[0907 Grant Proposal] Rootstock QuestHub

Grants & Incentives
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Hi everyone, let us introduce you to our grant proposal, which aims to attract more users and builders to the RSK ecosystem.

[0907 Grant] Rootstock QuestHub

Project Name:

RootQuest Questhub

Description

Rootstock QuestHub (powered by Vottun) is a fully gamified onboarding hub that turns both crypto-curious newcomers and developers at any level into committed members of the Rootstock ecosystem.

Think of it as a “Duolingo”-style battle pass: users progress through themed quests. One mission introduces quests to learn RSK fundamentals, another guides developers through technical challenges, while a third might spotlight Sovryn or other ecosystem dApps. As they bridge RBTC, swap tokens, integrate RIF APIs, or deploy their first smart contract, participants earn micro-rewards and on-chain NFT badges that certify their skills. These NFTs can later unlock benefits across the RSK ecosystem.

Built on Vottun’s technology—already integrated with Rootstock and offering ready-to-use APIs and SDKs to build in Rootsotck, this QuestHub platform delivers:

  • Tiered tracks that upgrade crypto-curious users into RSK Power Users and tech-savvy participants into RSK Builders.

  • Bot-resistant, high-quality acquisition, filtering out low-value airdrop farmers and rewarding genuine engagement.

  • Configurable payouts in RBTC, RIF, or partner tokens, giving every project a powerful marketing lever.

  • Valuable NFTs that certify knowledge and engagement not just farming.

  • Open the door to multiply activation events in the ecosystem with participants: hackatahons, buildathons, challenges, meetups, etc.

  • Real-time analytics so Rootstock dApps can see exactly which quests drive wallet growth and TVL.

Our goal is simple: boost Rootsock ecosystem, increase active Rootstock wallets, channel fresh liquidity into flagship dApps, and create a self-sustaining flywheel where curiosity becomes lasting on-chain activity powered by engaging, bite-size learning instead of boring tutorials.

Team Background

Vottun is led by an experienced team of entrepreneurs, engineers, and ecosystem builders headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, with global operations across Latin America and the U.S.

  • Luis Carbajo (CEO & Co-founder): Former Amazon executive, serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in SaaS, Web3 infrastructure, and enterprise blockchain integrations.

*** Marta Vallés (COO & Co-founder):** Forbes Top Tech Woman 2023, with a background in legal-tech, compliance, and blockchain regulation in the EU.

  • The team includes senior developers and solution architects with over 5 years of production experience building scalable Web3 APIs, SDKs, and cross-chain credentialing systems.

The team has been active in the RSK ecosystem since 2023. They integrate RSK in Vottun tech in 2023 and help to organize a very successful hackathon in 2024 for RSK with also DEXTools as sponsor.

Hackathon Vottun - Rootstock: Announcement Tweet from Rootstock - Hackathon Video

Vottun become part of the Rootstock Collective builders in 2025. You can learn more about them in the collective submission:

Total Grant Amount for Rootstock QuestHub: $18k

Requesting: $8k for Milestone 1; $3k for Milestone 2; $3k for Milestone 3; $4k for Milestone 4.

Project Milestones:

  • Milestone 1 ($8k): Deliver the personalized platform Rootstock QuestHub

  • Milestone 2 ($3k): Conduct full testing of the platform Rootstock QuestHub

  • Milestone 3 ($3k): Creation 2 initial missions with at least 15 quests each. One mission will focus in a normal user and other in a “developer” user.

  • Milestone 4 ($4k): Creation of Marketing campaign & Put platform in production

Milestones deliverables & acceptance criteria

# Deliverables (GitHub tag / doc) Acceptance
M1 ($8k) 1) Platform including quest engine (create, read, update quests via Admin UI). 2) WalletConnect + Rootstock signer. 3) NFT ERC-1155 contract (testnet) 4). Public staging URL. 1) Full test Admin. 2) User quest flows end-to-end. 3) SC en RSK testnet.
M2 ($3k) 1) QA report (functional + edge-cases). 2) SC security verification. 3) Load-test 1) All critical/major bugs closed. 2) Validation SC. 3) SC in Mainnet
M3 ($3k) 1) Mission 1: Rootstock Power-User (15 quests). 2) Mission 2: Rootstock Builder (15 quests). 3) Content playbook 1) Mission 1 included in the platform. 2) Mission 2 included in the platform 3) Minting of badge NFT.
M4 ($4k) 1) Mainnet deployment 2) Marketing kit (press note, explainer video, banners) 3) Incentive pool smart contract (funded) 1) Launch first mission on mainnet. 2) First 100 users onboarded. 3) List of PR shared

