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 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.

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 easy-to-use command-line tool for airdrops (written primarily in TypeScript), project founders can take the time to perform the airdrops without any assistance, maximizing the funds they have available for the community rewards.

The solution will be robust enough to handle any and all native assets on Cardano, including ADA, NFTs, and fungible tokens. 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.

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. The tool will include fee reporting with a breakdown for different types of fees (such as transaction fees and minimum UTxO fees).

<u>Demonstrating Impact:</u>

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

<u>Uniqueness and Benefits:</u>

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 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 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 impact of efficient airdrop processes on community engagement and project success. 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 airdrop solution with high levels of expertise, trust, and accountability.

While Yepple has deployed many solutions on Cardano (minting, token generation, metadata updates, staking, NFT customizers, storefronts, custom dApps), our airdrop tools aim to set a new standard for distributing tokens on Cardano. 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 project launch process 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 &amp; Technical Design):

• Outputs: Scope of work, design, and other associated planning documents for all technical aspects of the proposal. Importantly, this includes documentation 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 &amp; 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 a refactoring of Yepple’s existing codebase to be usable by project owners, as well as additional development for customization, ease of use, and adaptability as an open-source product. Includes a screen recording video demonstration (in dry-run mode).
• Acceptance Criteria: Product development meets all technical requirements described in this proposal. A recording of a demonstration is shown with verbose logging and fee 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, &amp; 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 hosting their own airdrop 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 &amp; 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

Jake Shearman - CTO/Fullstack Blockchain Developer

Dominic Monette - Developer/Quality Assurance

Tyler McVety - DevOps/Blockchain Developer

Robert Nuss - Project Management

Campurean Alexandru (Sic) - Marketing

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Design:

Detailed planning and technical design documentation to outline scope, configurations, and usability for project owners.

Cost: 10k ADA

Development:

Development of a minimum viable product (MVP), including refactoring existing codebase and enhancing customization and adaptability.

Cost: 75k 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

An optional dependency on Cardano API providers, such as BlockFrost, will be available as a substitute for setting up an in-house Cardano Node (a free, open-source application itself). This is needed for basic transaction operations, and is not dependent on any specific third party.

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 our airdrop solutions is significantly lower than the industry costs of hiring three skilled developers to build a similar robust, secure, and fully-functional airdrop platform from scratch. Typically, the costs associated with such extensive software development and testing could exceed 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.