Application Owne@oct@octocatca@octocat1s @@Mahdi-KintaalctMahdi-Kintaalct@ByteSurgeonAmosca@sammyki@Mahdi-Kintaalina@ByteSurgeonAmos@octocat, @Mahd@sammykisina-Kintaal)
@ByteSurgeonAmos@Mahdi-Kintaal,@sammykisina@ByteSurgeonAmos, @sammykisina
Organization Name
Vaihto FX Limited (trading as VaihtoFX), private limited company incorporated in Kenya on 31 August 2026, Reg. No. PVT-BB169Z98. Registered office: The Address, Muthangari Drive, Westlands, Nairobi. Directors (all also shareholders): Mahdi Abdi Abdile (Managing Director), Sadik Mohamed Ali, Abdinasir Ali Arale.
How did you learn about Zcash Community Grants
Researching Zcash payment infrastructure and reading ZCG meeting minutes on the Zcash Community Forum.
Requested Grant Amount (USD)
$132,092
Category
Integration
Project Lead
Name: Amos Wachira
Role: Project Lead / Full-Stack Developer (full time on this grant); Developer & AML officer, Vaihto FX Limited
Background: Nairobi payments engineer, 4+ years building payment systems and mobile apps in Kenyan fintech.
- Senior Payments Engineer, founding team, Xmobit (2021–2024): built a crypto payment platform (React Native, Node.js) with fiat on/off-ramps via mobile money, bank and card, including idempotency, webhooks, reconciliation and audit trails.
- Senior Software Engineer – Payments & Mobile, Co-operative Bank of Kenya: mobile banking and mobile-money/card payment processing.
- Backend Engineer – Payment Systems, Nathan & Nathan Digital (2024–2025): event-driven payment services in Node.js/TypeScript.
- BEng, Kirinyaga University (2021); ALX Africa Software Engineering (2022–2023), Founder Academy (2024).
- ByteSurgeonAmos (Amos Wachira) · GitHub · linkedin.com/in/amos-wachira
Responsibilities: Overall delivery, orchestrator core (order state machine, quotes, refunds), AML controls, partner and legal coordination, monthly forum updates, milestone reporting.
Additional Team Members
- Name: Sammy Mutua Kisina
Role: CTO & Lead Developer (50% time)
Background: Full-stack developer, Nairobi; Bachelor of Computer Science, Egerton University (2020); sammykisina (sammy kisina) · GitHub . At Vasmobile Fintelco (2024–present) built Centy Money Services (M-Pesa, card and bank collections and disbursements) and VasmobiGames (crypto reward token). Led a team of 5 building Enaton ERP, used by 124 Kenyan schools. Stack: Laravel/PHP, Node.js, TypeScript, React, React Native, Docker.
Responsibilities: Architecture, swap-route adapters (SwapKit/MAYAChain, NEAR Intents 1Click), app buy/cash-out flows, code review, security remediation.
- Name: Mahdi Abdi Abdile
Role: Managing Director (50% time); executive sponsor and grant fiduciary
Background: Founder and MD of Ayuuto Limited, whose AyuutoPay platform integrates M-Pesa and Airtel Money and which provides KYC/onboarding (AyuutoID) to VaihtoFX; secured AyuutoPay banking partnerships with Opportunity Bank PLC (South Sudan) and Galaxy International Bank (Somalia). About 20 years in East Africa: as Executive Representative to the African Union, managed programme portfolios above $10M a year across 10+ countries and engaged government and central-bank officials on financial inclusion; former MD of Somali Seafood Products Company; former Director of Research, Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers (11 peer-reviewed publications). Master’s in International Peace; Bachelor’s in Sociology and International Relations; Diploma in International Business. Speaks Somali, Finnish, Swahili and English.
Responsibilities: Governance, regulator and banking relationships, oversight of the regulatory workstream, compliance sign-off, fiduciary KYC with FPF.
- Name: Mahad Hussein Ahmed
Role: Director of Business Development (management role, not a board member); part-time
Background: Leads business development and strategic partnerships for Vaihto FX Limited.
Responsibilities: Conversion-partner agreement, merchant pilot recruitment and support, organizing the two Nairobi workshops.
- Name: Sabir Osman
Role: ICT (part-time)
Background: ICT and infrastructure support for Vaihto FX Limited and Ayuuto Limited.
Responsibilities: Hosting, monitoring and alerting, secrets and access management, incident response.
- Name: Sadik Mohamed Ali
Role: Director of Vaihto FX Limited; Director of Sales and Marketing (not paid from this grant)
Background: Forex trading, remittances, business development and customer-facing financial services.
