Hello, Zcash community!
We share our proposal for a three-month Zcash Hub at Network School (NS) in Malaysia, near Singapore, from May to July 2026.
GitHub Application: Grant Application - Zcash Network School · Issue #266 · ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants · GitHub
───
What is this?
A structured Zcash presence at Network School (NS) in Malaysia near Singapore. The program introduces residents, visitors, and businesses to Zcash and privacy technology through a dedicated office, weekly office hours, educational events, wallet onboarding with incentives, user interviews, and monthly public reports. Goals include 100 new wallet activations, 4 new point-of-sale systems, and inviting participants into the broader Zcash community and governance.
Every month, NS welcomes 150-300 new founders, developers, and investors, plus the current long-term residents and 500-1,000 event visitors from Southeast Asia. Currently, there is no organized Zcash community in the region.
No permanent Zcash presence currently exists at Network School, even though Zcash events draw significant attention. James has been organizing unfunded weekly office hours and a monthly talk on zero-knowledge proofs with 10-50 participants each. This grant expands these activities into a structured program.
Previous Zcash engagement at NS includes Zooko Wilcox speaking at NS conferences in 2024 and 2025, Eli Ben-Sasson delivering a guest lecture, and Arjun Khemani organizing “The Zcash Network State” event with 50+ attendees. More recently, a Zcash Hackathon took place on site (https://ns.com/zcash).
This program is complementary to existing regional grants (Zcash Brasil, Arabia, Turkey, Global en Español): English-first, founder/developer audience, Southeast Asia.
Deliverables over 3 months:
1. Zcash Office: dedicated physical workspace on NS campus operational for the full program duration.
2. Educational events: 6 sessions total (2 per month): “Privacy is Normal” (Andre) and “Zero Knowledge Proofs 101” (James), with 20-60 participants each.
3. Weekly office hours: 12 sessions total (4 per month), covering wallet usage, shielded transactions, security practices, ecosystem updates, and troubleshooting. 5-25 participants each.
4. Incentives for users: ~5 USD for each new participant/user
5. Onboarding materials: “Get Started with Zcash in 60 Seconds” printed guides, QR cards, t-shirts, banners, signage, and “Privacy is Normal” campaign materials.
6. User interviews: conducted with residents and businesses (users and non-users). Transcripts exclude personally identifiable information.
7. Community announcements: regular posts in NS communication channels connecting participants to Zcash Community Forum, ZecHub, coinholder votes, and contribution opportunities.
8. Monthly reports: 3 reports published on the Zcash Community Forum summarizing events, recordings, wallet activations, merchant discussions, newsletter and announcement metrics, interview transcripts and insights, and spending.
This proposal builds on existing, unfunded activity:
- James runs “Zero Knowledge Proofs 101” monthly at NS Library — 20-50 attendees (example: Zero Knowledge Proofs 101 · Luma )
- James runs “Zcash Office Hours” weekly at NS, 13th Floor VIP8 — 10-30 attendees (example: ⓩ Zcash Office Hours · Luma )
- James, as founder of Zcash.me, created a dedicated NS module ( Name Service Directory - Zcash.me )
- Andre lived at Network School for 30 days in January 2026 at personal expense, where he connected with James and laid the groundwork for this proposal.
Core Team
Andre Froes (Project Lead)
Cofounder & CEO, Weever. 15+ years in education design and community building. Co-author of “Privacy as Infrastructure for Self-Governing Communities: Zcash Society,” a framework for privacy-first governance using Zcash. Relocating as permanent NS resident in May 2026.
James Joseph
Founder, Zcash.me: a Zcash address directory and name service (ZcashNames.com). Full-time NS resident and long-time Zcash community member. Has been running unfunded Zcash activities at NS, including weekly office hours and monthly ZK lectures.
Michael (@Michae2xl) (Advisor) - Zcash Brasil lead.
Thank you, and we welcome your feedback.