Enhancing Treasury Guild System with Midnight

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Tevo Saks

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

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

287650

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

We will develop a Cardano sidechain using the Midnight toolkit to store and automate Treasury Guild's operations securely, ensuring data privacy and efficient contribution tracking.

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

Yes

[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.”

The key dependency for our project is the readiness and availability of the Midnight development toolkit as it's a pilot program. This toolkit is essential for our project's delivery for several reasons:

Technical Foundation: Midnight provides the necessary infrastructure and tools to build and operate our proposed Cardano sidechain. Its features and capabilities are crucial for achieving the security, scalability, and automation objectives of our project.

Data Privacy and Security: Given that our project aims to enhance data privacy and operational efficiency, Midnight's advanced privacy features are integral to achieving these goals. The toolkit's ability to handle sensitive information securely is vital for the success of our Treasury Guild operations.

Pilot Program Participation: As a part of the pilot program, our project's success is closely tied to the development, updates, and support provided by the Midnight team. Delays or changes in the Midnight toolkit's development schedule could directly impact our project timeline and deliverables.

[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

Our project, which focuses on developing a Cardano sidechain using the Midnight toolkit, will contribute significantly to the open-source community. Here are the details regarding the open-source status of our project outputs:

We plan to use the MIT License for our open-source outputs. The MIT License is widely recognized and respected in the open-source community for its simplicity and permissiveness. It allows others to freely use, modify, distribute, and even sell our software, provided they include the original copyright notice and license text.

Proprietary Elements: Certain elements, particularly those involving sensitive operational details or unique intellectual property specific to Treasury Guild, may remain proprietary to ensure competitive advantage and security. Example list of correlations between the data labels, wallet addresses and user info

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Our proposed solution addresses the challenge of enhancing data privacy and operational efficiency in Treasury Guild operations by transitioning to a Cardano sidechain using the Midnight development toolkit.  

In the current system, there are limitations in ensuring the privacy of sensitive data, such as contributor identities and transaction details. The existing processes for recognizing community contributions and participation lack automation and scalability, leading to operational bottlenecks.

We chose Midnight due to its advanced privacy features and compatibility with Cardano, ensuring that our sidechain is both secure and seamlessly integratable with the SingularityNET ecosystem, most closely with the Ambassador Program and Deep Funding.

This project aligns with Cardano's vision of fostering a secure, transparent, and efficient blockchain ecosystem. It demonstrates the versatility of Cardano in accommodating advanced privacy-focused applications, thus enhancing its appeal and functionality within the broader blockchain community.

Our solution is not just a technical enhancement; it's a strategic step towards making blockchain operations more efficient and private, aligning with the ethos of decentralization and innovation that Cardano embodies.

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

Aside from setting a new standard for privacy and security within the ecosystem. It will also strengthen our ties with communities in different ecosystems building on Cardano.

By collecting machine-readable contributions, we are laying the groundwork for AI-driven analysis and decision-making processes. This can lead to more sophisticated AI models that can interact with blockchain data, potentially paving the way for AI-driven governance models or AI-assisted analysis to implement projects.

Measuring Impact

We will track metrics such as the number of transactions processed on the sidechain, the speed of processing, and the reduction in operational bottlenecks.

User satisfaction surveys and community feedback will provide insights into the effectiveness and usability of the new system.

Outreach

Through social media and workshops, we will actively engage with the Cardano community to share our progress and gather feedback.

The produced documentation is open source and organized for easy access.

We aim to contribute to the Cardano educational resources by providing case studies and learning materials based on our project, aiding in the skill development of the community.

[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?

Our capability to deliver this project with high levels of trust and accountability is grounded in several key factors:

Proven Track Record: Our previous successful implementations, as evidenced by the integration of the SingularityNET projects into the Swarm Treasury & accounting system, demonstrate our ability to deliver complex blockchain projects. This experience provides a solid foundation for trust and confidence in our capacity to execute the proposed project.

F9 Close Out - Swarm DAO Tools

F9 Close Out - Swarm & sNET

Expertise in Blockchain: Our team possesses deep expertise in blockchain technology, particularly within the Cardano ecosystem. This expertise is critical for navigating the technical challenges and ensuring the project's success.

