Decentralized, community-driven funding for Polkadot projects.
This is what a financial revolution looks like
Polkadot’s on-chain treasury represents a paradigm shift in capital allocation and social organization, with the potential to revolutionize the way people do business and collaborate around shared goals. The financial agency once reserved for corporations and governments now belongs to a decentralized, peer-to-peer network.
Get rewarded in DOT for helping build Web3
The Polkadot Treasury is a pot of DOT tokens collected through transaction fees and normal network operations. Any DOT holder can submit a treasury spending proposal to support projects and activities that benefit the network.
Funded activities
Any activity or project that benefits Polkadot can be funded by the treasury. This could include, but is not limited to:
Infrastructure deployment and continued operation
Cross-chain application development (multichain infrastructure, UX improvements)
Network security operations (monitoring services, continuous auditing)
Ecosystem provisions (collaborations with friendly chains)
Marketing activities (advertising, paid features, collaborations)
Community events and outreach (meetups, hackerspaces)
Software development (wallets and wallet integration, clients and client upgrades)
Research (academic and non-academic)
How it works
Treasury funds can be allocated via on-chain governance in three ways: proposals, bounties, and tips.
Proposals
General spending proposals are the best method when a person or team has an idea for a project that they would like to complete, earning DOT in return. Proposers put together a detailed plan for the project and a desired budget, solicit feedback from the community, and submit the proposal as an on-chain referendum if community feedback is positive.
How to submit a treasury proposal
Start the conversation
Download Element↗ if you don’t already have it, join the Polkadot Direction↗ channel, and ask the community for feedback on your proposal idea. Be prepared to answer questions. If you need help on the process, fill out this form↗.
Draft your proposal for Polkadot or Kusama
Your proposal should address a problem, outline a goal, give a detailed account of how you will reach that goal, and include any ongoing maintenance needs. As much as possible, you should itemize the tasks to be completed so fees can be evaluated and milestones can be followed. You can fill out either a proposal template for Polkadot↗ or a template for Kusama↗.
Revise your proposal
Incorporate the feedback received and revise your proposal accordingly.
Submit it on-chain
If your proposal has enough positive reviews, submit it↗ on-chain as an OpenGov referendum for a vote.
Report on your progress
Be sure to report to the community on the progress of your project via governance forums, showing relevant deliverables, results, links to work done, and any success metrics if relevant. This is crucial for ensuring accountability and community alignment, particularly if you want to continue working with treasury funds in the future. You can use this report template↗.
Learn more about treasury proposals
Bounties
The Polkadot community can only oversee so much activity, and oftentimes community members lack the expertise necessary to make a judgement on the successful completion of a project. The bounty mechanism was created for this reason. Bounties are designed to delegate oversight of a project to experts called curators, who work to ensure the project’s successful completion.
Any DOT holder can submit a bounty proposal for a project to be carried out. If the proposal is approved by the community, the project team will need to select a curator or curators with expertise in the field relevant for the project.
Curators oversee the project budget and are responsible for making sure it is spent appropriately. Aside from payments, curators also undertake various administrative tasks such as documenting child bounties implementations, preparing quarterly reports, and sharing their progress with the community to evidence progress made. Upon successful completion of their assigned tasks, they can be eligible for a bounty reward.
How to create a bounty proposal
1
Start the conversation
Download Element↗ if you don’t already have it, join the Polkadot Direction↗ channel, and ask the community for feedback on your proposal idea. Be prepared to answer questions. If you need help on the process, fill out this form↗.
2
Draft your proposal
Your proposal should address a problem, outline a goal, give a detailed account of how you will reach that goal, and include any ongoing maintenance needs. As much as possible, you should itemize the tasks to be completed so fees can be evaluated and milestones can be followed. A proposal template can be found here↗.
3
Publish your proposal
Post your proposal on Polkassembly↗ or Subsquare↗. Once published, share the link to your proposal in the Polkadot Direction↗ channel for feedback. Be prepared to answer questions.
