Please describe your proposed solution.

If you are unfamiliar with Atlas, you can watch this introduction video. Atlas 2.0 will build on that and offer the following PAB improvements and advanced features:

New Atlas features and CIP support

Support for Native Scripts (multisig) transaction building

This is will allow Atlas to build and interact with all Plutus script types: plutus-v1, plutus-v2, native scripts.

Support for including Transaction Metadata

This will allow Atlas to handle transaction metadata, particularly important for mining assets and NFTs.

Support for CIP-0057: Plutus Contract Blueprint

Integrate with CIP-0057 meta-specification defining the vocabulary and validation rules with which one can specify a Plutus contract interface.

UTxO caching to better manage back-to-back transactions

Allow for fast building of transaction while avoiding reusing UTxOs.

Performance optimization and general PAB improvements

Improved transaction chaining and parallel transaction building abstractions

Transaction changing and parallelism offer powerful tools for developer to innovate and improve dApp interactions.

Improve Atlas utilities and helper functions

Better utilities help developers access new features, streamline development, and improve usability of Atlas.

Improve Atlas data provider functions and interoperability

Data providers supported by Atlas offer a number of functionalities and data types that are not fully taken advantage of by Atlas.

Augment Atlas’ core transaction type primitive with more fields

Atlas’s transaction skeleton is the main interface used to build and manipulate transactions. Adding more fields will open up new operation possibilities for transactions on Atlas.

Overall Atlas maintenance and upgrades to latest Node version

The Atlas PAB must be regularly maintained and updated in order to keep it compatible with the blockchain and usable by developers.

How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

The challenge exists because "Developers need tools and software to more easily build and scale applications and integrations on the Cardano blockchain". This proposal addresses that need directly.

The extended UTXO model of Cardano offers a lot of powerful features which, until now, have not been fully utilized by dApp developers.

How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

The success of this project will be measured based directly on the impact and benefits brought to the Cardano developer community:

• Github activity: growth metrics based on github stars, opened issues, and forks
• Developer adoption: Number of projects and teams using Atlas

Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Atlas is fully open-sourced and available on Github for the community to track progress and verify that deliverables are met. We commit to the milestones based reporting and keep the community updated via our social media channels, as well.

• Telegram
• Discord
• Medium
• Twitter
• YouTube

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Genius Yield is the main contributor of Atlas 1.0 and possesses deep knowledge and understanding of the PAB architecture. Its track record demonstrates that the team is more than capable to execute on the deliverables of Atlas 2.0. Listen to this Learn Cardano episode to hear more from the team.

What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

This proposal has a number of objectives

Objective 1: Support for Native Scripts (multisig) transaction building

This is will allow Atlas to build and interact with all Plutus script types: plutus-v1, plutus-v2, native scripts

Objective 2: Support for including Transaction Metadata

This will allow Atlas to handle transaction metadata, particularly important for mining assets and NFTs

Objective 3: Support for CIP-0057: Plutus Contract Blueprint

Integrate with CIP-0057 meta-specification defining the vocabulary and validation rules with which one can specify a Plutus contract interface

Objective 4: UTxO caching to better manage back-to-back transactions

Allow for fast building of transaction while avoiding reusing UTxOs

Objective 5: Improved transaction chaining and parallel transaction building abstractions

Transaction changing and parallelism offer powerful tools for developer to innovate and improve dApp interactions

Objective 6: Improve Atlas utilities and helper functions

Better utilities help developers access new features, streamline development, and improve usability of Atlas

Objective 7: Improve Atlas data provider functions and interoperability

Data providers supported by Atlas offer a number of functionalities and data types that are not fully taken advantage of by Atlas.

Objective 8: Augment Atlas’ core transaction type primitive with more fields

Atlas’s transaction skeleton is the main interface used to build and manipulate transactions. Adding more fields will open up new operation possibilities for transactions on Atlas.

Objective 9: Overall Atlas maintenance and upgrades to latest Node version

The Atlas PAB must be regularly maintained and updated in order to keep it compatible with the blockchain and usable by developers.

Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Milestone 1: New Atlas features and CIP support

Time required: 3 month

Key Results:

• Support for Native Scripts (multisig) transaction building
• Support for including Transaction Metadata
• Support for CIP-0057: Plutus Contract Blueprint
• UTxO caching to better manage back-to-back transactions

Milestone 2: Atlas performance optimization and better interoperability

Time required: 2 month

Key Results:

• Improved transaction chaining and parallel transaction building abstractions
• Improve Atlas data provider functions and interoperability

Milestone 3: Atlas general PAB improvements and maintenance

Time required: 3 month

Key Results:

• Improve Atlas utilities and helper functions
• Augment Atlas’ core transaction type primitive with more fields
• Overall Atlas maintenance and upgrades to latest Node version

Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Deliverable 1: Support for Native Scripts (multisig) transaction building

• Add Native Script support to transaction building
• Support multisig transactions

Deliverable 2: Support for including Transaction Metadata

• Add metadata asset standards
• Add metadata NFT standards

Deliverable 3: Support for CIP-0057: Plutus Contract Blueprint

• Generate Haskell types from datum, redeemer & parameters data definitions.
• Reading & parsing compiled scripts into their appropriate data types.

