Shaping DOT Year Ahead! - Newsletter Edition 81

In this week’s edition:

1. Editorial: AI Agent Meta or Fad, Shaping the year ahead.
2. Top Story - OpenGov: A New Year, A Fresh Start!: Recapping the OpenGov proposals that kick off 2025.
3. Featured Report - Develop DOT Africa: The mission of Polkadot Africa.
4. Wag Roundup: News from our Finders Program between January 1st and January 8th.
5. Extras: Credits and anything else.

Editorial

What is up, my friends!

AI has been a hot narrative dominating mindshare on Crypto Twitter in recent weeks. In particular, the field of Agentic AI has given rise to the AI Agent meta. The rapid launch of new AI Agents has partly fueled a shitcoin casino, leading to criticism that they are just another form of memecoins.

While some may believe that the current form is mid curve and serves to cater degen gamblers, others see it as the best thing in crypto since DeFi. In fact, it’s now spawning into DeFAI, showcasing the possibilities of AI in this space. As it is still early days, the jury remains out on AI Agents, although it's pretty hard to ignore.

In last week’s top story, we briefly covered how Phala has supported the AI Agent mania. This week, another Polkadot ecosystem builder, OriginTrail, was revealed to support the Opus AI Agent ecosystem via DKG v8 and its NeuroWeb rollup on Polkadot. Meanwhile, InvArch has welcomed an era of AI Agents voting and controlling things DAO. Like, what Wud Gavun think?

Given that it’s only been a week into 2025, who knows how things will shape up for the rest of the year. That said, through OpenGov, the world’s largest DAO does have a tendency to influence the year ahead. So, for this week’s top story, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the proposals kicking off the year.

One recently executed proposal, which aligns closely with WagMedia, is Polkadot Africa. This week’s featured report will provide some insight into its mission. Additionally, if you happen to be in the region, there will be a meet-up in Nairobi on January 18th.

Finally, if you feel you can shape things up with the Polkadot X account, look out for application details for the Social Media Editorial Board. Several WagMedia creators have been involved, so why not join us to kick-start your content creator journey?

Dodow, Chief Editor

Top Story of the Week - OpenGov: A New Year, A Fresh Start!

Written by yay.oi

Get back to work, fam! Holidays are over. While some of you are kicking off the new year with a bit of self-enrichment, the Polkadot DAO seems to be at something of a crossroads. With record treasury spending in 2024 stealing the limelight from a year of great achievements, there has been a notable shift in OpenGov towards reduced spending.

The good news is that, according to Tommi Enenkel’s Polkadot Treasury Report preview, the treasury balance sheet is looking quite healthy at a 210M USD-equivalent. So, as we remind the world’s largest DAO that the treasury is there to be spent, let’s take a look at some recent proposals both succeeding and struggling, to anticipate those that will help us kick-start the New Year.

Our first big spend of the year is increasingly likely to be Token Terminal’s Referendum 1346. It’s a 1M USDT request to build improved datasets that will help decode the complexities of the Polkadot ecosystem for mainstream analytics, unlocking standardized and marketable metrics such as TVL and active users for every parachain.

While the substantial price tag initially hindered the proposal from getting off the ground, the tide seems to have turned with recent AYE votes from Decentralized Voices (DV) delegates Kus DAO, Lucky Friday, Polkadot Hungary, and Saxemberg. The referendum has entered the confirmation period, and will pass if it can hold on until January 13th.

With one week left in the decision period, things are not looking as optimistic for Conor Daly’s $3.5M 2025 Motorsports Program sponsorship request. Despite offering a much greater value proposition compared to 2024 – six IndyCar races as opposed to one along with additional business development initiatives – Conor’s referendum has not managed to attract significant support from any large holders or DV delegates.

That said, Conor is not without proponents in the Polkadot ecosystem. On the KusDAO Discord, Jay Chrawnna warns, “If we lose Conor we will 100% regret it when treasury is at 1B”. Meanwhile Phunky, in his Christmas message, urges the community to push treasury-funded initiatives, such as Conor’s, because 2025 is the year for Polkadot to make its mark, especially in the US.

Treasury funded outreach to Chinese-speaking audiences has, to this point, included WagMedia offshoot AiWeb3, led by DrCao. However, a request for 198.6K USDT for an additional year of operations has received a lukewarm response from the community.

Members of the DV delegation, ChaosDAO, expressed concerns about the quality of content produced by AiWeb3. Meanwhile, some in KusDAO suggested that engagement stats may have been inflated. Comments across the board also question why AiWeb3 lacks presence on Chinese social media platforms such as WeChat.

With 83.7% NAY votes dominated by four votes from DV delegates, it seems that DrCao may have chosen to forfeit this referendum by letting it time out without placing a decision deposit. However, all is not lost. Many have commented that AiWeb3 funding is within the scope of the Marketing Bounty, and DrCao’s comments on KusDAO Discord suggest he may take that path.

Things are looking more promising for WagMedia alumni Cris Pap and CryptoX. Their project, OG Tracker,, has requested 604.40K USDC for 14 additional months of operations and development, and it is currently looking likely to pass on January 18th.