Timeline

Project Milestones Dates Resources / Budget Allocation
Milestone 1 – Core platform build 14 Jul – 21 Aug (5 wks) 2 FE + 2 BE developers in parallel; separate DevOps stream for infra as code & CI/CD.
Milestone 2 – QA + security 18 Aug – 30 Aug (2 wks) 1QA + 1FE+1BE. Overlaps last 2 wks of build; includes integration, load-test, SC test.
Milestone 3 –Content (2 missions, 15 quests ea.) 18 Aug – 7 Sep (3 wks) 1 Content PM + 1 curriculum writer;dev team only needed for quest-trigger hooks.
Milestone 4 – Launch & marketing 16 Sep – 30 Sep (2 wks) 1 Marketing Mgr; coordinated with RSK communication. Rewards on mainnet.

Go-live target: 30 September 2025 • Buffer = 2 weeks for contingency.

Budget estimation

Workstream Cost % Notes
Engineering(4 devs × 200 h × $45/h) $9,000 50 % Covers core build + quests hooks
DevOps & infra (Vercel, AWS, Grafana) $1,000 5 % Cover initial DevOps
QA + Security audit $2,000 11 % Cover testing $ fixes
Content & Gamification design $3,000 17 % 1 content PM + 1 writer
Marketing kit & launch campaign $3,000 17 % Video, ads, community comm coordination
TOTAL $18,000 100 %

Success metrics
To evaluate potential participation we have used “rootstock collective” forum as proxy

KPI 30-day target 90-day target Data source
Ecosystem Engagement
Unique wallets
completing ≥1 quest 100 500 QuestHub Admin Panel
completing ≥1 level 60 200 QuestHub Admin Panel
completing ≥1 mission 30 100 QuestHub Admin Panel
Retention (Day-7 repeat usage) 35 % 40 % QuestHub Admin Panel
Ecosystem Impact
dApp deep-links (Sovryn etc.) 300 clicks 1500 clicks QuestHub logs
NFTs minted 120 500 RSK on-chain

Return on Investment

Besides enriching the RSK ecosystem with a new tool for projects to acquire new users and get community members and developers more involved in a fun and engaging way, based on our forecast in the first 12 months we expect to activate over 2000 wallets and give them quests that will increase the number of TX of these wallets thanks to their particiation in these quests.

This activation should bring the cost per acquisition in at just $4 and getting a clear positive ROI as we learn more about how we cana activate some actions. This figure excludes any secondary benefits such as increased RBTC bridge fees or additional RIF API usage. In other words, with the grant to deploy QuestHub, RSK onboards a user who not only interacts on-chain at least once but also earns a credentialed NFT that anchors them to the ecosystem.

This represents an exceptionally efficient ROI for Rootstock over a single-year horizon.

Technical Specs

Frontend: Next.js 15, Next Auth, Redis, TypeScript, Tailwind UI → served via Vercel Edge

Backend:

  • Quests – Node.js (Fastify) + PostgreSQL + Prisma (plans & progress)
  • Credentialing – Vottun DID / VC micro-service (Go).
  • Rewards – Rootstock ERC-1155 + funding vault (upgradeable with OpenZeppelin).
  • Hosting: Vercel (Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS)

RSK Smart Contracts, infra and nodes: Vía Vottun APIs

Infra as Code: Terraform + Helm charts → AWS EKS.

CI/CD: GitHub Actions → Vercel Preview → Canary → Prod.

Monitoring: Grafana Cloud + Loki; Forta agent watching reward contract.

Security layer: Static scans (Slither, Mythril), dynamic fuzzing (Echidna).

