45B - SPO Spotter - Delegation suggester based on Open Source interchangeable algorithms to rank Stake Pools

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Pedro Lucas - 45B

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

lucas@45b.io

Additional applicants

45B team - https://45b.io

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

12

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of proposal

SPOs

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

This proposal aims to create a community of maintainers around an open source “SPO Spotter” solution to provide suggestions of Stake Pools to delegate to in different interchangeable ways.

The SPOtter approach is to break down the process of ranking Stake Pools according to your priorities. This process is composed of:

• Indexing the blockchain, obtaining all the SPO-relevant data particles (illustration 1) into a standard ‘SPOtter format’.
• From that data facilitate that the community develops different algorithms to process it according to different priorities.
• Provide an intuitive user interface to visualize and tweak the resulting SPO ranking/suggestions.
• Delegate to the SPOs directly from our platform.
• Share your views with friends and collegues.

Some possible examples of algorithm priorities are:

• To (randomly) prioritize Single Pool Operators
• To help pools that have been on the verge of minting blocks
• Simply to try to maximize your staking rewards.

SPOtter leaves the responsibility of that decision to the user.

Because algorithms are open-source, anyone can tweak them and generate variant algorithms, but the best of these are expected to accumulate more statistics of being used, making them more trusted. Also some algorithms may have a review by some reputable organizations, confirming what priorities the algorithm is enforcing.

Beyond providing this tool in our own web app, we can build towards providing it as a consumable service that can be consumed from any Cardano wallet. We can then build partnerships with wallets, SPO communities, and other entities.

Illustration 1 - SPO-relevant data particles (as currently viewed in wallets and block explorers:

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

The current proposal will “make it easier for SPO Projects and developers to build on top of Cardano” in the sense that it will make it easier for SPOs to be sustainable.

It also may fall into ”Academic research and analytics on topics related to SPOs or SPO tooling

Developing SPO Standards”

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

For the application side:

• Contributors to the open-source repository
• GitHub activity (Merges, Pull Requests, Issues solved)
• Features built and suggested

From the community side:

• Active Members in open discussion and collaboration
• Engagement and feedback on social media

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

45B will use it’s social media, blog and other media to promote:

• The call to action for the community to come build this solution
• Formal specifications as they mature
• The running solution, to make it available for use

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

45B is composed of and has access to professionals with an extensive track record of delivering solutions in Finance, Banking and other lines of business. Also they are responsible in helping the promotion and socials of some players in the Cardano ecosystem.

45B’s capacity in this project will be mostly that of Technical Product and Project management. Also of crucial importance, we’ll promote the creation of a community of developers who will contribute to implementing the solution, sponsored by bounties from this proposal. We trust there are considerable skills and infrastructure partners in the ecosystem to embrace this goal.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The main goal of this proposal is to create a community to contribute in creating the SPO Spotter solution.

This is feasible because in the ecosystem there is abundant knowledge and skills to build the tool as described. Having the sponsorship of this proposal will enable 45B to initially coordinate those efforts.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Stage 1: Gathering a SPOtter community - 2 months

• Promote the initiative
• Network with existing relevant communities 
• Create spaces for conversation
• Identify key technical contributors who can act as technical leads
• To ensure a consistent technical approach and reviews
• Reach out for partnerships and networking in general that facilitate spinning up instances of SPOtter

Stage 2: Inicial specifications - 2 months

• Periodically gather the community for discussions
• Establish a list and format for obtaining the data from data providers
• Identify and mature the relevant data structures to consider standard
• Identify and prototype some typical algorithms that could be ran over that data
• Identify the corresponding possible data visualizations, possible end UI controls

Stage 3: Build the MVP and abstract specificities - 3 months

• Implement what was defined previously to obtain an MVP
• Improve the framework around the algorithm to make it as modular as possible
• Testing and feedback in the SPOtter team and community

Stage 4: Maturity and release - 2 months

• Implement changes that resulted from testing/feedback
• Prepare documentation and guides where necessary
• Reach out to wallet providers to potentially integrate the solution
• Launch a web app that exposes the solution

Stage 5: Community usage and feedback - 2 months

• Promote the use of the tool
• Create spaces to present the tool and gather feedback
• Create bounties to implement changes

Stage 6: Close out and knowledge sharing - 1 month

• Document learnings throughout the project
• Prepare a close-out report
• Transition the project to community maintenance

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

The main outcome of this project will be a self-sustainable community that maintains a solution for discretionary SPO ranking by users.

Stage 1: Gathering a SPOtter community

• Creating a community around this purpose
• Have a concrete set of technical leads
• Establish infrastructure partnerships

Stage 2: Inicial specifications

• Clear specifications of data formats, algorithms, data visualizations

Stage 3: Build the MVP and abstract specificities

• A working MVP of the SPO SPOtter tool

Stage 4: Maturity and release

• The running SPO SPOtter solution
• User support documentation
• Potential wallet provider partners or similar

Stage 5: Community usage and feedback

• Gather and implement feedback

Stage 6: Close out and knowledge sharing

• Project should be self sustainable without further Catalyst support

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Funds for development bounties

$50 x 150hrs = 7 500$

Funds for technical leads

$60$ x 40hrs = 2 400$

Project and Product management

$50 x 25hrs = 1 250$

Technical specifications and testing overview

$50 x 20hrs = 1 000$

Promotion and community building/moderation

$45 x 6hrs/month x 12 months = 3 240$

Total $15 390 at $0.30/ADA = 51 300 ADA

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

This solution will benefit Cardano as a whole in the sense that it will help establish standard Stake Pool suggestion ways of enforcing certain postures that will be more beneficial for example small stake pools that are not getting enough delegation. It is the value of helping to decentralize staking in a way that will benefit stake pools without damaging delegators.

The services budget is according to or below standard rates for these professional services in Europe or the USA.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept