Stellar Community Fund

By Interlinked

Interlinked 2.0

SCF #36

$30.0K

Build

Awarded

Interlinked offers a modern URL-shortener alternative, bringing decentralisation, security and reliability to a niche that demands it.

Products & Services

Web3 upgrade: Enter Interlinked.

Interlinked is a decentralized short link platform powered by Soroban and the Stellar blockchain. It implements subscription-based model and makes URLs smarter, safer and more transparent by storing them directly on-chain:

Short URLs

Users can generate both permanent and temporary links via website or API. Link data is stored on-chain and the duration of temporary links can be customized while being powered by the Soroban smart contracts.
Community-based moderation

As the links are stored publicly on-chain, this provides an opportunity for a bounty program, where users can flag suspicious links. In case the link turns out to be malicious, the user that found it gets rewarded.
Visual analytics dashboard

Track clicks, user behaviour, and campaign performance through a rich visual dashboard - all powered by transparent, on-chain data. The amount of clicks is tracked by transferring assets for each redirect - making the whole process transparent and promoting Interlinked for marketing with pay-per-click model.
No-Code Plugin Integrations

Integration with Wix and Shopify makes it easy for E-commerce businesses to integrate Interlinked and drive further adoption of Soroban.

Impact on Stellar

Mass adoption through everyday utility

Interlinked provides a real-world, use case that’s relatable and useful for millions of users and businesses. As a result, this project showcases the ability of Soroban to easily handle diverse use cases beyond traditional financial applications.
Not just a project - but a community

Creating short links facilitates not only other industries, but the Stellar community as well. Interlinked can help it grow - used to promote Stellar articles with our API being integrated into other Soroban-based dApps.
Driving Stellar adoption

By showcasing Stellar’s ability to handle high-volume, low-cost transactions, Interlinked attracts developers and businesses to the ecosystem - thus spreading the word of Stellar.

Soroban

Yes

Requested Budget

$30.0K

Success Criteria

3 Months: 10+ paid subscriptions, 1 partner integration (APS Money or Local Express), Shopify/Wix plugins live with 5+ users.
1 Year: 500+ paid subscriptions, 1,000+ monthly active users, 10,000+ XLM transactions via Interlinked.
Community: Open-source API adopted by 2+ Stellar projects, 50+ Discord contributors.

Go-To-Market Plan

Target markets:

E-commerce
Influencers
Stellar-based projects

Security and risk-management:

Users can flag suspicious links, and we’ll run a bounty program to incentivize responsible reporting and add another layer of community-driven moderation.
Admins will review and block links and accounts suspected in malicious activity.
Using smart contract ensures that no data can be deleted or changed in case of a cyberattack.

Open-source commitment:

The core smart contract is already open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, available on GitHub.
All future updates will be published in real-time, not post-launch.
Development happens in public with:
- Open-sourced Github
- A contributor channel in our Discord to support new devs and onboard contributors.

Go-to-market:

Pre-launch:

Build early community via Discord and X(Twitter), documenting developing process.
Invite early adopters to beta test: Birdhouse Technology has already generated 60+ clicks via Interlinked.
Building foundation and recognition by beta-testing partners using shortened links for social media posts.
Collect feedback from testers to refine UX, address bugs, and validate flows.

Launch:

Launch mainnet version:
- Fully tested functionality
- API and analytics
- No-code plugin for Shopify/Wix.
Offer ‘early bird’ benefits to first users and community beta-testers, with discounts for subscription plans.
Connect with partners in the Stellar community on Discord and other Stellar Community Fund participants.
Shopify and Wix plugins will be launched for E-commerce. Use influencer marketing in the E-commerce industry build our brand awareness both among the influencers and E-commerce brands.

Post-launch:

Use early traction to build credibility and recognition.
Connect with companies on conferences, LinkedIn and Stellar community.

Traction Evidence

Trend validation:

The URL-shortening industry powers everything from social medias to E-commerce with a market cap of $8 billion. Yet, the market shows a need in a more cost-effective and better product:

Web3 shorteners like w3.do and durl.dev already exist - proving demand for decentralized alternatives
Stellar has no Web3-native URL shortener, despite Soroban’s potential in terms of speed, transaction fees and more.
Trend alignment: Interlinked is at the intersection of two rising trends:
- The URL-shortening market is projected to reach $30 billion by 2033.
- Adoption of Web3 infrastructure is accelerating due to growing concerns around censorship, ownership, and transparency.
Competitive edge: Due to Soroban's storage model and data being read directly from the ledger, Interlinked has a much lower cost for operating and maintaining.

