ZecHub 2025: An Education Hub for Zcash

Community Grants Applications
1

ZecHub 2025: An Education Hub for Zcash

Hello Zcash Community,

We are excited to announce our proposal for ZecHub 2025. It has been a privilege working with the community and we hope to not only continue our work, but also accelerate our output to match the needs of the growing ecosystem.

In our proposal we request ZEC funding towards:

  • Start-up Costs
    • Bounty Fund
    • System Costs
  • Compensation for three FT core contributors

Vision

Our vision for ZecHub in 2025 is to elevate our presence across the space. We aim to produce higher quality content using new forms of video production, perform consistent outreach to industry leaders & rebooting the podcast to boost our overall engagement.

Going forward, more focus will be placed on our developer community by hosting hackathons and bounties for creation of open source examples of Zcash apps.

Following a successful trial of Global Ambassador provisioning we intend to expand the program. New community members will be able to make proposals to host events & run initiatives in the countries and cities where P2P crypto usage is thriving, providing a path for validation for potential Global Ambassadors.

We invite the community to consider this proposal and ask any questions should they arise.

Applicant Name: @dismad

Team Members’ names:

Governing Org: ZecHub DAO

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

This proposal seeks to grow Zcash’s open-source education hub and
onboard more contributors to Zcash.

Previous programs → Please provide details:

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

Yes

Please provide details on funding amount, funding source, and any other relevant information:

Namada Community Builders Program: 104000 NAM

Applicant background:

@dismad: Background in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Education. Key ZecHub contributor, Cypherpunkzero holder and Moderator, experience in the Automotive Industry for 15+ years.

@squirrel: Zcash Arborist Community Notetaker and ZKAV Club Team Member.

@vito: Core Team, ZecHub DAO, ZK AV Club & Zcash Global Administrator. He writes reviews, sponsored articles, opinions, and much more about the digital world.

@zechubdao: The ZecHub DAO is a community-led group that governs ZecHub’s strategy and direction.

  • 20 DAO members (active Zcashers)
  • Voting duration – 3 days
  • Passing threshold 67%
  • Quorum 50%
  • Deposit: none
  • Proposer: Anyone

Description of Problem or Opportunity:

Our role in the ecosystem is to consistently provide interesting educational content through a Weekly Ecosystem Digest, Wallet Demos, Video Explainers, Twitter Posts and Events. ZecHub also serves as a open meeting place for community member planning and discussions.

ZecHub was first launched by @januszgrze in June of 2023, community members were invited to assist in writing documentation targeted towards new Zcash users. Active community members and Zcash Global Ambassadors formed an ad-hoc team that later formed the ZecHub DAO, purposed to guide the direction of Zcash Educational initiatives through review and funding of community proposals. All work was open source and freely available.

Since its launch, ZecHub has made meaningful contributions to Zcash. Our Bounty Program allows anyone in the community to earn shielded ZEC. Through our bounty program we developed a Zcash Wiki site with a number of useful features:

  • A Wallets page which details information useful to new users
  • a Dashboard displaying up-to-date shielded metrics

A YouTube channel that lists:

A Free2z page with all the latest Newsletters and extra content:

Proposed Solution: Describe the solution at a high level.

ZecHub provides easy to understand education resources, a ZecWeekly Newsletter, Wallet Demos, Video explainers on Zcash centric topics such as Zcash Explained and a Podcast.

Anyone can review the documentation for accuracy, create new content and use the hub’s structure to facilitate new ideas that benefit the hub’s education stack and the Zcash ecosystem.

This process has incentivized community members to become more active contributors to Zcash and adjacent crypto ecosystem communities to come in and eventually contribute to the protocol.

ZecHub rewards every contribution by distributing ZEC from a pool of funds that is overseen by the DAO. The DAO also controls the DaoDao based multisig with funds from Cosmos IBC chains. We focus on advancing Zcash education and provide a uniform process for anyone to earn ZEC.

