[2603] Rootstock India - Milestone 1

[jatinsahijwani]

1. Project Name & Description

Project Name: Rootstock India

Rootstock India is a developer-first community initiative focused on building a sustainable, active Rootstock ecosystem presence in India. Through online community infrastructure, university workshops, city developer meetups, bounties, and educational content, we aim to onboard Indian developers and students into the Rootstock ecosystem and position Rootstock as a go-to Bitcoin-secured smart contract platform in the Indian market.

India has 21.9 million+ GitHub accounts, 1,200+ Web3 startups, and ranks 3rd globally for Web3 founders. Despite this, Rootstock currently has no dedicated community presence in the country. This initiative changes that.

The timing is critical. Devcon 2026 is coming to Mumbai, India in November 2026. The global spotlight will be on the Indian developer ecosystem throughout this year. Launching Rootstock India in April 2026 gives us a 7-month runway to build a documented, active community base before that moment arrives and to ensure that base lasts well beyond it too.

2. Team Background

Jatin Sahijwani - Project Lead

Co-founder, HackTour India | ZK and Web3 Developer

Jatin is a ZK and Web3 developer who co-founded HackTour India, one of India’s largest developer-focused Web3 communities. He has won 15+ hackathons including ETHIndia (1st position in India) and ETHGlobal New Delhi 2025 where he won the Rootstock sponsor track specifically, building a ZK infrastructure project that lets anyone plug Zero Knowledge proofs into their existing projects. He also received a grant from the Arbitrum Foundation to build a developer toolkit for their ecosystem. Through HackTour India, he has organized high-ROI events for ETHGlobal, Polkadot, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Aptos, Arweave, Stellar, Citrea, and many more ecosystems.

Links: X | Community Luma | Telegram

Anirudh Singh Chouhan - Events and Community Lead

Co-founder, HackTour India | Fullstack Web3 Developer

Fullstack Web3 developer and 15x hackathon winner including ETHIndia Villa and ETHGlobal New Delhi. Active speaker at GDG on Campus workshops, Parul University Polkadot Web3 Bootcamps, and developer workshops across India. Anirudh led HackCampus, a flagship HackTour India initiative that brought together virtually every major Indian Web3 community under one collaboration including GTU DAO, Hyderabad DAO, PU DAO, Dec. Guild, Web3Spell, 99th Floor, CryptoBliss, Bhopal DAO, Cryptoholic, Lucknow DAO, DelhiNCR DAO, and ActualOne. He handles all event organization, on-ground execution, and university partnerships.

Karan Verma - Content and Social Media Manager

Core Team, HackTour India | B.Tech CSE

Specializes in high-impact content production for Web3 communities. Produces professional event after-movies, reels, educational clips, and manages social channels across X, Instagram, and Telegram for HackTour India.

HackTour India Track Record (Operating Entity)

• 50+ events organized in 2025 for ETHGlobal, Polkadot, Stellar, Aptos, Arweave, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Citrea, Skate Blockchain, Paris Blockchain Week, QuillAI, DevdockAI, Rabble, Anryton Blockchain, and more

• 7,500+ total attendees across all events in 2025

• 23+ ecosystem partnerships, over-delivered on every single one

• 1,000+ active community members and contributors

• University chapters and on-ground networks across multiple cities in India

• Community partnerships with virtually every major Web3 community in India

3. Total Grant Amount

Total requested: $10,000 USDRIF across 4 milestones
Requesting $1,500 USDRIF for Milestone 1 (on-chain)

Milestone	Period	Budget
Milestone 1	April 2026	$1,500
Milestone 2	May 2026	$2,200
Milestone 3	June 2026	$2,800
Milestone 4	July 2026	$3,500
Total	4 months	$10,000

The budget scales progressively because Milestone 1 is online-only with minimal overhead, while Milestones 2 through 4 introduce real offline costs including venue logistics, travel, printed materials, merchandise, and facilitator support.

4. Milestone 1 Deliverables

April 2026 | $1,500 USDRIF

Objective: Launch Rootstock India’s online presence from zero to an active, engaged developer community.