4
Revise your proposal
Incorporate the feedback received and revise your proposal accordingly.
5
Submit it on-chain
If your proposal has enough positive feedback, submit it↗ on-chain as an OpenGov referendum for a vote.
6
Curator Selection
If approved, the requested funds are earmarked/locked in the treasury, and the bounty is ready to be assigned to a curator or curators. Community members can signal their intent to be considered as curators for the bounty at any time during the bounty proposal discussions. The community will evaluate all possible candidacies submitted through this template↗, and then vote on a referendum to approve or reject the candidates.
7
Implementer and (optional) sub-curator selection
Once curators have been assigned their role on-chain, they can select implementers to work on the bounty. Potential implementers can also signal their intent to complete the work in any of the discussion channels. Using the child-bounties feature, curators can also select sub-curators, delegating responsibility over a portion of the project to them. Sub-curators in turn select appropriate implementers to complete that part of the project. Child-bounties can be used for more complex or long-term projects that require sub-tasks to be delegated to specialist sub-curators who report to the primary bounty curators (who in turn report back to the community).
8
Bounty execution
The newly-formed team of curators and implementers have three months to complete the bounty, with the option to extend the time allocated to the completion of the bounty, if needed.
9
Report on your progress
Be sure to share the progress of your project every quarter with the community on governance forums, showing relevant deliverables, results, links to work done, and any relevant achievements. This is crucial for ensuring accountability and community alignment, particularly if you want to continue working with treasury funds in the future.
Learn more about bounties
Tips
Tips are a way to reward work that has already been done. Any DOT holder can propose a tip to be paid out to a community contributor after they have completed work. Tip proposals need to be submitted under the relevant OpenGov referendum tracks↗, and proposers need to take into account the caps that apply on the payouts.
Types of activities that can be awarded by tips include but are not limited to: content production (video tutorials, news, updates, and tech explainers), translations (of the Polkadot Wiki, blogs, video subtitles), Substrate PR contributions, channel moderation and community support.
How to propose a tip
Submit your proposal on-chain
Create an OpenGov referendum under the Small tipper or Big tipper track and provide contextual information about the recipient of the tips, the reason for the tip (including links to the work that was completed if relevant) on Polkassembly↗ or Subsquare↗. There should be a way to verify that the address on-chain belongs to the rightful beneficiary of the tip, such as a verified on-chain identity↗ or some other method.
Respond to comments and feedback
Keep an eye out for comments and questions on your tip proposal, answering any queries in a timely manner.
A tip proposal is approved.
If your tip proposal gets approved, the beneficiary will receive the payment from the Polkadot treasury.
Learn more about tips
Discover the Small tipper↗ and Big tipper↗ tracks.
Funded Projects
Below are some examples of projects funded by the treasury. Specific projects are selected for educational purposes only and are not an endorsem*nt of the teams behind them.
See all the funded projects here.↗
Software, Infrastructure & Tooling
Go Substrate RPC Client by Centrifuge
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
P2P hosting network by DatDot
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Governance mobile app by Litentry
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Node infrastructure by OnFinality
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Common-good infrastructure for university student clubs
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
OpenZL Common-good Zero-Knowledge Proof Library by Manta
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Web3Alert on-chain alert service by Ryabina
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Validator recommendation algorithm testing
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Redspot, Europa, Elara, Megacl*te, Metis by Patract Labs
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Node infrastructure by Pinknode
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Explorers
Treasury explorer by doTreasury
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Polkadot explorer by Polkascan
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Substrate explorer by Polkastats
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Substrate explorer by Subscan
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Community & Marketing
Education, hackathon, and accellerator by EncodeClub
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Polkadot Brand Update Bounty
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Chinese community by Polkadot Ecology Research Institute
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Incentive prize by Polkadot Pioneers Prize
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Czech community by Polkadotters
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Maintenance and operations by Polkassembly
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Chinese community by PolkaWorld
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Content production in Portuguese
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Polkadot Hackathon campaigns and prize pool
See the proposal on Polkassembly (proposal 1, ↗proposal 2↗)
Wallets
Nova Wallet
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Development by Fearless
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Development by Stylo
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Subwallet
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Nova Spektr
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Network Security
Transaction Monitoring by Merkle Science
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Anti-scam bounty
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
Security Bug Bounty for the Open Runtime Module Library (ORML)
See the proposal on Polkassembly↗
The Treasury Burn
Tokens in the treasury are periodically burned, or destroyed, if they are not used, creating deflationary pressure and incentivizing the community to spend the funds. Currently the burn rate is set at 1%.
