After discussion with all DVs, they all recommended us to apply through Marketing Bounty, so please vote NAY

Previous discussion post link: 

https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referenda/1364 

Short background why we submit this proposal: 

Last time, we submitted a proposal (https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referenda/1364) and, based on feedback from members of ChaosDAO and KusDAO, we were advised to submit it to MB instead. As a result, we paused the treasury submission and redirected our efforts to MB. However, there have been delays on the MB side (of course I should check more often with MB, as I submitted on 1/3/2025, checked on 2/3/2025 and then 4/12/2025). Unfortunately, we have not received any good luck from MB, and now it is over four months.

While we have continued to build during this time (you can check the full proposal for what we had done), the community truly needs support. I don't want to miss the opportunity to nurture talent within the Chinese-speaking Polkadot community — from content creators and event organizers to Twitter hosts and community managers. After recent discussions with team member from MB, they suggested that I submit the proposal directly to OpenGov if I want to get the fund now, as the APAC arm within MB may still require more time to become fully operational.

Proponent: 1got2QxVB1mdnWHZ5onsNaHD7u8R6G3B9wGmC5a43iCXHjr

Date: 2025/5/1

Duration: 12 Months

Proposal Payment: 185240 usdt 

Short description: This proposal seeks to secure continued funding for the AIWeb3 Chinese Unit (爱Web3 中文社区) over the next 12 months. From the beginning, our mission has been to lead decentralized Web3 education, focusing on content, community, and technology.

In the content realm, we’ve supported over 23 Chinese creators, launched the AIWeb3 channel "加密大事件" for high quality content, the Polkadot Academy channel, and published articles on Subsocial. Despite the bear market, we’ve consistently produced original content for the Polkadot ecosystem.

Our community spans Chinese and English Telegram groups, a Discord guild, and an X account, with two weekly AMAs engaging users and fostering collaboration. We are already one of the most active and largest Chinese communities in Polkadot eco.

On the technology front, we’ve implemented tools to enhance decentralization and interaction. These include Discord and Telegram bot with pointing systems, Dragon Card exchange on Discord, and a dynamic official website featuring decentralized product grids from grill (built on polkadot parachain subsocial), real-time Web3 news, and YouTube content updates automatically sync from discord posts to our website, etc. Our first beta test decentralized “opengov” for content creation is released so that users can support videos via Discord/Telegram points from our official discord. Additionally, we’ve integrated with Tanssi Network as a Appchain from the Moonbeam ecosystem and partnered with Metahub and integrated the API calls with them to promote Web3 content effectively. We also made extra contribution to Polkadot as Kusama DV in the previous few months and evaluated all Kusama proposals (see application: https://forum.polkadot.network/t/decentralized-voices-program-cohort-3-aiweb3/10202/5)

To date, we have successfully utilized funding from one Kusama treasury and two Polkadot treasury. Our efforts have not only met but surpassed expectations by delivering high-quality outputs and taking on extra responsibilities. This track record underscores our request for additional funding to continue these impactful activities.

What is AIWeb3 DAO?

AIWeb3 is a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) focused on advancing decentralized Web3 education and content creation for Chinese-speaking audiences. Given the complexity of blockchain technology, localized education and awareness are crucial for effective adoption, community engagement, and trust-building. AIWeb3's mission is to build and nurture the Chinese-speaking community within the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems (Dotsama). We support content creators by enabling them to produce high-quality educational content, including dubbing videos, translating materials, and creating original content about the latest developments in Dotsama. Additionally, AIWeb3 supports early-stage content creators, providing resources and guidance to help them build their audiences and brands, ensuring a continuous flow of relevant content and fostering an informed and engaged community.

What has been done in AIWeb3?

