Polkadot Governance News #21 AUG24: Chainalysis Strikes Again
Welcome to Polkadot Governance News #21 for August 2024. As you may know, there are some proposals and proponents who continue to apply for funding from the Treasury after their proposal has been rejected. This is not a bad idea, of course, while making some adjustments and new things based on community discussion, maybe even lowering the amount, restructuring the budget, etc.
One of them is Chainalysis, who are applying for their 3rd funding proposal no. 1065, after their first ref. 684 was rejected and their second attempt ref. 785 was canceled as they tried to push the proposal through the ROOT track.
Let’s see if they succeed this time. At the moment they are about 53% on the AYE side, with a few days left to be confirmed. But there are other interesting topics to be discussed, so let's dive in.
1. Referenda Digest
1. Polkadot Referenda 1111: 2025 Polkadot Motorsports Program w/ Global Ambassador — Conor Daly
- Conor Daly requests a sponsorship of $7.5 million for Polkadot branding in major motorsport series events.
- Past success includes $146.46 million in AVE and significant visibility.
- Plans include educational events and stakeholder collaboration to boost engagement.
- Requested amount: 1,65 M DOT
Polkadotters opinion: NAY. While Conor Daly has been a commendable ambassador for Polkadot, this proposal requests an excessive amount of funding that doesn’t align with the ecosystem’s current priorities and the financial position of the treasury. The outreach objectives, particularly in motorsport, do not seem to be in line with Polkadot’s core objectives and spending 7% of the budget on this campaign is not justified given the limited impact on the community.
2. Polkadot Referenda 1076: PlutoWallet 1st proposal: Account abstraction, Full-featured NFT support, Transaction Analyzer
- First Polkadot mobile wallet with full NFT support and Account Abstraction.
- Developed by a skilled team with over 18 months of Polkadot experience.
- Focuses on decentralization and enhancing Polkadot infrastructure through open-source solutions.
- Requested amount: 8,272 DOT
Polkadotters opinion: AYE. PlutoWallet’s focus on NFTs and innovative Pluto layouts provides a unique, user-centric experience that enhances the Polkadot ecosystem, including cutting-edge features such as account abstraction or transaction analyzer, for the benefit of the entire community. Also, we know Rosťa personally and we must say that he is a very talented and enthusiastic developer from our ecosystem, so we support his (and his team’s) actions.
2. Community Spotlight
In the Community Spotlight, we focus on key Polkadot ecosystem members commenting on recent referenda.
In this edition, we hosted Irina Karagyaur, one of the delegates from the 2st cohort of the Decentralized Voices program as well as a new Polkadot Head Ambassador. Besides her dedication to Polkadot ecosystem, she was also named one of the Top 100 Women of the Future.
Let's have a look at her opinion on the ref. 1065: Improved Proposal from Chainalysis to Polkadot.
Irina Karagyaur: The proposal focuses on compliance, and I found that the service offered emphasizes transparency and best practices. While transparency is a crucial component of compliance, there is still a considerable way to go to achieve the desired goal. Additionally, we do not yet know the total costs that becoming compliant will entail.
It is true that compliance is fundamental for working with the State, its institutions, or large private organizations. For that reason, we plan to partner with accredited custodians, insurance providers, and their accredited security organizations. However, the need for transparency can be met by several organizations offering similar services.
Another point is that, based on my conversations with large enterprises — who, by the way, already work with other blockchain ecosystems that use Chainalysis — there was no expression of urgency for integrating Chainalysis, as there are other priorities. This could be different in the U.S. market; however, we need to receive evidence of urgency and real need from individuals and teams covering the American markets.
Action to take: There are competitive alternatives to what Chainalysis has to offer. These thoughts about the need to call for tenders as a best practice, were already expressed by other community members. We should issue a call for participation/tender from the official Polkadot account to create a healthy competition that will result in improved offers at competitive prices. This approach will also facilitate a discussion to better understand the value of our investment. Therefore, I voted NAY on the proposed referendum.
3. Polkadot Forum View
1. State of Polkadot — React or die
ThomasR is sharing concerns, that Polkadot appears to be struggling against competitors, and this situation isn’t unique to us alone but also affects other networks like Cosmos and Cardano.
Although the Polkadot technology is strong, but without effective marketing and business strategies, it risks becoming irrelevant. The ecosystem has been plagued by missed opportunities and poor marketing execution. The decentralized marketing approach has led to a lack of coherent strategy and direction.
Polkadot needs a clear vision and leadership to guide marketing efforts and business development, akin to how other ecosystems are succeeding. We must embrace pragmatic changes, such as improving interoperability, leveraging new technologies, and developing business strategies that attract users and projects.
2. Cardano Partnerchain V1 Release — Built on Substrate
The Cardano ecosystem has recently released the V1.0 of its Partnerchain Framework, built on Substrate, showcasing the growing synergy between Cardano and Polkadot. This integration highlights the success of Polkadot technology being adopted by other ecosystems and underscores the mutual benefits arising from shared advancements, such as Polkadot’s use of Cardano’s Ouroboros PoS consensus and similar governance structures. As both ecosystems evolve, they continue to influence each other positively.
Felix from the UniFires movement states that UniFires are organizing an online session with the IOG Partnerchain Team to provide more context and answer questions, welcoming any queries from the Polkadot and Cardano community.
4. Final Word, Meme Time
Delegate your DOT or KSM to Polkadotters for easy participation in the on-chain governance via Talisman or Nova wallet
- Strengthen Polkadot by nominating your DOT tokens to POLKADOTTERS, community builders for the Polkadot ecosystem
- Support Polkadotters Shrimp and Polkadotters Octopus on Polkadot and be a part of a more secure Web3 future