Responsibilities: Sales, marketing and customer acquisition; market feedback.
- To be hired: Integration Developer (Jan–Apr 2027, full time), selected for proven M-Pesa Daraja and Airtel Money API experience via a paid test task. Responsibilities: conversion-partner adapter, mobile-money flows, tests, documentation.
- To be contracted: Community & Education (Feb–May 2027, part-time), for Swahili and Somali writing and community work. Responsibilities: guides and videos, translations offered to CipherPay and wallets, workshops, aggregate user research.
Conflicts of interest:
- Ayuuto Limited provides KYC/onboarding to VaihtoFX. Mahdi Abdi Abdile (MD), Sammy Mutua (CTO), Amos Wachira (Developer & AML) and Sabir Osman (ICT) also hold roles at Ayuuto Limited; Sadik Mohamed Ali, a director of Vaihto FX Limited, is Director of Sales & Marketing at Ayuuto Limited. No grant funds will be paid to Ayuuto Limited.
- Mahdi Abdi Abdile is a director and shareholder of Vaihto FX Limited and is paid from this grant for 50% of his time.
- Sammy Mutua is also employed by Vasmobile Fintelco Ltd and spends 50% of his time on this grant.
Project Summary
We will connect shielded ZEC to Kenya’s M-Pesa and Airtel Money rails, letting users move between ZEC and mobile money while keeping their ZEC in their own shielded wallets. We will open-source the missing orchestration layer (payment requests, swaps, licensed fiat conversion, mobile-money settlement) so other Zcash wallets, merchants and apps can reuse it.
Project Description
VaihtoFX is an existing Kenyan mobile-money and stablecoin platform. This project adds shielded ZEC, starting in Kenya with M-Pesa and Airtel Money, while users keep custody of their ZEC.
Users can hold shielded ZEC, but moving it into the payment systems they use daily is hard: it needs wallets, swaps, a licensed fiat partner and mobile-money settlement to work together reliably. We are not building another wallet, exchange, node, swap protocol or payment processor. The grant funds only the Zcash-specific orchestration layer that connects existing components. That layer, released as open source, provides quotes, an idempotent transaction state machine, ZIP-321 payment requests, webhook verification, refunds, reconciliation, and adapters for swap routes and conversion partners. Existing swap infrastructure converts ZEC to USDC; a licensed partner converts to Kenyan shillings and settles to mobile money; VaihtoFX never holds users’ ZEC. It supports ZCG wishlist items: payment URIs, easy shielded payments, native ZEC in end-user apps, point-of-sale, Unified Address support, interoperability and education. Use cases include remittances, freelance payments and merchant settlement, demonstrated through a CipherPay merchant pilot, plus Swahili and Somali education and two Nairobi workshops. The project runs six months (1 December 2026 – 31 May 2027), funded through startup funding and three milestones. Regulatory classification is completed in the startup phase, before any user-facing service, and mainnet launch is targeted in Milestone 2. Outcomes: a working shielded-ZEC pathway into an established African payment network, a reusable open-source integration layer, and published findings to guide future Zcash payment integrations.
Proposed Problem
Kenyans rely on M-Pesa and Airtel Money, but there is no simple, reusable way to move between these networks and shielded ZEC while keeping custody of their ZEC. Turning shielded ZEC into local spending power requires several services and complex workflows, a barrier for remittances, freelancers and merchants. There is also an ecosystem gap: every wallet, merchant tool or app that wants to serve African users must separately solve mobile-money connectivity, ZIP-321 requests, transaction state, partner APIs, webhooks, reconciliation and failure handling. Without reusable infrastructure, this work is rebuilt again and again.
Proposed Solution
We connect existing components and add only the missing orchestration layer:
1. Cash out: the user gets a locked quote and a ZIP-321 QR code in VaihtoFX, pays from their own shielded wallet; the swap converts ZEC to USDC for the licensed partner, which pays KES to their M-Pesa or Airtel Money number.
2. Buy: the user pays KES; the partner sends USDC into the swap, which delivers ZEC directly to the user’s shielded Unified Address.
3. Non-custodial: VaihtoFX never holds ZEC and never delivers to transparent-only addresses.
4. Licensed conversion: crypto-to-fiat is done only by a partner licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya (or with an application filed). A Regulatory Enablement & Compliance Workstream classifies the service and prepares any authorization VaihtoFX itself needs.
5. Merchant pilot: Nairobi merchants accept shielded ZEC via CipherPay into their own wallets and can cash out to mobile money.
