Proposed by:
Requested amount:
0 DOT

#1331 · Ink!ubator 2.0 – Change of curators for bounty #19

Strategy update:

Given that the execution of ref#1160 failed and bounty #19 is still open, we have decided to take a different approach to execute this proposal. We're moving away from opening a new bounty, which now clearly feels unnecessary, and instead pursuing the substitution of the current curator set.

We have communicated our intentions to the current curator set. It's also worth noting that the main motivation for closing bounty #19 seemed to be the lack of activity. We believe that refreshing the set with a group of passionate and involved agents will have a positive effect on both the application developers using ink! and the ecosystem as a whole.

The change of curators won't be accompanied by a top-up. We will focus on leveraging the existing funds and demonstrating demand.

The action plan will unfold as follows:

  • A referendum proposing the new curator set will be opened.
  • Once the decision deposit for the above referendum is paid, the current curator set will sign and submit unassign_curator().
  • The referendum will be executed.
  • The newly proposed curator will sign and submit accept_curator().
  • ink!ubator will reopen its doors. The website will be updated, and new applicants will be welcomed.


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Hey community! 👋

We've decided to move our discussion from the Polkadot Forum to this platform to continue our conversation here.

We are presenting ink!ubator 2.0 as a proposal to the Polkadot Treasury for continued innovation within the Polkadot ecosystem through projects utilizing ink! smart contracts. and ofc, we would like to hear the community thoughts first!

We have recently posted the ink!ubator 1.0 report and it is already finalised. But we would like to continue this initiative with the feedback and comments from the community.

We are aware of the existing proposal to return funds from ink!ubator 1.0 to the Treasury; however, given the recent failure of ref#1160 and the continued status of bounty #19, we are pivoting towards a different strategy. Instead of opening a new bounty, which now seems redundant, we have decided to refresh the existing curator set to reinvigorate the initiative.

We have communicated this decision to the current curator set and believe that bringing in a new, more engaged group will drive renewed interest among developers using ink! and strengthen the ecosystem.

Key highlights of the proposal:
🔶 Ecosystem grants focus: We aim to incubate around 10+ high-potential projects, with each project receiving a grant in the range of $50,000 - $60,000. These funds will enable developers to focus on delivering innovative products that contribute to the Polkadot and ink! smart contract ecosystems.

🔶 Mentorship and guidance: ink!ubator 2.0 will provide professional mentorship through active curators who will guide projects in the creation of ideas from inception to completion. The selection criteria for curators are stringent, based on deep technical and ecosystem development experience; hence, supported teams will be able to get the best resources possible.


What will be different from ink!ubator 1.0:
🔶 The experience gained from ink!ubator 1.0 has deeply influenced the development of ink!ubator 2.0. We have reimagined our curator selection process in such a way that the curators remain motivated and on board during the whole project life cycle. Second, the incubator has been streamlined because now it will focus only on ecosystem grants since those have been most productive concerning the effort and resource involved.

Also, we understand the issue of Transparency in the ink!ubator 1.0, so we aim to do even more frequent reports and post more detailed feedback on the GitHun for each application!

💎 Curators panel:
Selection for our project is secured at the highest possible level of quality and innovation, hence we have reserved a panel of experienced curators bringing along wealth and hands-on experience from across Polkadot and ink! ecosystems:

Michi (ex-Parity)
W3F (Web3 Foundation)
David Semakula
R0GUE
Velocity Labs
and Facilitator: Toma Sadova

🔶Why treasury support is critical:
Funding from the Polkadot Treasury is needed to both enable developers and ensure continued growth within the Polkadot network. Investments in ink! smart contracts are funding projects in the Treasury that have real value-add for Polkadot by empowering its technology and attracting new waves of innovating developers.

The requested support of 600,000 - 1,000,000 USD will enable ink!ubator 2.0 to:

  1. Deliver impactful projects that align with Polkadot’s vision.
  2. Empower developers to push the limits of decentralized technology.
  3. Strengthen Polkadot’s position as a leader in blockchain innovation.

What the future holds: Through ink!ubator 2.0, we aim to:

  1. Expand the reach and influence of ink! within the Polkadot ecosystem.
  2. Foster the development of scalable and sustainable decentralized solutions.
  3. Bring innovative tools and frameworks that contribute to Web3 and blockchain technology on a global scale.
  4. Together, with the Polkadot Treasury’s support, we can lay the foundation for the next era of decentralized innovation.

📜 You can find the full proposal document below for a detailed breakdown:

  1. Proposal
  2. Final report of Ink!ubator 
  3. Discussion on Polkadot Forum
Read more
StatusConfirming · 8h
99%Aye
Aye (245)
44.089M DOT
Nay (51)
345.43K DOT
Decision28 / 28d
Confirmation6 / 7d
0.0%0.90%
0.0%Support Threshold
0Support Threshold
Support(0.72%)
10.94M DOT
Issuance
1.52B DOT
Vote
Dec 31, 2024

Dear @Toma Sadova,

Thank you for your proposal. Our vote on this proposal is NAY.

The Big Spender track requires a 60% quorum according to our voting policy. This proposal has received three aye and two nay votes from ten members, with two members abstaining. Below is a summary of our members' comments:

> The referendum received mixed feedback, with supporters praising the list of curators as trusted and capable of advancing ink! development. However, concerns were raised about past issues with the ink!ubator program, including a lack of professionalism and follow-through, leading some members to oppose the proposal. Others abstained, citing the need for a clearer strategy for broader ink! adoption. One member suggested that the bounty be closed in line with the outcome of referendum 1160 and reopened with a restructured approach.

