Last updated 5 months ago
Mechanical designers lack secure ways to prove prior art or part differences without exposing CAD files, leading to IP theft risks and costly disputes.
We will build ZK-CAD Vault: a privacy-preserving platform that lets designers prove prior art and part differences using zero-knowledge proofs without revealing CAD models.
Please provide your proposal title
ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
100000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
12
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Mechanical designers lack secure ways to prove prior art or part differences without exposing CAD files, leading to IP theft risks and costly disputes.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
Yes
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
Midnight Network for Privacy Logic and Zero-Knowledge Proof Execution The Midnight Network is a core dependency for ZK-CAD Vault because it provides the privacy-preserving computation environment necessary to generate zero-knowledge proofs for CAD geometry without revealing the underlying model. Our system relies on Midnight to: Execute zk-circuits that confirm differences between CAD models beyond a given threshold. Commit feature hashes to a privacy-preserving ledger while maintaining confidentiality. Anchor verifiable timestamps on Cardano. While Midnight is publicly accessible, our project assumes that network updates, API stability, and potential downtime will not impede development. We will continuously monitor network changes and maintain compatibility with Midnight updates. Any delays or changes in the network infrastructure could affect milestone delivery times. PRISM/Identus for Verifiable Credentials (VCs) of Design Ownership PRISM/Identus provides the credentialing layer for issuing and verifying ownership of designs. Our platform will integrate with PRISM/Identus to: Issue verifiable credentials to designers proving their prior-art submissions. Transfer ownership credentials in case of design handover. Provide an on-chain and off-chain dispute resolution mechanism backed by verifiable credentials. This dependency requires stable API access, proper authentication, and any necessary permissions to interact with their credential schemas. Any changes to the PRISM/Identus system, updates to their API, or downtime may introduce risks to milestones related to credential issuance and verification. CAD File Standards and Parsing Libraries (STEP, Parasolid, etc.) ZK-CAD Vault supports multiple native CAD formats, including STEP and Parasolid. Accurate parsing of these formats is critical to generate canonical feature hashes and compute geometry-aware commitments. Dependencies in this area include: Open-source CAD libraries for parsing and canonicalization. Licensed commercial CAD libraries if open-source options do not fully support required features. Compliance with licensing agreements to avoid legal risks. Failures in library performance, changes in file standards, or licensing restrictions could affect the accuracy and integrity of the vault’s proofs. Our team will ensure that all libraries used are either open-source or properly licensed, and we will maintain version control to avoid compatibility issues. Developer Tooling and Infrastructure Development of ZK-CAD Vault requires computational resources capable of executing zero-knowledge proof circuits for complex CAD models. Dependencies in this category include: Cloud infrastructure or local high-performance machines for zk-circuit compilation and execution. Secure storage for feature hashes, proofs, and credential data. Development environments for integrating Cardano smart contracts, Midnight APIs, and PRISM/Identus VCs. Infrastructure availability is essential to maintain the project timeline. Any delays in acquiring compute resources or interruptions in cloud service availability could affect milestone completion. We will mitigate these risks by ensuring redundant systems and early procurement of required resources. Industrial or Pilot Partners (Optional but Recommended) While not strictly required for MVP development, collaboration with industrial partners is highly recommended to validate real-world workflows. Industrial partners can provide: Sample CAD models for testing proof generation. Feedback on usability and workflow integration. Access to real IP ownership and transfer scenarios. Dependence on external partners introduces potential scheduling and availability risks. To mitigate this, we plan to secure preliminary agreements early and maintain flexible testing schedules. Cardano Network for Anchoring Verifiable Timelines Our platform will anchor proofs and credential records on Cardano. This dependency includes: Cardano node access for submitting proof commitments. Ensuring network availability and compliance with protocol updates. Transaction fees for commitment anchoring, which must be accounted for in the project budget. Network congestion or protocol updates could affect proof anchoring timelines. We will plan for buffer periods in milestones to accommodate potential network delays. Regulatory and Legal Compliance Since ZK-CAD Vault involves IP protection and ownership credentials, compliance with intellectual property law and data privacy regulations is a dependency. While the platform itself does not store sensitive personal information, legal frameworks in various jurisdictions may impact credential recognition or dispute enforcement. We will consult legal experts to ensure all processes comply with relevant regulations. Team Expertise and Availability ZK-CAD Vault depends on the availability and expertise of a highly specialized team, including: Zero-knowledge engineers capable of designing and verifying zk-circuits for CAD geometries. CAD engineers familiar with multiple file standards and feature extraction. Blockchain developers experienced in Cardano smart contracts and credential integration. Technical project managers to coordinate milestones and dependencies. Team availability is crucial; any unplanned absence or turnover could delay milestones. We will maintain a distributed team and redundancy in critical skills to reduce risk. Community and Ecosystem Dependencies As an open-source project, the adoption and testing by the broader Cardano community will be an indirect dependency. Engagement from community developers can help validate and improve libraries, identify edge cases, and ensure the software is production-ready. Low community involvement may slow adoption, but it will not halt MVP delivery. Documentation and Knowledge Sharing Our project depends on proper documentation of API integrations, library usage, and zk-circuit design. Clear documentation ensures reproducibility, adoption by other developers, and ease of milestone verification by reviewers. Any gaps in documentation could affect milestone acceptance criteria.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault will be fully open source. All core components including CAD importer, feature hashing, zk-circuits, PRISM/Identus integration, and on-chain dispute flow will be in a public GitHub repo under the MIT License. Proprietary partner-specific scripts are excluded, but the general MVP and reusable code remain open, ensuring transparency, reproducibility, and community adoption.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Developer Tools
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).