Partnerships & Early adoption:

Birdhouse Technology, a Stellar-based RWA platform, has actively used Interlinked for social media posts, attracting 60+ on-chain clicks over the last week.

Clicks and transaction history is publicly available on stellar expert: https://inl.one/ha/9. To find the amount of clicks for each link: simply check the amount of assets with the unique link code!
Social media post example: https://inl.one/ha/aa

Additionally, it has received early interest from:

APS money(https://aps.money/): A global payment system with over 10 million total transactions processed. Listed as one of the Stellar anchors: https://anchors.stellar.org/.
Local Express(https://localexpress.io/): A US-based E-commerce grocery platform for food retailers.

These signals indicate real-world interest and use cases within payments, marketing, and commerce even before mainnet launch.

Early traction:

In under two months, Interlinked has gone from a concept to a functional product: feel free to try the MVP on our website and check out the following features:

Short link generation with a clean UI.
Soroban-powered click tracking.
Webauth login using biometrics and private key generation.
Publicly-available smart contract deployed on Stellar testnet.

All links are written on-chain using Soroban, with click tracking tied to the number of tokens for each unique shortened code. While still early, our testnet service has already recorded over 100 clicks - entirely organic.

Tranche 1 (Deliverable Roadmap) - MVP

Since our previous submission, we have already implemented several core features of the MVP:

Short link generation via Soroban smart contracts
Basic frontend interface for generating and displaying links
Login and account creation
Click tracking using Stellar
Initial contract deployed on Stellar testnet

Currently, the objective of this tranche is to build a fully working product with necessary features to begin attracting customers and validating the demand on the market

Estimated date of completion: 2 months

Total budget: $8000

Frontend implementation(Month 1):

Designing, implementing and testing UI/UX. The interface should be responsive, mobile-friendly, and built to accommodate future integrations.

Completion Criteria:

Fully functional UI/UX with intuitive user flow
Responsive design adaptable to mobile devices
Users can create and manage clicks with responsive and intuitive interface.

Budget: $4000

Core Functionality(Months 1-2):

Implementing foundational features backend, including QR code generation, temporary links with custom TTL and subscription model working with crypto payments.

Completion Criteria:

QR codes and TTL links are generated
Expiration logic works as expected using Soroban’s temporary storage.
Different subscription plans limit features, available to users
Payment system works for subscriptions(Using tokens on Stellar testnet for testing)

Budget: $4000

Tranche 2 (Deliverable Roadmap) - Testnet

Finalizing a production-quality product, begin onboarding with the early partners and adjust it based on the gathered feedback from beta testers.

Estimated date of completion: 2 months

Total budget: $11500

Platform maturity(Month 3):

This deliverable focuses on finalizing a production-quality product with the continuous feedback from the community and beta testers. This includes documented API, account hierarchy - with multiple accounts having access to the same company dashboard and more.

Completion Criteria:

Account system supports registration and company-based hierarchy
Links can be customized (e.g., vanity URLs)
Updated UI/UX based on early feedback
Developer-ready API with documentation with documentation

Budget: $5500

Early integration & Ecosystem Readiness(Month 3-4):

During this phase, we’ll begin onboarding beta testers as clients and integrate fiat payment with moderation tools to prepare for launch.

Completion criteria:

Beta testers onboarded and using short links
Payment flow & subscriptions work with fiat currency
Admin moderation tools for monitoring and deleting links
Community-based bounty program rewards users, who correctly flagged malicious links
Analytics dashboard that provides detailed analytics about links using external services.

Budget: $6500

Tranche 3 (Deliverable Roadmap) - Mainnet

After all the features have been implemented, the next step is to deploy backend infrastructure on Stellar Mainnet and launch on the market.

Estimated date of completion: 1-1.5 months

Total budget: $10000

Deployment(Month 4-5):

The Soroban smart contract will be deployed on Stellar Mainnet with additional optimizations and testing, ensuring high reliability in production

Completion Criteria:

All core features functional on Stellar mainnet
Click tracking and TTL logic verified in production
Post-deployment monitoring and error handling in place

Budget: $4500

Strategic partnerships enablement(Month 5):

We will finalize integrations with E-commerce and payment providers and release plugins for key platforms. QA tooling will be added to support and maintain the service.

Completion criteria:

APS and Local Express integrations are live
Shopify & Wix plugins released and used by 3+ clients
QA tools and real-time analytics implemented

Budget: $5500

Team

Anton Tatarinov:

Worked with Armenotech to develop a service utilizing sponsored wallets for transaction fee payments on Stellar.
Experience across multiple blockchain ecosystems, including Ethereum and Coreum.
Passionate about decentralized solutions that enhance efficiency and usability in Web3

Vladimir Tatarinov: