Zecweb.com - online zcash wallet

Community Grants Applications
1

Hi Zcash Community:
please review the application.

Zecweb.com - online zcash wallet

Watch the Wallet : LEARN

Applicant name:

Zecweb.com Inc.

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

Zecweb.com is a internet browser web-wallet solution to send & receive zcash.

Total Request (USD):

$98000.00 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:

The founder of Zecweb.com Inc –business background, website developer, zcash node operator, zcashholder, cypherpunk zero holder, worked in education.

Description of Problem or Opportunity:

Increase consumer choice in the zcash wallet market. Currently the options to access zcash in the browser are limited. As well, the zcash wallet market has experienced a great deal of difficulty in user experience. Zecweb’s opportunity is offering internet users with a browser based zcash web-wallet. Zcash users will have access to a browser zcash wallet to any connected device. We offer three online subscription services. Each user receives a unique url to login to their web-wallet, inside their web-wallet each user can send & receive zcash from sapling & orchard pools, send messages and have a zcash address book. Depending on the subscription the wallet is supported by either a pruned node or a full node.The zcash community will benefit by having more consumer choice in the type of zcash wallet options available in the market.

Proposed Solution: Describe the solution at a high level.

Zecweb provides users with access to send and receive zcash from both sapling & orchard zcash pools from a browser based zcash wallet. Zecweb: a)user creates account b) purchases subscription service, c)user receives a unique login domain to their zcash web wallet application d) users can send & receive zec, messages and store contacts from a pruned/full node e) users can view online video tutorials on how to use zcash f) users can receive zcash wallet support

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

The User receives a unique login domain, to access their online zcash web wallet through the browser, to send & receive zcash from sapling and orchard pools. -Support for Sapling & Orchard addresses-Support sending & receiving funds from sapling & orchard-Support sending & receiving memos from sapling & orchard-Supported wallet with full or pruned node depending on subscription-Online Video Learning Materials-Support documentation

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

Zecweb wallets are built using php, bash, mariadb, zcash node to access zcash api an exposes it to a web interface. View wallet functions at https://zecweb.com/learn

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?

Cloud Service providers. I accept there is legal uncertainty in the virtual wallet service provider market.I am dependent on finding a legal path forward.

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?

Legal Framework surrounding zcash wallet providers will be a challenge into the future.Businesses are still sensitive to internet money adoption.Individuals will be sensitive to paying for zcash subscription services.

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.

I don’t see any negative consequence since we need more consumer choice in the zcash ecosystem and the electronic money transfer ecosystem.

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?

a) visit https://Zecweb.com b) Users have support for unified addresses c) Users can send & receive zcash from sapling & orchard pools d) Users can send & receive wallet messages e) Users can visit an watch online zcash videos f) Zcash Community can read our blog posts g) Read our Wallet Security Audit.

Hardware/Software total budget:

$0.00 USD

Please provide justification for the total hardware/software budget:

n/a

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

$19000.00 USD

Please provide justification for the total services budget:

Mix of large & xlarge md5 virtual servers for pruned and full nodes

Compensation total budget:

$98000.00 USD

Please provide justification for the total compensation budget:

Hosting 19000

Legal Service 15000

User Support 8000

Feature Development 56000

56000 / $75 = 747 / 8hr / 94 days

Do you require startup funding?

No

Milestone 1 - estimated completion date:

02/07/2023

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

$30000.00

Deliverable 1.1

https://zecweb.com, Four Full/Pruned Zcash Nodes running for wallet connections, Accepting payment for custom wallet subscription services, Accept Application list for two subscription services, Eight Zcash Video Tutorials published, Deliver the first custom wallet in full to customer

Milestone 2 - estimated completion date:

03/31/2023

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

$40000.00

Deliverable 2.1

Complete Legal Assistance for Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Refund Policy, general counsel for being a zcash wallet service provider. Complete payment and delivery of nine custom wallets to customers, Double the full/prune zcash node operations for wallet connections, Publish eight more video tutorials, eight blog posts, create social channels, make eight zcash forum posts, Delivery a live workshop & presentation material, Early update for wallet application penetration testing, Choose the identity for full wallet security audit

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

$28000.00

Milestone 3 - estimated completion date:

05/31/2023

Deliverable 3.1

Complete payment and delivery of twenty custom wallets to customers, Up to thirty-five full/prune zcash nodes operating for wallet connections, Publish eight more video tutorials, eight blog posts, make eight zcash forum posts, Deliver a live workshop, Complete wallet security audit

Total proposed USD value of grant:

$98000.00 USD

How was the project timeline determined?