Saxemberg offered unwavering support for what they say is the most valuable tracking tool for OpenGov. Likewise, KusDAO delivered an AYE vote despite some members questioning the higher cost and development priorities.

Given their obligation to vote regularly in OpenGov, it is hardly surprising that only one DV delegate NAYed the proposal. OG Tracker provides tools that ensure past treasury-funded projects are held accountable, helping voters such as the DVs make informed and responsible decisions.

With a recent low turnout of individual voters, even greater onus is placed on DV delegations to make informed, impartial, and pragmatic decisions. To put the situation in perspective, into the OG Tracker referendum, DV voting power currently makes up 97.97% of AYEs and 95.75% of NAYs.

While voter numbers remain at this level, proposers may need to prioritize engagement with DV delegations to ensure their referenda meet rigorous standards. As the Web3 Foundation prioritized collectives over individuals for the current cohort, there are also opportunities for the community to join and vote, though some may be more welcoming than others.

A delegate in every DV cohort so far, ChaosDAO likely needs little introduction. It is a voting bloc of approximately 340 members, made up of a diverse array of Polkadot enthusiasts including members from Parity, the Web3 Foundation, and high-profile ecosystem agents.

Voting is conducted anonymously via the open-source ChaosDAO Governance bot on Discord with a two-thirds majority requirement. While membership in the DAO is somewhat exclusive, new members are accepted by invitation.

Potentially one of the most accessible DV collectives for new members, KusDAO has grown to 126 unique voters since its first vote in Referendum 1200. To join, applicants must first introduce themselves on the KusDAO Discord and then pass a sybil-proof verification process.

KusDAO also uses the ChaosDAO Governance bot, however all votes are open for the public to view. Furthermore, the general public is actively encouraged to join discussions in referendum forums, which are open to all.

There are two DV collectives representing local communities. One is Polkadot Hungary, a closed DAO that votes via a five-member multi-sig. The other is Le Nexus, which consists of a diverse voting pool from the French-speaking Polkadot community.

Infrastructure and enterprise are represented by two DV collectives.We have Lucky Friday, a 16-person team which includes AAG regular Phunky, while Saxemberg has been heavily active in Polkadot governance since well before the DV program.

If it’s a lack of DOT that is keeping you away from engaging in governance, why not amplify your voice by joining a DV boosted collective such as KusDAO? Perhaps, now is the time to capitalize on the momentum kicked off by Sub0 Reset and the Spammening and spread the Polkadot message as far as possible.

So far, OpenGov in 2025 is being characterized by voter apathy and safe spending on tooling and analytics, but the year has just begun. Let’s shape this year into something bigger. Holidays are over, fam! Get out there, make a proposal, vote, and don’t forget to spend.

Featured Report - Develop DOT Africa

Written by Sanchez & Dodow

Polkadot’s growing presence in Africa marks a turning point. Through OpenGov referendum 1347, the community of the world’s largest DAO has voted to fund the Polkadot Africa initiative. The mission aims to address challenges on the continent, by creating clear pathways for talented Africans to thrive in Web3, fostering awareness, adoption, and growth in the process.

With Africa being the second most populous continent, it is characterized by a large unbanked population and high mobile penetration. Additionally, there is growing demand for cross-border financial solutions, and as a result, the region offers significant opportunities for blockchain adoption.

Furthermore, with several African countries facing high inflation and a youth demographic eager to engage with new technologies, interest from the Web3 industry has been growing. However, despite this potential, Africa's opportunities in the blockchain space remain largely untapped by Polkadot.

In contrast, other Web3 ecosystems such as Ethereum and Solana have successfully attracted African talent through initiatives like EthAfrica and SuperteamNG. While some may link this attention to token value, the reality is that these ecosystems have made it clearer and more accessible for creators, developers, and everyday users to engage and contribute.

Polkadot Africa seeks to rectify this by leveraging existing ecosystem initiatives to create accessible pathways for Africans to join the network. Educational outreach and developer training are central to the mission, with meetups across various countries serving as key entry points for newcomers.

Through a partnership with WagMedia, which has experience supporting creators, Polkadot Africa will onboard both emerging and experienced African contributors, providing them with the resources to engage with the ecosystem. This ensures African voices are represented in the ongoing development of the Polkadot network

For developers, collaboration with OpenGuild provides structured training and immediate opportunities to tackle challenges, enabling African developers to play an active role in the ecosystem's growth and innovation.

Beyond developer training and content creation, Polkadot Africa aims to drive a community focused on building solutions tailored to Africa’s needs. This could include leveraging existing protocols like Pendulum for decentralized payments and Peaq and OriginTrail for agriculture tracking, while also expanding into new areas. The initiative will also introduce new users to Polkadot, offering localized content and lectures to help them get started with areas such as gaming, DeFi, NFTs and more.

The vision is to create a sustainable and self-sufficient Polkadot community in Africa, where creators, developers, and users collaborate to drive the ecosystem forward. As Polkadot Africa forms these pathways, it will help establish Polkadot as a truly global and inclusive ecosystem that represents and embraces the diversity of Africa.