6. Open-source TypeScript orchestrator any Zcash wallet or merchant tool can reuse.
7. Education: Swahili and Somali guides and videos, and two Nairobi workshops.
Unlike earlier ZEC/mobile-money proposals, we reuse existing Zcash components rather than rebuilding payment infrastructure, and a licensed partner, not VaihtoFX, converts crypto to fiat.
Solution Format
- Open-source orchestrator (zec-mobile-money-ramp) with swap and partner adapters, full transaction lifecycle (quotes, ZIP-321 requests, shielded-address validation, idempotent state, webhooks, reconciliation, refunds), automated tests and developer documentation
- Controlled mainnet deployment in Kenya, both directions, M-Pesa and Airtel Money; CipherPay merchant pilot
- Swahili and Somali guides and videos; translations offered to wallets and CipherPay; two Nairobi workshops
- Published: regulatory classification summary, wallet interoperability results, security review summary, shielded-delivery technical note, Kenya compliance guide for Zcash payment services, final report
Dependencies
- Zcash ecosystem: shielded wallets, Unified Addresses, ZIP-321 support
- Swap infrastructure: SwapKit/MAYAChain for shielded ZEC↔USDC, NEAR Intents 1Click as a second cash-out route
- A licensed conversion partner for USDC↔KES via M-Pesa and Airtel Money, selected in the startup phase (licensing status, API, settlement and terms are launch prerequisites)
- M-Pesa and Airtel Money APIs remaining available to the partner
- CipherPay hosted service (viewing keys, webhooks) for the merchant pilot
- AyuutoID for KYC, already integrated (related company; see conflicts of interest)
- Regulatory clearance: the main deployment gate, established in the startup phase; no user-facing service launches before it
- The project team, and Kenyan test users and merchants after clearance
Technical Approach
- Self-custody: no custom wallet, node or ZEC hot wallet. Users transact from Zodl, Zkool, Cake Wallet, Zipher or supported hardware wallets.
- Shielded delivery is a hard requirement: a purchase completes only when ZEC reaches a user-controlled shielded Unified Address; no fallback to transparent addresses.
- Provider-agnostic routes: MAYAChain via SwapKit (supports shielded Unified Addresses) for buying and cash-out; NEAR Intents 1Click as a secondary cash-out route; new shielded-capable routes can be added without changing the user flow.
- ZIP-321: payment URIs and QR codes; multi-output requests (value plus refund memo) tested across wallets, with a guided two-step fallback.
- Orchestrator: standalone TypeScript service (quote, collect, disburse, status, refund, webhook verification) with an idempotent order state machine so each mobile-money payment maps to exactly one swap. The existing Laravel app calls it through an internal API.
- Merchants: CipherPay detects shielded payments to the merchant’s own wallet; merchants can settle to mobile money through the same flow.
- Security: sandbox and small-value tests, authenticated webhooks, refund addresses, short quote windows, limits, monitoring, and an independent security review before launch.
- Compliance gates launch: nothing user-facing goes live before the startup-phase classification; if it finds the service cannot lawfully operate, the project stops.
- Reusable pattern: shielded ZEC → swap route → licensed local fiat/mobile-money rail, reusable for other wallets, currencies and countries.
Upstream Merge Opportunities
We do not fork or modify Zcash node or consensus software. We will contribute upstream where useful: bug reports and pull requests to CipherPay, wallet compatibility findings for multi-output ZIP-321 requests, guidance on shielded Unified Address delivery, and Swahili translations where projects accept them, following each project’s contribution guidelines. A public interoperability note will let others reproduce the integration without depending on Vaihto FX Limited. The orchestrator stays a standalone open-source repository.
Hardware/Software Costs (USD)
$1,500
Hardware/Software Justification
Two Android test phones with Safaricom and Airtel SIMs ($800) to test both flows on Kenya’s two mobile-money networks; monitoring and security tooling, 6-month plan ($700). Total $800 + $700 = $1,500. No node, hot wallet or custody infrastructure is needed because users keep their ZEC in their own wallets.
Service Costs (USD)
$64,692
Service Costs Justification
- Regulatory Enablement & Compliance Workstream: KES 5,800,000 = $44,892 (consultancy KES 5,000,000 + 16% VAT KES 800,000, at KES 129.20/USD; VaihtoFX bears any exchange difference; the company is not VAT-registered, so VAT cannot be reclaimed). A project-specific deployment dependency, not general legal spending: regulatory classification and product analysis of the Zcash flows; AML/CFT and KYC; operational, technology, security, financial and capital compliance; cross-border analysis; preparation and submission of any required virtual-asset authorization applications; regulator engagement; independent assurance of the IT environment. A non-confidential Kenya compliance guide for Zcash payment services will be published. Government licensing fees and statutory charges are excluded and paid by VaihtoFX.
