Programmes / Builder Program
Get paid, in public, for software that runs on ZooBC.
Bounties with a fixed reward. Micro projects with milestones. A monthly log for the unsolicited work that helps everyone: merged pull requests, tutorials, forum answers, talks. All of it open source, all of it reviewed twice, all of it on a public ledger that accrues until MainNet.
Every ZBC figure on this page is a proposal until the Foundation confirms it by vote. Rewards accrue in the ledger until MainNet, planned for 2027-02-14; balances are credited at genesis once they pass the 500 ZBC threshold, together with giveaways and purchases.
Who can apply
Eligible
- Individuals or small teams; a team applies through one accountable person.
- A Sippis account with a verified email and a forum account on zoobc.pro.
- Prior work that can be inspected: a repository, a published app, a package. Students without prior work can apply with a small sample built against the testnet.
Not eligible
- Closed source deliverables: programme output is MIT, Apache 2.0 or CC BY unless agreed in writing.
- Work that only benefits a single commercial entity.
- Anything already paid by the Grants programme, and anything from a sanctioned jurisdiction.
Three ways to earn
Bounties
The Foundation posts a task with a reward band. You claim it, ship it, submit it; two reviewers accept it and the ledger row is written. A mean review score of 9 out of 10 adds a 20 percent quality bonus.
| Band | Reward | Who can claim |
|---|---|---|
| S | 50 ZBC | Builder and above |
| M | 150 ZBC | Builder and above |
| L | 400 ZBC | Core Builder and above, or a Builder with one completed M |
| XL | 1,000 ZBC | Core Builder and above |
Active claims: 1 per Builder, 2 per Core Builder, 3 per Fellow. A claim without a submission 7 days past its deadline is released; two released claims in six months suspend claiming for 90 days. One revision round.
Micro projects
You propose a small project with 2 to 4 milestones. Two reviewers score it; approved projects get a public forum topic where you post progress every 14 days. Each accepted milestone writes its ledger row.
| Tier | Max per project | Active projects |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | 2,000 ZBC | 1 |
| Core Builder | 5,000 ZBC | 2 |
| Fellow | 5,000 ZBC | 2 |
First milestone at most 30 percent of the total; with three or more, none above 50 percent. Silence for 30 days cancels a project after one warning. Larger work is a grant.
Contribution log
Unsolicited work that helps the ecosystem, logged in the month it happened with a proof link and scored by a reviewer with a quality multiplier of 0, 0.5, 1.0 or 1.25. One point is 1 ZBC. Monthly cap 300 ZBC per builder.
The full points table is below. Bugs go to the bug bounty and are never double counted here.
Tiers
Builder
An accepted application. S and M bounties, projects up to 2,000 ZBC, the contribution log, the builders forum group and badge.
Core Builder
3 accepted bounties, or 1 completed project, or 200 approved contribution points within 12 months, and no conduct issue. L and XL bounties, projects up to 5,000 ZBC, two active claims, priority review, a place on the showcase.
Fellow
Appointed by the committee for a six month renewable term to maintain a named ecosystem component. At most 5 at a time. A monthly stipend of 300 ZBC on top of any bounty or project work, a reviewer seat, the fellows group.
Tracks
Tooling and SDKs
Wallets and UX
Nodes and infrastructure
Explorers and analytics
Apps and use cases
Integrations
Documentation and education
Security and testing
Contribution points
One point is 1 ZBC, times the quantity, times the reviewer's quality multiplier. Monthly maximum counts per type; 300 ZBC per builder per month.
| Code | Activity | Points | Per month | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PR_S | Merged pull request, small Docs fix, test, small bug fix merged in a zoobc repository | 10 | 10 | link required |
| PR_M | Merged pull request, medium Feature or port of a tool merged | 30 | 4 | link required |
| PR_L | Merged pull request, large New module or new language port with vectors passing | 80 | 2 | link required |
| TUT | Tutorial or sample project Published with running code | 25 | 3 | link required |
| FSO_B | Forum technical answer marked as solution | 5 | 20 | link required, pre filled by the sync |
| CRV | Code review assigned by a reviewer | 15 | 4 | link required |
| ISS | Reproducible issue accepted by a maintainer Not a security finding | 8 | 10 | link required |
| TLK | Developer talk or workshop, recorded At least 30 minutes | 40 | 2 | link required |
Review
Applications are scored by two reviewers on four criteria, 0 to 5 each: technical merit of prior work, fit with ZooBC, plan realism, communication. Accept at a mean of 12 out of 20; below 8 is a reject; in between the reviewers discuss and one records the decision. Rejected applicants may reapply after 90 days.
Submissions and milestones: every acceptance criterion met, yes or no, then quality and documentation 0 to 5 each. Accept at a mean of 6 out of 10 with both yes. Service levels: 14 days for an application or proposal, 10 days for a submission or milestone.
A reviewer never reviews their own or their team's items; conflicts are declared on the form. Appeals within 14 days of a decision, answered within 14 days by an admin not involved.
The committee
Reviewers are being appointed. Fellows and one core team engineer are the intended seats.
Builders
Members who chose a public profile. Others appear on the ledger by the first group of their payout address.
No public profiles yet.