Zcash Turkey Grant Application

Community Grants Applications
1

Zcash TURKISH TEAM (2)
Zcash TURKISH TEAM (2)1920×1080 231 KB

Title:

<Zcash Türkiye >

Applicant name:

Batuhan

Team member name:

Ahmet @TuAmoRee

Pitch: A one-liner elevator pitch version of your proposal

This proposal aims to increase the awareness of Zcash in Turkey

Total Request (USD):

$4,200.00 USD

Have you previously received a grant from Zcash Community Grants (formerly called ZOMG) or ZF?

No

Are you seeking or have you received funding from other sources for this proposed project?

No

Applicant background:

Batuhan : With 4-5 years of experience in the cryptocurrency space, Batuhan has worked extensively on various privacy-focused projects and has led numerous startups in Turkey. Over the past month, he has been actively working to raise awareness about Zcash in the region. His areas of expertise include community management, social media strategy, content creation and organizing targeted campaigns to increase brand visibility. Batuhan has a proven track record of building and maintaining thriving communities as well as fostering collaborations that align with the project’s goals.

For comprehensive information about my past references :

Ahmet : With 2 years of experience in the cryptocurrency industry, Ahmet has contributed to activities ranging from conference participation to organizing impactful events. His skill set encompasses creating engaging social media content, managing online communities and driving audience engagement. Ahmet has worked to build connections within the crypto ecosystem, effectively promote projects and work towards the growth and development of local communities

Description of Problem or Opportunity:

Turkey is steadily advancing to rank among the top 10 countries globally in cryptocurrency usage. Due to the high inflation in the country, people are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies instead of traditional investment tools like gold. However, despite privacy being a fundamental right, many remain unaware of the advanced privacy technologies offered by Zcash.

Our mission is to provide accurate and comprehensive information about Zcash, fostering a community that values privacy. When we examine cryptocurrency usage indices, it is evident that Turkey has shown significant growth in this area over the past five years.

In the future, with the anticipated approval of cryptocurrency regulations in Turkey (although no exact date has been announced), it is expected that businesses accepting crypto payments will become more common. Turkey already has a notable number of Bitcoin ATMs and cryptocurrency exchanges, clearly demonstrating its interest in this field. Furthermore, the country has hosted numerous global crypto conferences in recent years, highlighting its potential.

Our ultimate goal is to combine this strong interest in cryptocurrencies with privacy, thereby driving Zcash’s growth potential in Turkey.

Proposed Solution: Describe the solution at a high level.

The Zcash Turkey Team will consist of two members: Batuhan and Ahmet.

Awareness and Education Campaigns

Creating social media and YouTube content to raise awareness of financial privacy and introduce the technological advantages offered by Zcash in Turkey.

In this scope:

  • Social Media Content: Eye-catching and informative social media content will be prepared to highlight financial privacy and the technologies offered by Zcash. These materials will be presented in a simple and accessible manner to reach a broad audience.

  • Educational Series: A series titled “Learning Zcash” will be developed to create a comprehensive and easy-to-understand knowledge base for individuals new to the crypto world or seeking fundamental information. (I’d like to note that I have already partially started this initiative.)

The following videos are the initial episodes of the “Learning Zcash” series:

This series is a significant step toward growing the Zcash community in Turkey and increasing awareness of financial privacy. Each episode aims to highlight a different feature of Zcash, providing valuable insights and sparking curiosity among viewers.

The YouTube video series will continue weekly on a regular basis until all foundational resources are created. These videos will serve as a reference to build a knowledge library, ensuring a continuous flow of information for many years. Once the foundational resources are complete, we will start including our commentary, providing updates and developments about Zcash to the audience every week.

Social Media Campaign: Regular informative visuals and video posts about Zcash will be shared daily on Twitter and Instagram. Additionally, three YouTube Shorts videos will be uploaded weekly to create a resource accessible to those who may not watch full-length YouTube videos.Examples include:Educational posts: Highlighting Zcash’s privacy features and benefits.Short videos: Quick tips or updates about Zcash to engage viewers on-the-go.