- Independent security review of the open-source orchestrator and integration: $12,000; critical/high findings fixed before launch; summary published.
- Hosting: 6 months × $300 = $1,800.
- Controlled mainnet tests and swap/partner fees: $1,500 ($500 in Milestone 1, $1,000 in Milestone 2), team funds only.
- Translation, voice-over and video: $2,500.
- Two Nairobi workshops: 2 × $1,000 = $2,000.
Total: $44,892 + $12,000 + $1,800 + $1,500 + $2,500 + $2,000 = $64,692.
Compensation Costs (USD)
$65,900
Compensation Costs Justification
Nairobi market rates:
- Mahdi Abdi Abdile, Managing Director, 50%: 6 × $2,500 = $15,000
- Amos Wachira, Project Lead, full time: 6 × $3,000 = $18,000
- Sammy Mutua, CTO, 50%: 6 × $1,750 = $10,500
- Integration Developer (Jan–Apr 2027): 4 × $2,500 = $10,000
- Sabir Osman, ICT, part-time: 6 × $600 = $3,600
- Mahad Hussein Ahmed, Business Development, part-time: 6 × $800 = $4,800
- Community & Education contractor (Feb–May 2027): 4 × $1,000 = $4,000
Total: $65,900. VaihtoFX covers its ordinary operating costs separately.
Total Budget (USD)
$132,092 = Hardware/Software $1,500 + Services $64,692 + Compensation $65,900. Of this, $44,892 is the regulatory workstream and $87,200 covers delivery, management, security review, infrastructure, testing and education.
Payments: Startup funding $23,918 + Milestone 1 $31,643 + Milestone 2 $39,917 + Milestone 3 $36,614 = $132,092.
VaihtoFX contribution (not requested): the MD’s remaining time, the existing platform and KYC/mobile-money integrations, all government licensing fees, operating costs, and at least 12 months of maintenance after the grant.
Previous Funding
No
Previous Funding Details
Not applicable.
Other Funding Sources
No
Other Funding Sources Details
No other funding has been received or requested for this project.
Implementation Risks
- Regulatory: authorization is decided by regulators. The startup phase sets the classification and launch conditions; any applications are submitted in Milestone 2; mainnet launches only once conditions are met. If the service cannot lawfully operate, the project stops after the startup phase and no milestones are claimed.
- Conversion partner: may lose mobile-money access or change terms; the provider-agnostic design allows switching partners.
- Swap routes: delays, refunds or loss of shielded support; every order has a refund path and idempotent tracking.
- Single shielded buy route: today only MAYAChain delivers to shielded addresses; if unavailable, buying pauses while cash-outs continue via NEAR Intents 1Click.
- Wallet compatibility: multi-output ZIP-321 tested in Milestone 1 with four wallets, with a fallback and published findings.
- Security: explicit states, idempotency, webhook verification, limits and an independent review before launch.
- Volatility: short quotes, limits, small-value pilot.
- Capacity: small team with fixed time allocations, a hired developer and outcome-based milestones.
Potential Side Effects
- The swap and settlement steps create a visible on-chain boundary; we will say so plainly rather than claim the whole path is shielded.
- Mobile-money KYC links identity to the fiat transaction even though ZEC is then held in a shielded wallet; user materials will explain where privacy is and is not provided. We do not promise anonymity.
- If regulations change, the orchestrator, code, findings and compliance research remain reusable even if launch is delayed.
Success Metrics
Usage, 60 days after mainnet launch (15 March – 13 May 2027), reported in aggregate:
- 150+ users complete a first shielded ZEC transaction; 30%+ of them transact again
- 100% of purchases delivered to shielded addresses
- 97% order completion; median payment-to-delivery under 20 minutes
- 10 merchants onboarded to the CipherPay pilot, at least 5 receiving real payments
Delivery, by 31 May 2027:
- Orchestrator v1.0 open-sourced and reviewed by at least one independent Zcash developer or project
- Interoperability results, classification summary, compliance guide, security summary, technical note and final report published
- Swahili and Somali materials published; two workshops, 60 participants in total
- Required authorization applications submitted (approval depends on the regulator)
Startup Funding (USD)
$23,918
Startup Funding Justification
Covers December 2026, separate from the three milestones: regulatory classification and product analysis $13,468 (30% of the workstream) + one month of core team costs $8,650 + test devices and tooling $1,500 + hosting $300 = $23,918.