MIT License:We chose the MIT License to maximize adoption, reuse, and contribution. It allows developers to freely integrate our CAD importer, zk-circuits, PRISM/Identus integration, and dispute flow into other projects, including commercial applications. Its permissive nature ensures minimal restrictions, encouraging community collaboration while maintaining full open-source transparency. Proprietary partner-specific scripts remain excluded, but all reusable MVP components are MIT-licensed.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
We will host all ZK-CAD Vault code in a public GitHub repository from project start: https://github.com/essentialcardano/zk-cad-vault.
We will use version control, structured branches, and regular, high-quality commits to track progress. Milestone updates, documentation, and release notes will be posted publicly. Community members will be informed via GitHub notifications, our project Discord/Telegram, and periodic Catalyst updates, ensuring transparency and engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
We will provide high-quality user and developer documentation for ZK-CAD Vault, including:
• README & Setup Guide – clear installation instructions, environment setup, and example workflows.
• API Documentation – endpoints, request/response formats, and authentication explained using OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Developer Guides – step-by-step instructions for CAD import, zk-circuit integration, and PRISM/Identus VC usage.
• Visuals & Examples – diagrams, flowcharts, and sample CAD files demonstrating proof generation.
• Tools & Standards
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
Problem Perception
The mechanical design and CAD industries face a persistent problem: protecting intellectual property (IP) while collaborating, sharing, or submitting designs for review. Mechanical engineers, product designers, and R&D teams often need to prove prior ownership of a design or demonstrate that two CAD models differ beyond a specific threshold. Traditional methods involve sharing the full CAD model or relying on centralized timestamping services, which exposes proprietary information and introduces trust issues. Designers need a secure, privacy-preserving, and verifiable mechanism to establish prior-art claims and track ownership without revealing sensitive design details.
The challenge extends to industrial collaborations, academic research, and startup IP protection. Without a trusted solution, designers risk theft, disputes, or loss of licensing opportunities, which slows innovation and adoption of new technologies. Moreover, there is currently no system combining zero-knowledge proofs, decentralized verification, and CAD geometry awareness, leaving a gap for secure prior-art timestamping in mechanical design workflows.
Proposed Approach
ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault solves this problem by leveraging zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, verifiable credentials, and Cardano blockchain anchoring to provide privacy-preserving IP proofs for mechanical designs. The platform operates as a vault that accepts native CAD files (STEP, Parasolid, etc.), computes geometry-aware feature hashes, and allows designers to prove:
They were the first to design a particular shape (prior-art claim).
Two CAD models differ beyond a defined threshold (≥ δ difference), without exposing the full CAD geometry.
Our approach has four primary components:
CAD Importer & Canonical Feature Hash Generation
Imports STEP, Parasolid, or other native CAD files.
Extracts canonical features (surfaces, edges, volumes) and generates a unique feature hash representing the design.
Ensures reproducibility and allows verifiable comparison without revealing the original geometry.
Zero-Knowledge Circuits for Similarity/Difference Proofs
Leverages zk-circuits to allow designers to prove design differences or similarity claims.
Computes proofs that two designs are distinct or confirms prior ownership while keeping the CAD model private.
Uses Midnight Network for execution of privacy-preserving computation.
Verifiable Credentials (PRISM/Identus) for Ownership & Transfer
Issues credentials to designers asserting ownership of a design at a given time.
Allows transfer of ownership through verifiable credentials without exposing the CAD file.
Provides on-chain dispute resolution backed by credentials, ensuring trust and accountability.
Cardano Anchoring for Timelines and Trust
Anchors proof commitments and ownership credentials on the Cardano blockchain, providing a decentralized, verifiable, and immutable timeline.
Ensures that prior-art claims and ownership proofs are trustworthy, auditable, and censorship-resistant.