Collaborations are welcomed from individuals and organizations who share the vision of growing the Polkadot ecosystem. Together, these efforts aim to empower the next generation of Web3 talent in Africa and beyond.

If you're in Nairobi on January 18th, join the first meetup of the year at the Nairobi Game Development Center. Stay tuned for updates on future developments and events.

Wag Roundup (January 1st to January 8th)

News found by the community. Curated by the community. Backed by OpenGov.

DOT Ecosystem News

Written by yay.oi

• The PBA-X blockchain technology online course kicked off on January 6th. The four-week program features an all-star lineup of instructors from the Polkadot ecosystem, including Shawn Tabrizi, Kian Paimani, and the one and only Gavin Wood.
• According to DotLake data, the number of unique non-zero balance accounts on Polkadot continued its monthly streak of all-time highs in December.
• Peaq’s latest runtime upgrade brings a boost to decentralization, with the active validator node pool increased from 32 to 42. Validators can now dynamically adjust their commission to optimize their rewards or attract more delegators. In addition, the cap of delegators per node increases from 38 to 48, offering more opportunities for token holders to participate in securing the network.
• Peaq makes greater inroads into Eastern Asia with a CEX listing on the Korean exchange Bithumb.
• The Peaq machine economy has grown by 50% in one month, achieving the impressive milestone of 4.5M registered devices.
• Making up more than 11% of total devices on the Peaq network, Silencio has surpassed 500k registered sensors.
• With a whopping $112M in allocation requests, Silencio’s SLC token offering, in collaboration with Legion, has been massively oversubscribed. With an original funding target of $500k, Silencio has opted to accept $1.3M in requests.
• Hyperbridge has extended its Initial Relayer Offering of 100M BRIDGE tokens until February 28th. Backers will receive a 15% bonus until the 75M milestone is achieved.
• In collaboration with SEADePIN, SkyX has launched an engagement campaign offering the chance to win a Sky-100 weather station valued at $250.
• Attention Acurast Rebels, a new quest has been unlocked. You can now earn 5000 MIST by downloading, using, and rating the Acurast Processor iOS Lite app.
• The OPUS AI agent is integrating with the OriginTrail DKG v8 and NeuroWeb AI as a knowledge miner. OPUS plans to use NEURO token rewards collected for publishing knowledge assets to strengthen the OPUS ecosystem by buying back OPUS tokens.
• With the launch of Gavun Wud Agent v2, our fownding agent has been released from the confines of Telegram onto his very own X account. Deployment onto the Phala TEE Cloud is coming soon.
• Look out, degens! Gavun Wud’s WUD token has finally been listed on CoinGecko.
• Season 1 of the Evrloot Marks campaign has come to an end. Almost 3000 players joined the Web2 free-to-play game, with 2000 converting to the full-featured Web3 version. Stay tuned for Season 2, which promises updates such as group battles, PVP Arena, a marketplace orderbook, and new opportunities to earn Marks.
• Charles Machin’s generative art collection, Astralis Noir, has dropped on Kodadot.
• King Chess JAM, the final tournament for ChessOnChain, kicks off on January 11th. Players have a chance to win USDT and ChessOnChain collectible NFTs.
• The lending pool on Hydration just got a whole lot more interesting with the addition of vDOT. Hopefully, you’ve already had your fun, because the lending supply cap was hit within 15 hours.
• Minting of the vASTR liquid staking token on Bifrost has surged past the sizable milestone of 51 million.
• Flexible fee payment is now available for Bifrost-EVM users. Gas fees can now be paid with any token from the flexible fee list, such as DOT, GLMR, ASTR, and ETH.
• The NEURO/WETH pool will soon be incentivized on Stellaswap with 240k NEURO over a four-month period. In addition, Stellaswap has confirmed that the pool will be further boosted by the DOT Incentives campaign.
• EasyA has proposed the initiation of the Fast-Grants Bounty with an initial allocation of $500k. The purpose would be to build momentum for new projects in the ecosystem by providing initial grants of up to $10k as soon as 72 hours after applying.

DOT Ecosystem Events

Written by yay.oi

• Pakman Media hosted Xcavate founders Richard and Alex on January 3rd to discuss their fundraise, which is now live on Crowdcube.
• Polkadot Blockchain Academy hosted alumnus William (ParaSpell) on January 8th to hear about how his experiences at PBA led him to build one of the most comprehensive suites of XCM integration tools for the Polkadot ecosystem.
• On the January 8th episode of DePIN Disclosed x Spaces, Peaq builder Brent van der Heiden shared the latest updates about the MapMetrics drive-to-earn app.
• Anazir hosted a panel of game builders on January 8th, which included Tobi Amann, who shared an overview and updates about Evrloot.
• Peaq hosted Teneo on January 8th to talk about its community node incentivized data scraping network, which has just reached over 2M users.
• On Saturday 18th January, Polkadot Africa will be hostingits first 2025 meetup at the Nairobi Game Development Center.

Extras

• Awesome cover art created by SKULLZ.
• For all you budding creators out there, don't hesitate any longer – join us now! There are plenty of rewards awaiting your creativity.