Deliverables:

• Launch dedicated Rootstock India X account and Telegram community

• Publish 8 educational posts and threads covering Rootstock fundamentals, Bitcoin smart contracts, EVM compatibility, and developer onboarding

• Host 2 online events (Google Meet): Introduction to Rootstock and a developer AMA, with a minimum attendance of 50 developers in each online event

• Launch 1 community bounty (Focusing on growing community, increase visibility and community growth)

• Complete the bounty with a minimum of 15 submissions

• Onboard 100+ members to Telegram

• 100+ Followers on X

• Produce 1 recap post per online event

KPIs:

• 100+ Telegram members by end of April

• 100+ X followers on Rootstock India account

• 2 online events completed with documented attendance screenshots

• 8 educational content pieces published with links

• 1 bounty completed with minimum 15 submissions

Budget Breakdown:

Item	Amount
Content creation (graphics, educational posts, design)	$350
Online event hosting and facilitation	$300
Operations and coordination	$300
Community tools and platform setup	$300
Bounty prize pool	$250
Total	$1,500

5. Milestone 2 Deliverables

May 2026 | $2,200 USDRIF

Objective: Shift from online-only to on-ground university workshops, leveraging HackTour India’s existing university chapter network across India.

Deliverables:

• Host 2 university workshops in 2 cities (3-4 hour sessions covering Rootstock architecture, smart contract development on RSK, wallet setup, and ecosystem overview)

• Publish 8 educational content pieces excluding 2 event announcement posts and 2 workshop recaps/aftermovies

• Host 1 online event (community update and developer Q&A)

• Launch 1 technical bounty (deploy a smart contract)

• Launch 1 community bounty

• Onboard 100+ new developers through each workshops

• Maintain and grow online community channels

• Produce 2 professional event after-movie for each events

KPIs:

• 2 university workshops completed, minimum 100 attendees each (200 total), verified via event photos and official Rootstock India Luma page

• 200+ new developers added to community channels

• 300+ Telegram members total by end of May

• 200+ x followers total by end of May

• 8 content pieces published with links + 2 event announcements + 2 event aftermovies

• 1 dev bounty with minimum 50 on-chain submissions (smart contract deployment) (300$) + 1 community bounty with minimum 25 submissions (100$)

• 125+ new wallets created during offline events

Budget Breakdown:

Item	Amount
Workshop venue, logistics, swags, refreshments (2 universities, 2 cities)	$1000
Online event hosting and facilitation	$150
Content creation (recaps, educational posts)	$350
Operations and coordination	$300
Bounty prize pool	$400
Total	$2,200

7. Milestone 3 Deliverables

June 2026 | $2,800 USDRIF

Objective: Scale offline reach to more cities and introduce the city developer meetup format alongside continued university workshops.

Deliverables:

• Host 2 university workshops in 2 new cities

• Host 1 city developer meetup (curated format, 40-60 developers and students)

• Publish 8 educational content pieces including technical deep-dives on Rootstock + 3 event announcements + 3 event aftermovies

• Host 1 online event (community milestone update and ecosystem showcase)

• Launch 1 bounty (smart contract deployment) and 1 community bounty

• Produce 3 professional event after-movie for each events

KPIs:

• 3 offline events completed (2 workshops plus 1 meetup), minimum 250 total attendees

• 500+ Telegram members total by end of June

• 350+ X followers on Rootstock India account

• 8 content pieces published with links + 3 event announcements + 3 event aftermovies

• 3 professional after-movie published

• 1 bounty with minimum 75 on-chain submissions (smart contract deployment)

Budget Breakdown:

Item	Amount
Workshop venue, logistics, swags, refreshments (2 universities, 2 cities)	$1000
City Meetup venue, logistics, swags, f&b	$600
Online event hosting and facilitation	$150
Content creation (recaps, educational posts)	$350
Operations and coordination	$300
Bounty prize pool	$400
Total	$2,800

9. Milestone 4 Deliverables

July 2026 | $3,500 USDRIF

Objective: Execute the highest-volume month of the initiative to establish Rootstock India as a recognized and active community before Devcon 2026 in Mumbai in November.

