Zealy Program Q4 Proposal + Q3 Report

[piber-dev]

Zealy Q3 Results Report & New Q4 Proposal Details

The community-run Akash learn and earn program returned successfully for Q3 and will only get better from here.

The original discussion for Q3 can be found here: Zealy 2025 Program Q3

Report

After creating new and more roles within the same role budget, we can safely say that the productivity has improved. With the new roles and new contributors to the program, we were able to run the Zealy program smoothly and we hit all of our external and most of our internal goals of what it meant to keep operations running smooth. We were also able to spend a lot of time helping make contributions to the contributions program and help them review some work and help another Akash Insider judge hackathon projects on the Akash-sponsored HackOdisha hackathon. The program spent approximately 11,800 AKT during Q3, with payroll and requested funds for October being excluded from this report as this is outside of Q3.

After making it harder to become a verified user on Zealy by adding verification missions where users for example had to create a contribution before getting access to paid missions, we lowered the number of users to 46 at the time of writing but each user did something more than just learn this time around. In the first month even before any real collaboration was made with the Akash-Website Working Group (WG), the surge of activity in simpler pull requests of the Zealy users was brought up in a call by 0xBoldPanther. At the time of writing, over 50 contributions were made in the form of GitHub contributions, GitHub repos, articles written for AkashReport, and similar which is very similar to the Contributions Programs results for Q3. Additionally over 100 other missions were claimed, funneling people to various programs and resources within the community.

During the quarter, monthly updates were given in the SIG-community call and the updates ranged from simpler small updates to demos of the tech that was built for future contests. We are hoping to be finished with another tech demo for the next SIG-community call. Furthermore, a public tracker was built for the community to transparently see how the community pool funds were spent. When smaller questions related to the budget was asked, it was mentioned in the SIG-community call and voted on in the #wg-zealy Discord channel.

One thing that we wanted to experiment with was creating contests and other content outside of Zealy, in an effort to bring in new tenants and contributors to the network. A gamejam where game developers could learn about deploying game servers on Akash was planned to run on itch.io. For this gamejam, an Akash Insider was given the opportunity to create documentation, demos, images, and SDLs to make it possible for these users to learn this quickly. At the time of writing, the work was just completed and the game jam is ready to be published after the code and instructions has been verified by one of the reviewers.

Notable points

• Many smaller contributions were made by Zealy users to Akash Network repositores such as the documentation and website ones because of a XP-only mission that requested the users to create their first contribution to Akash.
  • Examples 1, 2, & 3
• 7 approved examples of data backup solutions to external cloud services (e.g. Storj & Filebase) were also created, some of which used the SHM feature to experiment using the feature. Many of these were added to awesome-akash.
• Multiple articles were written by Zealy users and approved and published to AkashReport. Some are approved but yet to be published.
• A bounty was given to an Akash Insider, Fenil Modi, to create a game client demo and a way to host custom game servers on Akash. This repo can be seen here and is to be used for the upcoming game jam contest planned to run in Q4.
• A base of a subscription platform with authentication is being built and will be open-sourced and shown as a demo soon, hopefully by the next SIG-community call. We are hoping that this can be used and expanded on by the contributions program to become a real app, or other community members who wants to use it.
  • In Q4, we are hoping to continue help building a version of it to fit the AkashVPN project built by the contributions program. This could give the AkashVPN app a business model by giving users, who have paid for different tiers, access to different features such as different VPN servers or their own deployed VPN servers.
• A public tracker for how the funds were spent was built and shared in a link after the first month of Q3 had passed. This will be added to the Akash Network Community Pool Spend Reporting page.

High-level proposal changes

• Budget changes:

  • We want to increase the monthly miscellaneous payments from $500 to $1,000
  • To keep the budget the same, we will also lower the mission rewards budget from $5,000 to $4,500.
  • The missions rewards budget will be able to be used on contests outside of Zealy, with one example being the planned game jam contest.

• Q4 Goals:

  • Hosting the game jam.
  • Open-sourcing the subscription platform demo.
  • Completing or starting work on the AkashVPN rebuild, using said demo.
  • Create a better brand identity, which includes creating SWAG and trying to include links to the program on more official pages.
  • Continuing the same goals as in Q3 which includes creating missions, paying rewards, collaborating with other programs and Akash Insiders, and other goals just as explained in discussion 943.

Monthly budget & total request

• Monthly request: $9,500 USD + fees
  • Roles: $4,000 USD
    • Program lead: $1,000 USD
    • Payroll & payments: $500 USD
    • Mission review: $1,250 USD
    • Mission create: $1,250 USD
  • Miscellaneous payments: $1,000 USD
  • Mission rewards: $4,500 USD

A 10% buffer will be added to the entire proposal. A 5% conversion fee will be added to payroll & payments that must occur in fiat, but does not change the funding request of the proposal.

The total budget consists of the Q4 Budget @ $28,500 USD. Since a buffer month was included last proposal and payroll for October has been paid, this budget will keep the program running during the first month of Q1 2026 as well.

Total request: $31,350 USD including the buffer. Only the difference from the operational wallet will be requested as the wallet still has funds, which at the time of writing amounts to roughly $7,250 USD.

Timeline

General details of this proposal was mentioned in the Steering Committee call on the 25th of September. If no major changes are requested by comments on this discussion, the proposal will go on-chain for voting in 1-2 weeks.

[programmer-ke]

Interesting missions coming up. Looks good to me!