Milestone 1 is 95% complete. Other milestones are based on typical work cycle

Application submission date:

01/06/2023

1 Like
2

It’s a hosted, custodian, centralized wallet that knows all its customers’ transactions? If yes, I don’t think it’s a good value proposition for zcash which has opposite goals: decentralization, trustlessness, and privacy.

2 Likes
3

Consumers need choice!
The internet needs more zcash wallet options in the current electronic asset transfer market.
Let’s assist internet users in having a choice. If users choose Zecweb to onboard into the zcash ecosystem, great. Having a new company located outside the USA, focused on using zcash and creating learning material for internet users to onboard into the zcash ecosystem, I believe we are decentralizing and building the infrastructure needed to grow zcash users. We also offer a custom wallet, if users want to choose certain requirements, we help if we legally can.

Thanks for creating a post

4

IMHO, this would have a net-negative impact on the project.

I can see some positive aspects to this project, but I fear a real possibility that the project ends up with a large number of users and eventually being either legally forced to shutdown for plenty of great reasons, a rug-pull, or you name it. The negative publicity may cost Zcash a lot.

And remember, bad things never happen, until they do.

5

Welcome to the Zcash Forums,
Great to see your active.

Its important we build tools to provide internet users choice.
Hiding in fear is not going to help build zcash.

Thanks

6

Hi @kworks. I see a lot of potential :relaxed:.

  1. Would you be willing to pivot and make this product self hosting?

  2. The other option is to store the spending keys in browser. Is that something you’ve considered?

  3. Is this open source and/or do you plan on open sourcing this?

7

Once you self-host, you are running zcashd yourself (as you should). I think this project wants to avoid the complexity of running a full node but they will hold the secret keys. In view of the recent loss of user funds, the risks is too high in my opinion.

3 Likes
8

A web wallet could be useful, but for me it has to be non-custodial. Are you familiar with the work Zephyr did with a web wallet?

4 Likes
10

Thanks ,

  1. at this stage the project is not going to provide self hosting. However if there is demand in the future for such a service we’ll explore it.
  2. Have not.
  3. I hope to in the future. The goal in the short term is complete a security audit by the end of May. Explore options.

Thanks for putting yourself forward for ZCG, next time.

11

Hi Hanh, pretty sure your aware the largest holders of zcash are exchanges. Most of the exchanges hold the keys. I think, this might mean there are a lot of users of zcash that use these services. Providing users with a choice, expands users.

12

Hi eric_ , I like your profile pic.
I understand your desire for self-custodial wallets. However, how users choose to use zcash is up to the individuals. I have been expanding the use of zcash and want to continue providing tools to make this experience better. In terms of zephyr, I’ve tried to follow it with interest. Will keep an eye open, think these people are doing cool stuff.

13

Hi tloriato, I try to follow your English, but your English is better than my Portuguese. If you know my level of desire, I should pay you to explain it to my partner. However, thanks for feed back. Pretty safe to say we will just disagree.

Good luck

14

idea of web wallet mite not be bad

  • but smol has seen sum coins wif web wallets server get hacked and dats bad for users and de projetcs reputation if dis wud happen
  • also de looks and UI of dis web wallet are not helpin to make it look trustable iwo (cud be improved a lot) + if just a beta version den understandable
  • yeah if der was a way to make it super secure and prevent hacking it wud be gud to make
15

Hi @kworks and thanks for the grant submission. :pray: I appreciate the effort you’ve put into Zecweb.com already, and your initiative is great! (It also made me smile to see where the “New Brunswick” post on ZECPages came from :blush: (the “create Zcash promotion” video here)

That said, I do share many of the concerns mentioned above. A web wallet won’t be private, will be risky for funds stored within, and I think likely won’t be trusted by users. And it seems you plan to charge for this web wallet service, which makes sense infrastructurally (nodes aren’t free!) but as a potential user, it’s unlikely I’ll pay for a wallet I see likely providing less security and fewer features than my free options.

ZecWallet, a trusted brand, actually released a web wallet back in the day, which was taken down due to disuse for similar reasons to the above. (Lack of privacy, risk of lost funds, poor performance) - It would help us understand and discuss your project if you speak a bit to how you see ZecWeb overcoming these challenges and becoming a useful tool that with decent security assurances.

6 Likes
16

Hi @BrunchTime, congrats on your re-election.
I too welcome opinions and concerns. Getting outside off the internet money island is important.