The full discussion, along with individual members' votes and comments, can be found in our internal voting.

Kind regards,
Permanence DAO

ChaosDAODec 18, 2024

ChaosDAO would like to provide the following feedback from our community. We offer this feedback voluntarily in the spirit of OpenGov, in order to help teams improve their proposals so we can all build the network together.

  1. Members were in support of the curatorial change.

  2. Some members were skeptical about the current adoption of Ink!

ChaosDAO votes as a collective based on the results of our anonymous internal voting procedures. Our members are not required to provide any feedback about why they have voted in a particular direction. Similarly, to respect our members' right to anonymity, we will not be sharing the names of individuals who have chosen to voluntarily provide feedback. You can find out more about how we vote and how to get in contact with us here: https://x.com/ChaosDAO/status/1762986093316587995

Lucky Friday have voted AYE. Please consider this a temporary notification after our vote has gone on chain. If you would like additional feedback on our rationale for this vote, please join our OpenGov Public Forum on Telegram here: https://t.me/+559tyPSfmGg0NzUx

Lucky Friday provides feedback once per week (Fridays) if specifically requested in our OpenGov Public Forum, and we respectfully ask that all proponents of referenda interact with us here for the sake of transparency. Please tag our Director of Protocol Relations “Phunky” with your referendum number so that he can gather the relevant commentary from our internal deliberations.

ALEJANDRO_R0GUEDec 2, 2024

This is Alejandro from R0GUE. I wanted to express our excitement about participating as curators in this bounty. We are truly looking forward to collaborating with such an incredible group of agents. We believe that our combined efforts will not only help ink! gain traction but also foster the development of amazing new applications within the ecosystem.

Go R0GUE!

ALEJANDRO_R0GUENov 14, 2024

Hello all!

As I write this comment we are gold platting some details before incorporating some changes to the above proposal and discussion.

But I'd like to share here the change of direction this initiative is taking. For what is worth, expect an edit on the above post including the following:


Given that the execution of ref#1160 failed and bounty #19 is still open, we have decided to take a different approach to execute this proposal. We're moving away from opening a new bounty, which now clearly feels unnecessary, and instead pursuing the substitution of the current curator set.

We have communicated our intentions to the current curator set. It's also worth noting that the main motivation for closing bounty #19 seemed to be a lack of activity and pro activity. We believe that refreshing the set with a group of passionate and involved agents will have a positive effect on both the application developers using ink! and the ecosystem as a whole.

The change of curators won't be accompanied by a top-up. We will focus on leveraging the existing funds and demonstrating demand.

The action plan will unfold as follows:

  • 🟣 A referendum proposing the new curator set will be opened.
  • 🟣 Once the decision deposit for the above referendum is paid, the current curator set will sign and submit unassign_curator().
  • 🟣 The referendum will be executed.
  • 🟣 The newly proposed curator will sign and submit accept_curator().
  • 🟣 ink!ubator will reopen its doors. The website will be updated, and new applicants will be welcomed.
ALEJANDRO_R0GUENov 14, 2024

[Deleted]

ALEJANDRO_R0GUEOct 30, 2024
CrisOpenGuild

GM,

Nice to see ink! proposal!

I'm a fan.

However, can you describe clearer about what type of projects that you guys intend to grant instead of "high-potential"? I'm not a fan of seeing too many "toolings" without any particular application for consumer. And after grant, what's next? Did you already connect and work with any incubation program/organization to distribute those products to the market?

Regards,

Cris.

GM @CrisOpenGuild ,

ink! certainly has a solid ecosystem of tools ready for devs to use.
Having that in mind it we want these funds to focus on impulsing the creation of interesting applications that can attract users.

While we have access to some teams dedicated to incubate projects allowing this continued story, I imagine we don't know them all, so if you or any other person reading this would be interested in being part of what comes after for the projects beneficiaries of ink!ubator, please feel free to reach me out. My X and mail are linked to this account on chain identity.

ALEJANDRO_R0GUEOct 30, 2024
Lily_Mendz

Hello, it’s a pleasure to greet you. The referendum execution to close Bounty 19 failed; what’s next for this bounty?

Hi @Lily_Mendz, I'm x-posting my answer form the forum here:

Indeed, it seems that the proposal to close ink!ubator v1 has failed, as one of its child bounties remains open and needs to be claimed.

https://polkadot.subsquare.io/referenda/1160?tab=timeline

My personal concern regarding ref#1160 was the community sentiment surrounding the removal of support for teams and individuals building applications with ink!. Although it seems that the motivation for closing bounty #19 was primarily the decline in activity and effort put into it.

For the purpose of this post and the suggested initiative, the outcome of ref#1160 had no effective impact. I believe a change of curators would require community voting, and the same applies to “reopening” the bounty.

The different teams involved are, of course, firm believers that ink! provides value and reasons to develop smart contracts within this ecosystem. The main question still remains: does the community want to support applications being built with ink!?

With bounty #19 open, the option of submitting a change of curators is still available. Therefore, we will need to decide what the most effective path forward would be.

CrisOpenGuildOct 30, 2024

GM,

Nice to see ink! proposal!

I'm a fan.

However, can you describe clearer about what type of projects that you guys intend to grant instead of "high-potential"? I'm not a fan of seeing too many "toolings" without any particular application for consumer. And after grant, what's next? Did you already connect and work with any incubation program/organization to distribute those products to the market?

Regards,

Cris.

Lily_MendzOct 30, 2024

Hello, it’s a pleasure to greet you. The referendum execution to close Bounty 19 failed; what’s next for this bounty?

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