Overall, in addition to successfully supporting more than 10 content creators within the Chinese community — including several active YouTube channels consistently sharing updates about the Polkadot ecosystem — we have also contributed to the Polkadot ecosystem in the other ways:

1. Active Participation in Polkadot Ecosystem

Dr. Cao, founder of AIWeb3, has been one of the most active participants in the Polkadot based on the on-chain record verified by Mythos, and participated in numerous crowdloan and DeFi: https://x.com/cao_lab/status/1781750280117510518 . Organized twitter space and community communication for Polkadot OpenGOV as Kusama DV and evaluated all Kusama proposals (see application: https://forum.polkadot.network/t/decentralized-voices-program-cohort-3-aiweb3/10202/5)

2. Community Management Tools and AI Integration
Developed Telegram and Discord bots to enhance community management, such as evaluating conversation quality via a custom point system, enabling automatic Chinese–English translation powered by AI on discord, and integrating discord and telegram by Implementing an AMM (Automated Market Maker) system for swapping points between AIWeb3 Discord and Telegram.

3. Supporting Other Parachain Communities
Customized AIWeb3 bots to assist with event and community management for parachain projects, including: Bifrost Chinese Community, Centrifuge Chinese Community. Support parachain Moonbeam by deploying the appchain on Tanssi, and**** Users can earn tokens by supporting quality content on AIWeb3 Discord (Collaboration announcement: Tanssi x AIWeb3 Partnership ), support parachain Acala by participating the dApp and meme contest from Acala to attract more dApp and projects to join Polkadot eco: https://voting.opensquare.io/space/acala/proposal/QmVFDXzVGugz8QNtbYKBstEgTGYJxUZTGi3MAFQn1F2kxe , support parachain Subsocial by creating the most active Chinese community space on Grill:  https://grillapp.net/@aiweb3?ref=6891 and integrated into the AIWeb3 website so any article published on the grill space will show up on the website: https://y.aiweb3.org/blog .**** Of course, we also supported several other parachain but not quite successful, for example, we initiated the AIWeb3 DAO on InvArch, but the project could not be completed after InvArch discontinued its services. Despite setbacks, AIWeb3 remains dedicated and continues collaborating with community members to find new pathways for meaningful contributions.

We had monthly report containing all updates and they are available Polkassembly below our previous proposal for your reference:

2024 May report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dUtmOSWs6HzVthentxMG0Y8eLy-NrpfIhg1pC7G19Jc/edit?usp=sharing

2024 June report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WAm93IBd4ETgxt7cYbVLeqjrGj24-hFNX5ElDHqskC4/edit?usp=sharing

2024 July report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yx44RL6tp5ilMHVAjgtUxkuE7mtqpT7Osmf1NGY-LA0/edit?usp=sharing

2024 Aug. report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yZQPQiOXCDWDDIPurgvERZ0QTqp5yrlD-3InW79ejHA/edit?usp=sharing

2024 Sep. report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oKCMlJdsCAWGvnVfJUMfwnuUgwonqGsmqKNW8Tsj8js/edit?usp=sharing

2024 Oct. report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15eW7vrqW7oNyM9xWDeH1PZpATJ1pRJvIWvmrUyIxY3o/edit?usp=sharing

2024 Nov. report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zyebluc1BGrEhYjp4QizYngfVS0f3C8YswzsOqn89U8/edit?usp=sharing

Although AIWeb3 has run out of treasury funding support from Dec. 2024, our commitment to building with the community and producing high-quality content continues. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our partner WagMedia, who has supported several pieces of original content. However, due to current market conditions, they are also operating with limited resources and are unable to support additional initiatives such as Twitter Spaces, community management, or website development at this time. Despite these challenges, our community has continued to grow organically: Telegram members increased from 3,384 (Dec 2024) to 6,688 (April 2025), Discord members grew from 9,520 to 9,962, Twitter followers rose from 35,244 to 39,968. Thanks to the passion and dedication of our members, AIWeb3 has remained one of the most active and vibrant Chinese communities within the Polkadot ecosystem. Below is the daily Telegram message activity from December 1 to April 15. Considering we received no funding support during this period, the data reflects genuine community engagement without any exaggeration.: 

During those few months, director Dr Cao also keeps generating content constantly for the Polkadot eco and be active on TG, Twitter, Youtube, example:

What will be done in the following year?

In short, we want to achieve the following:

1. Open ambassadors to build an active Chinese community, recruit potential content creators, and share the content in Polkadot in different social platforms like RedNote, Tiktok, wechat, Twitter, Youtube, etc. 

