The Decentralized Futures (DF) program by the Web3 Foundation is a major funding initiative aimed at bolstering the Polkadot ecosystem. With a fund of $20 million and 5 million $DOT, the program seeks to expand the network by adding self-sustaining participants.
The DF program concluded its review process on July 31, 2024, awarding grants to teams and individuals across various disciplines in the Polkadot ecosystem. These include marketing, business development, onboarding, governance, and technology.
Grants For Marketing
The following exceptional teams and individuals received marketing grants for presenting innovative solutions to marketing challenges.
- AirLyft One focuses on community engagement through gamification, simplifying parachain learning, onboarding, and incentivization.
- Evan Thomas is developing a decentralized social media framework aligned with Polkadot’s ethos.
- Decentered Studio aims to revolutionize Web3 events with end-to-end event execution services.
- Distractive specializes in marketing for emerging crypto ecosystems, driving Polkadot’s growth with strategy, content, and digital media.
Grants for Business Development
The grants for business development went to the companies that were focusing on growth, scalability, and adopting sustainable business practices.
- BlockDeep Labs is delivering the Mythos Parachain, aiming to redefine innovation within Polkadot.
- DotPlay focuses on building a gaming ecosystem, providing integration tools and business development support.
- Moondance Labs leads business development efforts, accelerating Polkadot adoption through new parachains and applications.
- PoKe, a project by Scytale Digital and BOTLabs GmbH, aims to integrate Polkadot into major organizational infrastructures.
- Polimec offers a community-driven funding protocol for decentralized, transparent fundraising.
- PolkaPort East seeks to establish a Polkadot community in Hong Kong, attracting new teams and institutional investors.
Grants for Onboarding
The grants for onboarding went to the following teams for innovating talent recruitment and creating a conducive and welcoming environment for developers.
- Accelerate Polkadot provides detailed, code-first guides to lower barriers for developers.
- Diogo Mendonça integrates Polkadot content into university courses and ensures quality for funded projects.
- Interplanetary Talent Services (IPTS) revolutionizes Web3 talent recruitment.
- PaperMoon enhances developer relations by bridging communication gaps and promoting best practices.
- Play on Polkadot (POP) simplifies parachain and smart contract development with a comprehensive toolkit.
Grants for Governance
The only grant for governance went to OpenGov.Watch, which develops governance operations and culture within Polkadot, providing regular reports and pioneering initiatives to keep participants informed.
Grants for Technology
The recipients of the technology grants are quite varied, touching on areas of decentralization, cross-chain functionality, smart contracts, multisigs, and more.
- Archisinal creates a decentralized marketplace for architectural and design professionals.
- ETF Network addresses secure delayed transactions with a substrate-based blockchain.
- Kylix Finance advances DeFi lending with comprehensive onchain solutions.
- Ocelloids builds a universal cross-chain monitoring system for Polkadot.
- Pendzl offers a smart contract library to enhance the development experience.
- Polkadot Multisig simplifies enterprise blockchain operations with multisig, proxy, governance, and staking pallets.
- StorageHub provides decentralized storage optimized for large data sets.
- Velocity Labs aims to transform Polkadot into a DeFi innovation hub.
Decentralized Mic
The Decentralized Mic series will debut on August 7, 2024, featuring community calls to highlight the achievements, challenges, and lessons learned by all the recipients of the DF grants. Distractive and Evan Thomas will host the series, which will be live-streamed on LinkedIn, YouTube, and X.
The Decentralized Futures program is a pivotal initiative for Polkadot’s growth, supporting a wide range of projects to expand and strengthen the ecosystem. The Decentralized Mic complements this by keeping the community engaged and informed about the progress of funded initiatives.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
