[2510 Grant] Zerem Finance - Real World Asset (RWA) lending aggregator focused on residential real estate acquisition

Grants & Incentives
21

Update: Zerem.fi (beta.zerem.fi) — Engineering Hardening & Pre-Launch Report

Report to: Roostock Collective
Period covered: Pre-Mainnet Hardening & Beta Stabilization (Q1 2026)

1. Outcomes Achieved

Outcome 1

Platform-wide bug remediation & stability hardening

:white_check_mark: Status: Achieved (Beta Hardening Phase)

Over the last development cycle, Zerem completed an intensive hardening process focused on stability, correctness, and operational reliability.

Key achievements:

  • Resolution of 10+ production-level bugs across:
    • Loan execution flows
    • Portfolio visualization
    • Wallet session handling
    • Transaction consistency
  • Significant reduction in unexpected execution edge cases
  • Improved UI/UX resilience during wallet interaction and transaction signing

Outcome 2

Security infrastructure upgrade

:white_check_mark: Status: Achieved (Major Security Update)

Zerem implemented a major upgrade to its security infrastructure to prepare the platform for broader adoption and public release.

Improvements include:

  • Reinforced authentication & session control mechanisms
  • Hardened transaction validation flows
  • Strengthened backend permission isolation
  • Improved monitoring and logging pipelines
  • Safer wallet–backend communication layers

Outcome 3

Pre-Mainnet stabilization & readiness

:white_check_mark: Status: Achieved (Pre-Launch Phase)

Zerem is now completing its final stabilization phase:

  • All critical and high-priority issues are being resolved
  • Core flows are now stable and fully production-ready
  • Internal QA cycles indicate readiness for post-beta public usage

Outcome 4

Transparency & community accountability infrastructure

:white_check_mark: Status: In Progress (Pre-Release)

Zerem is preparing the release of a public transparency endpoint that will allow the community to:

  • View live platform activity
  • Monitor wallet usage and on-chain execution
  • Inspect aggregate lending and usage metrics

2. Deliverables Completed

2.1 Platform Hardening Sprint

:white_check_mark: Delivered

  • Multi-module bug remediation
  • Stability and execution flow refactors
  • Edge-case elimination in borrower journeys

2.2 Security Infrastructure Upgrade

:white_check_mark: Delivered

  • Hardened backend security layers
  • Improved permission isolation
  • Safer transaction pipelines
  • Enhanced monitoring and alerting

2.3 Pre-Mainnet Readiness Pipeline

:white_check_mark: Delivered

  • QA cycles and regression validation
  • Pre-production configuration hardening
  • Launch readiness workflows

2.4 Transparency Endpoint

:construction: In final development

  • Community-facing transparency API
  • Aggregate lending and usage data
  • On-chain aligned data exposure

3. Beta Platform Status

Platform: https://beta.zerem.fi

Zerem is currently operating in its final beta phase:

  • Core lending and portfolio flows are stable
  • Infrastructure is security-hardened
  • The system is undergoing final pre-launch checks
  • Transparency tooling is about to be released

4. Community Call to Action

Zerem invites:

  • DeFi users and RWA investors
  • Real estate developers and automotive agencies
  • Builders and ecosystem partners

to:

  • Explore and use the beta application at https://beta.zerem.fi
  • Test the platform and submit feedback
  • Suggest features and improvements
  • Publish asset inventory and request integration

5. Summary

With the support of the Roostock Collective, Zerem has:

  • Hardened its production infrastructure
  • Resolved 10+ critical bugs
  • Deployed major security upgrades
  • Stabilized all core borrower flows
  • Entered its final beta-to-mainnet transition phase
  • Prepared transparency infrastructure for public release

Zerem is now production-ready and entering its public expansion phase.

22

Thank you @Ezequiel. I gave another pass at the beta platform— looks good!

How does this update that you provided track with the Milestone deliverables? Is this update still related to Milestone 1?

23

Hi @Axia, thanks for the kind words about our product!

As shared in the previous update, Milestone 1 deliverables are completed and fully verifiable on the platform. This latest update is still aligned with that scope, but also reflects ongoing improvements we’re making beyond the original milestone.