User journey:

  1. OAuth / email + wallet connect → quest dashboard

  2. User starts quest → off-chain progress tracked → on-chain check (RBTC bridge, RIF API, etc.)

  3. Completion → reward contract mints NFT + streams RBTC rewards

Value Proposition for Rootstock

Rootstock QuestHub→ Rootstock Adoption Flywheel

Launching QuestHub’s gamified educational tracks turns Rootstock’s fun and active learning into an onboarding magnet, accelerating user and developer adoption, boosting liquidity, and providing on-chain proof that the ecosystem is thriving.

How Rootstock QuestHub addresses key RSK Challenges?

  1. Need for fun and engaging Web3 education, less intimidating than long video tutorials

Applying similar successful engaging rules like “Duo Lingo” and mixed with powerful Web3 token rewards, QuestHub provides an alternative to traditional “academy” content and/or long video tutorials. Questhub is quick, fun and gives instant on-chain micro-rewards that boost engagement and provide real-time metrics to the network.

We can expect more user growth that interact with the ecosystem in a regular basis.

  1. Limited developer mind-share versus larger EVM chains

QuestHub can provide a curated “Rootstock Builder Path” packed with hands-on quests and “learning by doing” experience: PowPeg bridging, RIF APIs, Sovryn, etc.

We can expect more engaged developers who increase the number of for example hackathon submissions, or more PoC and dApps done inside the ecosystem through Questhub activation events for quests participants.

  1. Underexposed key RSK components, such as RIF, PowPeg, RNS

QuestHub gamified “learn-to-earn” modules that reward RBTC/RIF will expose how all RSK components can be used.

We can expect more RIF API calls and actionable usage metrics for treasury-grant decisions.

  1. Fragmented educational marketing across ecosystem projects

QuestHub provides a unified LMS dashboard for the RSk ecosystem that projects can used. This could spotlights every Rootstock dApp with in-track calls to action (swap, lend, mint).

We can expect increased cross-sell traffic and TVL across dApps, as well as aconsistent, ecosystem-wide Rootstock brand narrative.

  1. Lack of on-chain proof of skill for grants & hiring

QuestHub is the answer to certify RSK knowledge on-chain. It gives participants NFTs to certify their achievements so they can use them in their professional career such as a “Rootstock Builder” badge.

We can expect that grant reviewers or recruiters can verify skills instantly on-chain

Demo and GitHub repo

Vottun platform that inspired Rootstock QuestHub: www.web3.vottun.io

Vottun Github/docs: https://docs.vottun.io/

Video Pitch: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14seotxVnYJpd64BwI_QVVEXH80JCNoZW/view?usp=drive_link

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VIDEO PROPOSAL ROOTSTOCK QUESTHUB (1m)

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Thanks for sharing this, it’s clear the team has put in real work, with a solid plan, a reasonable budget for an onboarding platform like this, and a good track record with Rootstock so far.

The idea makes sense and I can see how it could add real value if it’s done well. I’d just like to hear a bit more about how the incentive pool for rewards will be funded and how you’re thinking about keeping new quests and partners coming in over time.

Overall, the foundations look strong, keen to see how this moves forward.

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Thanks for the encouraging feedback! Below is additional colour on how the initial incentive pool will be funded and how we’ll keep QuestHub fresh with new missions and partners.

Inicial Incentive pool mechanics & funding

To jump.starts the first campaigns, we plan to get the rewards from these sources:

  1. Grant - A small slice of the Milestone-4 budget (≈ US $500 in RBTC)
  2. vQuest participants - All mint fees from NFTs will be added to the reward pool
  3. Ecosystem dApps / sponsors - We want to convince RSK partners (Sovryn, PowPeg, Tropykus, etc.) to allocate a micro-budget to feature them in the initial campaigns.

2. Flywheel for continuous quests & partners

  1. Self-serve quest builder (part of the Admin UI delivered in Milestone-1) lets any dApp create missions with quests very quickly —no code, just parameters and reward budget.

  2. Monthly “Theme Seasons” (e.g., DeFi Month, RNS Week) promoted by Rootstock socials. Best-performing missions get front-page spotlight, pushing partners to update content.