Reasons for Our Approach
This solution was chosen because it balances privacy, verifiability, and usability. By combining zero-knowledge proofs with Cardano’s decentralized ledger and verifiable credentials, we can:
Protect sensitive CAD data.
Establish provable ownership and design originality.
Reduce reliance on centralized timestamping or IP verification authorities.
Integrate seamlessly into industrial, academic, and startup workflows.
Other approaches such as full CAD publication, traditional IP notarization, or proprietary timestamping fail to provide this combination of privacy, transparency, and on-chain verifiability.
Engagement and Target Audience
ZK-CAD Vault will engage a wide range of stakeholders, including:
Mechanical engineers and product designers seeking IP protection.
Industrial R&D teams needing collaboration-safe prior-art verification.
Startup founders in hardware, robotics, or 3D printing seeking proof of originality.
Academics and universities submitting designs for research competitions or publications.
Cardano community developers interested in privacy-preserving proof systems and zk-tech applications.
The project will provide accessible documentation, example workflows, and an open-source GitHub repository to foster community involvement, testing, and contribution.
Demonstrating Impact
We will measure and demonstrate impact through:
Number of designs hashed and proofs generated (quantitative metric).
Number of verifiable credentials issued and ownership transfers executed on-chain.
Pilot adoption with industrial or academic partners, validating real-world workflows.
Community engagement metrics: GitHub stars, forks, issues, and pull requests.
Milestone completion and Proof-of-Achievement submissions in Catalyst’s Milestone Module.
By providing verifiable evidence of prior-art claims, ZK-CAD Vault reduces disputes, prevents design theft, and accelerates adoption of Cardano for industrial applications, creating a measurable impact on IP security in the CAD ecosystem.
Uniqueness of the Solution
ZK-CAD Vault is unique because:
It is geometry-aware, meaning proofs are based on CAD features rather than raw files.
It uses zero-knowledge proofs, ensuring privacy while providing strong verifiable guarantees.
Integrates with PRISM/Identus VCs for ownership and transfer, enabling trust without revealing sensitive data.
Anchors proofs on Cardano, providing decentralized and immutable verification.
Fills a gap in the IP protection ecosystem for mechanical designs, where no other solution currently combines these capabilities.
Who Benefits and Why it Matters to Cardano
Mechanical designers gain a safe way to assert originality and prove prior art.
Industrial teams can collaborate without risking IP leakage.
Cardano ecosystem benefits by showcasing high-impact, enterprise-ready use cases that leverage privacy, smart contracts, and decentralized verification.
Encourages adoption of privacy-preserving technologies and zk-tools on Cardano, strengthening the network’s utility for real-world industrial applications.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
Positive Impact on the Cardano Community
ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault will create a real-world, high-value use case for Cardano in the fields of IP protection, mechanical design, and industrial R&D. By demonstrating how zero-knowledge proofs, verifiable credentials, and on-chain verification can be combined, it will showcase Cardano as a platform for privacy-preserving, enterprise-grade applications.
The project will benefit the Cardano ecosystem by:
Expanding Cardano’s footprint in industrial and academic communities.
Encouraging adoption of zk-proofs, Midnight Network, and PRISM/Identus credentials.
Providing open-source tools, APIs, and documentation that developers can integrate into their own projects.
Inspiring new privacy-focused dApps and IP protection solutions.
Measuring Impact
Number of designs hashed and proofs generated.
Number of verifiable credentials issued for ownership and transfer.
Open-source engagement metrics: GitHub stars, forks, issues, pull requests.
Industrial/academic pilot adoption and user feedback.
Community participation in tutorials, discussions, and workshops.
Sharing Outputs and Opportunities
All core code and tools will be in a public GitHub repository under the MIT License.
Documentation, examples, and tutorials will be published via Docusaurus/Markdown.
Milestone updates and Proof-of-Achievement reports will be shared through Catalyst updates, GitHub, and community channels.
Results, workflows, and pilot findings will be openly accessible, ensuring the broader community can learn, reuse, and expand on the work.
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?
Team Expertise and Track Record
The ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault team combines expertise in mechanical design, CAD systems, zero-knowledge proofs, blockchain development, and open-source project management, making us uniquely positioned to execute this project with high trust and accountability.
CAD & Mechanical Design Expertise: Our core team includes experienced mechanical engineers and CAD specialists who have worked extensively with STEP, Parasolid, and other CAD formats. This ensures that feature extraction, canonical hashing, and difference proofs are technically sound, accurate, and industry-relevant.
Zero-Knowledge (ZK) & Privacy Technology: Our team has prior experience in implementing ZK circuits for privacy-preserving proofs. We are familiar with Midnight Network, zkSNARK/zkSTARK tools, and designing circuits for real-world use cases, allowing us to develop efficient, verifiable proofs for CAD models.