We’re iterating daily — fixing bugs, refining UX, and shipping small but meaningful features that enhance the platform. We wanted to proactively share this progress with the community as we keep building.

We’ll keep rolling out updates and make sure to answer all community questions along the way.

Thanks.
Ezequiel

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24

Thanks for the update, @Ezequiel.

We are still waiting for the dashboard for verifiable data so that we can review them.

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25

Hi @Tane, you can access it here: Zerem - Web3 Marketplace.

You’ll be asked to log in and request access — I’ll approve it.

Once access is granted, the next time you log in you’ll see a Transparency menu.

If you have any questions or would like to see specific metrics (as long as they don’t conflict with compliance), just let me know.

3 Likes
26

Update #3

  • We’re happy to announce the launch of our Transparency Page, designed to give the community clear visibility into our progress and operations.
  • :link: Zerem - Web3 Marketplace
    (Access requires login and a simple access request, which will be approved.)
  • Clarification:
    • Inventory data is sourced directly from our internal database.
    • User-related metrics are pulled from the Privy console.
    • We plan to add more metrics over time, provided they remain compliant with regulatory requirements.

We welcome any suggestions or ideas for additional metrics you’d like to see.

Thanks

2 Likes
27

Thanks for granting the access to our account.

Is it possible to make this number visible on the dashboard as well? Again, thanks for your continuous engagement!

28

Hi @Tane, this one is not so straightforward.

To do this properly, we would need to track each user’s wallet (or multiple wallets), their positions, balances for specific tokens (such as the cTokens received from Tropykus), the dates those positions were opened, and whether those tokens were used as collateral.

Our product is fully self-custodial. We only intermediate custody when users explicitly choose to ramp or convert between sellers and buyers, and only if both parties agree.

I tried generating a report using Dune, but it currently doesn’t support RSK.

Given the self-custodial nature of the product and privacy considerations, we’re not able to share traceable, wallet-level information without explicit user consent.

That said, we’re actively working on expanding aggregated and non-identifiable activity metrics within our applications, and we expect to improve the level of reporting we can provide to the community over time.

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29

Thanks for the clarification.

We weren’t aware of this. This is something that needs to be addressed from Rootstock side!

30

I have requested access as well! Thanks in advance.

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31

Gm @Ezequiel , thank you so much for this proposal, overall, we really like it. Very well thought out and defined. The RWA market could become a natural fit for Rootstock, and allow us to differentiate the protocol, while solving a real-world problem of access to capital in LATAM.

We’ve been following along the discussions, and looking ahead to Milestone 3, as we have a couple of questions regarding the allocation of funds.

  1. You stated Zerem earned $15k in Q3 2025 from tokenization and already has 6 developers onboarded. Why is $10,000 of DAO funds required for the Seller Portal if this business unit is already generating revenue? Can you provide more details of what these tokenized services were?

  2. Your awareness marketing events in December are a great start! We wonder if you could provide more details for your Go-to-marketing campaign that is included in your Milestone 4 budget. Can you provide a breakdown of how the “10,000+ user” KPI will be achieved without a dedicated marketing spend?

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32

Agree with @DAOstar_gov here that hitting 10,000 users without a dedicated marketing budget seems very optimistic for an RWA product. Is this target based on secured partnerships or a specific strategy we haven’t seen yet?
Since you mentioned you are already generating revenue from tokenization, I assume the current process is largely manual or high-touch. Is the requested funding for the Seller Portal specifically to pivot from a “concierge” service to a self-serve SaaS model? Clarifying this “before and after” would help us better understand the specific value this build brings to the ecosystem.

Looking forward to the details.

33

Thanks for the questions — brief clarifications below.

Milestone 3 (Seller Portal):
The $15k revenue in Q3 2025 comes from a separate bespoke tokenization vertical, out of scope of this grant. Current listings are handled via partnerships and manual ingestion. The Seller Portal enables a new self-serve capability requiring compliance processes, KYC/AML, secure data handling, and seller onboarding. The $10k request enables this new infrastructure, not an existing revenue stream.