Deliverables:

• Host 1 university workshops

• Host 1 city developer meetup (scaled format, 60-80 attendees)

• Publish 10 educational content pieces including a full 4-month community impact report and event announcements

• Host 1 online event (ecosystem update and community AMA)

• Launch 1 bounty (open-ended build challenge on Rootstock)

• Produce 2 professional after-movie

• Deliver a full activity, metrics, and budget report covering all 4 milestones

KPIs:

• 2 offline events completed (1 workshop plus 1 meetup), minimum 150 total attendees

• 700+ Telegram members total by end of July

• 500+ X followers on Rootstock India account

• 10 content pieces plus 1 community impact report published

• 1 bounty with minimum 15 project/dapp submissions

• 600+ total developers reached across all 4 months

Budget Breakdown:

Item	Amount
Workshop venue, logistics, swags, refreshments	$600
City Meetup venue, logistics, swags, f&b	$700
Online event hosting and facilitation	$150
Content creation (recaps, educational posts)	$450
Operations and coordination	$400
Bounty prize pool	$1000
Full detailed impact report	$200
Total	$3,500

11. Timeline

Month	Phase	Key Activities
April 2026	Milestone 1	Online community launch, X and Telegram setup, 2 online events, 1 bounty
May 2026	Milestone 2	2 university workshops, 1 online event, 1 bounty, community growth
June 2026	Milestone 3	2 university workshops, 1 city meetup, 1 online event, 1 bounty, after-movies
July 2026	Milestone 4	1 university workshops, 1 city meetup, 1 online event, 1 bounty (project/dapp), impact report
November 2026	Devcon Mumbai	Rootstock India active and visible at India’s biggest Web3 moment

Each milestone will be followed by a full activity report with photos, content links, on-chain bounty submissions, and community growth metrics before the next tranche is requested.

Please Note : This proposal aims to kickstart the developer community within the Indian ecosystem, serving as a foundational Proof-of-Work for future Rootstock India initiatives.

13. Technical Specs

Bounties: Each milestone includes a developer bounty with on-chain deliverables. Participants will deploy smart contracts or build DApps on the Rootstock testnet. All submissions will be shared as verifiable on-chain transaction hashes or public GitHub repositories.

Smart contract workshops: Hands-on sessions will cover Solidity smart contract development specifically on the RSK network, EVM compatibility, RSK wallet integrations (Metamask + RSK RPC), interaction with existing Rootstock DeFi protocols, and testnet deployment walkthroughs.

Community tooling: Telegram community with bots for announcements, onboarding flows, and bounty tracking. X account for public-facing content and ecosystem updates. All content and event documentation will be publicly accessible.

Metrics tracking: Community channel growth is publicly verifiable. Bounty submissions will be logged and linked. Event attendance will be documented via registration forms, photos, and recap posts. All reporting will be transparent and submitted before each new milestone tranche request.

GitHub: A public GitHub repository will be created and maintained for Rootstock India containing educational resources, smart contract examples, workshop materials, and bounty submission records.

15. Value Prop for Rootstock

India is one of the clearest growth opportunities in the global Web3 ecosystem right now. The numbers speak for themselves: 21.9 million+ GitHub accounts from India, 1,200+ Web3 startups, 3rd globally for Web3 founders, and consistent top rankings for crypto adoption. The majority of active Indian Web3 developers are university students, which means this is a young, motivated, and growing audience.

Rootstock’s positioning as Bitcoin-secured smart contracts with EVM compatibility is a compelling story for Indian developers. They are already familiar with Ethereum tooling. They understand Bitcoin. Rootstock is the natural bridge, and no one is telling that story in India right now.

Beyond developer onboarding, Rootstock India will actively promote existing Rootstock protocols and projects to the Indian market, helping them acquire quality users from one of the world’s largest developer bases.

With Devcon 2026 in Mumbai, the global Web3 ecosystem will converge on India later this year. Ecosystems that have a visible, active community presence before Devcon will benefit significantly from that attention. Rootstock India, launched in April 2026, will be that presence for the Rootstock ecosystem.

The team executing this is not starting cold. HackTour India organized 50+ events for 7,500+ attendees across 23+ ecosystem partnerships in 2025 and over-delivered every single time. We have the university chapters, the community relationships across every major Indian Web3 community, and the operational experience to execute this immediately and at high quality.