Blockchain & Cardano Integration: Developers on our team have experience with Cardano smart contracts, PRISM/Identus verifiable credentials, and decentralized anchoring. This ensures seamless integration of proofs, timestamps, and ownership records onto Cardano, guaranteeing immutability, traceability, and security.
Open-Source Project Management: We have successfully launched and maintained open-source projects on GitHub, ensuring transparent version control, issue tracking, milestone updates, and community engagement. This track record demonstrates our ability to deliver publicly verifiable outputs, fostering trust within the community.
Processes for High Trust and Accountability
We will adopt formal processes to manage funds, track progress, and ensure accountability:
Milestone-Based Funding:
Project funding will be allocated across well-defined milestones in line with Catalyst guidelines.
Each milestone will include clearly defined outputs, acceptance criteria, and measurable KPIs.
Proof-of-Achievement submissions will validate milestone completion before subsequent funds are released.
Transparent Financial Management:
All funding receipts, allocations, and expenditures will be documented and reported in Catalyst milestone updates.
We will maintain separate accounts for project funds, ensuring no commingling with personal or unrelated expenses.
Budget breakdowns will include staff hours, infrastructure costs, software licenses, and community engagement initiatives, ensuring full visibility of fund usage.
Version Control and Code Transparency:
All development will occur in a public GitHub repository with structured branches, regular commits, and clear issue tracking.
Progress will be visible to the Catalyst community, allowing real-time verification of development activities.
Documentation and Knowledge Sharing:
User guides, API references, setup instructions, and example workflows will be continuously updated in the repository.
Community members can review, reproduce, and verify the outputs, ensuring accountability and reproducibility.
Community Engagement & Feedback Loops:
Regular engagement with developers, designers, and industrial partners ensures that milestones are realistic, validated, and impactful.
Feedback loops allow the project to adapt and course-correct based on technical or practical constraints.
Feasibility Validation
We have established multiple mechanisms to validate that our approach is feasible and effective:
MVP Testing:
Our MVP consists of four components: CAD importer → canonical feature hash; ZK-circuit for ≥ δ difference; PRISM/Identus VC schema; on-chain dispute flow.
Early-stage prototypes of the CAD importer and hash generator have been tested on sample STEP and Parasolid files, confirming accurate feature extraction and reproducibility.
ZK-circuits will initially be validated on synthetic CAD geometries to verify correctness, computational efficiency, and proof size before scaling to complex industrial models.
Integration Pilots:
Collaborating with industrial or academic partners for pilot proof generation and ownership verification will demonstrate real-world feasibility.
Feedback from these pilots will help refine the vault, circuits, and credential issuance workflow, ensuring the system works under practical constraints.
Technical Reviews and Audits:
Critical components, including feature hashing and ZK circuits, will undergo peer reviews and open-source audits to confirm correctness, security, and performance.
Continuous testing and CI/CD pipelines ensure that each commit maintains functional integrity.
Scalable Architecture:
The system is designed to scale with increasing CAD complexity and user volume.
On-chain commitments are lightweight (hashes and proofs), while off-chain computation handles intensive geometry and ZK calculations, balancing efficiency, cost, and scalability.
Risk Management and Mitigation
We anticipate and mitigate potential risks to maintain high trust and ensure project success:
Technical Risk: ZK proof performance may be challenging for very large CAD models. Mitigation: Start with canonical feature hashing and incremental testing; optimize circuits iteratively.
Dependency Risk: Integration with PRISM/Identus and Midnight Network may encounter changes or delays. Mitigation: Maintain proactive communication, follow documentation updates, and implement fallback verification mechanisms.
Adoption Risk: Early industrial partners may require workflow adjustments. Mitigation: Maintain modular architecture; provide clear onboarding documentation, demos, and tutorials.
Why We Are Best Suited
Cross-disciplinary expertise in mechanical design, zero-knowledge proofs, blockchain integration, and open-source delivery ensures all aspects of the project are handled by experts.
Proven track record in managing open-source projects and maintaining community transparency demonstrates reliability in handling funds and milestones.
Structured project governance with milestone-based funding, transparent reporting, and verifiable outputs aligns with Catalyst’s trust and accountability standards.
Milestone Title
CAD Import & Canonical Feature Hash MVP
Milestone Outputs
The first milestone will focus on building a robust CAD importer capable of handling multiple native CAD formats, specifically STEP, Parasolid, and other widely-used mechanical design file types. This milestone will deliver the core functionality to parse CAD models and extract canonical feature hashes that uniquely represent the design geometry while preserving intellectual property privacy. A CLI interface will be provided for users to upload files and generate hashes, accompanied by initial test models for validation. The milestone will also produce clear, structured documentation including setup instructions, installation guidance, and usage examples. This sets the foundation for zero-knowledge proof generation in subsequent milestones. Additionally, the system will include basic error handling, logging, and automated tests to ensure reliability. By the end of this milestone, the team will have a reproducible and verifiable CAD import workflow that allows future integration with ZK-circuits and on-chain verification without exposing the full CAD geometry to external parties.
Acceptance Criteria
This milestone will be considered complete when the CAD importer successfully processes all supported formats and generates reproducible canonical feature hashes. The importer must handle at least three CAD formats (STEP, Parasolid, and IGES) and produce consistent output for repeated runs on the same model. Unit tests will verify correctness across various CAD features, including extrusions, holes, fillets, and complex assemblies. Documentation must allow an independent engineer to set up the importer and replicate results using provided test models. Error handling must ensure that invalid or corrupted files are gracefully rejected with meaningful messages. Success will also be verified through a small internal workshop with team members, demonstrating that hashes generated match expectations and can serve as reliable inputs for future ZK proofs. The milestone must also confirm that the codebase is committed to a public GitHub repository with version control practices in place, ensuring transparency and open-source accessibility from project inception.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence will consist of a publicly accessible repository containing all source code, README, setup instructions, sample CAD files, and unit test results. A recorded demonstration video will showcase the importer reading multiple CAD formats, generating feature hashes, and handling invalid inputs. Test logs proving reproducibility of the hashes will be included. The commit history will demonstrate structured, quality commits tracking progress over the milestone period. Additional evidence includes peer-reviewed internal validation, confirming that the canonical hashes are consistent and ready for integration with ZK circuits. A brief report summarizing implementation steps, encountered challenges, and lessons learned will also be submitted to Catalyst reviewers, ensuring a clear record of milestone achievement.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
25000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
ZK-Circuit for Geometry Difference Proofs
Milestone Outputs
This milestone focuses on designing and implementing a zero-knowledge (ZK) circuit capable of proving that two CAD models differ by at least a configurable δ threshold without revealing the underlying geometry. The output will include a functioning ZK-circuit integrated with the canonical feature hash outputs from Milestone 1. The milestone will produce example proofs demonstrating the system can validate differences between models of varying complexity, including assemblies and detailed components. Supporting scripts for proof generation and verification will be included, along with structured documentation detailing the circuit design, integration steps, and usage instructions. The ZK-circuit will be optimized for performance to ensure that proof generation remains feasible for industrial-scale CAD models, and verification can be completed efficiently on the Midnight Network. This milestone sets the foundation for enabling privacy-preserving intellectual property proofs on-chain, critical for later integration with PRISM/Identus credentials and dispute resolution workflows.
Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance will be achieved when the ZK-circuit can successfully generate valid proofs for a variety of CAD models with differences above the δ threshold. Proof verification must succeed consistently on a local Midnight Network test node. Performance benchmarks must demonstrate that proof generation completes within reasonable timeframes (<10 seconds per comparison for standard parts). Comprehensive documentation must enable another engineer to replicate proof generation and verification steps independently. The circuit must handle edge cases, such as models with identical components, assemblies with minor variations, or files with multiple bodies. Unit tests and integration tests will verify correctness, and the repository must reflect clear version control practices, ensuring transparency. The milestone will be validated through internal demonstrations showing end-to-end proof generation and verification for several representative CAD models, confirming that the system preserves model privacy while allowing verifiable difference proofs.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence will include the repository with ZK-circuit source code, example proofs, verification scripts, and integration with canonical feature hashes. Demonstration videos will showcase proof generation and verification across multiple CAD models, highlighting performance and correctness. Logs and test results from automated and manual tests will provide proof of reproducibility and accuracy. Documentation will include detailed circuit design notes, usage instructions, and performance benchmarks. Internal validation reports will summarize testing outcomes, edge case handling, and integration successes. Public commits will demonstrate structured progress. Together, these outputs provide verifiable evidence that the milestone has been achieved and that the ZK-circuit is ready for integration with on-chain credential workflows.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
25000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
PRISM/Identus VC Integration & On-Chain Anchoring
Milestone Outputs
This milestone delivers the integration of verifiable credentials (VCs) using PRISM/Identus for ownership assertion and transfer of CAD models. The system will anchor proofs generated from the ZK-circuit on Cardano via the Midnight Network. Users will be able to claim ownership, transfer rights, and verify authenticity without revealing model geometry. The milestone includes implementation of issuance, verification, and revocation flows, along with API endpoints for third-party applications. Documentation will explain the end-to-end credential lifecycle, on-chain anchoring process, and dispute-handling workflow. The milestone also delivers a small pilot integration with an industrial or academic partner to validate practical usage scenarios. These outputs ensure that CAD designers can securely assert prior-art claims and facilitate trustless collaboration or licensing agreements on Cardano.
Acceptance Criteria
Success will be demonstrated when verifiable credentials can be issued, transferred, and revoked successfully in test scenarios. Anchored proofs must be verifiable on-chain, and integration with ZK-circuits must confirm differences between models without revealing geometry. Documentation must allow external developers to replicate the credential issuance and verification process. Pilot tests must confirm usability for real-world CAD models, and internal QA must verify the complete lifecycle, including proof anchoring, credential issuance, transfer, and revocation. Public repository commits must reflect structured, transparent version control. Stakeholder feedback from pilot partners must confirm functional utility and correct integration.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence will include repository code for credential issuance and verification, scripts for on-chain anchoring, API documentation, and demonstration videos. Pilot test results will show successful issuance and verification workflows for multiple CAD models. Step-by-step documentation will illustrate credential lifecycle, integration with ZK proofs, and on-chain verification. Internal QA reports and logs will demonstrate reproducibility and correctness. Public commits and version history ensure transparency. A report summarizing pilot results, challenges, and resolutions will support milestone completion validation for Catalyst reviewers.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
25000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Full System Demo, Documentation & Community Release
Milestone Outputs
The final milestone delivers the full ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault system including the CAD importer, ZK-circuit, PRISM/Identus credential integration, and on-chain proof workflows. Comprehensive user and developer documentation will be published, including README, setup guides, API references, and tutorials for creating proofs and managing credentials. Open-source repository access will be ensured, with structured version control and high-quality commits. A detailed demonstration video will illustrate end-to-end workflows, including CAD import, proof generation, VC issuance, on-chain anchoring, and verification. The milestone also includes final QA, performance optimization, and community engagement materials such as workshops or webinars. This ensures the Cardano community and developers can adopt, test, and build upon the system, expanding privacy-preserving IP protection in CAD workflows.
Acceptance Criteria
Completion is confirmed when the full system operates end-to-end with all components integrated and validated on test CAD models. Documentation must allow independent users to reproduce all workflows. Open-source repository must be publicly accessible, and demo videos must illustrate full functionality, including ZK proofs, credential issuance, and on-chain verification. Internal QA and pilot partner testing must demonstrate reproducibility, performance, and usability. Community engagement activities must be scheduled or completed to ensure awareness and adoption. The milestone will also be reviewed by Catalyst Milestone Reviewers for confirmation of output quality, compliance with open-source standards, and completeness of delivery.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence includes the complete repository with final code, API scripts, ZK-circuits, CAD importer, and credential workflows. Published documentation, tutorial videos, demo recordings, and QA reports will be submitted. Logs of pilot partner tests, successful end-to-end runs, and community engagement activities will demonstrate system impact and adoption readiness. Public commits and version history verify transparency. A comprehensive report summarizing project outcomes, lessons learned, and next steps will provide final validation. This ensures the Catalyst team and community can verify milestone achievement fully.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
25000
Progress
10 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
The total funding requested for the ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault project is 100,000 ₳. This budget has been carefully allocated to ensure that all aspects of the project, from development to documentation and community engagement, are fully covered. Each component of the project has been costed based on realistic effort, third-party resources, and industry-standard rates for software engineering, blockchain integration, and community outreach. The costs are structured to support milestone-based payments and to ensure high-quality delivery across the 12-month timeline.
Milestone 1 – CAD Import & Canonical Feature Hash MVP (25,000 ₳)
This first milestone involves development of the core CAD importer and canonical feature hash generator. The majority of the cost is allocated to software engineering, which includes parsing and interpreting CAD files in multiple formats (STEP, Parasolid, IGES). It also covers the development of automated testing scripts and error handling systems to ensure robustness. Approximately 60% of this allocation, 15,000 ₳, is for engineering salaries covering two developers over three months, including time for iterative testing, debugging, and integration with future ZK-circuit workflows. Another 5,000 ₳ is allocated to software licenses and third-party tools needed for CAD processing, including open-source CAD libraries and development utilities with commercial license requirements. The remaining 5,000 ₳ is allocated to documentation, knowledge transfer, and version control management, including preparing README files, usage guides, and setup scripts, ensuring the project is fully open-source from the start.
Milestone 2 – ZK-Circuit for Geometry Difference Proofs (25,000 ₳)
The second milestone focuses on designing and implementing the zero-knowledge circuit for geometry difference proofs. This requires advanced cryptography expertise and integration with CAD data structures. Engineering effort is budgeted at 16,000 ₳, covering two cryptography engineers over three months, including design, coding, testing, and optimization for performance. Approximately 3,000 ₳ is allocated for specialized ZK development tools, libraries, and frameworks, ensuring compatibility with the Midnight Network. Another 3,000 ₳ is reserved for unit and integration testing, including automated regression tests, performance benchmarking, and validation of edge cases. The remaining 3,000 ₳ is dedicated to documentation and tutorials, including detailed explanations of the ZK circuit logic, user manuals, and developer guides. This milestone also includes minimal project management time to track progress and report updates to the Catalyst community.
Milestone 3 – PRISM/Identus VC Integration & On-Chain Anchoring (25,000 ₳)
The third milestone covers integration of verifiable credentials (VCs) via PRISM/Identus and anchoring proofs on the Cardano blockchain using Midnight. This requires software engineers and blockchain developers familiar with Cardano’s ecosystem. Engineering effort is 15,000 ₳, covering development of APIs for credential issuance, transfer, revocation, and on-chain verification. Approximately 4,000 ₳ is allocated for third-party services, including PRISM/Identus credential framework access, API usage, and minor fees associated with on-chain transactions during testing and pilot deployments. Another 3,000 ₳ is reserved for pilot partnership coordination, including legal consultations, agreements with industrial partners, and data preparation for real-world model tests. Documentation, including detailed developer instructions, API references, and integration guides, is allocated 3,000 ₳. This milestone also incorporates 1,000 ₳ for community engagement materials such as webinars and demonstration videos to showcase the VC workflow to the Cardano community.
Final Milestone – Full System Demo, Documentation & Community Release (25,000 ₳)
The final milestone encompasses full system integration, final QA, performance optimization, and public release. Engineering costs are 14,000 ₳, covering bug fixing, polishing the user interface, end-to-end testing, and preparing demonstration scripts. Approximately 5,000 ₳ is allocated to professional-quality documentation, including setup guides, tutorials, API references, workflow diagrams, and Docusaurus-generated developer portals. Marketing, publicity, and community engagement are budgeted at 3,000 ₳, including recording demonstration videos, hosting webinars, social media promotion, and preparation of press materials to inform the global Cardano ecosystem. Another 3,000 ₳ is allocated to administrative project management, milestone tracking, and Catalyst reporting requirements to ensure all deliverables are properly submitted, reviewed, and approved.
Third-Party Dependencies and Licensing
Throughout the project, certain third-party tools and services will be used. CAD parsing libraries, cryptography libraries, ZK framework dependencies, and PRISM/Identus credential services are all covered within the milestone budgets. All tools are either open-source or commercially licensed with proper permissions. No unlicensed software will be used. On-chain fees for test transactions are estimated within the allocated milestone costs, with additional buffers included in engineering effort to accommodate variability.
Personnel and Project Management
Personnel costs account for the majority of the budget, reflecting the high technical expertise required for cryptography, CAD processing, and blockchain integration. Developers, cryptography experts, and blockchain engineers are budgeted at competitive professional rates over the 12-month project timeline. Project management and reporting, including milestone tracking, documentation approval, and communication with Catalyst reviewers, are included across all milestones to ensure accountability and transparency.
Community Engagement, Marketing, and Documentation
The project includes clear allocations for community engagement, marketing, and education to maximize impact on the Cardano ecosystem. Webinars, online tutorials, demonstration videos, and documentation are covered under each milestone, ensuring outputs are accessible, reproducible, and useful for both developers and industrial users. All outputs are open-source and publicly accessible to encourage adoption, feedback, and contributions from the Cardano community.
Funding Shortfall or Contingency Plan
The proposed funding of 100,000 ₳ is sufficient to cover the planned scope of work. In the unlikely event of cost overruns, the project team is prepared to allocate internal resources, re-prioritize non-critical features, or reduce pilot scope to ensure milestone completion without impacting delivery of key outputs.
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
The ZK-CAD Prior-Art Vault project represents a strategic and highly valuable investment for the Cardano ecosystem. By providing geometry-free IP proofs for mechanical designs, the project addresses a critical gap in industrial innovation: the ability to securely timestamp and prove ownership of CAD designs without disclosing sensitive geometry. This capability has the potential to significantly enhance trust, collaboration, and innovation within the global design and manufacturing communities, directly driving adoption and recognition of Cardano as a platform for industrial-grade solutions.
Proportionality of Costs
The requested funding of 100,000 ₳ has been carefully calibrated to cover all technical, operational, and community-focused aspects of the project. The largest portion of the budget is allocated to skilled personnel, including software engineers, cryptography specialists, and blockchain developers. This allocation reflects industry-standard freelance and professional rates for the expertise required. CAD software engineering and zero-knowledge cryptography development are highly specialized tasks, with global rates for experienced developers ranging from $40–$80/hour. The funding request accounts for these rates over the 12-month project timeline, ensuring that the team can attract and retain talent capable of delivering a robust and secure system. Without this level of skilled support, the project would be unable to deliver reliable ZK proofs or seamless integration with the Midnight Network and PRISM/Identus verifiable credentials.