Milestone 4 (GTM & 10k users):
Marketing will be funded with internal capital. We are finalizing a high-leverage distribution initiative expected to materially accelerate adoption; details will be shared closer to execution.

Happy to clarify further if needed.

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34

On the 10,000 user target , we agree that this would be optimistic for an RWA product without leverage. The target is based on ongoing work with potential partners and a distribution approach that could provide significant user exposure , but we are still early and cannot share details at this stage.

Regarding the Seller Portal , your assumption is correct. Today, sellers share their information with us and listings are published manually . The Seller Portal is intended to shift this process so that third-party sellers can list directly , which requires additional infrastructure such as KYC, compliance, and data handling workflows. The requested funding is specifically to enable this transition from a high-touch process to a self-serve model.

Tokenization projects themselves are private, bespoke engagements and are out of scope of this grant , though they are expected to integrate into the same platform over time.

Looking forward to sharing more details as things progress.

35

Thank you so much, @Ezequiel for the responses to my questions. I understand the distinction between your bespoke services and this new self-serve vertical.

I’d like to get more details of your Milestone 4 and the Go-To-Market plan behind the portal request to ensure we are being responsible with treasury funds. I’ve seen it numerous times previously, where most successful projects fail not because of the technology, but because the GTM was an afterthought, or it’s not executed correctly.

  • You mentioned that marketing details will be shared closer to execution, and I know that you’re in the middle of finalizing a distribution agreement. However, for the DAO to approve a $10k infrastructure spend now, we would need to see the ‘adoption engine’ now, before we could support this proposal. Can you share the specific distribution logic (partnerships, channels, or user-incentive models) that gives you confidence in the 10,000-user KPI?

  • To justify the DAO’s $10k investment, what is the expected logic for cost-reduction or throughput? Specifically, how many more sellers can you onboard per month with this portal compared to your current manual process?

  • How are you defining a ‘user’ for this KPI? (e.g., Is it a unique wallet connection, a completed KYC, or a first listing?)

1 Like
36

Hi @DAOstar_gov , here are some answers

Regarding Marketing:
This request does not include marketing spend. Marketing and co-marketing are scoped to milestone 4. But not as a deliverable not as expense. We just delivered the first milestone.

Adoption is driven by partner distribution, not paid acquisition. At least not yet.

Active / in-progress channels:

  • Tropykus
  • MoneyOnChain
  • Rootstock
  • V6 Cars (live inventory aggregator)
  • Builders / developers publishing

These are active integrations.

Regarding 10K KPI:
The KPI assumes a very small capture of an existing market, not broad crypto adoption.

  • Argentina: ~10M crypto users
  • Average users in Argentina exchanges: ~4M
  • 1.8M used cars sold / year
  • Brazil: ~100k builders, ~1M new housing units

Capturing ~0.1% of users already transacting in cars or housing supports the 10k target.
This estimate is Argentina-only; the platform is built for LATAM expansion.

Regarding seller portal:
This investment unlocks scale, not short-term savings.

Without a seller portal:

  • Manual onboarding
  • Manual due diligence
  • Manual inventory management
    → Does not scale.

With a seller portal:

  • Self-onboarding sellers
  • Standardized due diligence
  • Automated inventory publishing

Conversion probability (instant payment / credit) is driven primarily by inventory depth.

Regarding user definition and metrics:

We track multiple engagement layers due to the hybrid Web3 + marketplace model.

Current metrics:

  1. Unique IPs (transparency page)
  2. Unique Privy users (may control multiple wallets)
  3. Unique wallets (planned)
  4. KYC-completed users
  5. Transactions:
    5.1 Collateral
    5.2 Loans
    5.3 Ramps
    5.4 Conversions
  6. Loans taken
  7. Listings
  8. Purchases
  9. Active partners (builders / dealers)

Web3-native metrics: (2), (3), (5)
Marketplace/GTM metrics: (1), (4), (7), (8), (9)

This defines the funnel: current focus is Web3 traction and infra, while Web2 metrics are being built in parallel.

We are open to aligning with the DAO on a single primary KPI definition (e.g. Privy user, KYC user, or transacting user) for future milestones.