[jaseemuddinn]

Interesting……Q4 is looking promising 🙌

[nick134-bit]

Hey Piber,
with the shift toward more freely allocated funds in this proposal, how do you plan to avoid overlap with the Contribution Program’s scope and prevent double-spending on the same outputs (e.g., GitHub PRs)?
I really like the core idea behind the Zealy program as a onboarding path for new contributors outside the existing routes. But I’m concerned the funding scope is starting to blur into the Contribution Program’s territory, risking duplicated effort between teams working in parallel.
What’s the clearest way you see the Zealy and the Contribution Program complementing each other and not overlap?

[piber-dev]

hi @nick134-bit - thanks for writing, this is a great question!

in my eyes, getting similar outputs from multiple programs is a non-issue. if we take akash insider applications as a key figure that we track results from from both ringmaster events and events attended and hosted through the events proposal, should we remove one just because both is successful? paying out double or using more effort than necessary is a concern that we recognize too. however, just because it's a double spend doesn't have to make it a bad spend - it depends.

sometimes we create missions to market other programs and try to incentivize users on zealy to get involved. one of these missions were related to the contributions program, where we had a free mission for joining the call and a paid mission for contributing in the call for the first time. this was actually a double spend, because the contributions program offers the same thing. when we created a similar mission for the "wg-website suggestion issue," it instantly got a lot more traction after publishing it on zealy. as long as the double spends are not large-scale or abused by contributors creating 1x $500 bounty for zealy and 1x $500 bounty for the contributions program, it's not a big deal in my opinion.

in my opinion, the most important parts of this program right now is that we create a path for users to experiment and learn about akash and get involved with other programs or get started on their own projects with their own AKT. then, we have smaller goals such as helping other akash apps/programs when they need help with marketing, feedback, or similar. to me, the contribution program looks to be mostly focused on building larger projects at the moment through the weekly contributor call. the contribution program also looks to be mostly focused on helping users who already have experience with akash find bounties. although we actively join contributor calls, contribute, and keep an active conversation with marissa - i don't think the programs overlap at all currently.

[nick134-bit]

Hey Piber,

Sometimes we create missions to market other programs and try to incentivize users on Zealy to get involved.

And I think that’s exactly what Zealy is great for: pointing to where feedback, help, or input is needed.
But what happens afterward to those contributors? Are they properly handed off to the Contribution Program - or do they end up expecting more tasks on Zealy, maybe even on the same repo or issues?

The Contribution Program looks to be mostly focused on building larger projects at the moment through the weekly contributor call.

While the weekly call is focused on that, the program as a whole isn’t just about it.
IMO, it should empower people to proactively work on issues they identify and help retain onboarded users.

Now, in Q4, you’re funding a rebuild of AkashVPN (a project the CP already owns) and a subscription tool meant for the CP to use.
Who’s in charge? Who gets credit? Who ensures that something built for the Contribution Program is actually used by it?
Why not build these within the scope of the Contribution Program and split the work into two smaller, focused teams instead?

Zealy should stay the onboarding layer: helping new people learn the ecosystem, give feedback on products, write posts, make videos, and highlight different parts of Akash.

The Contribution Program should be the execution layer: actually building, shipping, and maintaining real features - while keeping onboarded users engaged.

Lets make sure Zealy sends people to the right next step - and that each initiative stays focused on its core purpose.

Zealy = Onboarding
Contribution Program = Building & Maintaining

[piber-dev]

hi again @nick134-bit i think we have a similar opinion on most of these things, but not all. in the short-term we intend to experiment more, and then we can settle on exact details later. thanks for writing another reply!

But what happens afterward to those contributors? Are they properly handed off to the Contribution Program - or do they end up expecting more tasks on Zealy, maybe even on the same repo or issues?

• the idea is that users should continue on their own path onwards, but in reality some users will stay and quit as well. it's the same with any program on akash, not 100% of participants are really involved. users will not receive multiple tasks on the same repo or issue, at least not anymore. when robert was apart of the program, he reset some missions one or two times. this is not something that we do now, instead we keep the same mission without resetting it or release the mission as an XP-only mission. other than this i can only speculate what paths users take.

Now, in Q4, you’re funding a rebuild of AkashVPN (a project the CP already owns) and a subscription tool meant for the CP to use.
Who’s in charge? Who gets credit? Who ensures that something built for the Contribution Program is actually used by it?
Why not build these within the scope of the Contribution Program and split the work into two smaller, focused teams instead?

• the ownership doesn't change and we will not request additional funding for it. hopefully the contributions program can manage to continue running the program and receive subscription payments, otherwise perhaps only a free tier will be offered. marissa mentioned that there may be a small bounty attached to hosting smaller contribution meeting groups, but that is up for marissa to decide. marissa also welcomed the idea, but of course it's not guaranteed that it will be fully usable with the subscription service, but a rebuild is needed to bring it from a MVP to a finished product regardless. some of the roles had some spare time in Q3, so we focused on spending that time building something instead of just twiddling our thumbs. this is extra work because we had extra time. this will not be something that we will continue with for a longer period, but while the program is still being restarted there is plenty of time to spare for some roles.

Lets make sure Zealy sends people to the right next step - and that each initiative stays focused on its core purpose.

• i agree that this should be the long-term goals - clearly defined purposes and goals. right now we are focusing on our clear purposes and goals with the same budget as before, and doing extra stuff to figure out where we can scale the program in the future. one of the things we are going to experiment with is a game jam in Q4. there is definitely discussion to be had on how this program can continue in the future, either it could be scaled down and have the same missions at all times - maybe even fully unpaid missions - or it could scale up to match the vision that is constantly changing. this is the first quarter that i have been in charge of the program, so i think it makes sense to adapt the program over time now.

[pheobeayo]

Interesting! Looking forward to Q4

[fenilmodi00]

I support this initiative. It’s a great way to help new developers onboard into the Akash ecosystem, and it plays an important role in keeping engagement alive within Akash communities.