Some examples ;

Zashi App Setup : x.com

What is Halo to Zcash: x.com

What Are ZK-SNARKS : x.com

The ultimate goal is to reach a wider audience by creating similar short videos that provide detailed and concise information to viewers.

Twitter Statistics for Zcash Türkiye (as of September 24, 2024 - 16.11.2024):

Impressions: 10.9K

Engagement Rate: 8.8%

Profile Visits: 84

New Followers: 89

Replies: 17

Likes: 276

Reposts: 45

Media Activity:

Video Views: 1.7K

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These are the organic interactions achieved by the X (Twitter) account over a period of approximately 35-40 days.

Plans are underway to achieve even more. The ultimate goal is to double the engagement and participant growth every month.

We aim to establish a blog site containing information about Zcash. For this site, we plan to purchase the domain “Zcash.tr” (however, we are waiting for approval from the Zcash team. To avoid any issues, we will obtain confirmation). The blog will feature weekly articles on Zcash developments and updates. By doing so, we aim to drive more traffic to the website and make it easier to reach people through both social media and the website.

Document Translations: Global documents containing information about Zcash will be translated into Turkish in sequence. These documents will be made accessible to over 90 million Turkish-speaking individuals and will become easily accessible resources for researchers. One of our primary goals is to translate the “My First Zcash” book into Turkish.

Organizing Podcast Events: We aim to organize podcast events in collaboration with other privacy projects. In these events, while emphasizing the importance of privacy, we will bring together the Turkish communities of other projects and offer informative talks to the audience. The podcast series will be shared on YouTube and will be open to the entire community. In future episodes of the podcast, we will organize a new event where we will invite university students as guests.

Awarded Video and Article Competitions: We will organize awarded article and video competitions to engage more people in the community. These competitions will encourage participants to research Zcash further and find more resources. As a result, more people will join the community and become knowledgeable about the project.

Sending Information and Details About Zcash to Active Crypto Forums and Social Media Influencers in Turkey: We will write articles and send messages containing information and details about Zcash’s technology and advantages to active crypto forums and social media influencers in Turkey. This initiative aims to promote Zcash’s technology and reach a wider audience.

Telegram Support: In addition to encouraging people to join our Turkish Telegram group, we aim to provide continuous support and information on both Telegram and Discord to assist our community. This will demonstrate that, in the future, our Telegram group will become a much more active and interactive platform.

Solution Format: What is the exact form of the final deliverable you’re creating?

Goal: To promote Zcash to a wider audience in Turkey by leveraging social media, online, and face-to-face activities to engage with people and meet their needs.

Key Initiatives:

  • Creation of social media posts and YouTube videos about Zcash.

  • Turkish translations of Zcash documentation.

  • Hosting podcast events.

  • Conversations with other privacy projects.

  • Providing comprehensive support to newcomers about Zcash.

Technical Approach: Dive into the how of your project. Describe your approaches, components, workflows, methodology, etc. Bullet points and diagrams are appreciated!

Key Activities:

  • Participation in events and organizations in Turkey.

  • Zcash Learning video series (YouTube).

  • Document translations.

  • Management and moderation of channels such as Telegram, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

  • Supporting new participants.

  • Reaching more people.

Collaboration and Upstream Dependencies: Describe any dependencies or collaborations with other individuals, teams, or organizations that are required to successfully integrate, maintain, or upstream your changes.

Our community is not dependent on external entities.

Execution risks: What obstacles do you expect? What is most likely to go wrong? Which unknown factors could jeopardize success? Who would have to incorporate your work in order for it to be usable?

We are confident that, based on our past experiences and expertise, we will encounter no obstacles.

Unintended Consequences: What are the negative ramifications if your project is successful? Consider usability, stability, privacy, integrity, availability, decentralization, interoperability, maintainability, technical debt, requisite education, etc.