By 31 December 2026 we publish on the forum: the regulatory classification summary; the licensed conversion-partner path for M-Pesa and Airtel Money; the technical architecture; confirmation of CipherPay and swap-route shielded support; and the initial public repository. If the classification finds the service cannot lawfully operate, the project stops and no milestones are claimed.
Regulatory workstream ($44,892) by deliverable: startup 30% ($13,468), Milestone 1 30% ($13,468), Milestone 2 30% ($13,467), Milestone 3 10% ($4,489).
Total: $23,918 + $31,643 + $39,917 + $36,614 = $132,092.
Milestone Details
- Milestone: 1
Amount (USD): 31643
Expected Completion Date: 2027-02-15
User Stories:
- "As a Kenyan mobile-money user, I want to buy ZEC with M-Pesa or Airtel Money and receive it in my own shielded wallet, so that I keep custody of my ZEC."
- "As a Zcash user cashing out, I want to pay from my shielded wallet by scanning one payment request, so that I don't have to build complex transactions."
- "As a Zcash wallet developer, I want reproducible ZIP-321 interoperability results, so that compatibility gaps can be fixed."
Deliverables:
- Startup-phase outputs published (classification summary, partner path, architecture, CipherPay and swap-route confirmation)
- Buy and cash-out flows working end to end with the partner sandbox and small-value mainnet swaps
- TypeScript orchestrator with quote, collect, disburse, status, refund, webhook verification and idempotent order states
- Multi-output ZIP-321 requests tested with Zodl, Zkool, Cake Wallet and Zipher; results published; fallback flow for unsupported wallets
- Public zec-mobile-money-ramp repository with tests and a demo
- Regulatory workstream: AML/CFT, KYC and operational policies built into the system design
Acceptance Criteria: Startup outputs published; 10 Kenyan testers and one Zcash community tester complete both flows with controlled amounts; the repository builds and tests pass; refunds and idempotency work; every test purchase delivers ZEC to a shielded address.
- Milestone: 2
Amount (USD): 39917
Expected Completion Date: 2027-03-15
User Stories:
- "As a Kenyan Zcash user, I want to use the integration on mainnet, so that shielded ZEC works in real payments."
- "As a user, I want failed callbacks and unresolved transactions handled safely, so that my funds are predictable."
- "As a ZCG reviewer, I want the integration independently security-reviewed before real users rely on it."
Deliverables:
- Independent security review; all critical and high findings resolved before launch; summary published
- Regulatory workstream: technology, security, financial and capital compliance; authorization applications submitted where required; IT assurance
- Production deployment for M-Pesa and Airtel Money, subject to the startup-phase regulatory conditions
- Monitoring, alerting, limits, quote expiry and refund procedures in production
- First Nairobi workshop
Acceptance Criteria: The reviewer confirms critical/high findings are resolved; required submissions made, with proof shared with ZCG privately; real users complete mainnet transactions in both directions on both networks; first workshop held.
- Milestone: 3
Amount (USD): 36614
Expected Completion Date: 2027-05-31
User Stories:
- "As a wallet or merchant-tool developer, I want a reusable open-source orchestrator, so that I can add mobile-money ramps without rebuilding them."
- "As a Kenyan merchant, I want to accept shielded ZEC and settle to mobile money, so that I can serve customers who pay in ZEC."
- "As a Swahili or Somali speaker, I want guides in my language, so that I understand shielded ZEC, self-custody and privacy limits."
Deliverables:
- Orchestrator v1.0 with documentation, examples, tests and CONTRIBUTING.md
- CipherPay merchant pilot: 10 merchants onboarded, at least 5 receiving real payments
- Swahili and Somali guides and videos; second Nairobi workshop
- Technical note on shielded delivery, ZIP-321 interoperability and swap routes
- Regulatory workstream: public Kenya compliance guide for Zcash payment services
- Final report on all success metrics
Acceptance Criteria: v1.0 released and reviewed by at least one independent Zcash developer or project; merchant targets met; materials, technical note, compliance guide and final report public, including results for 15 March – 13 May 2027.
Supporting Documents
Attached:
- PVT-BB169Z98-Company_Registration_Certificate.pdf: Certificate of Incorporation
- Amos_Wachira_Resume.pdf: CV of the Project Lead
- SAMMY_KISINA_CV.pdf: CV of the CTO