  3. Revenue share: after the first 90 days, we introduce an optional premium placement tier, partners who want guaranteed top-slot exposure contribute an additional sponsorship fee (RBTC/RIF). Those funds partially refill the reward vault, making this initiative self-sustainable.

  4. Community quests: advanced users that earns NFT badges could have as part of their benefits to be more involved in mission/quest creation. For example, they can propose missions and quests (subject to moderation) and receive a bounty (paid from the protocol fee pool) for every completion of their quest. That crowdsources fresh ideas continuously.

Hope this clarifies sustainability. Happy to dive deeper, and thanks again for your feedback

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UPDATE - We see that our grant proposal 2507 is clearly align with the grant focus of streamlining user access to RBTC.

Our Rootstock QuestHub is an amazing tool for getting quick and fun understading of RSK and RBTC, with quests that provides and easy RBTC onboarding. It is clear to us that we can have very positive impact in this endeavor.

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A tool like this is definitely needed. I’d support this grant proposal!

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That´s the spirit!! Supercool, thx! :folded_hands:

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Hi @Luis_VOTTUN thank you for your application. I like the concept and can see the value of a product like QuestHub, but honestly I have concerns about the sustainability of such a project, both from a user acquisition and retention perspective.

For acquisition, maintaining a sustainable rewards pool and value for the credentials earned by users will require buy-in from partners across the ecosystem. You mention wanting to convince some of the bigger apps (Sovryn, PowPeg, Tropykus, etc.) to partner with you, but can you provide any additional details regarding the demand from potential ecosystem partners you’ve received or partnerships you’ve secured so far?

For retention, I wanted to point out that rabbithole.gg (a larger, more established questing and rewards product built on Ethereum) ended up pivoting away from this model due to waning engagement. I’m wondering what you think differentiates your product and how you plan to drive consistent demand to QuestHub?

Thanks again for you thorough proposal!

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Thanks for your feedback! It is true that this initiative is based on the hypothesis that partners in the ecosystem will help with the sustainability of the project. Let me explain how we think about this in the short and long term.

It is a well-established fact that partners have a genuine interest in growing the ecosystem, but obviously not at any cost. In the short term, we should prove to them that user acquisition through QuestHub is worthwhile for them compared with other acquisition channels. To this effect, we plan to provide on-chain KPIs that could establish this “worthiness” for them. For this purpose, our experience working with big companies helps us understand how to use KPIs to measure results and establish a positive feedback loop to improve the product and the relationship with these “sponsor” partners. I think this “results-oriented” approach is still needed in crypto, as sometimes “vanity” information covers real results.

In the long term, as we are providing “valuable knowledge” to users, we see this as a sustainable reward in itself, especially for users who have a professional interest in crypto. We can think of a future in which the NFT badges won in QuestHub could be used by companies in the ecosystem to hire specific profiles. If we are able to establish this reputation, we can think of a future in which users could pay for completing specific missions (quests) and getting specific certifications (NFTs). This will add a sustainable source to sustain the project itself.

Regarding retention, I don’t know the details about rabbithole.gg. There is no “secret sauce” for user retention. The only formula that we will apply is to stay close to the QuestHub product so we can understand what part of our gamified approach is working and keep quests fun and interesting. We think of our product as a video game that needs to hook players of different levels, and we have plenty of ideas to keep this engaging. Is it going to work great from the beginning? Obviously, we hope to be successful, but the reality is that we will have a lot of work understanding what works well to keep it and what is not working so well to improve it. I guess we need to be real and keep our heads down to find a successful formula for the product.

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Thank you to the Vottun team for this proposal.

We think the objectives and intentions with the app are noble and well worth pursuing, but we are not fully convinced on the idea just yet and agree with the points raised by @sam_mccarthy around the incentive model and sustainability of user engagement.

The biggest blocker for us is the proposal’s reliance on convincing RSK partners to fund the reward pool, which is not only a significant dependency but also one that lacks concrete commitments. For obvious reasons, this leaves a big question mark on the app’s viability.

Lastly, while gamification is an interesting prospect and appealing for initial onboarding, there’s also always a risk that it will attract “tourists” seeking quick gains rather than genuinely committed users. How do you ensure a continuous flow of users and relevant tasks that actually leads to deep learning rather than siloed information tasks for rewards that are then forgotten?

