COZ is bringing back Proof of Working, a community-driven initiative rooted in one simple idea:

If you’re doing meaningful work for the ecosystem, it should be seen, valued, and supported.

Proof of Working was never about hype. It was about showing up, contributing, and sharing progress. Today, we’re reviving that spirit with a renewed focus on empowering community members at every level of the ecosystem.

A Legacy Built by the Community

Proof of Working originally served as a public record of real ecosystem activity: development updates, experiments, research, tools, documentation, competitions, and ideas that pushed Neo forward long before they became polished products.

It gave visibility to:

• Builders shipping tools and infrastructure
• Community members educating, analyzing, and documenting
• Early-stage ideas that later became core ecosystem projects
• Contributors who didn’t yet fit into formal funding programs

For many, Proof of Working was the first step into deeper ecosystem involvement.

That legacy matters and it’s one we want to build on.

Why Proof of Working Matters Now

As the ecosystem continues to mature, we see incredible work happening every week that doesn’t always fit neatly into:

• Existing grants
• Long-term sponsorships
• Formal contracts or partnerships
• Cross-team collaboration

Yet these contributions often become the foundation for larger ecosystem deliveries.

Proof of Working is designed to fill that gap.

It acts as a community contribution funnel, supporting grassroots work today and helping it grow into the next wave of impactful initiatives.

Proof of working fills in the gaps and feeds into GrantShares, NF sponsorship, and VC raises.

How the New Proof of Working Works

The revived Proof of Working initiative is open, lightweight, and inclusive.

Weekly Token Awards

• The total award pool for each week will be allocated at the discretion of the COZ Council.
• Rewards recognize completed work, not proposals or promises.
• Each week, the COZ Council will vote on the contributions. The votes will be normalized and used to award NEO tokens from the weekly pool for each submission.

Proof of Delivery Required

• Submissions must include clear proof of delivery and an award address.
• A weekly report will be published to the COZ website communicating the work completed, total award distribution, and transaction IDs for the award distributions.
• Contributions could be code, content, tooling, research, data, documentation, or any tangible output that benefits the ecosystem

Open to Everyone

• All contributors are welcome — developers, designers, writers, analysts, educators, researchers, and community organizers
• Your role in the ecosystem doesn’t matter — your contribution does

Submission via COZ Discord

• Contributions will be submitted through the COZ Discord
• Community visibility and discussion are part of the process

Clear Boundaries

• Contributions must not already fall under another sponsorship, grant, or paid agreement
• Everyone is eligible with exception of COZ staff members
• Contributions must be public (confirm on the COZ discord if there is any uncertainty)
• Proof of Working exists to support work that would otherwise go unsupported

What What We’re Looking For

Proof of Working is intentionally broad.

Examples include (but aren’t limited to):

• Neo tooling, SDK extensions, and developer utilities
• Dashboards, analytics, and ecosystem data work
• Educational content, guides, tutorials, and translations
• Research, experimentation, and proofs of concept
• Documentation improvements and technical writing
• Community infrastructure and quality-of-life improvements

If it moves Neo forward, even in a small but meaningful way: It belongs here.

Examples of eligible work can be found in our previous articles: medium.com/@cityofzion

More Than Rewards : A Path Forward

Proof of Working isn’t just about weekly NEO rewards.

It’s about:

• Creating visibility for consistent contributors
• Lowering the barrier to ecosystem participation
• Encouraging experimentation and learning
• Providing an on-ramp to larger grants, sponsorships, and long-term collaborations

Many of the ecosystem’s strongest contributors didn’t start with big funding — they started by doing the work.

Let’s Build in Public, Together

Neo has always been shaped by people willing to contribute early, share openly, and improve things one step at a time.

Proof of Working is back to support that culture.

If you’re building, researching, writing, analyzing, documenting, or experimenting and you can prove it, we want to see it.

Join the COZ Discord Server. Share your contribution. Show your Proof of Working.