Taxir | Bringing Blockchain to MENA

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

We are targeting this paradox with formal and informal research to better understand it, then we will develop public good communication, education and research projects to mitigate the paradox.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

We are a multidisciplinary team with finance, media, research and academic backgrounds, and +50 years of collective experience. We have wide-ranging blockchain knowledge. We have significant experience in entrepreneurial work and political and social activism.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Problem

We recognize a High Potential / Low Adoption paradox when it comes to blockchain in MENA (Middle East and North Africa), a region that homes +575M residents.

On the one hand, MENA seems to be the kind of region that blockchain has developed to serve. The region suffers from varying financial and economic difficulties, including untrustworthy banking sectors, depreciating national currencies, and the many pitfalls of unchecked centralization.

On the other hand, blockchain adoption and use cases have been stagnant, both quantitatively and qualitatively. MENA has exhibited what might be the globe’s slowest adoption rate in terms of size of use, and this poor adoption has been largely focused around CEXs and NFT flipping, stigmatizing blockchain technology across the region as a get-rich-quick scheme.

We want to:

1) Target this paradox with formal and informal research, to understand what cultural ** barriers are standing in the way of proper blockchain adoption in MENA,

2) Develop research-backed communication and education public-good projects and resources that can mitigate those barriers.

** We are using the term ‘culture’ here in its broader sense, referring to the shared beliefs and preferences of respected groups of people.

Solution

Inspired by the innovative spirit in the blockchain sphere, we have conceived a hybrid business structure that consists of three entities. Combined, these entities will tackle the High Potential / Low Adoption paradox with research, develop public good projects and communication standards backed by research, and provide blockchain businesses operating in or expanding to MENA with a trusted entry point to the MENA's heterogenous sub markets and market cultures.

The Taxir Initiative consists of:

1. Tafkir (Arabic for: thinking). A non-profit research hub and public-goods initiative, Tafkir will design research and public-good projects, find the best-suited regional institutional partners for implementation, secure funding for said projects from the global blockchain community, and supervise implementation and publishing. This funding proposal is mainly concerned with Tafkir.
2. Taxir (Arabic for: breaking, shattering). A for-profit Marketing and PR agencies, that will assist serious blockchain projects navigate MENA, by offering a specific set of communication services, backed by Tafkir’s research. Taxir will delegate most of implementation to trusted and highly specialized / localized service providers from our Tajsir directory. This funding proposal is not concerned with Taxir, as it will cover its expenses through profitable work.
3. Tajsir (Arabic for: bridging). An index of communication, education and research service providers across MENA, bringing together highly specialized and localized individuals, collectives, businesses and institutions. Tafkir partners will receive training and access to blockchain educational content from Tafkir, and it will propagate Tafkir’s research and standards throughout MENA’s market.

During its first fiscal round (Aug 22 - July 23), Tafkir plans to accomplish all projects from List A and some projects from List B:

List A:

* Unified Arabic Blockchain Glossary (in progress). Potential partners: Majarra, ZeFi (onboard), DocStream (onbaord), Arabs in Blockchain (onboard). Kindly visit this link to check our Concept Note for the project:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uDAvnpIMwG4P94oEgbTO9of5MV8FqKgz/view?usp=sharing

* MENA Blockchain Legal and Legislative Explainer. An open source online guide to legal and legislative advances relating to blockchain technology in MENA, taking a middle ground between compliance and mobilization. Potential partners: Legal Agenda.

* Pangea Proxima. A sister-project to Taxir, Pangea Proxima will be a dual lingual (Arabic / English) blog specialized in covering, discussing and culturally scaling some prominent ideas in the blockchain sphere, including: System Theory, Game Theory, Radical Decentralization, Effective Altruism, … etc.

* El Salon. A hosted online community bringing together representatives of blockchain projects across MENA, in order to 1) build a community and mobilize for common causes, 2) connect, exchange knowledge and collaborate. El Salon was launched in Beta in April 2022.

* Open call for research papers on the theme of Cross-Cultural Scaling, the High Potential / Low Adoption paradox, and facilitating blockchain adoption in MENA.

* A library of educational and training content tailored to the needs of Tajsir’s members (in progress). So far, we have produced our first Arabic youtube course on Discord for Marketing Blockchain, you can find it here:

* Regional collaborations and participations: Collaborating with Dar Blockchain (Tunisia) to bring their blockchain startup incubator (Decentralize Impact) to Lebanon (confirmed). Participating in the second round of Arab Blockchain Week (confirmed). Additional projects to be added as we connect and index further blockchain projects from MENA.

List B:

* Tafsir. A personal-finance and investor-protection focused podcast. Potential partner: Sowt.

* Compiling, documenting and publishing Taxir’s resources and DAO tools in the form of ‘MENA Blockchain Start-up Guide’.

* Growing Taxir’s website blog into the leading place to read on blockchain’s builders community in MENA.

The Taxir Initiative is chain agnostic, as it is a non technical initiative, we want to build the communication, education and research infrastructure in MENA, for varying projects and chains to develop on. We believe infrastructural work makes for a great venue for inter-industry collaboration.

Use Cases:

1. Once our Arabic Blockchain Glossary is published, translating and publishing on blockchain in Arabic will immediately get more effective and cost efficient.

2. Our delegation dynamic accompanied with our Tajsir directory will make it easier for blockchain projects to find trusted communication, education and research service providers to help them navigate MENA's heterogeneous sub-markets.

3. El Salon's first agenda is for MENA based blockchain projects to collectively explore censorship-resistant and inclusive chains and projects, since tens of millions of MENA users are already being excluded from places like Opensea, Metamask and KYC platforms.

4. So far, CEXs have constituted the default entry point to blockchain technology for MENA residents. We want to empower decentralized ecosystems to become (at least) an equally popular entry point for Arabs exploring blockchain.

5. Our sister blog Pangea Proxima will introduce MENA residents to the radical potentials of decentralization, and to the wide scope of theories and ideas that make up the fabric of blockchain's philosophy. We expect these efforts to help de-stigmatizing blockchain technology by backing it with intellectual context.

6. Our planned project, The Legal Compliance Guide, is geared towards untangling and facilitating the complex challenge of incorporating a blockchain start up in MENA.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

We believe that proper blockchain adoption in MENA is delayed and has been stagnant for roughly the same reasons that slowed down the adoption of other similar technologies in MENA in the past. If you have 10 minutes to spare, we invite to read the case study section of our whitepaper, where we examine how the Hight Potential / Low Adoption paradox affected streaming services trying to penetrate MENA's market during the past 5 years.

Case Study - Taxir (gitbook.io)

We conclude in our whitepaper that some inter-industry collaboration at this stage, to invest in and strengthen blockchain communication, education and research infrastructure in MENA can benefit the entire industry, and facilitate blockchain adoption to a population of over 570M residents.

Given that MENA is an underserved region, we see our project as a tool for Culture, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as a research hub operating around the themes of Regulation and Compliance, and Awareness and Understanding. We explain with further details in previous and later paragraphs how our proposed projects for the first fiscal year will target specifically these themes.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Staffing challenges. The shy group of local blockchain heads in MENA are already busy juggling multiple high-paying projects, making recruitment for a public good project even harder. We approved in April a DAO proposal to install an X2 multiplier to all unpaid work hours in Taxir, so they can be rewarded with twice the shares (check our Dynamic Partnership Protocol). We are also keen on long-term in-house training and internship tracks to polish and grow our own talents.

Fundraising constraints. Fundraising for blockchain projects in MENA is a tricky business, as many Middle Eastern states, including Lebanon where we operate at the time being, are subject to international sanctions. Many funding sources available for other projects around the globe are off the table for us Middle Easterners.

We are planning to source our operational budget from institutional funders, while we’re exploring blockchain-influenced crowd-funding tools to fund our public good projects and research initiatives. We are also connecting with MENA blockchain businesses to exchange knowledge regarding funding resources and tools.

We are also planning to invite representatives of prominent blockchain projects around the globe to El Salon, so they can work together with blockchain entrepreneurs and builders from MENA, towards establishing compliant and trusted channels, where the global blockchain community can fund and support public good and infrastructural projects in MENA.

Legal constraints. Startups and NGOs in MENA are prone to governmental interference, and receiving funding from foreign partners is sometimes prohibited or falls under strong scrutiny. As a result, we are researching registering Taxir in a European country. Due to the nationality of Taxir’s cofounders (a Syrian and a Lebanese), this options has proved tricky as well. We are reaching out to fellow MENA blockchain businesses for assistance in this matter as well.

Travel constraints. As we anticipate for our staff to be largely composed of MENA residents, we anticipate running into mobility and travel constraints that might make it difficult for all of our team to meet under one roof or attend important conferences. We are exploring how the metaverse can mitigate some of these issues, and we hope that registering in a European country can facilitate visa issuing

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Technical Breakdown - Google Sheets

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Technical Breakdown - Google Sheets

Attached is our total budget breakdown. For this proposal, we want to cover our Operation ($20,200) and Inventory ($16,700), we prioritized these two categories for the following reasons:

• The Operation part will enable us to incorporate Taxir in Dubai, which is essential for us to operate legally and to be able to carry out more complex projects in the real world the require permits, it will also help us with issuing work contracts to our staff to be used applying for visas and attending essential blockchain meet ups around the globe.
• The Operation part will also allow us to develop our own DAO tools and further integration with Discord, so we can automate more of our managerial work flow which is vital to scale up our team as a DAO
• The Running Costs and Inventory budget will allow five of our staff living in Beirut to have access to durable-battery laptops and access to workspaces with 24/7 electricity and fiber optic internet, something we struggle providing to ourselves given the circumstances Beirut is going through for the last three years.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Our team consists of:

Ammar Manla Hasan. A media entrepreneur, journalist, editor and literary translator, who played leading roles in media, culture, and communication projects across MENA, most prominently serving for 6 years as assistant editor then Editor-In-Chief of Ma3azef, the leading music magazine in MENA.

Ammar’s CV:

https://taxir.gitbook.io/ammar-manla-hasan-cv/

———————

Ali Karake. Ali worked his way up through Beirut’s banking sector, serving as a risk assessment officer at BBAC by the time he resigned from his last position. He has been a political activist for a decade and a half, focusing on campaigns and efforts to mobilize people to participate in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections. His former career and political engagement gave him a first row seat to one of modern history’s worst economic and financial crises.

Ali’s CV:

https://ali-karake.gitbook.io/untitled/

———————

Nour Ezzedine. Nour’s career in journalism, media and cultural curation and research surveys MENA from cost to cost. She has relocated frequently to work on projects in Lebanon, Morocco and Egypt, and from Jordan, UAE, Turkey and Tunisia. She is one of the first members of Ma3azef DAO, MENA’s first cultural DAO.

Nour’s CV:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EnEusL5kURkYWvEqzIIYuYHXUGuBXYC2/view?usp=sharing

———————

Adele Jarrar. A Palestinian researcher, writer, podcast producer and cultural curator, Adele Jarra has worked for Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Goethe Institute (Ramallah), Documenta, The Palestinian Museum and Bizet University amongst other places. Adele researched cultural and artistic explorations in the blockchain space in her masters degree, and is looking to expand her exploration of the blockchain sphere for her PhD. Adele is also an activist against digital discrimination and exclusion, and a fellow at Futuress’ Code Resistance Fellowship. Adele is joining Taxir at freelance capacities starting July..

Adele’s CV:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j41OhG1iOpVZ3IIyKaU1uArt_T_NVJMA/view

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Peter Houaiss. Peter is Taxir’s young dynamo. At the age of 20, he’s been handling most of our media production work for the past three months. He’s been producing our Youtube courses using VideoScribe, our utility NFTs for Taxir’s Staff, El Salon and Tajsir Index, and exploring metaverse potential for future projects.

Peter’s CV:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qHgpydn0hQhfnnJY8RnBapCEngxeEro/view

———————

Yasser Al Maamoun (CV and Bio to be added soon).

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Tafkir being a non profitable public goods project, we might return to the Catalyst program for further funding in later fiscal years, or for specific project funding, since we're applying for operation funding in this round.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Production, publishing and propagation of Arabic Blockchain Glossary with 600 essential terms in the first patch, and the establishment of a translation unit dedicated to bringing blockchain content to Arabic. Timeline: Publishing: 15th of November, Propagation: 31st of December, Translation Unit: February 2023

Production, publishing and propagation of MENA Legal and Legislative Explainer, with Incorporation and Legislative resources on all MENA countries, and the establishment of a legal blockchain consultancy unit dedicated to providing legal research and consultancy in favor of blockchain adoption in MENA. Timeline: Publishing: January 2023, Legal Unit: May 2023

Pangea Proxima, a sister-project dual lingual (Arabic / English) blog dedicated towards establishing intellectual and philosophical context around blockchain in MENA in order to destigmatize it. Launch in November 2022.

Building a library of Arabic video courses tailored to the needs to media and research service providers who wish to provide their services to the blockchain industry operating in or expanding to MENA. Target: 5 courses by March 2023. One course already and published.

Maintaining El Salon, the already launched virtual meeting space for serious blockchain projects in MENA, to mobilize and collaborate together, proudly hosted and supported by Taxir.

Participating in the second round of the Arab Blockchain Week (confirmed), collaborating with Decentralize Impact (Tunisia) to revive Decentral Magazine (confirmed, in progress), a dual lingual (French / Arabic) magazine geared towards covering blockchain in MENA and for MENA.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

By the end of the first fiscal year, we hope to scope the Taxir Initiative into a successful marriage of for profit and non profit work, with Taxir providing financial autonomy through profitable work, and Tafkir carrying our essential and infrastructural public good projects in favor of accelerating proper blockchain adoption in MENA. We hope that with the reputation and network building reaped from carrying out aforementioned projects during the first year, Tafkir will be taking a first right step in its plan to grow into MENA's leading blockchain think tank.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new proposal.