Please describe your proposed solution

At Yepple, we’ve observed that many project owners in the Cardano ecosystem are eager to distribute rewards to their community but struggle to use the limited resources available to successfully do so. Often, they resort to seeking our help because managing airdrops independently proves too costly, complex, and error-prone. Mistakes are irreversible on the blockchain, so sending the correct quantities of the correct assets to the correct wallets is absolutely critical. While there are a few private development companies (such as ourselves) that can perform these services, the costs for these services take away project funds and therefore reduce the amount of rewards that the community is able to receive. On top of that, using external development companies adds cost and complexity when attempting to integrate these distributions into a project’s own website/application.

Our open-source airdrop solution tackles this problem by enabling developers and project founders to perform airdrops on their own and entirely remove the cost of service providers. By providing an out-of-the-box API & SDK airdrops, project founders can not only perform the airdrops without any assistance – maximizing the funds they have available for the community rewards – but they can also integrate the process in countless ways within their own websites/applications in a fully automated fashion. The full-stack solution will be built as a Fastify API (written in TypeScript) containing the core airdrop operations with a TypeScript SDK (available on NPM) for interfacing with the API from anywhere.

The solution will be robust enough to handle any and all native assets on Cardano, including ADA, NFTs, and fungible tokens (CNTs). It will also provide intuitive support for tokens following any CIPs, including CIP-68 token prefix support. Reliable error handling will prevent improper token distributions with clear and concise feedback for the user of the tool to fix whatever the issue may be. With a test mode that performs intense validation and provides analytics breakdowns, a “dry run” that mimics a true distribution factoring in available UTxOs, and production mode that performs the actual distribution, there will be no shortage of safety and data available prior to the tokens being distributed.

Intelligent UTxO selection will also enable instantaneous distributions to thousands of wallets by taking advantage of parallel transactions, which is perfectly suited for DeFi token distributions after a presale.

The airdrop transactions will be built with cost-optimization in mind, taking advantage of the UTxO model, utilizing transaction size calculations and other fee optimization strategies to reduce the total number of transactions and blockchain fees associated with each transaction. As mentioned, there will be several modes available allowing for analytics on the transactions that are built. These analytics include fee reporting with a breakdown for different types of fees (such as transaction fees and minimum UTxO fees) and enumeration of all required input assets per transaction, as well as similar aggregate data for the full distribution.

Customization will also be available where appropriate for transaction building, such as CIP-20 transaction messages.

Demonstrating Impact:

We will track the adoption of our solutions through direct feedback, tool usage metrics, and success stories from project owners who utilize our airdrop API & SDK. This will allow us to continuously refine our offerings and provide tangible evidence of our impact on the ecosystem.

Uniqueness and Benefits:

What sets our solution apart is its proven track record, ease of integration, support for any level of complexity, and robust error handling. By democratizing access to high-quality airdrop tools, we are providing a direct injection of empowerment, independence, and wealth into projects and into the wallets of their community members.

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Our project will significantly enhance the Cardano ecosystem by democratizing access to airdrop technology, reducing dependency on costly service providers, enabling innovative value sharing mechanisms through an integrated SDK, and promoting a culture of transparency and collaboration. By open-sourcing our advanced airdrop solution, we empower creators across the globe to distribute assets independently with a secure, scalable, and free tool. This not only drives innovation within the Cardano community but also attracts new users and developers to the platform, strengthening its position in the competitive blockchain space.

We will measure the impact of our project through several key metrics:

1. Adoption Rate: Tracking the number of projects and users adopting our tool.
2. Community Contributions: Monitoring updates and enhancements made by the community to the open-source code.
3. Cost Savings: Calculating the average cost savings for projects using our tool compared to traditional service providers, as these cost savings are now going directly back to the community in the form of increased project success and airdrop distributions.