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

The format of the work will be:

Ecosytem presence / communication
Discord Office hours
Zcash Wikipedia
Weekly Zcash Ecosystem Digest
Consistent Zcash education via Social Media channels
Video Explainers, Community Events, Podcasts, X Spaces, Zcash Wallet Demos
Wiki Site Documentation
Zcash Network Metrics
Written Articles about Zcash
Media about other projects (i.e. Namada/Agoric), which can introduce them to Zcash

See some of our past work:

Starting in January 2025:

  • Becoming a bigger voice in upcoming governance decisions
  • Manage the Zcash Ecosystem Digest.
  • Open-sourced education materials. Anyone can contribute.
  • Issuing Zcash bounties and paying contributors on a weekly basis.
  • A growing community-led DAO to ensure the hub’s strategic direction includes a diverse set of voices.
    • The DAO votes on all major changes related to the project including SubDAO proposals.
  • Expand Global Ambassador provisioning

Anyone can use ZecHub materials to support their own channels.

Dependencies: What external entities is your project dependent on? What involvement is required from ZF, ECC, and/or other external organizations? Who would have to incorporate your work in order for it to be usable?

The podcast and twitter spaces events are dependent on Zcash community members and other projects being open to attending. ZecHub is dependent on its DAO members and open-source contributors to see the platform thrive.

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?

The biggest execution risk would be misallocation of the Bounty Pool. It is vital that ample time is provided for project planning. Specifically Tasks, Services and Events need to be budgeted for in advance.

Another education risk is the hub’s dependency on one person for media materials. There should be a strong focus on developing more content creators for the hub.

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 reporting?

The main metrics related to ZecHub’s success are social media metrics (followers, video views, newsletter subscribers, etc) and the number of contributors building ZecHub related items. Here are the metrics from ZecHub’s first year:

Social Media Following:

  • Twitter 2400
  • YouTube 540
  • Newsletter 289

A high level overview. We average 2-10k Impressions per post on twitter. Our Youtube videos average 100 - 500 views. A monthly report will be published with all relevant key performance indicators.

We are also able to create educational material such as videos, posters and programs that to be used alongside the z.cash website and in Zcash Global Ambassador seminars or classes.

We will provide a monthly social media report for the community. You can view our main social media channels below:

Twitter
Youtube
Substack

Consistent Zcash Education for Social Media

  • Bridge support
  • Twitter
  • Discord
  • Blusky
  • Telegram
  • Mastadon
  • Matrix

Contributor Count:

We believe this is the most important metric, we view everything, docs, podcasts, social media, etc., as a means to bring in committed contributors to Zcash. When these contributors are actively playing their part in Zcash education, they will have more things to post about Zcash on social media, in their online communities, IRL, and this will amplify ZecHub and Zcash’s work past our own follower base.

Our goal for 2025 is to see 30 new active* contributors join the bounty program or Global Ambassador initiative.

Total Request (USD): ($247,438)

Total ZecHub team member compensation for 2025 - $184,320

ZecHub Core Team:
 - @dismad     $40 * 32 hrs  * 48 weeks = $61,440
 - @squirrel   $40 * 32 hrs  * 48 weeks = $61,440
 - @vito       $40 * 32 hrs  * 48 weeks = $61,440

ZecHub Bounty Request 1050 ZEC (FPF)

This will be billed as a startup cost and will be disbursed to ZecHub open-source contributors as they complete bounties and/or assigned via approved DAO proposal. This will be denominated in ZEC.

Admin fee: - 50 ZEC

We will follow the below earmarks:

- Ambassadors Initiatives
   - 40% of Bounty fund ( 400 ZEC )
   - Proposal to DAO required
   - Monthly recap on Zcash Community Forum required
   - DAO Approved Initiatives capped at 100 ZEC
        
- ZecHub Hackathon 2025
   - 30% of Bounty fund ( 300 ZEC )
   - Higher payout to encourage more development work
    
- ZecHub Community Proposals
   - 20% of Bounty fund ( 200 ZEC )
   - DAO votes on every proposal

- Small Bounty Fund
   - 10% of Bounty fund ( 100 ZEC )
   - Newsletter - 0.5 ZEC per edition
   - ZecHub Wiki - 1 ZEC per new page published
   - Research Article - 1.7 ZEC per accepted article
   - Video content - 2 ZEC per video and/or audio posted on ZecHub socials
   - New Website Component: 2 ZEC for new feature