2. 600 original contents including video, articles, tweets from the content creators

3. 96 high quality content on AIWeb3 youtube channel and promoted in other social media

4. 60 high quality twitter space and interviews

5. 52 high quality weekly report for Polkadot eco

6. The first merchandise website in the Chinese community using tokens from Polkadot to pay, and support projects in Polkadot eco, the AIWeb3 website for sharing web3 news, ranking contents based on the support from community, AI agent in the discord and telegram bot for community and content management. 

Details as following:

(1) . AIWeb3 Open Ambassador Program

The is an upgraded initiative designed to decentralize tasks and provide an open invitation for anyone to join at any time, evaluated based on their contributions to the Polkadot ecosystem. We want to explore new social platforms like WeChat, RedNote, tiktok, etc, focusing on the growth and impact of the original content.  Unlike the previous version, this new program introduces several key features to foster active participation:

1. Enhanced Activity Monitoring: AIWeb3 will use Discord and Telegram bots to monitor user activity, and we will expand it to X, and new social platforms like tiktok, RedNote, with new functionality to evaluate users' time spent on these platforms. Extra rewards will be given to highly active members, ensuring fair recognition of consistent engagement.
2. Content Integration and Rewards: Users can utilize the points they earn on Discord and Telegram to tip high-quality content from creators. Both the content creators and the supporters of high-quality content will be rewarded, leveraging AIWeb3’s new website product to promote impactful contributions.
3. Event-Based Rewards: The program will offer rewards for organizing creative events such as community gatherings, Twitter quizzes, or other initiatives that benefit the Polkadot ecosystem, enhance education, and drive engagement.
4. Content Quality Evaluation: High-quality articles, videos, and other formats will be evaluated and rewarded. Additionally, user interactions such as comments, likes, and sharing content in other communities will be incentivized to amplify reach and engagement.
5. Community management: Those who answer questions for new users about Polkadot, and help others in the community, showing support and love about Polkadot would get some rewards.

 

This program aims to strengthen Polkadot’s community by encouraging participation, knowledge sharing, and innovation, positioning AIWeb3 as a decentralized education hub within the Web3 ecosystem.

The total monthly reward pool is 1400u, we may adjust that based on the activity and participants each month. 200u may be reserved as a bonus for those who exhibit exceptional activity and performance, and the fund may roll over the next month if we don't have enough participants. Those who make special contributions, such as organizing a small community event, can post an article each month in our Grill Space to receive additional rewards.

Requested: 1400u X 12 months = 16800u 

Outcomes:

• Increased Community Engagement:
  By rewarding activity and contributions, the program encourages more members to actively participate in the Polkadot ecosystem, fostering a vibrant and engaged community.
• Recognition of High-Quality Content:
  The system of tipping high-quality content ensures that creators are rewarded for their efforts, encouraging the production of impactful articles, videos, and other educational materials.
• Improved Knowledge Sharing:
  Content creators and community members collaborating to share knowledge about Polkadot will contribute to the growth of a well-informed community, promoting ecosystem adoption and understanding.
• Motivation for New Members:
  Open access and transparent evaluation criteria motivate new members to join, knowing their contributions will be fairly recognized and rewarded.
• Support for Exceptional Contributions:
  Special rewards for outstanding efforts, such as organizing events or assisting newcomers, create an incentive for members to go above and beyond in their contributions.
• Enhanced Event Organization:
  Rewards for creative event organization, like community gatherings or quizzes, will lead to more interactive and impactful activities that strengthen community bonds.
• Fair and Flexible Rewards Distribution:
  The adjustable reward pool ensures fairness and sustainability, allowing the program to adapt based on monthly activity levels and participant numbers.
• Encouragement of Peer Support:
  Rewarding community members for answering questions and helping others promotes a collaborative and supportive environment within the Polkadot ecosystem.
• Decentralized Education Hub:
  The program reinforces AIWeb3’s role as a decentralized platform for Web3 education, with participants contributing to and benefiting from shared knowledge and resources.
• Sustainability of Rewards Pool:
  Rolling over unused funds ensures efficient allocation, enabling the program to maintain sustainability while continuing to incentivize contributions effectively.