For these reasons, we wouldn’t support the proposal at this current stage. Securing some conditional soft commitments would be a great to address the question marks.

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Thanks for the feedback. I understand the fear of giving rewards to not “worthy users” that do not stick around, as it is so common in Web3! However, the purpose of this application it is just the opposite.

Going through the quests required users to engage more and make meaningful contributions than just retweeting a social publication; these contributions will be measured in Tx and TVL of the different projects in the ecosystem. This is real on-chain value that will benefit the whole ecosystem.

Our proposal intend to be the training camp for potential ecosystem or project ambassadors and builders. For this reason, we are talking about converting crypto-curious into power-users and builders, and these are the kind of users for whom projects would like to be involved.

I know that convincing you of getting your support is probably difficult, but anyway, we believe that a better approach to getting new users is possible, as this is a clear bet to get this done. The opportunity is high, if we are successful, RSK will had a great tool ot get new committed users that the ecosystem will be able to activate in multiple ways (hackathons, community events, etc) what means more TX and TVL, if we are not successful, the risk is low, as the proposal costs less than organizing a hackathon. I hope this consideration helps your decision. Thanks!

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Hey @Luis_VOTTUN, just wanted to quickly ask a couple of things.

Have you thought about how to leverage the Builders Club? Tamara announced it in the Grants V3 video. While it’s not launched yet, it seems like it will be a key tool to connect with other grant teams and maybe help secure funding for the reward pool, which seemed like a critical point.

Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts on how QuestHub fits with Hacktivator. Do you see them as complementary initiatives or is there some overlap?

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Hey @Kaf_StableLab
I saw Tamara´s announcement and I think it could be a great tool. I have a meeting with her this week and I will try to know more about how to find synergies with this new initiative.

Regarding the Hacktivator, we are completely complementary. Think about QuestHub as the initial part of the funnel that can guide users/builders to get excited to be part of the hacktivator or other futures initiaves.

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The proposal is out for on-chain voting!
This is the link

Thanks all in advance for your support

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We appreciate @Luis_VOTTUN for proposing this grant application. It’s clear this proposal is well-structured and demonstrates significant dedication and commitment to the Rootstock ecosystem. Education is crucial for Rootstock, both for developers and for individuals curious to explore the ecosystem. Establishing a robust educational resource like QuestHub would certainly provide a valuable and accessible pathway to onboard new contributors.

Considering QuestHub’s aim to attract both crypto curious individuals and developers, how do you envision it fostering deeper, sustained engagement within the broader RSK ecosystem beyond the initial quest completion and reward cycle? Specifically, for the Rootstock Builders track, what concrete mechanisms will you implement to encourage participants to move beyond just completing educational challenges, driving them towards actively deploying applications, contributing to existing projects, or participating in future hackathons on Rootstock?

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Hi Curia,
Thanks for your kind words.

Answering your Qs about the builder track, at Vottun, we have the tooling that a builder needs to start at RSK. In our dev platform, RSK is completely integrated, so we provide full APIs and SDKs for them to start their dApps in a very easy way. This transition from knowledge to action is pretty smooth, you just need to know how to use RestAPIs you can deploy smart contracts. create wallets, etc. In addition, we also had the experience to organize a successful hackathon for RSK, so we are certain that we can coordinate with the collective different activation events (demo days, community feedback, hackathons, buildathons, hacker houses…) to get these builders excited. Our hypothesis is that if we are able to convert crypto-curious into power-users and identify them, we can empower those with tech skills to become builders and guide them into contributing to open projects, or participate in hackathons, demo days, etc.

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Quick update as some delgates are asking…
In the previous grant with the Labs in early 2024, we focused on technical integration: building the APIs, SDKs, and developer platform components that allow teams to easily create wallets, smart contracts, and dApps on Rootstock. The new proposal has a different goal — to launch Rootstock QuestHub, a gamified onboarding and engagement platform. While the first grant laid the technical foundation, this one is aimed at activation and ecosystem growth, driving user adoption, transactions, and developer participation.
I hope this help to understand what we are trying to accomplish now.

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