N/A

Evaluation plan: What metrics for success will you share with the community once you’re done? In addition to quantitative metrics, what qualitative metrics will you commit to report?

All social media statistics will be shared transparently with the community:

Telegram Statistics : Telegram: Contact @ZcashTurkiye Website Statistics : -

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Hardware/Software total budget:

$0 USD

Please provide justification for the total hardware/software budget:

N/A

Services total budget (cloud, hosting, etc.):

$0 USD

Please provide justification for the total services budget:

N/A

Compensation total budget:

$4,200.00 USD

Please provide justification for the total compensation budget:

Estimated 3-Month Budget for Zcash Turkey Team

Do you require startup funding?

No

Milestone 1 - estimated completion date:

11/22/2024

Milestone 1 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables:

$1,400

Deliverable 1.1

Zcash TR

Milestone 2 - estimated completion date:

12/22/2024

Milestone 2 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables:

$1,400

Deliverable 2.1

Zcash TR

Milestone 3 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables:

$1,400

Milestone 3 - estimated completion date:

01/22/2025

Deliverable 3.1

Zcash TR

Total proposed USD value of grant:

$4,200.00 USD

How was the project timeline determined?

Thanks to the support from Zechub, after receiving support for one month, the project has been designed with a planned end date, to be completed in the first month of 2025. Based on potential progress, different proposals will be created for each three-month period starting from January

Application submission date:

11/16/2024

7 Likes
2

I believe that Batuhan and I will achieve great things together. Our goal is to further increase the recognition of Zcash in our country and engage people in this project. I hope we can contribute to the community.

3

I have been following what Zcash Turkey have been doing and I admire the work that Batuhan has done so far.

1 Like
4

Thank you for the feedback. I will continue to work hard for better and more

1 Like
5

i think Batuhan has done pretty well so far with limited budget and short amount of time. hope he can do more and grow an active community in Turkey.

4 Likes
6

Thank you for your feedback. All the work I have done and will do is aimed at introducing Zcash to more people. Additionally, I am happy to provide transparency by sharing statistical information about all progress. I hope to gather more feedback and receive the necessary support to embark on this 3-month journey.

2 Likes
7

I support this initiative!

And I want to see more activities and face to face workshops. Turkey people needs learn more about privacy!

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

1 Like
8

Thank you for your feedback!
Of course, if this initiative is accepted, we will carry out many activities.

2 Likes
9

I have seen the work that Zcash Turkey is doing and they have shown a real interest in building a community in Turkey.

Having an active community in Turkey would be an opportunity to make Turks more aware of the opportunities for financial privacy with Zcash.

We hope Turks will be encouraged to actively participate in Zcash.

2 Likes
10

@Batuhan Thank you for your submission. After consideration from @ZcashGrants and sufficient time for the community to provide feedback on the forum, the committee has decided to reject this proposal. Please refer to the recent criteria of community grant funding in the 10/28/2024 ZCG Meeting Minutes.

The committee appreciates your grant submission efforts and encourages you to continue as an active member of the Zcash community going forward!

12

To be honest, I’m surprised and saddened by this decision. It’s been almost two months since I joined the community. Thanks to the support of many people within the community, I was able to make progress, and later, with Zechub’s support, I partially demonstrated what I could achieve within a month on a limited budget. I tried to present all the statistics transparently and believed I had the support of individuals valued by the community.

In the proposal I submitted, which aimed to advance the Turkish community at a low cost, I included a comprehensive work plan, such as:

  • Creating a website (Domain & Hosting)
  • Twitter Blue verification
  • Canva for video editing
  • YouTube video series
  • AMA events with other privacy projects

While trying to be a part of the community, I naturally needed to request small amounts for basic living expenses, as is common in other communities.

Nevertheless, I did my best and could have done even more.
Best Regards

4 Likes
13

Poor decision by ZCG. I don’t understand why they don’t seem to get the “community” part of Zcash Community Grants. A little bit can go a long way. We need more localized grass roots efforts like this.