(2). Original content

Our commitment to supporting content creators within the Polkadot ecosystem is demonstrated through a substantial budget allocation aimed at fostering original content creation, translation services, and dubbing to enhance accessibility and reach. With a $24,000 budget dedicated specifically for these purposes, we anticipate the production of between 600 to 1200 pieces of original content, translation of up to 460,769 words, or 6,000 minutes of dubbing, depending on the specific needs and strategic focus at any given time. Our main focus is still on the original content and supporting the content creators in the early stage. This includes mentoring, guidance, and financial support to help them produce high-quality content and establish themselves within the Polkadot ecosystem. Right now, we are supporting more than 20 content creators.

To further engage and reward our community and high quality content creators, we will allocate a monthly budget of 350 U to honor high-quality content creators and active community members within our ecosystem. Each month, community members will have the opportunity to participate in a voting process to select their favorite content creators across various categories, including "Most Interesting Content Creator", “Most high quality article / video”, etc. This initiative not only highlights and supports the creativity and hard work of our contributors but also actively involves the community in celebrating and promoting standout content. Additionally, to encourage participation in the voting process, we will also reward community members who cast their votes. Since we had developed the new decentralized video voting system on our website (https://y.aiweb3.org/videos), those rewards can be added as events to encourage community participation in the video evaluation. This approach aims to foster a vibrant, interactive community atmosphere where both creators and voters feel valued and motivated. So in total, we need a budget of 350U per month, that’s 4200u in 12 months.

In addition, we also want to encourage more content on twitter, so we would like to have a budget of 200u per month to reward the high quality tweets for Polkadot education, that’s 2400u in 12 months. Finally, we also reserve some funds to encourage the content in Wechat, RedNote, Tik Tok and other new social media platforms to attract more users to Polkadot eco. 

Requested: 37600u in 12 months (at least 600 original contents)

(3). AIWeb3 official video content (https://www.youtube.com/@AIWeb3DAO ):

Over the past six months, we successfully launched the official AIWeb3 YouTube channel, growing it from zero to over 23,00 followers. The channel features high-quality videos covering the latest updates in the Polkadot ecosystem, foundational knowledge about Polkadot, wallet usage, DeFi, and plans to expand into topics like JAM in the future. While we welcome contributions from all content creators, maintaining an official channel with consistent, high-quality content ensures reliable and professional resources for the community.

Given the proven track record of our content creators in delivering engaging and educational videos, we request funding for this channel to sustain and expand its impact. Specifically, we propose $150 per video, which includes $10 for promotion and rewarding community supporters. With a target of 8 videos per month, the required budget is $1,200 per month or $14,400 per year. This funding will enable us to continue delivering valuable content and supporting the growth and education of the Polkadot ecosystem.

Requested: 14400u in 12 months for 96 high quality videos

(4). Online and in-person events:

Online and in-person events play a pivotal role in fostering community growth and engagement. These gatherings not only strengthen the bonds within the existing community but also serve as a magnet to attract more content creators to the AIWeb3 platform, enriching its diversity and content quality. 

We organize around two distinct types of online events tailored to the Polkadot ecosystem (sometimes we may not have two, depending on whether we can find the speakers). Every Saturday, under Giki’s leadership, we host events featuring Polkadot projects and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to discuss the latest updates. These Saturday AMAs consist of three segments: first, guest speakers from the Polkadot Chinese community present their project progress; next, there's a community Q&A session; and finally, we conclude with a live raffle and a call for content creators. We will also organize in-person events and share the Polkadot’s updates to the public, and also rewards monthly for the content creators who did great jobs. In addition, xiucai would be incharge of the monthly two interviews online, details in Chinese here: 爱WEB3中文社区--线上/线下活动计划 . 