To ensure wide distribution and engagement, our outputs will consist of:

• A GitHub repository hosting the complete source code
• Comprehensive documentation of how to launch the out-of-the-box API, integrate the SDK, and configure and facilitate any type of airdrop using our tool
• Advice, insights, and guides on the best practices surrounding common airdrop use-cases, gained from several years of experience performing them

These efforts will not only showcase the practical benefits of our solution but also reinforce Cardano's reputation as an inclusive and innovative blockchain community.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Yepple has a strong track record of delivering high-quality blockchain solutions since February 2021. Having successfully managed over 200 projects on the Cardano platform over the past three years, we have not only mastered the technology relevant to this proposal but also gained countless invaluable insights into the specific needs of creators of NFT projects and fungible tokens (CNTs). Our team is composed of seasoned blockchain developers, project managers, and strategists who are deeply knowledgeable about the Cardano ecosystem. This experience positions us uniquely to deliver this project with high levels of expertise, trust, and accountability. Several of the projects we have worked with, and the work that we performed for them, can be found on the “contributions” link attached to this proposal. We are also registered as a DRep for Cardano, further showcasing our commitment and dedication to this blockchain.

While Yepple has deployed many solutions on Cardano (minting, token generation, metadata updates, staking, NFT customizers, storefronts, custom dApps), airdrops have stood strong both independently and alongside the other products as one of our most utilized services. Because of this, our team has gained countless invaluable insights into the impact of efficient airdrop processes on community engagement and project success. Some examples of this include our token and/or reward distributions that we have performed for the $BANK team, Evolutions, Walkers, House of Titans, Salty Seagulls, Inmates, Hoarders, Stag Alliance, and many others. Our airdrop tools aim to set a new standard for distributing tokens on Cardano by making our battle-tested technology approachable, easily deployed, and well-documented. These tools, fundamental to successful token distribution for any project on Cardano, will be shared with the community as part of this proposal. We are confident in our ability to provide sufficient support and guidance to drive adoption of this solution, making the process of rewarding their community less intimidating and more accessible to all project owners.

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: Milestone 1 (Planning & Technical Design):

• Outputs: Scope of work, design, and other associated planning documents for all technical aspects of the proposal. Importantly, this includes documentation, particularly documentation of the exposed API routes and SDK functions, on the setup, configurations, and usability from the perspective of our target audience, project owners.
• Acceptance Criteria: The designs and documentation provide a clear preliminary understanding of how a project owner can set up and run their own Cardano token (NFT & FT) airdrop. The documentation elaborates on the solution to all high-level technical requirements in this proposal and aligns with the future milestones of this proposal.
• Evidence: Documentation in a public GitHub repository (alongside the future codebase) detailing the planned method of interacting with the finished product.

Milestone 2: Milestone 2 (Product Development):

• Outputs: A product encompassing every technical feature and all functionality detailed in this proposal. This includes distinct API and SDK codebases usable by project owners, with fully operational integration between the two. Includes a screen recording video demonstration (split-screen) of the functioning API output when invoked via the SDK.
• Acceptance Criteria: Product development meets all technical requirements described in this proposal. A recording of a demonstration is shown with verbose logging and airdrop analytics reporting as described elsewhere in this proposal.
• Evidence: The GitHub repository codebase and associated demonstration video will serve as evidence of the completed product development and its effectiveness as a deployed solution.

Milestone 3: Milestone 3 (Technical Documentation, User Instructions, & Community Support):

• Outputs: Codebase documentation and enhanced user documentation. The codebase documentation will increase the ability for developers to understand and contribute to future versions of the codebase, increasing long-term sustainability. With the product in place, the enhanced user documentation will provide project owners with a complete instruction manual for integrating their own airdrops using the current version of the codebase at this stage.
• Acceptance Criteria: There is sufficient documentation within the code and alongside the GitHub repository to meet open source best practices and assist in the community’s ability to build and iterate on the solution. Yepple is available through Discord to accept and respond to all community feedback and questions. Any issues or feature requests mentioned through GitHub or Discord have been documented and considered for feasibility; if feasible within the scope of this proposal, the features were added for an improved experience.
• Evidence: The project structure and modules have their purposes all clearly explained in the repository documentation. All critical components of the code have appropriate documentation for classes, methods, and other key logic. Responses to GitHub Issues within the repository. A channel in Yepple’s official Discord dedicated to feedback on our open source development where the Yepple team is responsive to questions and comments.