System costs: $3268

Adobe Premiere $126 - month / 12x = $1512
 
Canva: $8 - month / 12x = $96

Linktree: $5 - month / 12x = $60

Website hosting: $300 year

Wordpress hosting: $300 year

Docs Collaboration - $200 year

Business License - $300 year

Misc $500

Start up Costs :

1050 ZEC @ $57 ~ $59850
System costs = $3268

Total : $63118

Milestone 1 - estimated completion date: 01/31/2025

  • Milestone 1 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 1.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 2 - estimated completion date: 02/28/2025

  • Milestone 2 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 2.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 3 - estimated completion date: 03/31/2025

  • Milestone 3 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 3.1: ZecHub team report**

Milestone 4 - estimated completion date: 04/30/2025

  • Milestone 4 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 4.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 5 - estimated completion date: 05/31/2025

  • Milestone 5 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 5.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 6 - estimated completion date: 06/30/2025

  • Milestone 6 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 6.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 7 - estimated completion date: 07/31/2025

  • Milestone 7 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 7.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 8 - estimated completion date: 08/31/2025

  • Milestone 8 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 8.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 9 - estimated completion date: 09/30/2025

  • Milestone 9 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 9.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 10 - estimated completion date: 10/31/2025

  • Milestone 10 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 10.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 11 - estimated completion date: 11/30/2025

  • Milestone 11 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 11.1: ZecHub team report

Milestone 12 - estimated completion date: 12/31/2025

  • Milestone 12 - USD value of payout upon completion of deliverables: $15,360
  • Deliverable 12.1: ZecHub team report

Total proposed USD value of grant: $247,438 paid in ZEC

How was the project timeline determined?

The work will be done and delivered from January 1st to December 31st 2025.

How did you learn about Zcash Community Grants?

Through being active Zcash community members

26 Likes
2

Rock stars!

9 Likes
3

we love to see it. hope this project continues to get the support it deserves!

7 Likes
4

This year, I had the opportunity to learn about Zcash and Zechub through the Zechub bounty program, which I joined via Dework. It has been an incredible experience, particularly working alongside key contributors like Squirrel, whose dedication to the project is unmatched. He has a truly remarkable personality. I took part in numerous activities, including hackathons and various contests, for which I was rewarded. I strongly believe this program should continue receiving funding, as it has become a regular and essential part of my weekly routine, as well as for many others committed to promoting Zcash’s success and enhancing its global recognition and value.

12 Likes
5

ZecHub people, an amazing team and incredible work!

Total support to you, guys!

5 Likes
6

A few years ago, I bought and traded Zcash (ZEC) due to its privacy focus. However, my deeper connection with Zcash grew through my involvement in the ZecHub community, where I worked on various tasks like graphic design, node setup, and content creation. ZecHub has become a place I consider home, offering both educational value and personal support. The team, especially @squirrel, has been transparent, fair, and supportive.

As Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory put it, I’ve felt “endured, cherished, loved, and sustained” by ZecHub. I hope ZecHub continues to receive the funding it needs to expand and serve as a global ambassador for Zcash.

8 Likes
7

There’s definitely no doubt that ZecHub has positively impacted the Zcash Community and and it’s ecosystem by spreading the word of Zcash to the masses and at the same time enabling people to contribute, earn and learn more about Zcash. I definitely hope this proposal will be granted! Keep up the good work @vito @dismad and @squirrel. We definitely hope to see more developments in 2025. Happy New Year in advance and remember to always stay shielded :shield::shield:

7 Likes
9

All my time here ! I haven’t seen A community as vibrant as zechub is . When it comes to education, fun, giving back to the community, zechub ticks all the checks in the boxes
I hope this grant is approved and we can keep up the magic !:shield::teddy_bear:

10 Likes
10

I’ll start by saying that Zcash made my year… the event I hosted in my school will leave a lasting impact in my heart :heart:!!! 2025 — is already looking promising for ZEC because we have great talents who are ready to make huge impact. Nice initiative and looking forward to seeing more progress :tada::grin:

7 Likes
11

I’m continously referring people to ZecHub resources. It’s remarkable how it has grown and matured over time.