Additionally, on Tuesday, we hold community-driven AMAs, any AIWeb3 council member or content creators or active member from the community can organize the space. These sessions focus on discussing OpenGov and sharing the latest community updates. We invite community members to share their insights, and we welcome KOLs and projects from outside the Polkadot ecosystem to participate. Anyone can join these Tuesday AMAs, and we offer rewards to speakers, especially those who provide valuable feedback on Polkadot's and AIWeb3’s future development. We also encourage content creators and ambassadors to participate and share their work and events. This part is self organized by ambassadors and content creators, and the budget would come from the (1) AIWeb3 Open Ambassador section.  Details in Chinese here: 爱WEB3中文社区—自由连麦计划

In summary, we will have high quality weekly twitter space, and xiucai will organize the online interview (similar to Kusamarian interview but in Chinese), and community self organized twitter spaces.

Requested: 30000u: Online 1300u per month X 12 months = 15600u, in person: 14400 u

Outcomes (60 twitter spaces and interview): 

• Enhanced Community Engagement: 1 or 2 twitter space online events per week, through regular online events every Saturday and Tuesday, we foster active discussions and deep dives into the latest developments in the Polkadot ecosystem, increasing engagement and knowledge among community members.
• Knowledge Sharing and Networking: Our online events serve as platforms for sharing insights and updates directly from projects and KOLs within and outside the Polkadot ecosystem, facilitating networking and the exchange of ideas across diverse groups. Xiucai will organize the monthly online interview with Polkadot eco members to share the update of projects and community.
• Promotion of Content Creators: By integrating content creators into both online and in-person events, we provide them with a platform to showcase their work, helping them reach a wider audience which includes industry stakeholders and potential collaborators.
• Recruitment and Exposure for New Talents: In-person events, especially those targeted at university students, aim to attract new talent into the Polkadot ecosystem, providing them with firsthand experience and knowledge about blockchain technology and its applications.
• Project Visibility and Promotion: Both online and physical events highlight projects from the Polkadot ecosystem, giving them the exposure needed to attract interest from potential investors, users, and collaborators, thus driving their growth and adoption.
• Feedback and Community Input: Through interactive segments such as community Q&A and live discussions, we gather valuable feedback that can guide future developments in projects and the overall strategic direction of the ecosystem.

(5). Community driven Polkadot news finding and sharing:

We are seeking funding to establish a community-driven content collection and video production channel. Our content creator, Xiaoqi, has already produced several impactful videos about the Polkadot ecosystem on our official channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4QEtBXZmlc&list=PLwagHyuC9gDBDYoDclfJzQs_BiBa4VIkC ), which have garnered substantial engagement, including comments, likes, and views. Following discussions with Xiaoqi, we propose the creation of a community-driven project for gathering content and generating videos. All AIWeb3 community members will be encouraged to collect Polkadot-related news, which can be sourced from community submissions or submitted by parachain ambassadors. Dr. Cao and Neo and Bujing will develop a submission system on Discord or our website, where users can easily submit the news. Each valid submission will be rewarded, for instance, with AIWeb3 Dragon Cards. Submissions can include updates on parachain projects, airdrop announcements, Polkadot technical progress, new content from AIWeb3 content creators, team activities, or other trending news, leveraging the power of our community. Ambassadors will assist in curating and filtering this information and providing additional commentary. Based on this collated information, Xiaoqi will create and edit the content. Ambassadors can also participate in the channel’s operations and maintenance. Considering the time required for high-quality video production and post-production, we are requesting a budget of 300u weekly for this community news finding and sharing program. Breakdown of the budget: 150u to the community contributors (30u for promotion on our twitter, 60u for organizing and collecting the news, 10u for community members who provided the news, 50u for the news service and content promotion from Bujing community(布鲸社区）： https://bujing.club/ ), 30u for preparing script and SEO service, and 120u for high quality video recording and post-production.

This funding will enhance our community's engagement and provide them with up-to-date, valuable content about the Polkadot ecosystem. 

Kyrie is in charge of this part with fund support of 60u weekly in the summary report 

Request: 12480u + 3120u = 15600u in 12 months. 