17. Demo and GitHub repo

• HackTour India X (event proof and community activity): @HackTourIND

• HackTour India past events (Luma)

• Rootstock India GitHub: Repository will be created and linked at Milestone 1 delivery

• Rootstock India X: To be launched at Milestone 1

• Rootstock India Telegram: To be launched at Milestone 1

18. Video Pitch:

Video Pitch

[jatinsahijwani]

Content portfolio: After-movie 1 | After-movie 2 | After-movie 3 | After-movie 4 | After-movie 5

[jatinsahijwani]

Rootstock India is now live on-chain for voting!

We’d love the community’s questions, suggestions, and feedback around the proposal.

cc @ChronoTrigger @Tane @404Gov @Curia @Ignas

[DAOstar_gov]

Hello @jatinsahijwani , thank you for posting this new grant request, however, we have voted against it, not based upon the merits of the grant (which we haven’t been afforded a full opportunity to review), but due to the initial posting of this grant onto Forum which did not have any delegate commentary, you had then moved it an on-chain vote 24 hours later. This is not collective decision making. If this proposal does not pass, please resubmit it and allow for enough time on Forum to provide all delegates the opportunity to comment and ask questions.

[Eren_DAOplomats]

Welcome to Rootstock @jatinsahijwani and team. Your team’s history of executing massive Web3 events in India is impressive. How will you coordinate with Rootstock Labs to tailor your workshop curriculums around current high-priority ecosystem gaps rather than just generic smart contract deployments? Finally, beyond raw attendance numbers, what specific metric will you use at the end of July to prove this newly onboarded community is genuinely sticky and self-sustaining? Also pushing a proposal to an on-chain vote within 24 hours of the initial forum post completely undermines our governance standards and robs delegates of the opportunity to conduct proper due diligence. We hope you resubmit this properly.

[ChronoTrigger]

Hey @jatinsahijwani, The HackTour India track record is genuinely impressive. 50+ events, 7,500+ attendees, 23 ecosystem partnerships. But at the same time, this track record can be a double-edged sword. Having delivered for Polkadot, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Aptos, Stellar and so many others, is this a community initiative built around a genuine understanding of Rootstock, or is it a proven playbook with Rootstock’s logo swapped in? I think the proposal in its current form leans toward the latter. There’s no mention of rBTC, merged mining, specific protocols live on the network, or any coordination with Rootstock Labs. If Rootstock India is going to be the ecosystem’s presence in the country, delegates need to see that the team understands what makes Rootstock unique as a Bitcoin L2, not just that it’s EVM compatible, as all the others.

On KPIs: The current success metrics are almost entirely vanity numbers. Telegram members, X followers, event headcounts. These are easy to acquire with campaigns and tell us very little about actual ecosystem impact. What matters is whether developers actually build on Rootstock after engaging with your initiative. I’d want to see conversion-oriented KPIs like testnet-to-mainnet deployment rates, developer retention 30 days post-event, or GitHub contributions to Rootstock projects. The bounty design has the same issue. “50 on-chain testnet deployments” sounds impressive but a test contract can be deployed in five minutes. What’s the quality bar?

On Devcon Mumbai 2026: The proposal ends in July but Devcon Mumbai is November. That’s a 4-month blackout right when momentum should be peaking. If Devcon is the strategic justification for launching now, the narrative should account for how the community stays active through that period, even if this specific grant only covers April through July.

On process: Submitting this on-chain before the forum discussion has had time to develop is not standard practice in any DAOs. Proposals benefit from a few weeks of delegate feedback and iteration, it builds stronger support and results in better outcomes. I’d suggest planning spending 3 to 4 weeks incorporating feedback, and resubmitting a tighter version. The potential is clearly there, the execution plan just needs refinement to match it.

[SEEDGov]

As we stated on our delegation platform, we initially voted against the proposal, as we do not consider it good governance practice to promote debate and exchange of views by publishing a proposal on a Friday and bringing it to a vote just 24 hours later, on a Saturday. There is no justification for proceeding with such urgency.

Regarding the substance of the proposal, we echo @ChronoTrigger’ considerations and add that producing educational content about Rootstock requires prior coordination with the Lab and/or the DAO to ensure that the quality meets expected standards. It is also necessary to establish a clear framework for the use of Rootstock’s intellectual property, as well as to define in what capacity the presenters would be acting. This is particularly important given that these proposed events would be organized by a chain-agnostic web3 community, and they will not include the presence of the Lab team or official Rootstock ambassadors, which requires a higher level of rigor in both content and communication.

