The WASM Smart Contracts Bounty is a complex one. It began with lack of progress and impact and it was later revisited with a new lineup and focus but the existence of the request for a new bounty (70) and funding through referenda (1773) makes us believe that this bounty has not fulfilled any significant role within the ecosystem and it has to be terminated in favor of regular opengov referenda funding.
https://polkadot.subsquare.io/treasury/bounties/19
This bounty was meant to be active to provide funds for Ink and other smart contract development as well as other technical efforts but during the activity time (after the revamping) it has only paid for the Inkubator hackathon and curator fees. We would like to hear if there are parties interested in the funds of this bounty in a significant matter and not just a support role as we hold the view that Ink could be eligible for funds but doesn't need 2 different bounties or one bounty and one team funding through OpenGov. Otherwise, we'd like to hear if there are grounds for closing this bounty due to lack of impact and to decide to be in favor of other types of public funding such as referendum 1773 and similar.
Moreover, now bounties are required to provide a timeline for depletion of funds, plans for funding among other things, something this bounty doesn't comply with.
An anonymous poll is included on this discussion, We would like to hear the reasons why this bounty should or shouldn't be closed.
Let's kickstart the discussion.