Outcomes (52 high quality weekly report for Polkadot eco):

• Enhanced Community Engagement: Encouraging active participation from the Polkadot community to gather and submit news, increasing engagement and interaction within the community.
• Quality Content Production: Regular production of high-quality videos that provide valuable insights into the Polkadot ecosystem, tailored by the insights and curation of community members and parachain ambassadors.
• Increased Visibility and Awareness: Amplifying the visibility of Polkadot’s developments and activities through disseminated videos that reach a wider audience, potentially attracting new members and stakeholders.
• Reward and Incentivization System: Implementing a rewarding mechanism for contributors through AIWeb3 Dragon Cards and website/discord, fostering a sense of ownership and contribution among participants.
• Educational Impact: Providing educational content that helps the community and viewers understand complex blockchain concepts and the latest updates in the Polkadot ecosystem.

(6). Polkadot merchandise webpage and merch in Chinese community

Over the past few months, AIWeb3 has successfully designed and distributed Polkadot-themed merchandise at in-person events, including the meetup at Zhejiang University, the Web3 Summit, and Polkadot Decoded Asia. The positive reception to these items—ranging from clothes to hats—highlighted a gap in the Asia region where Polkadot-themed merchandise is not easily accessible. Additionally, many projects within the Polkadot ecosystem lack the resources or regional presence to design and distribute merchandise as community rewards.

We propose the creation of the first Polkadot merchandise platform in the Chinese community, allowing users to purchase merchandise using tokens from the Polkadot ecosystem. Initially, we will experiment with a meme token issued on Hydration, enabling users to purchase merchandise. In the future, we plan to extend this platform to support additional tokens and regions.

We want to build a platform that will serve as a tool for rewarding the Polkadot community. Merchandise will be distributed as rewards during quizzes, events, and to content creators and active members who contribute to the ecosystem.

We will continue to build the AIWeb3 website to serve as a dynamic platform for sharing the latest Web3 news and educational content. It allows community members to submit and discover news, videos, and articles, with content ranked and highlighted based on community support through tipping and engagement. This ensures the most relevant and high-quality information gains visibility.

To further enhance community experience, AIWeb3 will deploy AI-powered agents integrated into both Discord and Telegram bots. These bots support a wide range of features, including automated translation between Chinese and English, community moderation, activity tracking, content evaluation, and asset management on Polkadot eco. The AIWeb3 website and bots form a decentralized, AI-augmented content and community management infrastructure—empowering users to create, curate, and reward value in the Web3 ecosystem.

Funding Request

We request $3,000 to design, produce, and distribute the initial batch of merchandise, and to reward active community participants.

• Merchandise Design and Production: $3.000
  • Production of high-quality Polkadot-themed clothes, hats, tea, and other items.
  • Initial inventory for distribution at events and for sale on the platform.
  • To distribute merchandise as prizes for event participants, quiz winners, and top contributors.

The implementation cost for the platform itself, including website and order system development, will be covered by AIWeb3's existing founder Dr Cao and development team at no additional expense. In addition,

---

Platform Features

1. Merchandise Marketplace:
   • A dedicated webpage for listing Polkadot-themed merchandise.
   • Integration of wallet login, enabling users to purchase items using tokens.
2. Order Management System:
   • Features for users to store shipping and order details securely.
   • Integration with Telegram to allow users to place orders directly through the app.
3. Support for Ecosystem Projects:
   • Open collaboration with other Polkadot ecosystem teams to design, produce, and sell their merchandise on the platform.

---

Expected Outcomes

1. Increased Community Engagement:
   • Reward active community members and event participants with exclusive Polkadot merchandise.
   • Foster deeper connections with the ecosystem through unique, tangible items.
2. Promote Token Utility:
   • Experiment with token usage by allowing purchases in Polkadot meme tokens on asset hub.
   • Provide a use case for tokens within the ecosystem, encouraging further adoption.
3. Support for Ecosystem Projects:
   • Offer a platform for Polkadot teams to produce and distribute merchandise without needing additional resources.
4. Stronger Regional Presence:
   • Establish a dedicated marketplace for Polkadot-themed merchandise in Asia, enhancing visibility and accessibility.
5. Scalable Solution:
   • Create a foundation for supporting more tokens and regions, expanding the marketplace’s reach over time.