We encourage the author to resubmit the proposal, providing sufficient time for discussion and addressing the initial feedback provided by the delegates.

[jatinsahijwani]

Thank you for the feedback and for taking the time to clarify the reasoning behind the vote.

You are absolutely right and we completely acknowledge the mistake. Moving the proposal on-chain without allowing sufficient time for delegate commentary was not the right approach and we understand why that undermines the collective decision making process that this DAO is built on.

This was our first proposal on RootstockCollective and we were not fully aware of the expected timeline between forum posting and on-chain submission. That is on us and we take full responsibility for it.

If this proposal does not pass, we will resubmit and ensure that delegates have ample time to review, ask questions and share feedback before anything goes on-chain. We are genuinely here to build with the community, not bypass it.

We appreciate your transparency and look forward to earning the community’s trust through the right process.

[jatinsahijwani]

Thank you for the warm welcome and for the detailed, constructive feedback, it’s genuinely appreciated!

We completely agree that moving to an on-chain vote so quickly after the forum post was a mistake and undermined the proper due diligence process. As we mentioned in our earlier reply, this was our first proposal here and we take full responsibility. If the current vote does not pass, we will immediately resubmit with a full 7–10 day discussion window before any on-chain action. We’re committed to following Rootstock Collective’s governance standards moving forward.

On coordinating with Rootstock Labs for curriculum tailoring: We will reach out directly to the Rootstock Labs devrel and education team before starting any workshop-related activities (via official channels and the Ambassador Program). Our content and workshops will be tailored around Rootstock’s current high-priority areas such as Bitcoin Liquid Staking, BTCFi primitives, USDT0 and stablecoin integrations, gas-efficient DeFi patterns, and practical EVM-on-Bitcoin onboarding rather than generic smart contract tutorials. We’re happy to share the draft curriculum with Labs for feedback and potential co-branding before publishing any materials.

On proving the community is genuinely sticky and self-sustaining by end of July (beyond raw attendance): We will track and report these specific, verifiable metrics at Milestone 1 close:

• Retention: At least 35–40% of Milestone 1 participants remain actively engaged after 30 days (defined as ≥3 messages/replies in Telegram or attending a follow-up event).
• On-chain Activation: At least 10–15 developers complete a meaningful first action on Rootstock (e.g., contract deployment through the bounty, BTC bridging, or interacting with a dApp) — trackable via blockchain explorer.
• Organic Contribution: At least 3-4 initiatives started by community members themselves (e.g., member-led threads, mini-AMAs, or helping onboard others), plus visible organic growth.

All of this will be documented in a public Milestone 1 report with screenshots, links, and analytics for full transparency.

[DAOstar_gov]

Hello @jatinsahijwani , no worries and totally understandable. We look forward to you re-submitting your proposal (we suggest onto this same thread, so it provides consistancy for review by delegates).

We also suggest that before you do re-submit your proposal to this thread, that you review the comments from some of the delegates who did provide some initial feedback, in case you want to address their concerns into a more refined proposal. And as a tip, we also suggest you read the delegate’s voting rationales from your recent on-chain vote, to gain more insight and feedback. We look forward to reviewing your re-submitted proposal and working with you. Thank you!

[jatinsahijwani]

Thank you @ChronoTrigger for the detailed and honest feedback. We genuinely appreciate the time you took to review the proposal and raise these important points.

We fully agree that submitting the proposal to an on-chain vote so quickly was a mistake. As mentioned in our earlier reply, this is our first proposal in the Rootstock Collective. We underestimated the expected forum discussion period and take full responsibility. If the current vote does not pass, we will immediately resubmit after a proper 3 to 4 week discussion window to incorporate feedback and build stronger support.

On the double-edged sword of our track record: Our campaigns and events for other ecosystems have always been unique with different sets of KPIs. While social media posts and event photos are across most initiatives, the core deliverables have varied significantly. Some events focused on introducing students to a new chain, helping them create wallets, and guiding their first builds. Others involved testnet deployments of actual projects or helping participants join async hackathons. We have consistently outperformed expectations in every single initiative we have run till date.