Final Milestone: Milestone 4 (Close-Out Report & Video):

• Outputs: Comprehensive project report detailing the development process, community impact, and future directions. A professional video showcasing the project's journey and final product.
• Acceptance Criteria: The report and video must comprehensively cover all aspects of the project, demonstrating the success and community benefit.
• Evidence: Final project close-out report and a video link shared with the community through Discord, social media, and potentially additional locations.

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Nicholas Fekete - CEO/Management - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-fekete/

Since founding Yepple and leading the team from day 1, Nicholas has driven progress and overseen project management across all internal and external projects that we have completed within Cardano and for our clients. With more than 5 years of experience as a startup founder, Nicholas has a fundamental understanding of how to run a cost-efficient company with values and quality that his team and our clients can be proud of.

Jake Shearman - CTO/Fullstack Blockchain Developer - <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-shearman/>

Handling the trinity of design, development, and documentation, Jake has led Yepple’s development team across the finish line for all development projects. With a formal computer science education, a work history in FinTech, and many years as a hobby blockchain developer that eventually turned into a career, Jake has been learning about and building on Cardano since before the very first Plutus Pioneer Program that he was a part of. He has remained committed to Cardano ever since, and is looking forward to improving and open sourcing many of the developer tools that he has built.

Dominic Monette - Developer/Quality Assurance

We take great pride in our quality, and we owe much of that quality to Dominic’s contributions as a developer, operations manager, and product quality assurance engineer.

Tyler McVety - DevOps/Blockchain Developer

Working behind the scenes, the server infrastructure set up by Tyler is what has allowed Yepple’s hosted solutions (stake pools, mints, CNT/NFT staking, and custom dApp transaction processing) to remain reliable and efficient.

Campurean Alexandru (Sic) - Marketing

As one of our most valuable connections to the Cardano community, Sic is a core community member of countless CNT/CNFT projects. Not only is he crucial in spreading awareness of the solutions and tools that our team has created, but he also ensures that we are constantly aware and deeply considerate of the types of user experience and functionality Cardano community members are looking for.

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Development:

Development of the feature-complete airdrop API as described throughout the proposal, containing all core airdrop logic and functionality.

Cost: 55k ADA

Development of the airdrop SDK with fully operational integration into the airdrop API, allowing for seamless implementation in external projects.

Cost: 20k ADA

Documentation:

Creation of thorough codebase and user documentation to facilitate understanding, contribution, and practical use.

Cost: 10k ADA

Management:

Ongoing project oversight, ensuring alignment with technical specifications and milestone achievements.

Cost: 10k ADA

Marketing &amp; Support:

Community engagement and support via channels like Discord, including responsiveness to feedback and issues.

Cost: 5k ADA

No dependencies

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Our proposed budget represents exceptional value for money for the Cardano ecosystem, reflecting more than three years of intensive development by our experienced team. The investment of 110k ADA in open-sourcing these airdrop solutions in a highly practical and accessible package is significantly lower than the industry costs of building a similar robust, secure, and fully-functional airdrop platform from scratch. In particular, when it comes to distributing real value across an immutable ledger, it is essential to utilize technology that has been tested relentlessly as our airdrops have been with the hundreds of thousands of wallets that have received rewards via our distributions. US-based (we are a US company) industry costs associated with such extensive software development and testing could reach several hundred thousand dollars, given the specialized nature of blockchain technology. We are not only offering the Cardano community access to our refined, bulletproof technology but also providing comprehensive documentation. This ensures that even those new to the space can quickly leverage our platform to efficiently distribute NFTs and fungible tokens, thereby enhancing innovation and participation within the Cardano ecosystem. In essence, we are equipping the community with a high-caliber toolset that accelerates development timelines, reduces upfront costs, and fosters greater creativity on the blockchain. The solutions we have provided for the $BANK team, Evolutions, Walkers, House of Titans, Salty Seagulls, Inmates, Hoarders, Stag Alliance, and many others have showcased the adoption, engagement, and community morale that can be obtained through airdrops, which directly translates into value for the projects using the technology as well as the ecosystem and community as a whole.