Please describe your proposed solution.

Vision for “DevDAO”:

There is currently a lot of informal collaboration between Catalyst projects. On the other hand, well-known companies exist that specialize in Cardano-related development that are used by many new projects and smaller teams and entrepreneurs. By leveraging Decentralized Identity and DAO-tooling that has grown tremendously over the last year, we want to experiment with a decentralized structure to make these exchanges a lot easier, rewarding and transparent.

Smaller developers and smart contract development specialists can leverage their DAO membership and decentralized identity to enjoy the visibility and track record of larger organizations. The process will initially launch as a simple Dework-, Summon- and Discord-based platform and over its milestones incorporate full DID and gradual smart contract implementation to facilitate relationships between members and projects.

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

DAO Challenge Settings have been a stalwart of Catalyst and a lot of useful tooling, from simple plugins to smart contract libraries have been built. We want to put a narrowed focus on Number of Communities engaged in collaboration using Cardano DAO creation tools to help existing tech - both Cardano DAO and legacy decision making software - to bring together what already exists or is currently being finished Open Source as part of Fund-9 and the Atala PRISM Launch Ecosystem, and enlist as many developers on Cardano part of this DAO journey.

Combining Atala PRISM Verified Credentials and Native CNFT-Gating will allow us to explore new ways of interacting with the Continuous Testnet and Cardano Blockchain. The proposers have recently completed Plutus Pioneers Cohort 4 and Atala PRISM Cohort 2 and will continue to follow the emerging capabilities of the Voltaire and Conway tooling that is being developed. We understand the pioneering nature of trying to “force” Catalyst into a speedy process of decentralization, but feel that these pioneering development risks are exactly what makes the Cardano spirit and frontier ideation of new governance methods.

Decentralized governance prototype for DAOs: Multiple Developers participate in the decentralized decision making process without being controlled by any groups in particular. Instead, smart contracts will define the handling of developers to projects. A reputation system built around decentralized identity will complement the full use of Cardano’s already rich stack for decentralized membership organizations.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Proposers are Plutus Pioneers (cohorts 3 and 4), Atala PRISM Pioneers (2nd cohort) and Marlowe Pioneers. We will collaborate with impact work network Socious for the escrow and potential gaps in the initial skill pool, and the support of the developer ecosystem for blockchain-related design and testing support. The team covers a broad range of skills from successful startup founders, technical and business backgrounds to community functions including Challenge Teams since Fund-7 (Boosting Cardano’s DeFi) to fund 8,9 (Developer Ecosystem) and current fund 10 (Developer Ecosystem-The Evolution). We have grown the Developer Ecosystem community on telegram channel: <https://t.me/DeveloperEcosystem> (149 members as of 7 December 2023) from Fund-8 until now and would like to add value to the ecosystem by applying our experience and insights which we gained from our participation in the PoA pilot in fund 9 to improve the overall process and form the DevDAO community.

Our “Developer Ecosystem: The Evolution” Telegram group has been around since Fund-8. We hope that many of the technical proposers and builders will form the backbone of the "Developer DAO” and that their collective skillset can be harnessed to provide better assessment and validation of Catalyst proposals and proposers.

Our team have always advocated for decentralizing Catalyst. We have published extensively about the findings of process and issues in our close-out challenge report from fund 7 to fund 9 here –>

Fund 9: <https://challenge-team-work.gitbook.io/f9-developer-ecosystem/>

Fund 8: <https://challenge-team-work.gitbook.io/f8-developer-ecosystem/>

Fund 7: <https://challenge-team-work.gitbook.io/f7-boosting-cardano-defi/>

With the growing number of proposals entered into Project Catalyst with each successive funding round, it is time that we use the tools already available on Cardano and support small newly funded projects while rewarding and giving credentials to expert developers.

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: Mar 2024 (Establish Expert Pool & workshop for DevDao community)

20% of total budget (ADA 36,540)

Create bare-bones version using very established out-of-the-box tools like Dework (https://dework.xyz), Summon Platform (DAO Tooling by Summon Platform) and Discord.

Open permissionless registration, assignment of roles and establish “DevDao Panel” including word-of-mouth marketing and ambassador system. Attracting an initial pool of developers whose expertise and interest match with the bounties as requested by the small and newly funded projects.

>Milestone 2: May 2024 (Smart contract development & Consensus Mechanism deployment Workshop)

20% of total budget (ADA 36,540)

Develop executable algorithm that would match these DevDao developers to the small newly funded projects.

Running workshop for DevDao developers on how to utilize decentralized consensus mechanism (as a collective decision).

>Milestone 3: Jul 2024 (Two-Way Evaluation phase)

20% of total budget (ADA 36,540)

Using the platform powered by consensus mechanism to determine the cost-effective smart contract and dApp Development route.

DevDao Panel feedback on smart contract and dApp development will be provided to funded projects.

>Milestone 4: Sep 2024 (Feedback loop and performance measurement)

20% of total budget (ADA 36,540)

Roundtable Experts, Funded proposers and DevDao panel for project progress and check whether there is any new project development that could potentially change the original consensus and approve payment.