This is not about swapping the Rootstock logo into an existing playbook. We are committed to providing real and meaningful value to the Rootstock ecosystem through Rootstock India.

On showing genuine understanding of Rootstock’s uniqueness: Rootstock stands out as a Bitcoin L2 because of its deep Bitcoin integration. Key elements include rBTC (1:1 pegged via the PowPeg bridge), merged mining (secured by a large portion of Bitcoin’s hashpower), and the ability to bring Bitcoin liquidity into smart contracts and BTCFi primitives in a trust-minimized way. Our content, workshops, and bounties will specifically highlight these aspects along with live protocols on the network. We will also coordinate closely with Rootstock Labs before any workshops to align with current ecosystem priorities.

On KPIs and moving beyond vanity metrics: We agree that raw numbers like Telegram members, X followers, and simple headcounts are not sufficient. We want to deliver actual ecosystem impact. What do you think would be a good enough KPI for the events and activities that would align the most with the Rootstock ecosystem? We are open to refining our metrics in that direction so we can provide as much value as possible.

For the current bounty, we will raise the quality bar beyond simple test deployments. Submissions will need to demonstrate understanding of Rootstock-specific features such as rBTC handling.

On the Devcon Mumbai timeline gap: The grant scope ends in July, but our work for Rootstock India will not stop there. After this initial phase, we will continue community activities including events and workshops. However, we will shift to a more strategic approach. This includes focusing on bigger events, actively getting Rootstock into major Indian hackathons, encouraging developers to actually build on Rootstock, helping strong projects apply for ecosystem grants (when they fully align), guiding builders to create meaningful tools and infrastructure, and supporting teams to convert hackathon projects into real-world products. This long-term vision is at the core of Rootstock India.

We believe there is strong potential to build a genuine and impactful Rootstock presence in India, especially ahead of Devcon Mumbai in November 2026. We are fully committed to refining the proposal based on delegate feedback to make it much stronger.

We are happy to update the proposal with these details if that helps. Thank you again for the constructive input.

[jatinsahijwani]

Thank you for your feedback and for sharing your delegation platform rationale. We fully understand and respect your decision to vote against due to the rushed process.

We completely agree that posting the proposal on a Friday and moving to an on-chain vote within 24 hours (on a Saturday) was not good governance practice and left no meaningful time for discussion. There was no justification for such urgency, and we take full responsibility as this was our first proposal in the Rootstock Collective. If the current vote does not pass, we will immediately resubmit after allowing a proper 3 to 4 week forum discussion period to incorporate all delegate feedback and build stronger support.

On coordination, content quality, intellectual property, and framework for events:

We acknowledge the importance of these points, especially since Rootstock India will be run as a separate entity from our chain-agnostic HackTour India initiative. Rootstock India will exist solely to promote the Rootstock ecosystem and will strictly follow all Rootstock guidelines, branding, and communication standards.

To address this clearly:

• We will reach out to Rootstock Labs (via official devrel/education channels and the Ambassador Program) before starting any workshop or educational content creation.
• We will seek prior review and alignment on all educational materials to ensure they meet the expected quality standards.
• We will establish a clear framework for the use of Rootstock’s intellectual property, branding, and communication guidelines.
• Presenters will clearly state that they are organizing as part of the independent Rootstock India community initiative, while working in close coordination with the ecosystem.

We are committed to maintaining high rigor in both content and messaging so that the community receives accurate and valuable information about Rootstock.

We have already begun studying Rootstock’s unique strengths (rBTC via PowPeg, merged mining, BTCFi primitives, etc.) and will tailor all content accordingly rather than keeping it generic.

We appreciate the constructive guidance and are happy to refine the proposal with these details during the next discussion period. We are also open to a quick call if that would help clarify any points.

Thank you again for the detailed input. We are committed to doing this the right way and delivering real value to the Rootstock ecosystem in India.

[jatinsahijwani]

Thank you for the kind message and for the helpful suggestions. We really appreciate the guidance!

We will carefully review all the delegate comments from the thread as well as the voting rationales from the recent on-chain vote. We will analyze everything thoroughly and incorporate the valuable feedback to create a more refined and stronger proposal.

We will re-submit the updated version in this same thread soon.

We are looking forward to your review and to working together to build a meaningful Rootstock community in India.

Thank you once again!