I personally only supported the extension of ZCG funding for a year because I anticipated they would continue to support these kinds of efforts to grow localized Zcash awareness, education and adoption.

3 Likes
14

Batuhan, Zcash absolutely needs more people like you. Given the work you’ve already done and the very reasonable dollar amount of your grant, this should’ve been a no-brainer, especially considering the recovering ZEC price. It is frustrating to watch ZCG nickle-and-dime our most active community contributors over and over again, while granting hundreds of thousands of dollars to their favorites. These are the same people that wanted to keep the disastrous Zcash Media grant going at an additional cost of $400,000 when the ZEC price was at its atl, and that’s on top of the ~$1M ZM already made off of Zcashers, while massively underperforming. ZCG could take that amount ($400K), that we as a community were able to claw back, and fuel dozens, of projects like yours. But that would be too reasonable.
I encourage everyone to pay attention to December ZCG elections. We need a change.

3 Likes
15

Moving forward, ZCG will apply strict criteria for community-focused grants, prioritizing established communities with a proven track record of delivering impact in regards to community building, effective organization, and collaboration with external entities. We will also favor communities recognized and valued by key members within the ecosystem. Zcash Espanol meets this standard.

I read the statement regarding the standards you mentioned. I appreciate the application of strict criteria as a positive step for Zcash. Regarding community building, I started working on Zcash in Turkey from scratch, where there were no official resources available. The video series I created will serve as a Turkish guide for those who want to learn about Zcash for years to come. To establish a strong community, an initial step must be taken, and I already started that as a volunteer by producing content. Later, the first proposal I submitted to Zechub was rejected. Despite this, I continued to serve voluntarily toward the goal.

Eventually, individuals with voting rights in Zechub got to know me and accepted my one-month proposal. During that month, I continued to make progress on a limited budget. I also prepared a sample video for the #MyFirstZcash video contest currently being held on Twitter. I didn’t have to do this, but I wanted to set an example to encourage global participation and effort within the community.

Even though I am new to the community, I actively contributed in every possible way to raise awareness and support Zcash. As part of this, I was also included in ZCAP.

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Do you not see me as someone who, for the past two months, has been actively communicating with people and creating Turkish-language content within this community?

“We will also favor communities recognized and valued by key members within the ecosystem.”

Are the individuals in Zechub or on the forum who supported me insignificant? All of them are dedicated people who have proven themselves by working hard for Zcash, and they trusted me. To maintain that trust, I continued to work diligently.

While I respect your decision, I believe a thorough review was not conducted. I request a reconsideration or an explanation of exactly what was lacking.

Best regards.

4 Likes
16

“In July 2018 Wilcox disclosed—to some backlash from the crypto community—that he had received 2,033 zcash per month, then worth about $300,000 or $3.6 million annually. (At today’s price of about $45, that would be worth about $1 million.)”

A fiefdom for the hierarchy and its vanity.

17

You do realize that the Founders Reward (which that quote is referring to) ended in 2020?

18

Yes, thank you, Shawn.

I am aware that during the first four years of the project, when coinbase emissions were at their highest, the for-profit American corporation and project lead, Electric Coin Company, provided company insiders and privileged investors with a substantial amount of ZEC.

19

That’s an oversimplification.

For reference:

Founders Reward distribution:

founderRewardZEC
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https://electriccoin.co/blog/continued-funding-and-transparency/

Later, the Dev Fund distribution:

miner-reward-distribution
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https://electriccoin.co/reaching-consensus/

Electric Coin Company is currently a subsidiary of the 501c non-profit organization Bootstrap:

https://bootstrapproject.org/

1 Like
20

Shawn, the Electric Coin Company did not become a non-profit organization until 2020.

From it’s inception through the creation of Zcash and for years after it was run as a for-profit American corporation hence their ability to provide company insiders and privileged investors with a substantial amount of ZEC during a time-frame when coinbase emission were at their highest.

21

Correct, I updated my post to be more specific.

1 Like