Top-up of Proposal #87 due to DOT price change

We are submitting this proposal to request a top-up of our previously approved funding request (REF #87) due to significant fluctuations in the value of DOT, resulting in a 63% reduction in the funds received.

In our initial proposal we requested USD 118,061.84. However, due to the decline in the DOT price, we were only able to expend USD 43,756.75. When we received the funds on February 11, 2022, their value had already decreased to USD 73,263.80. Despite delaying the sale of DOT in hopes of a price recovery, we were ultimately compelled to sell on March 30, 2024, resulting in proceeds of only USD 43,756.75.

During this period, we self-funded the project. Our team continued to work on DatDot, supported by earnings from other company projects. To complete our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and adequately compensate our team, we now require the remaining funds.

We respectfully request a top-up to cover the shortfall and ensure the successful completion of our project.

About us

Our team has extensive experience in the blockchain space. We were working for the Ethereum foundation for 3 years and were then in 2019 invited to join Polkadot ecosystem and work on a W3F funded research project that lead to the current DatDot.

During our time in the blockchain space (since 2017) we have conducted numerous workshops and talks at prominent conferences such as ETHCC, ETHToronto, Web3 summit, ETH Taipei and Devcon. Additionally, we have organized code camps, provided advisory services to auditing companies and have been involved in multiple research projects.

Top up request

Requested Funding Details:

Original Requested Amount in USD: 118,061.84
Equivalent in DOT: 4,583.2988
DOT EMA30 Price in USD: 25.7591
Transaction Reference: Subscan

Actual Funds Received:

Amount Realized in USD: 43,756.75
DOT Sale Price in USD: 9.547
Transaction Reference: Subscan

Funding Shortfall:

Difference in USD: 74,305.09

Additional Funding Requirements:

In our initial proposal, we estimated the cost of the Rust implementation to be USD 32,000. However, due to the delayed funding, there have been significant changes in the economic landscape. Inflation and increased market demand have led to higher developer rates, with current rates being no less than USD 150 per hour. Our original estimates were based on rates significantly lower than current rates. Therefore, we request an additional USD 32,000 to complete the Rust node implementation.

DatDot Progress Report

What is DatDot

Think of it as a bit torrent for blockchain. More technically - it is an autonomous hosting network for p2p data systems.

DatDot is empowering developers to build bit torrent like apps - where users can share any kind of data (small or super large and realtime). You can build live-streaming, radio apps, collaborative editors, games and all this without any infrastructure costs (because data is not being hosted on a server, but rather shared user-to-user directly (peer-to-peer)).

Milestone	Deliverable	Status	Links
01	Implementation of final economic and cryptographic logic	done	datdot crypto, rating
02	Networking module	done	datdot networking
03	Restarting tasks system	in progress (40% done)
04	Vault	done	vault
05	Rust node	in progress (15% done)	datdot pallet
06	UI implementation (view)	in progress (80% done)	jobs, plan, user
07	Desktop app	in progress (60% done)	electron
08	Documentation	in progress (85% done)	docs
09	Data shell - development tool for building bit torrent like apps in the browser	in progress (85% done) - not part of the previous proposal, but we have been working on behind the scenes full time	datashell
10	Data wallet - tooling for cloud and server free local first dapps	in progress (80% done) - not part of the previous proposal, but we have been working on behind the scenes full time	data wallet

Community enagegement

Our team has been active online but we have also been present at irl events, such as:

Decoded Berlin
Decoded Copenhagen
Sub0 Lisbon
Decoded Brussels (upcoming)

We have also been presenting the project on code camps and conferences and have been recording daily work logs for a long time:

Talk

(click image to watch talk)

Worklogs

(click image to watch worklog videos)

Here is a summary of the SubSquare post:

The team behind DatDot is requesting more funding because they did not receive the full amount they asked for due to a decrease in the value of DOT.
They need the additional funds to complete their project and compensate their team.
The team has experience in the blockchain space and has conducted workshops and talks at conferences.
DatDot is an autonomous hosting network for p2p data systems that allows users to share data without infrastructure costs.
The team has made progress on their project, including implementing final economic and cryptographic logic and developing a networking module, vault, and Rust node. They are also working on a desktop app and documentation. They have been active in the community and have presented their project at events and recorded daily work logs.