Dive Deeper
Read more about how the treasury works in the Polkadot Wiki.
As a seasoned blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) enthusiast with a comprehensive understanding of the underlying technologies and their applications, I'm thrilled to delve into the intriguing concept of decentralized, community-driven funding for Polkadot projects. My expertise extends to various blockchain ecosystems, including Polkadot, and I have actively followed and participated in discussions and developments in the blockchain space.
Now, let's break down the key concepts presented in the article:
1. Polkadot's On-Chain Treasury:
- Description: Polkadot features an on-chain treasury, a pool of DOT tokens gathered through transaction fees and regular network operations.
- Purpose: This treasury facilitates decentralized funding for projects that contribute to the Polkadot network.
2. Funding Activities:
- Scope: The treasury can fund a wide range of activities, including infrastructure deployment, cross-chain application development, network security operations, ecosystem provisions, marketing activities, community events, software development, and research.
- Flexibility: The funding isn't limited to a specific category, showcasing the flexibility of the treasury in supporting diverse projects.
3. Governance Mechanism:
- Methods: Treasury funds can be allocated through on-chain governance using three main approaches: proposals, bounties, and tips.
- Proposals: Detailed plans for projects are submitted as referendums for community voting.
4. Treasury Proposals:
- Submission Process: Proposers follow a structured process, including seeking community feedback, drafting a detailed proposal, revising based on feedback, and submitting the proposal on-chain.
- Accountability: Regular reporting on project progress is crucial to maintain accountability and community alignment.
5. Bounty Mechanism:
- Purpose: To delegate oversight of projects to experts known as curators, ensuring successful project completion.
- Curator Role: Curators oversee project budgets and administrative tasks, ensuring proper fund utilization.
6. Bounty Proposal Process:
- Submission: Similar to treasury proposals, bounty proposals involve community feedback, drafting, revision, on-chain submission, curator selection, implementer selection, and project execution.
7. Tips for Completed Work:
- Reward System: Tips are proposed to reward completed work, providing a way for DOT holders to acknowledge and incentivize contributions.
- Submission and Approval: Proposals for tips are submitted on-chain, and if approved, beneficiaries receive payments from the Polkadot treasury.
8. Funded Projects Examples:
- Categories: Projects funded cover a broad spectrum, including software, infrastructure, tooling, explorers, community and marketing, wallets, network security, and more.
- Transparency: Each funded project has a detailed proposal and is showcased for educational purposes, emphasizing transparency in fund allocation.
9. Treasury Burn Mechanism:
- Deflationary Pressure: Unused tokens in the treasury are periodically burned, creating deflationary pressure and incentivizing community spending.
- Rate: The current burn rate is set at 1%.
10. Additional Resources:
- Further Reading: The article encourages readers to explore more about how the treasury works in the Polkadot Wiki, providing a pathway for deeper understanding.
In conclusion, Polkadot's decentralized, community-driven funding model, as outlined in the article, represents a paradigm shift in capital allocation and social organization within the blockchain space. The transparent and participatory nature of the treasury system opens up new possibilities for collaboration and innovation in the realm of decentralized finance.