I hope this addresses your questions. You can request access to Zerem - Web3 Marketplace. If there are specific metrics you’d like to see that are not currently listed, let us know and we can add them.

2 Likes
37

Thank you, @Ezequiel for your very detailed response. I appreciate the clarity on how the Seller Portal shifts Zerem from a bespoke service to a scalable infrastructure, as that logic makes a lot of sense.

I want to ensure we have a realistic and verifiable “success story” for the community. I have two follow-up points regarding the GTM strategy and the metrics:

1. The 10,000 User KPI & Conversion Friction: You mentioned that capturing 0.1% of the Argentine market supports your 10,000-user target. While 0.1% sounds small on paper, the “drop-off” in RWA funnels (due to KYC and legal onboarding) is traditionally very high. Since this request does not include a dedicated marketing spend, how does the portal specifically address this friction? I’m looking to understand the conversion hooks that will move a user from a partner’s site into a completed KYC and an active loan on Zerem without a paid acquisition budget?

2. Incentive Alignment with Partners: The partner distribution model with Tropykus and MoneyOnChain is efficient, but these partners naturally prioritize their own native interfaces. What is the specific driver that makes these partners want to route their users to Zerem? Understanding the “win-win” logic here, whether it’s a unique inventory feature or a revenue share model, is critical to believing in the 10k user goal.

3. Hardening the Primary KPI: I am encouraged by your openness to aligning on a primary metric. To ensure we are reporting real utility to the DAO, I propose we move away from “Unique IPs” or “logins” and focus on “KYC-verified users with an active transaction” (collateral/loan) as the North Star for Milestone 4.

Finally, would you be comfortable defining the success of the final milestone based on this transacting user count? It would provide the most transparent ROI for the Rootstock treasury. Thanks!

1 Like
38

Hi @DAOstar_gov — we are currently working on a deal that directly addresses your first concern (KYC, friction, 10k users, etc.). We’re not able to announce details yet, but we expect to do so in approximately two weeks. The deal has already been signed and reviewed from a compliance perspective; we simply prefer to share it once we can provide more precise information.

Regarding the second concern around alignment: our partners operate under different business models, and for them it wouldn’t make sense to take on this part of the business, as it would negatively impact their existing operations.

On metrics, we acknowledge the point and will work on defining them more clearly.

As for using transactions as a key metric, we may need to revisit the order of the milestones and potentially redefine the associated KPIs. In any case, this applies to the fourth milestone, and we can refine those KPIs once we reach that stage.

Thanks.

3 Likes
39

Hello @Ezequiel , thank you so much for the updates, and appreciate the additional details. It is encouraging to hear that a deal has been signed to address the onboarding and distribution hurdles, and we’re looking forward to the public announcement!

To ensure we stay aligned on the project’s growth and accountability as we move toward the next stages, we have a couple of follow-up points:

1. The 10,000 User KPI & Conversion Friction: While the signed deal is a great step, we want to ensure the Seller Portal (the focus of M3) is built to handle the inherent friction of RWA onboarding. Even with a 0.1% market capture target, KYC and legal documentation traditionally cause high drop-off rates.

Ques: How will the portal specifically address this onboarding friction technically? We’re looking to understand the conversion hooks or automated features being built into the portal that will ensure that it moves users from “signed in” to “transacting” without a dedicated marketing budget.

2. Deepening Partner Incentives: We appreciate the point that partners don’t want to compete with this model. However, to help us understand the long-term scalability, could you clarify the “win-win” logic?

Ques: What is the primary driver that makes these partners want to route their users to Zerem rather than keeping them in their native apps? Knowing if this is driven by a shared fee model or a unique data service would give us more confidence in the 10k user goal.

3. Hardening the Primary KPI: We are encouraged by your willingness to refine the metrics. To ensure we are reporting real utility to the Rootstock treasury, We would like to reiterate the importance of a rigorous “North Star.” By defining the primary success metric for the final stage as “KYC-verified users with an active transaction” (collateral/loan) rather than “Unique IPs” or "logins”, provides proof of work with high-quality, on-chain activity. Thanks!

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40

Hi @DAOstar_gov today we will do an announcement to address all this.
We were in contact we collective representatives already.

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