In the last four months I’ve sat down with eight different businesses. In these discussions we explored internet money. Overwhelmingly, the knowledge of the subject is very low, most view it in three categories: a) can they use it to reduce transaction costs they are charged for point of sales. b) Can they use it for marketing purposes. c) Can they use it to attract or retain employees in this tight labor market. In each talk I asked a set of basic questions:

Yes, its a small sample size, but very important to get up from behind your computer and ask business questions? The general sense in these chats were they could use it for marketing and employee incentives. They believed the most value would be in reducing transaction costs, but the cost to integrate into there systems appear to be costly and time consuming, they preferred the low hanging fruit. In each discussion I attempted to demo a zcash transaction using the available free applications, the air got tight, and I could not make it work.
I saved face a bit, an demonstrated how easy it is to make a transaction, send a message, or understand the current value of one zec. The level of interest increased, however not one person asked about self-custody, key-management, storage, price volitity, light-clients. They wanted service, they wanted ideas how to use it within their budget.
Yes, I am very aware of ZecWallet and their victories and failures, but outside of the zcash
community Zecwallet does not mean much.
“A web wallet won’t be private, will be risky for funds stored within, and I think likely won’t be trusted by users” - My understanding both ZCG & ZF hold or transact their stock of zec through coinbase, which is a cloud service provider. By no means am I comparing my micro-project to a billion dollar industry leader, however a very large segment of digital token holder use such cloud service providers.
We as a community need to get up and hussle our ideas and projects to compete in the electronic value transfer market, in order to gain more market share, users an awareness. To think that because Zecwallet did not success no one else will, is dead in the water. Zcash is in its early stages what it will look like in ten years, will not be four self-custody wallet applications using a lightwalletd. We as technically aware individuals need to target the right customers. If your target is everyone, you have no target market. Zcash needs service providers to help business adopt zcash. Zcash needs wallet developers.
Consumers Need Choice!
I ask the community to invest in Zecweb.com

Of course if there are additional questions we will follow up.
Thanks

2 Likes
17

What I would want to see is a demonstration that you have a plan to avoid these specific failures.

In terms of security, I don’t think the comparison to an exchange necessarily makes sense, because an exchange has usually shown a high degree of compliance with standards and regulations, that while not guaranteeing safety, increase confidence. How would you address this discrepancy?

How do you plan to address performance issues?

In other words, the question is why do you think this would be more successful than the previous effort?

5 Likes
18

So, this will be a paid service where users have to subscribe to be able to use Zcash with Zecweb.com?

19

Hi ambimorph,

  1. " I don’t think the comparison to an exchange necessarily makes sense, because an exchange has usually shown a high degree of compliance with standards and regulations, that while not guaranteeing safety, increase confidence? "

1.1) The aim is not to compare a micro-project (zecweb) to billion dollar enterprises, it is to shine light on internet users have demonstrated through the usage of such cloud based services which are primarily not self-custodial, this segment of the market is larger than the self-hosted custodial applications. Ultimately, this point can be debated for long time.

  1. How do you plan to address performance issues?
    2.1) Go slow, an under-promise and over-deliver.
    2.2) The first year, is to pick your clients. Understand their needs and requirements to service these clients.

2.4) North Star: Internally, I have budgeted, an sought assistance on moving zecweb towards: Penetration Testing Execution Standard, OWASP Top 10 Application Security Risks (2017(, OWASP Testing Guide. This is a long-term north star.
2.5) In the short term, I made a committed to milestone three to complete an external security audit.

  1. why do you think this would be more successful than the previous effort?
    3.1) Zecweb is focused on the browser. I am not trying to deploy multiple applications all at the same time.
    3.2) Zecweb is not focused on donations. Zecweb is a company, if clients don’t like it they don’t pay. Its a completely different structural difference in focus and alignment of resources.
    3.3) Zecweb is not focused on lightwalletd. Zecweb is focused on exposing zcashd api to a web interface.
    3.4) Zecweb has a business plan, a target market, we will be involved in associations, public presentations, workshops, physical marketplaces to present an interact.
    3.5) Zecweb believes you have to hussle your product, get in front of business, and demonstrate why zcash is a foundational shift in technology.

lightwalletd_600

1 Like
20

Are you saying that you will use zcashd directly with a web interface? Interesting idea. Do you have any working prototype for this? How did you arrive to thinking that this idea is going to work?

21

Hello,

I do not see prior projects you’ve completed in your applicant background. Do you have anything close to what you are proposing that has been successfully completed before?

Thanks

P.S. While not discussing the merits of the technical solution you propose, I do appreciate your sense that Zcash has to be made more convenient and has to employ business savvy strategies to grow. For instance, although it is simple, I do not typically notice people conducting market research before proposing a development grant. Asking businesses what they want out of Zcash is a good practice. I applaud this effort and would encourage others to do the same.

2 Likes