Anastasia Labs X Maestro - Plug ‘n Play 2.0

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Philip DiSarro

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

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

6

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

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Ready-to-deploy smart contract APIs to run composable and reusable contracts without worrying about on/off-chain code. Get access to a library of open-source contracts and unleash your imagination

[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] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Smart contracts will be fully open source. APIs will be available with free or paid subscription tiers.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

We are thrilled to confirm that our product, Plug and Play Smart Contracts, is not just a concept but a fully realized and live offering currently accessible on the Cardano Mainnet. Our commitment to transparency and evidence-based applications is reflected in the fact that this managed smart contracts as-a-service product is actively empowering users.

It is a tangible solution, already embraced by the Cardano community, demonstrating real-world utility and relevance.

A multisignature (multisig) contract is a cryptographic smart contract involving multiple signers to authorize and execute transactions. Unlike a traditional single-signature contract, multisig requires the consensus of multiple signers, each possessing a unique private key. This mechanism enhances security by minimizing the risk associated with a single point of failure or compromise.

Why upgradable multisig contracts

Imagine a crowdfunding project (Catalyst distribution fund) using an upgradable multisignature (multisig) contract. Initially, key stakeholders, including project founders and backers, collectively manage funds and project decisions through this contract. As the project progresses, new backers join, or some original members leave.

The upgradable feature allows seamless adjustments to the multisig, ensuring the addition or removal of stakeholders' access keys. For instance, if a new supporter contributes significantly, their key can be added for voting and fund control. If a founding member steps down, their key can be safely removed.

Subscription payments with wallet owned UTxOs

Our innovative smart contract for subscription payments introduces a seamless and decentralized approach. Leveraging wallet-owned UTxOs (Unspent Transaction Outputs), users can effortlessly manage recurring payments directly from their wallets. This ensures a secure, trustless, and user-friendly experience, empowering individuals to effortlessly subscribe and enjoy services without the need for traditional intermediaries.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

Developers spend a lot of valuable time and resources reinventing the wheel when it comes to building smart contracts and ensuring they are secure and reliable. Furthermore, due to lack of auditing and security expertise within organizations, there is high risk associated with smart contract exploitation.

By providing more simplicity around smart contract integrations, we believe our solution will drive developer adoption, ensure ecosystem growth and improve the overall security of Dapps running on Cardano.

Maestro and Anastasia Labs will collaborate to offer developers a smart contract-as-a-service platform to deploy and interact with open-sourced smart contracts with ease, addressing the key challenges when building Dapps on Cardano:

Secure Smart Contracts: By providing a library of modular, reusable, and secure smart contracts, this proposal helps minimize the risk of vulnerabilities in your applications. You can leverage battle-tested contracts that have been reviewed by the community, reducing the likelihood of hacks and attacks.

Streamlined Developer Experience: This project simplifies the development process by offering ready-made and customizable smart-contracts. Developers will be able to leverage a standardized smart contract interface that employs best practices and security patterns.

End-to-end contract integration and deployment: Developers will have access to fully integrated smart contracts and be able to interact with them simply via APIs or SDKs. This will revolutionize Cardano dApp development and unleash the full potential of Cardano.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Anastasia Labs has rapidly established itself as a leading development firm within the Cardano Ecosystem.

Our team consists of highly skilled developers who have made significant contributions to various community projects, including Lucid, Agora, Liqwid-Plutarch-Extra. Our developers have had experience developing and publishing end-to-end DApps including production projects like WingRiders and Wanchain. Our team has audited Lenfi, Encoins, FluidTokens, and Atrium. In addition to our project involvement, our team has been actively engaged in the developer experience domain. We have actively participated in educational panels focused on DApp Security Practices and Design Patterns, and our members have served as co-chairs of the IOHK developer experience working group.

Furthermore, our collaboration with Emurgo Academy has been instrumental in educating aspiring developers, with our team playing an essential role in this endeavor. We have also recognized and recruited the most exceptional talents from the academy's classes.

We have developed software development kits (SDKs) that facilitate the integration of existing dApps with other systems through off-chain code. Our team has also designed various protocols, including bridges and staking systems, while also actively contributing to open-source smart contract languages and their associated standard libraries.

With broad range of expertise within the Cardano Ecosystem we are a highly capable and versatile development firm

Maestro has a proven track record in providing Cardano infrastructure services: Blockchain Indexer, Transaction Manager and Turbo Transaction. In particular Maestro’s indexer endpoints averages 300,000 requests / day and is being used to power top projects and dApps on Cardano. A managed smart contract API plays perfectly into the strengths of Maestro’s platform and thus guarantees a high level of success.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Develop an upgradable multisignature (multisig) smart contract and using Plutus that enables authorized members to execute asset transactions within predefined thresholds. This contract should demonstrate secure spending of assets, seamless adjustment of signer thresholds, and dynamic addition or removal of signers for enduring usability.

Develop a subscription payments smart contract using Plutus which enables users to effortlessly manage recurring payments directly from their wallets.

Contracts are available on Anastasia Labs Github repository

Develop and implement Offchain Software Development Kits (SDKs) for the specified multisignature (multisig) contracts and subscription payments smart contract.

