The Web3 Foundation has recently concluded its 19th wave of grants, dedicating over $1.1 million towards 33 different projects under the Web3 Foundation Grants Program. This wave witnessed a submission of 100 applications, marking the highest in over two years. The foundation highlighted its 600th grant and the processing of the 1000th milestone within this period. The burgeoning Polkadot developer community, now ranked second globally after Ethereum, accentuates the innovation and zeal of teams within this ecosystem. The Grants Program remains a pivotal part in fostering these teams and enticing new developers, enhancing Polkadot’s reputation as one of the most vibrant communities in the Web 3.0 domain. This initiative is aimed at facilitating the upcoming array of innovations through an accessible, transparent, and open grants program.
A noteworthy trend in this wave was the emphasis on tooling grants aimed at augmenting smart contract capabilities, specifically on Polkadot’s ink! smart contracts. The intent is to bolster developer tools for swifter and more secure contract development, focusing on testing, analysis, and enhancing developer interaction with ink! smart contracts. Additionally, projects centered around data analysis emerged, as illustrated by the Data Analysis Tools and Analytics Platform Request for Proposals (RFPs), currently being handled by three distinct teams.
The foundation also approved several grants pertinent to the core infrastructure of Polkadot including wallets, chains, and pallets, which are deemed crucial for the holistic benefit of the ecosystem.
Similar to the preceding wave, a substantial number of grant proposals were in response to RFPs, indicating a dynamic and evolving RFP list open to new proposals. Current topics of interest encompass formal verification, anti-collusion mechanisms, cross-chain messaging, and account security.
The recipients of Wave 19 grants span across various domains including User Interface, Chains and Pallets, Smart Contracts, Tools, APIs, Languages, Research, and Wallets. Some notable recipients include:
User Interface: DOTLY by justmert, Polkadot Analytics Platform by MOBR Systems, and Hyperdot by Infra3.
Chains and Pallets: Melodot by ZeroDAO, On-Chain Automated Treasury Management by Centrifuge, and Storage solution on Polkadot by Eiger.
Smart Contracts: Contract Wizard by Protofire, Roloi — XCM Payment Automation by NeoPower Digital, and DAOsign.
Tools, APIs, and Languages: Ocelloids XCM Transfer Monitoring Service by SO/DA zone, DelightfulDOT by Coong Crafts, and Polkadot Snap Maintenance by ChainSafe.
Research: StorageHub by Moonsong Labs.
Wallets: Research and development MPC ECDSA by Orochi Network, Distributed Cryptography for Polkadot Wallets by PolyCrypt GmbH, and dApps/Wallet integration native mobile libraries by Tesseract.
The Web3 Foundation continues to welcome new proposals as the Web 3.0 ecosystem unfolds and matures. The application process is streamlined, involving a simple submission of a pull request to the grants program repository. The foundation advises potential applicants to meticulously outline a comprehensive roadmap to enhance the likelihood of approval. They also provide resources and guidelines to aid in the application process, alongside a platform for obtaining more information or tips for crafting an exceptional application.
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