>Nov 2024 (Reward/Token distribution from DevDao)

20% of total budget (ADA 36,540)

Working with escrow service provider to distribute rewards/tokens to experts who participated and offered expert insight & output towards the smart contract & audit process.

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

Thomas Wedler (Technical integration of smart contract and consensus mechanism, Project Manager)

Managing director of Sapient Predictive Analytics. Experienced financial trader and entrepreneur. Ex Shell, Vattenfall, Masefield senior futures and options trader. Individual floor trader at Singapore Exchange. Tom has been building and deploying programs for automated market making and energy derivatives since 2014. 15 years Derivatives experience at multi-national organizations working closely with industry bodies and speaker at market conferences and workshops. Involved in crypto trading since 2014 and DeFi/oracles since 2018. Plutus Pioneer, Marlowe Pioneer and Atala Prism Pioneer.

Thomas is a certified Superforecaster with the Good Judgment Project and winner of the inaugural Hybrid Forecasting Challenge at SAGE / University of Southern California.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-wedler-18960/

Role in Catalyst: Challenge Team (Fund 8-10), Sub-circle3, Catalyst Coordinators (funded proposers), Veteran Proposal Assessor, Reviewer in funded project milestone reporting (PoA pilot) Fund 9 & Fund 10

June Akra (Community leader & Campaigner, Strategic decision maker, Co-Project manager)

Founding member of BlockCarbon, financial market expert and academic with vast experience in risk management, derivatives and commodities. Experience for various risk functions in 2 billion dollar AUM fund. Holder of Master degree in Investment with distinction and awarded Draper Prize. Certified Quantitative Finance (CQF) alumni London. Experienced video editor, content creator with combined 50,000 followers on social media, NFT collector and creator. Certified python AI practitioner, Plutus Pioneer & Atala Prism Pioneer, Genius Yield Ambassador

https://www.linkedin.com/in/june-a-a3a0b4174

[https://www.geniusyield.co/?utm_source=social &utm_medium=ambassador&utm_campaign=june_akra](<https://www.geniusyield.co/?utm_source=social &utm_medium=ambassador&utm_campaign=june_akra>)

Role in Catalyst: Challenge Team (Fund 7-10), Sub-circle3, Catalyst Coordinators (funded proposers), Veteran Proposal Assessor, Reviewer in funded project milestone reporting (PoA pilot) Fund 9 & Fund 10

Escrow service

Seira Yoon (Socious) (Impact project warrior, technical executor of escrow service functions)

Seira Yun is the Founder and CEO of Socious.io, a talent marketplace that makes impact work accessible and transparent. Socious connects purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching, and uses blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/seirayun/

Seira is a serial impact entrepreneur with years of experience in the sector. He has led teams within the ICRC, UNHCR, and social ventures. Drawing from personal experiences as a migrant, an autistic person, and a proud pansexual queer, Seira is driven to make the world a better place through social innovation. As a full-stack developer with a Master's in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge, he enjoys blending technology with purpose. Seira is also an impact angel investor, a member of Hustle Fund's Angel Squad, and a mentor for 4WARD.VC's Climate Accelerator. When not working, he enjoys shooting hoops, running, reading, spending quality time with the kids, or embracing the adventure of getting lost during travels. He is also a long-term member of the Cardano community; he’s won and managed five Catalyst projects and has participated in Atala PRISM Pioneer Program.

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Values expressed in ADA (₳)

A. Smart contract development for assignment and validation of roles (open-sourced): ADA 216.67 per hour 30 hours per month 4 months = ADA 26,000

B. Smart contract Audit and Testing (budget includes bug bounty and surplus) = ADA 52,000

C. Consensus mechanism deployment: ADA 216.67 per hour 60 hours per month 3 months = ADA 39,000

D. Escrow service fee (Impact projects) based on the fee structure <https://socious.io/fees>

Socious fee for matching developers & escrow service = ADA 13,700

E. Project Management: ADA 200 per hour 40 hours per month 7 months = ADA 52,000

Total cost for this project is ADA 182,700

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

This project brings several value proposition to Cardano ecosystem based on these deliverables

1. Efficiency and Automation: As the number of funded projects is increasing as the fund progresses, there will be an increasing number of small promising funded projects. Using a DAO will not just make the process more inclusive and cover a much wider talent pool, it can also allocate micro jobs to developers who are interested to take part in these budding protocols. This solves the skill shortage issue. As a result, faster evaluation times, faster execution for project owners to move along their milestones. The learning curve of building this platform will also hopefully contribute to the stack available for DAOs building on Cardano and provide a low-risk testing ground for ADA escrow and credential-based release of funds.
2. Quality assessment: The involvement of DevDao panel reviewers ensures that projects are advised by those who possess the necessary technical knowledge. This provides assurance to the community that milestones are met with expertise and the highest quality delivery will be paid first.
3. Risk mitigation: Rewards for DevDao community members are securely held in escrow. Use of DAO structure and escrow reduces risks of bilateral payments and relationships and ensures projects and developers receive value for money, secure and on time.
4. Incentivization and collaboration: The decentralized governance aspect of the Developer DAO allows developers to join in and contribute to the Cardano ecosystem. Developer panel will receive rewards for using their expertise to nurture small and newly funded projects. This would encourage collaborative effort and engagement among community members.