Offchain SDK Design:

Create a comprehensive design for Offchain SDKs tailored to the specified multisig contracts.

Ensure compatibility with common development environments and languages.

SDK Implementation:

Code the Offchain SDKs in accordance with the design specifications.

Implement functionalities for seamless interaction with the specified multisig contracts.

SDK Testing

Conduct rigorous testing to verify the functionality, security, of the contract and offchain SDK.

Address and resolve any identified issues or bugs.

Testing examples are available along with documentation to replicate testing on Anastasia Labs Github repository

• From SDK implement API routes for each contract state transitions
• Deploy and test endpoints on the Maestro platform
• Provide detail documentation for smart contract logic and endpoints

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

The collaboration between Anastasia Labs and Maestro creates a powerful synergy.

Anastasia Labs with its deep expertise in contract development and proficiency in developing SDKs and on the other hand, Maestro’s core strength lies in providing robust infrastructure that is essential for deploying smart contracts as a service, empowering developers to focus on building scalable and useful web3 applications

Anastasia Labs

Compiler & Programming Language Research

Philip DiSarro

Philip has an MS in Compiler Development & Programming Language Theory. He was the lead smart contract architect of many features on WingRiders DEX. Philip has also made significant contributions to the Cardano developer ecosystem. As a co-chair of the IOHK developer experience working group he worked to identify and resolve pain points that DApp developers experience in Cardano, and had an integral role in getting Lucid & Plutus Simple Model included in the Plutus Pioneer Program. He has a vast wealth of experience in smart contract security and auditing on Cardano. 

Philip is CEO and founder of Anastasia Labs and a senior Haskell developer on the XSY team, a consultant and lecturer for Emurgo.

Philip is responsible for introducing the new utility and convenience functions to Lucid and for assisting with general maintenance. Additionally, he will help create documentation for new features.

Functional Programming & TypeScript SDKs

Jonathan Rodriguez

Jonathan is a highly skilled smart contract developer specializing in Cardano, a blockchain technology that he is deeply passionate about.

His passion in smart contract development drives him to constantly polish his technical knowledge. In the pursuit of that knowledge he obtained the following certifications: Cardano Solution Architect, Cardano Developer Professional, and Associate Certificate.

With an extensive background in Haskell development, which is a critical language for Cardano, he possesses a thorough understanding of functional programming concepts.

His expertise extends to various aspects of the Cardano ecosystem, including the Cardano Toolchain, Transaction Structure, Plutus Smart Contracts, Native Tokens, DApp Connector, and other essential components. 

Jonathan is well-versed in conducting use case analysis and tokenomics, as well as interfacing with decentralized storage, server APIs, and integrating databases.

He is knowledgeable in establishing robust CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) flows and integrating them into development processes. Additionally, he is skilled in conducting thorough unit testing to ensure the reliability and security of his smart contract solutions.

Maestro

Marvin Bertin

Marvin co-founded Maestro, a Cardano infrastructure provider and dApp development platform. He also co-founded Genius Yield, an advanced order-book DEX on Cardano. Marvin's background is in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Before getting into blockchain, he spent years working in a biotech developing early cancer detection blood tests using next-generation DNA sequencing. Later he worked as a senior crypto consultant, developing DeFi products for clients on the Ethereum and Cosmo blockchains.

Varderes Barsegyan

Varderes is an engineer with a diverse background in physics, computer science, aerospace engineering, bioinformatics, and blockchain technology. As the Co-founder and CTO of Maestro, a leading provider of blockchain infrastructure for Cardano, he is trailblazing the way for the financial operating system of the world.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Milestone 1 & 2: Plutus contract building & off-chain SDKs (Anastasia Labs)

13 weeks x 40hr/week = 150.000 ADA

Milestones 3 & 4: Smart contract API integration (Maestro)

13 weeks x 40hr/week = 150.000 ADA

TOTAL = 300.000 ADA

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

There are still many projects on the side lines deciding if they want to build on Cardano or not due to the cost.

Although the sentiment about development experience and infrastructure is getting more positive by the day, projects are investing significant resources into refining processes like efficient indexing, performant transaction submission, and CBOR manipulation. However, this leaves less capacity to concentrate on their core business operations.

 

This solution aims to solve this dilemma by enhancing the development experience on Cardano. We provide more readily accessible smart contract API endpoints which would greatly reduce the burden on individual teams.

This proposal, if accepted, will allow projects to expedite their development process and, if they so decide, launch their applications in just a few days. These projects would have the assurance of utilizing secure and tested smart contracts. The ripple effect of this would be a significant increase in the number of new projects launching on Cardano, thereby bringing fresh ideas and experiences into the ecosystem.

To give a more concrete idea, while we currently have over 1264 projects under development, only a handful are launching due to the challenges mentioned. Our innovative solution presents a more straightforward and cost-effective way of building and deploying. Based on our benchmarks, this approach could potentially halve the cost of building infrastructure. Hence, despite the initial outlay, the cost of the project epitomizes value for money within the Cardano ecosystem.

Reference: https://www.essentialcardano.io/development-update/weekly-development-report-as-of-2023-07-07

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

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund 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