Collaborative Strength: Our collaborative relationships with entities like SingularityNET, Gimbalabs, Cardano Foundation and other partners in the Cardano ecosystem enhance our capability to deliver. These collaborations bring additional expertise, insights, and resources, vital for the project's success.

Commitment to Open Source: Our commitment to open-source development not only fosters transparency but also invites peer review and collaboration, further enhancing trust and accountability in our project delivery.

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

We start coordinating workshops to learn and plan a more detailed development roadmap.

Output:

• Technical Documentation to deliver Milestones 2 and 3.
• Documentation and Midnight learning Video Recordings on Swarm YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@THE-SWARM

Acceptance Criteria:

• At least one member of the team is accepted to enroll at Midnight Devnet.
• We provide Documentation on how we going to develop features for Milestones 2 and 3.
• We have conducted multiple workshops and can provide video evidence of those

(With each milestone we will create a summary video of the outputs.)

Development of smart contracts using Midnight's domain-specific language that supports private and public states

Output:

• GitHub repo for midnight testing environment that includes most critical demos for our operations.

Acceptance Criteria:

• The feature testing scenarios are demonstrated in a video
• Public GitHub link for the feature demos

Implementation of ZK Snarks features.

Output:

• Incorporation of ZK Snarks in the system for enhanced data privacy, allowing selective information disclosure.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Implement a ZK Snark proof that allows a user to demonstrate their contribution to a project without revealing their actual name or email. The system should be able to validate the user's contribution based solely on the proof, ensuring that the contributor’s sensitive personally identifiable information (SPII) remains confidential.
• Create a ZKP that allows users to prove the association between their wallet address and Discord name without disclosing the wallet’s transaction history or the actual name linked to the Discord account.

We will use Project Based Learning method to create onboarding documentation to set-up Swarm Treasury System Sidechain

Output:

• Provide documentation on how to set-up the Swarm Treasury System Sidechain for an organization

Acceptance Criteria:

• We have provided onboarding documentation and gathered initial feedback and sentiment on the set-up process

Implement Midnight sidechain provided features on front end website that tie all the usecases together.

Output:

• Public home page where you can access data collected with Swarm Treasury System based on your credentials, contributions, and community rules.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Public website URL
• Public GitHub Link for the treasury dApp build on Midnight sidechain

Final documentation of project results and next steps

Output:

• A comprehensive report detailing the project's development, challenges, solutions, and a video summarizing key achievements.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Documentation of the project and an informative video presentation.

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

Tevo Saks - Project Management, Documentation and Outreach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tevosaks/

André Diamond - Development - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9-diamond-45871242/

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

Milestone 1 - 83050 ADA

We allocate 3 months for Development planning workshops.

This includes participation in the Midnight Devnet Pioneer Program.

We will document our learning journey and requirements to develop a sidechain for treasury.

We build strategy as we learn to develop on Midnight.

Milestone 2 - 53350 ADA

We allocate 2 months for the Development front end connected with smart contracts.

Milestone 3 - 69850 ADA

We allocate 2 months for the Development to implement ZK features and maintain the Treasury Developments

Milestone 4 - 29150 ADA

We allocate 3 months for the onboarding documentation and run public workshops to demonstrate documentation and treasury features.

Milestone 5 - 44550 ADA

We allocate 2 months to start integrating and adding in previously developed features with the sidechain.

Final Milestone - 7700 ADA

We should be ready with a closing report by now

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

The project's focus on integrating the Midnight toolkit and developing a Cardano sidechain with enhanced privacy features will position Cardano as a leader in privacy-focused blockchain solutions. This innovation will attract new users and developers to the ecosystem.

Part of our budget is allocated to community engagement and education. This will not only promote our project within the Cardano community but also contribute to the overall growth and development of the ecosystem.

Our commitment to open source means that the tools, processes, and systems developed during this project will be available to the broader Cardano community. This encourages further development and innovation, multiplying the value of the initial investment.

[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