Justification of Individual Costs
Each cost item in the project budget has a direct link to delivering functional, open-source outputs that benefit the Cardano ecosystem. For example:
Engineering effort for CAD import, canonical hashing, and ZK circuits ensures the core functionality of the vault is accurate, efficient, and scalable. Without this, the product would fail to provide verifiable proofs or might be vulnerable to errors, undermining trust in the ecosystem.
Third-party tools and licenses are required to access specialized CAD libraries and cryptography frameworks. These are essential for rapid, reliable development and maintain the highest standards of code quality and interoperability.
Documentation and knowledge transfer costs ensure that all outputs are fully open-source and accessible to the global community. By using tools such as Markdown, Docusaurus, and OpenAPI, the project guarantees clear developer guidance and reproducibility, allowing other projects within the Cardano ecosystem to adopt, integrate, or extend the system.
Community engagement and marketing costs are integral for ecosystem growth. Demonstration videos, webinars, and tutorials introduce industrial users and developers to the vault, increasing awareness, adoption, and participation in Cardano-based innovation.
Value to the Cardano Ecosystem
The project delivers multiple layers of value:
Technical Value: By implementing zero-knowledge proofs for CAD geometry, the project establishes Cardano as a leader in privacy-preserving industrial IP verification. This is a unique contribution that differentiates the ecosystem from competitors and positions it for enterprise-level adoption.
Economic Value: Companies and independent designers using the vault can securely assert ownership of designs, reducing IP disputes and fostering confidence in Cardano as a reliable infrastructure for business applications. This encourages real-world use of ADA and smart contract services.
Community Growth: The project includes open-source release, tutorials, and community demonstrations. By enabling developers, startups, and industrial partners to build upon these tools, the project drives skill development and participation, creating long-term grassroots engagement within Cardano.
Strategic Partnerships: Integration with PRISM/Identus verifiable credentials and Midnight Network smart contracts positions Cardano as a bridge between industrial R&D and blockchain-based verification, which may catalyze future enterprise collaborations and pilot projects.
Measurable Impact and ROI
The value for money is also supported by clear KPIs:
Number of CAD designs successfully registered and verified on the vault
Number of developers and organizations adopting open-source libraries
Engagement metrics from webinars, tutorials, and demonstration videos
Adoption and feedback from pilot industrial partners
These metrics allow the Cardano community to see direct, measurable impact from every ada spent, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Cost Efficiency and Sustainability
Compared to the value generated, the costs are highly proportional. Specialized software development, cryptography design, blockchain integration, and enterprise-grade documentation are complex tasks that cannot be delivered with lower-cost personnel without sacrificing quality or security. The allocation of funds across milestones ensures that progress is incremental and verifiable, with 80% of each milestone released upfront to maintain cash flow for developers, and 20% reserved as a performance-based incentive. This milestone-based approach guarantees accountability while preventing over-allocation or misuse of funds.
Broader Ecosystem Benefits
Finally, the project creates a foundation for future Cardano-based industrial solutions. By establishing best practices for zero-knowledge proofs, verifiable credentials, and secure IP management, the vault becomes a reference implementation for other projects, amplifying its value beyond the immediate deliverables. This ensures that the Cardano ecosystem benefits not just from one completed product, but from the cumulative effect of accessible technology, documentation, and community engagement.
I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.
Yes
I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.
Yes
I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.
Yes
I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
Project Lead / Blockchain Integration – Eldana Getachew
Telegram:@ReDGaZe
Responsible for overall project management, milestone planning, and ensuring alignment with Cardano integration requirements (Midnight Network, on-chain commitments, PRISM/Identus credentials). Oversees deliverables, budget, and reporting to Catalyst.
CAD Systems Specialist – Mahder T.
Telegram:@M2ReDGaZe
Leads development of CAD importers, canonical feature hash generation, and geometry processing. Ensures compatibility with STEP, Parasolid, and other native CAD formats.
Zero-Knowledge / Privacy Engineer – Mahder T.
Telegram:@M2ReDGaZe
Designs and implements zk-circuits for ≥ δ difference proofs between CAD models. Optimizes for performance, scalability, and integration with blockchain verifications.
Smart Contract & Backend Developer – Eldana Getachew
Telegram:@ReDGaZe
Implements on-chain dispute flows, proof anchoring, and integration with Cardano. Manages APIs, credential issuance, and secure data handling.