ZkScholar

Project Name: ZkScholar Project Overview: ZkScholar is a decentralized platform that transforms the way financial aid is distributed to students. Built on blockchain technology, the platform employs zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to ensure that students can apply for financial aid securely, while their personal and financial information remains completely private. By integrating World ID for identity verification and Mina Protocol for privacy-preserving computations, ZkScholar eliminates the inefficiencies, privacy concerns, and security risks associated with traditional financial aid systems. The platform also leverages Circle's USDC to provide near-instant, conditional disbursements to students' wallets. With a fully on-chain process, ZkScholar ensures transparency and accuracy in the management and distribution of student aid funds while protecting user data. Problem: Each year, over $250 billion in financial aid is distributed to students through outdated, bureaucratic systems that are slow, cumbersome, and insecure. Students must submit sensitive personal and financial information to multiple institutions, risking data breaches. Additionally, the process for determining aid eligibility is often slow, and disbursement of funds can be delayed, affecting students’ ability to manage their finances and continue their education. Solution: ZkScholar introduces a streamlined, fast, and private way for students to apply for financial aid. Using zk-SNARKs technology, the platform allows students to submit proof of financial need without revealing sensitive data. Colleges can set financial aid criteria, and the platform uses zero-knowledge proofs to match students with qualifying financial aid options without exposing personal information. ZkScholar ensures a transparent yet private verification process where: Colleges set their aid criteria using a simple UI, and can only see anonymized results of student eligibility. Students submit their financial data through a privacy-preserving mechanism and receive feedback on their aid eligibility in real time. How it Works: Colleges Set Aid Criteria: Colleges log into ZkScholar using World ID for secure authentication. They then define their financial aid criteria, which can include financial need, academic performance, geographic location, or other custom factors.

Students Apply for Aid: Students log into ZkScholar using World ID and upload the required financial documents and acceptance letters from the colleges they’ve applied to. The platform uses zk-SNARKs to verify student eligibility privately without revealing underlying data to the schools.

Eligibility Check & Match: ZkScholar uses Mina Protocol’s privacy-preserving technology to run eligibility checks based on the criteria set by the colleges. Students then receive an Eligible or Not Eligible status for each of their selected schools. Aid Disbursement: Colleges view a list of eligible students (identified only by a serial number to protect privacy) and can click a “Disburse” button to transfer aid funds in USDC. These funds are disbursed conditionally, and students receive payments in installments, typically at the end of each semester, based on continued enrollment. Transaction & Conversion: Students see the incoming transaction in their wallets, and using Circle’s integration, they can convert USDC into local currency (e.g., SGD) seamlessly. Core Technologies: World ID: Used for decentralized and secure identity verification for both students and institutions. Mina Protocol (zk-SNARKs): Ensures zero-knowledge proof computations, allowing financial data verification without exposing personal details. Circle USDC: Used for fast, secure, and borderless financial aid disbursement, allowing easy conversion to local currencies. Smart Contracts: ZkScholar uses smart contracts to enforce conditional aid disbursements, ensuring funds are only sent when specific criteria (such as continued enrollment) are met.

Key Features: Privacy-Preserving: Using zk-SNARKs, students' sensitive financial information is never revealed during the eligibility verification process. Instant Payments: With USDC, funds can be disbursed to students instantly, removing delays and inefficiencies of traditional aid systems. With our automatic routing protocol, we aim to allow USDC to be converted into any currency of the user's choice in the cheapest way possible.

Transparent & Secure: All transactions, eligibility criteria, and disbursements are recorded on-chain for full transparency while preserving user privacy. Automated Conditional Aid: Disbursements are managed via smart contracts, ensuring that funds are released in phases (e.g., per semester) based on continued eligibility. Global Reach: Students can receive aid from institutions worldwide and easily convert USDC into their local currency using our auto-routing protocol.

User Flow: Colleges: Log into the platform using World ID. Define financial aid criteria (income brackets, merit-based criteria, etc.). View a list of anonymized students who meet the aid criteria. Disburse aid to eligible students using USDC at the end of each semester. Students: Log into the platform using World ID. Upload financial documents and college offer letters. Wait for the zk-SNARK-based verification process to match their profile with eligible aid. Receive an eligibility status for each college and apply for financial aid from the schools of their choice. Once the aid is approved, receive USDC in their wallet, convert to local currency, and view the transaction history on-chain. Impact: ZkScholar makes a significant impact by addressing the inefficiencies of the traditional financial aid process, ensuring student privacy, and providing a transparent, decentralized solution for aid disbursement. With the growing importance of protecting personal data and ensuring financial inclusion, ZkScholar aligns with the values of Web3, ensuring access to education without compromising on security or privacy. Benefits: For Students: Provides a secure, privacy-preserving method to apply for and receive financial aid. Enables students to maintain control of their data while accessing global financial resources. For Colleges: Simplifies the financial aid process by allowing institutions to securely and efficiently manage aid distribution while ensuring the privacy of applicants. For the Ecosystem: ZkScholar represents a significant step forward in the Web3 public goods movement, leveraging decentralized technologies to solve real-world problems in education finance.

Vision: ZkScholar aims to create a future where students can access financial aid privately, efficiently, and securely, removing barriers to education funding and fostering global opportunities for academic success. By empowering both students and institutions with decentralized tools, ZkScholar reshapes financial aid into a more equitable, transparent, and secure system.

For ZkScholar's frontend, we used Material UI and typescript. For our login process, we used Worldcoin's World IDs for decentralized and secure identity verification. Following that, we made stored and queries on-chain data on Mina Protocol using Protokit, which served as the backend and database for ZkScholar's application. After USDC is disbursed, we want to provide a seamless process to convert USDC tokens to fiat through our smart-routing protocol that quickly identifies and pieces together the best conversion route across all decentralized apps. The smart contract that simulated the swap was deployed on Ethereum Sepolia using nodes from Infura, and we deployed the contract using Hardhat. We then used ethers.js to allow our frontend to interact with the blockchain.