Phase 1: MVP Launch – LOVA Token Support

✅ Merchandise Platform Setup: Build a simple merch store on AIWeb3 website (Tea, T-shirt, hat, stickers or others), accept LOVA token for purchases (via subwallet, js wallet login)

✅ AIWeb3 News & Content Portal. Enable users to submit Web3 news/videos/articles/tweets on Discord and automatically show up on the website

✅ Discord & Telegram Bot Integration: Discord and Telegram bot to link all contents and share the contents.

---

Phase 2: Token Expansion & Engagement Tools

✅ Add More Token Support: Add payment support, such as ACA, BNC, ASTR, HDX, DOT. We will need to reach out to projects like Acala, Bifrost, Astar, Hydration for the integration, and also other projects.

✅ User Dashboard: show users merch redemption history

---

Phase 3: Advanced Features

✅ Merchandise Campaigns for Ecosystem Projects. For example, Launch co-branded merch with parachains (e.g., “Bifrost Builder Hoodie”), use merch as incentives for voters using vDOT on Bifrost, creators, and testers

✅ Smart Bot Upgrades. Implement AI agent to manage the content generated by content creator, and the asset on different parachains on Polkadot, the liquidity pool of ACA/LOVA on Acala, vDOT/LOVA on Hydration, etc.

Details for the draft of the new proposal can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11SyQBq5tjyhSUYjjwQxOKv_jhhooXygzdPtwQrlvbto/edit?usp=sharing 

We welcome any comments from the community for this draft proposal. This is a renewal of previous AIWeb3 proposals, everything is the same, except for the new merchandize webpage we want to build for buying merch using token issued on Polkadot assethub (no extra dev cost, all covered by the current dev team), and also integration with app chain Tanssi and website, and AIWeb3 official youtube channel contents as a separate item.

Additional Information

Github: https://github.com/AIWeb3-DAO/

AIWeb3 Website: https://y.aiweb3.org

Twitter: https://x.com/aiweb3dao

Telegram Chinese: https://t.me/aiweb3dao

Telegram English: https://t.me/aiweb3dao_eng

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/pQtZG8UQfk

Email: ahjxcrz@gmail.com

----------------------- Questions from the community updating constantly ------------------------------

1. Ali Baba: We’ve got PolkaWorld doing just what you highlighted above, why AIWeb3?
   Response: Just like in China we have CCTV as the national broadcaster providing mainstream coverage, we also have Hunan TV, which brings in diverse content, youth-oriented shows, and reaches different types of audiences. For the content part, Polkaworld is AIWeb3's teacher, they had been in Polkadot eco much longer than AIWeb3 (around 2 years old), and Polkaworld had been doing wonderful job in Chinese community, however, if we truly want Polkadot to grow with a variety of voices and a broader audience, then supporting AIWeb3 in addition to Polkaworld isn't redundancy — it’s strategy. For your reference, list two points for the difference:

(1). Decentralized Yet Coordinated Content Model: A Unique Advantage of AIWeb3

AIWeb3 stands out by combining a decentralized content creation model with a core team-driven channel, offering the best of both worlds. While Polkaworld excels with a focused, nearly full-time team producing consistent high-quality content, AIWeb3 takes a more open, community-driven approach — empowering anyone to become a content creator.

This inclusivity fosters diverse voices, styles, and perspectives, attracting a broader and more dynamic audience. From educational explainers to critical commentary, our creators reflect the rich spectrum of the Chinese-speaking Web3 community. For instance:

The Heart of Polkadot 波卡之心(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxLMhrpZiqJ3MiWYErxbo6g) explores DeFi and parachains with deep engagement in the Polkadot ecosystem.

Xiucai Finance 秀才说财经（https://www.youtube.com/@xiucai-finance） bridges Polkadot and Ethereum while identifying user opportunities like airdrops.

Kyrie （https://www.youtube.com/@Kyrie_aiweb3） brings honest critique and bold insights, sparking high engagement and reflection within the community.

These creators have remained active for over four months without any funding, showing both commitment and resilience. And those are few Youtube Channels that keeps sharing Polkadot updates and bring new users to the eco.