Deliverable 4: UTxO caching to better manage back-to-back transactions

• Design local UTXO caching mechanism
• Integrate UTxO cache into transaction building logic

Deliverable 5: Improved transaction chaining and parallel transaction building abstractions

• Refine transaction parallelism abstraction
• Improve Transaction chaining mechanism

Deliverable 6: Improve Atlas utilities and helper functions

• Loading wallet from private key.
• Generation of private key / seed phrase.
• Signing of some payload data (CIP-8).

Deliverable 7: Improve Atlas data provider functions and interoperability

• Add support for new popular data provider (eg Kupo) and continue to maintain/improve currently supported providers
• Listen to the status of a particular submitted transaction.
• Fetching address belonging to an ada handle.

Deliverable 8: Augment Atlas’ core transaction type primitive with more fields

• Operations related to staking such as registering a key, de-registering a key, delegating, withdrawing.
• Operations related to pool - creation, retirement.
• Support for additional datums, useful for a reference input whose datum is not inlined.

Deliverable 9: Overall Atlas maintenance and upgrades to latest Node version

• Ongoing maintenance
• Upgrade to newest node version

Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Deliverable 1: Support for Native Scripts (multisig) transaction building

$50/hr x 6 weeks x 40 hr/week = $12,000

Deliverable 2: Support for including Transaction Metadata

$50/hr x 6 weeks x 40 hr/week = $12,000

Deliverable 3: Support for CIP-0057: Plutus Contract Blueprint

$50/hr x 7 weeks x 40 hr/week = $14,000

Deliverable 4: UTxO caching to better manage back-to-back transactions

$50/hr x 7 weeks x 40 hr/week = $14,000

Deliverable 5: Improved transaction chaining and parallel transaction building abstractions

$50/hr x 6 weeks x 40 hr/week = $12,000

Deliverable 6: Improve Atlas utilities and helper functions

$50/hr x 7 week x 40 hr/week = $14,000

Deliverable 7: Improve Atlas data provider functions and interoperability

$50/hr x 7 weeks x 40 hr/week = $14,000

Deliverable 8: Augment Atlas’ core transaction type primitive with more fields

$50/hr x 6 weeks x 40 hr/week = $12,000

Deliverable 9: Overall Atlas maintenance and upgrades to latest Node version

$50/hr x 6 weeks x 40 hr/week = $12,000

TOTAL ($) = $116,000

TOTAL ($0.3/ADA) = 386,666 ADA

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Laurent Bellandi - Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Laurent is a serial entrepreneur who has focused on digital/online businesses for over 20 years. Lately he co-founded both Genius Yield, one of the most innovative DeFi protocols, and the Genius X accelerator. At Genius X he manages the day-to-day operations of the program and launchpad operating team, formulating the long-term business strategy and leading strategic decisions.

Dr. Lars Brünjes - Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder

Lars is a mathematician and Haskell developer. As Director of Education at Input Output Global (IOG), the engineering research company behind the development of the Cardano blockchain, Lars has taught thousands of people how to build smart contracts. As Chief Technology Officer of Genius X (and Genius Yield), Lars leads research & development with the technical team, and has written the smart contract code for Genius X Launchpad, and other products on the Genius X platform.

Dr. Sothy Kol-Men - Chief Regulatory Officer & Co-Founder

Sothy has over 20 years of experience in digital finance, investments, building new ventures, and regulation. He is a legal expert, guiding Genius X (and Genius Yield) through legal and regulatory matters for fintech rules and regulatory compliance, particularly for the Genius X Launchpad. Sothy is also a highly regarded professional in the Swiss and European crypto network, where he leverages his network for originating high-potential founders and projects for the Genius X Accelerator Program.

Marvin Bertin - Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder

Marvin is an Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning engineer who spent years working in biotech on early cancer detection blood tests using next-generation DNA sequencing. Later he worked as a senior crypto consultant, developing DeFi products for clients on the Ethereum and Cosmo blockchains. Marvin, along with Dr. Lars Brünjes, co-leads research & development for Genius X (and Genius Yield) and leads the creation of technology infrastructure and development behind the Genius X Launchpad, the NFT staking infrastructure, and many other products within the Genius X and Genius Yield platforms.

Dikemba Balogu - Chief Financial Officer

Dikemba is finance professional with years of experience in portfolio management, equity research, capital markets, valuation, and financial planning. As Chief Financial Officer of Genius Yield and Genius X, Dikemba leads financial planning and forecasting, profit optimization strategies for products, long-term product development and strategy, and token economics. Dikemba has advised 20+ startups on business strategy, token valuation, creating token utilities, token distribution schedules, and budgeting and forecasting.

Tomi Astikainen - Catalyst Advisor

Tomi is a Catalyst veteran who has been active since Fund3. He is helping us manage the Catalyst process, guides us to write the proposals and functions as a liaison between the team and the voters. As a kickstarter, connector and storyteller he has a wide perspective and ability to balance between the technical and business perspectives.

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

PABs or Plutus Application Backends are highly valuable on Cardano and play a foundational role for all dApps. In particular, given that Cardano uses the eUTxO paradigm, the interface between on-chain and off-chain code is critical for interfacing with Plutus primitive, transaction building, and any smart contract interactions. Atlas significantly abstracts away blockchain complexity, speeds up development, and provides a solid framework on which any dApp can be created. Mature PAB frameworks like Atlas will fuel growth and innovation across the Cardano dApp ecosystem.