I’ve used ZecHub resources myself as well! ZecHub is for newbies and more seasoned folks as well! For example, I got the list of exchanges as a base for the Zcashd Deprecation Outreach.

ZecHub needs to continue growing and delivering value to Zcashers.

Go ZecHub!

10 Likes
12

id like to see more than 30% going to other contributors than core team.

like +50% would be better imo.

that said its important proposal as ive seen many smaller community grants is being declined recently and this is a thing ZecHub could take over a bit. but im not sure how much is possible with under 30% of this budget.

and zechub.wiki is the best place to find any kind of Zcash information so far.

4 Likes
13

While I support this proposal, I wonder if it is possible, and desired by the core team members, to have payments in ZEC instead of USD. I remember that ZF mentioned USD payout is easier accounting-wise, but I just want to put this idea out there. Cheers!

14

Total Request 247 000 usd.

Zechub has been functioning for two years, what percentage of zechub’s operating budget comes from the dev fund?

Has Zechub sourced other forms of revenue to operate? What percentage of your budget is it?

Have any of the core developers invested their own funds in Zechub? Percentage vs budget?

Who has Zechub pitched or asked for outside sources of funds ?

Has Zechub leveraged any prior funding received by the dev fund?

What percentage of your operating budget is for marketing?

Zechub’s cost per video view is pretty high, I think it’s pretty focused on current Zcash users. I want to know what your doing unique to gain new user? (Marketing plan) How are you going to increase your user base? How are you going to focus your brand per video? Most importantly, how are you going to capture new sources of revenue to become self sustaining?

Thanks, good luck

2 Likes
15

Are you referring to the proposed Bounty earmarks or total request included compensation? Our goal for 2025 is to see 30 new active* contributors join the bounty program or Global Ambassador initiative so we have tried to structure the bounty where we think the most impact will be gained. With that said, I’d like to hear your idea in more detail. Thank you!

Personally I am very bullish on education, anyone can check my votes on Dao.Dao to see. Ultimately, it will be up the Dao to approve/deny proposals and we have a pretty diverse set of folks working together. This is why Its important for all Dao members to vote! Historically we had pretty good engagement but there is room for improvement.

Thank you and we hope to make it even better as we work with the ecosystem.

1 Like
16

I think its possible, but speaking for myself, I prefer to receive payments in shielded ZEC

1 Like
17

I think it is important to clarify we have been operating for the past two years on a part time basis. Our goal this year is to accelerate and focus on growth. We have earned funds outside of the dev fund including working for the namada community builders program as well as the 1337 society thus far, and are actively pursuing other sources. If I had to put a number on it currently, 90%.

This is a good question and its one our proposal lays out as a vision. By being more available, we will have more time to focus on outreach and workshops and other forms of education that part time work makes impossible. By networking with like-minded groups and users, we are confident we can source other forms of income. Here is a good example, since one of our contributors added to our site.

Thank you for your support!

3 Likes
18

Current Total Request 247 000 usd

Total received 53000 + 44980 + 46705 = 144 685 usd

16 000 video views.

I asked one year ago about who is your target market, I’ve asked now who are your target users how do you plan to grow your user base?

I think you don’t know! I don’t think you know how to define a target market, or how to align content creation and development to a defined target market with a budget. I think your creating and hoping.

Who cares if your team is part time! If you receive 144 000 usd any investor or real funding agency demands you work triple time.

No marketing plan, no user growth plan a belief the dev fund is a budget for buddies.

I vote against investing 247 000 usd.

19

The incredible contributions of ZECHUB and Zcash Brazil & Global to Zcash are truly invaluable and cannot be measured in monetary terms. However, as we approach the halving in 2025, we anticipate a reduction in the funds available for community initiatives (developers + community operations).

At this time, our top priority must be development (POS, ZSA, ZASHI), and it seems more prudent to allocate increased funding towards these efforts. Therefore, it would be ideal if the requested funding could be slightly reduced. You are truly indispensable!

Additionally, I propose directing all funds currently allocated for community engagement (Global Ambassadors, global initiatives) to ZECHUB, enabling them to manage and distribute resources for activities internally.

I deeply appreciate and respect all your contributions, always. :grinning:

1 Like