of this market could lead to sustained transaction volumes and future expansion into other SEA markets.
- Long-Term Network Effects for Cardano
- Once trust-based hiring becomes the norm through blockchain-backed reviews, employers and jobseekers will have an ongoing incentive to use Cardano for verification. Retrai can serve as a launch point for other Cardano-based employment services, such as credential verification, skill certificate NFTs, and cross-border hiring compliance, further embedding Cardano into enterprise HR processes. The initial budget funds the MVP, but the infrastructure choices ensure low running costs, making it feasible for the platform to keep generating on-chain activity without constant funding requests.
- Practicing Familiarity of Cardano and Blockchain in General to the General Public
- Each jobseeker who completes an AI-led Behavioral Event Interview will receive a shareable link containing their interview video and AI-generated feedback. Anyone with the link can view the first half without signing in, but will be prompted to sign in to continue. This feature serves multiple purposes: it allows candidates to showcase their soft skills and personality beyond a CV, it gives recruiters an additional trust layer when reviewing applicants, and it acts as an organic marketing channel for Retrai. Every shared link brings new audiences to the platform, where they can encounter an “About Cardano” page explaining in simple terms how Cardano secures verification using blockchain. This journey helps general users get introduced to Cardano, understand its utility, and build trust in blockchain technology.
In summary, this is high value for money because the funds:
- Address a nationally significant trust issue with measurable social benefit
- Position Cardano as a public-good blockchain in a region with massive economic potential
- Deliver a complete, production-ready platform within a fixed budget and timeline
- Create sustainable on-chain activity that continues beyond the funding period
- Help educate the general public about Cardano and blockchain for a better understanding and more trust built.
Source:
[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation
Terms and Conditions:
Yes