To ensure quality alongside openness, we also run the official AIWeb3 YouTube channel (https://y.aiweb3.org/videos), where our core team produces well-researched, high-quality videos. You can think of us as the Chinese version of WAGMedia, amplifying grassroots media, while also maintaining a central hub similar to The Kusamarian for trusted, professional content.

Additionally, with talent like Giki leading our Twitter Spaces and we had the bilingual twitter spaces to bridge Chinese and English speakers, we’ve grown a strong presence on social media, enabling conversations and education in formats that appeal to a wider demographic.

This hybrid model of open participation + core excellence is what makes AIWeb3 an essential and unique part of Polkadot’s Chinese-speaking community — one that deserves to be supported and sustained.

(2). AIWeb3 went beyond content creation, it actively supports the growth of the Polkadot ecosystem through tooling, and integrations.
We’ve developed and deployed discord bots to assist parachain teams like Bifrost and Centrifuge in managing their Chinese-speaking communities. These bots handle tasks such as tracking meeting on discord, translation, event management, etc.

We also support Moonbeam by deploying an appchain on Tanssi, within our AIWeb3 Discord, users can now earn tokens by supporting high-quality content, gamifying engagement in a meaningful way.

We also support Acala by attending their dApp & Meme Contest and creating awareness and driving participation to attract more developers and projects into the Polkadot ecosystem.

We also integrate with Subsocial by creating the most active Chinese community space on Grill (Subsocial’s social dApp) and integrated it directly into the AIWeb3 website, enabling automatic syncing of community-published articles.

We developed an unique way of evaluating the content on the AIWeb3 website (https://y.aiweb3.org/videos). Normally we evaluate the content by quality of the content, the views or likes, but we implemented a new system on Polkadot that users can earn the points by being active in our community, and then they will donate those points to the content that they really like, by doing so, we will have the real users from the community, and avoid the fake engagement, and we will also support tokens on Polkadot eco for donation, and the contents with a lot of donation and also the points support from the community would be the high quality contents, and we want to reward the content creators and also those who supported this type of content, as far as I know, this is the unique product in Polkadot eco focusing on content.

2. Requested 12 months is too long, why not request shorter term?
Response:
We shared long-term contribution and also monthly report from the previous treasury proposal (https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referenda/772), we requested 6 months last time, which ended on Dec. 2024, so basically we run the community and made contribution without treasury funding support for almost 5 months now. We had the long term record and keep building on Polkadot for 2 years in the bear market, not only delivering on our commitments, but beyond by doing some extra work, and also sharing all progress transparently (you may also verify from OGTracker). Even if this proposal passes, we’ve already demonstrated our commitment through ongoing efforts (I didn't request retroactive fund, so it is several months of work + 1 year as proposed). That is why we want to apply for 1 year to avoid facing the same funding gap again.

3. Lots of 'Treasury Funds Seeking 'projects' need to be more Self Sustainable and Self Generating of Income
Response:
The founder of AIWeb3 also invested in Polkadot from crowdloan till now, and think the question of self-sustainability and income generation is a fair and important one, but the things AIWeb3 did would be a little bit different, the decentralized education and community building would benefit the whole eco, while we don't allow price talking in the educational content, it is just like open-source development (not an app that will charge a fee or directly sell something), these are public goods that benefit the entire ecosystem. Their return is indirect but powerful: onboarding users, developers, and attention to Polkadot. We are also considering the revenue, as the recent website for videos, community members tip valuable content with earned points from AIWeb3 community or tokens, which can generate revenue, so we keep building and exploring the self sustainable options. In the proposal, we also explore to launch a Polkadot-themed merchandise platform that users can buy with tokens on Polkadot eco, and there would be revenue once the platform is bigger with more users and through selling merchandise in Chinese community. We can report the income for that part in the future, and we will continue to explore different ways to generate income for the educational content, it is a little bit difficult as this is different than a DeFi project, we had helped several parachain projects to be more successful and build chinese community, but we cannot charge "gas fees", but we are super open for any suggestions and discussion for the self sustainable and self generating of income for educational content and community building also worth more discussion.