Community-Owned Zero Knowledge Governance L2 + Token Economy

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Community-Owned Zero Knowledge Governance L2 + Token Economy

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

93560

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

9

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Onchain voting solves some of those issues but adds new ones, such as high fees, poor privacy, vote buying, “follow-the-crowd” pressure, and limits on how many voters it can handle.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://dvote.offgridlabs.org/swagger
,
• https://github.com/dvote-org/da-sdk-dev
,
• https://dashvote.offgridlabs.org/

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

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

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No Direct Dependencies except for ZK Compute with Cloud Infrastructure

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

AGPL v3 License

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

DAO

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Mention your open source license and describe your open source license rationale.

Network Transparency: AGPL ensures all governance platform users access complete source code. This transparency builds trust and legitimacy essential for democratic systems.

Collaborative improvement over fragmented forks. Any enhancements or security features must be shared back, creating positive feedback loops accelerating governance technology evolution.

Open licensing facilitates integration with Cardano DeFi protocols, identity systems, and governance frameworks. Developers freely incorporate DVote's governance primitives without restrictions, enabling composable solutions.

How do you make sure your source code is accessible to the public from project start, and people are informed?

1. GitHub Repository: Once awareded the grant, All DVote code would be publicly accessible at https://github.com/dvote-org/dvote-node from day one, with complete commit history showing incremental development

2. AGPL v3 license prominently displayed in repository root, README, and all source files with clear copyright notices

3. Developer Discord/Telegram: Dedicated channels for technical discussions, with weekly development updates and community calls

4. Documentation Portal: Comprehensive docs site with API references & integration guides

How will you provide high quality documentation?

API Reference: Auto-generated OpenAPI/Swagger documentation with interactive examples and sandbox environment

Smart Contract Docs: Comprehensive Aiken contract documentation with function signatures, parameter explanations, and usage examples

Architecture Guide: Detailed system architecture diagrams showing DVote-Cardano-Avail integration patterns

Developer Resources:

Integration Tutorials: Step-by-step guides for wallet integration, transaction construction, and governance participation

SDK Documentation: Well-commented SDKs and APin JavaScript/TypeScript and Curl

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

zk-SNARK–based state machine run by a decentralized network of offchain Sequencers. At its core are four chained circuits: each one verifies the proof produced by the previous step, then appends its own. Because zk-SNARKs are recursive and succinct, every ballot, rule, and tally ultimately collapses into a single, tiny proof that Cardano can verify in milliseconds.

Ballot Circuit — rule-compliant encryption The voter encrypts their choices with threshold El Gamal and proves, in zero knowledge, that the ballot follows the election rules (e.g., “pick up to two of five”).

Eligibility Circuit — signature + Merkle proof A Sequencer proves the voter is authorized by checking an ECDSA signature and a Merkle proof against the published voter list.

Aggregation Circuit — many votes, one proof Up to N ballots, are compressed into a single zk-SNARK. Proof size stays almost constant, so millions of votes can ride to Cardano for the price of one.

Tally Circuit — state update The aggregated ciphertexts are homomorphically added to the encrypted tally, and a new state root is proven correct, while embedding the earlier aggregation proof to keep the chain intact.

When the fourth circuit finishes, the final recursive proof (just a few hundred bytes) is sent to a Cardano smart contract. If the verifier accepts it, the whole election batch becomes immutable; if not, it is rejected. The next Sequencer will start its batch processing starting from the one settled on Cardano.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Democratic Infrastructure: Provides turnkey governance solution for Cardano native tokens and emerging DAOs

Developer Tooling: Open-source governance primitives that other projects can integrate, reducing development overhead

Network Effect: Each new governance implementation strengthens the overall Cardano governance ecosystem

Long-term Strategic Impact:

Institutional Adoption: Enterprise-grade governance capabilities attract traditional organizations to Cardano ecosystem

Regulatory Compliance: Privacy-preserving yet auditable voting mechanisms address regulatory requirements for decentralized governance

Cross-Protocol Integration: Avail Data Availability Layer integration demonstrates Cardano's interoperability capabilities, attracting multi-chain projects

Technical Infrastructure Foundation: $93,560 investment creates production-ready ZK governance platform serving immediate Cardano ecosystem needs while establishing technical architecture for future community ownership transition.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?

Proven Foundation: Successfully deployed on Base, demonstrating blockchain integration expertise.

Cardano Expertise: Combined experience of 20 years of developer experience we also know how to hire when need be and have allocation for that in the grant. In addition team includes Cardano Expert with over 2 years in the cardano ecosystem and High Developer Expertise

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Core Governance Smart Contracts Development

Milestone Outputs

Complete Aiken smart contract suite for governance primitives

Governance primitives (proposal creation, voting power calculation, treasury management)

Multi-signature authority contracts with emergency mechanisms

Role-based permission system (voters, proposers, delegates, administrators)

Delegation system with proxy voting and stake-weighted mechanisms

Ballot Circuit: Threshold ElGamal encryption with rule compliance (single/ranked/quadratic voting)

Eligibility Circuit: ECDSA signature + Merkle proof verification with anti-double voting

Aggregation Circuit: Batch processing up to 10,000 ballots with recursive proof composition

Tally Circuit: Homomorphic counting with state root updates and audit trail generation

Groth16 verifier optimized for UTXO model (<40% block limit usage)

Batch verification system with comprehensive error handling

Multi-asset voting support (ADA + native tokens)

Acceptance Criteria

All 4 circuits mathematically verified and constraint-complete

Smart contracts achieve >95% test coverage with formal verification

Successful batch processing of 1,000+ simultaneous votes on testnet

Gas optimization

Evidence of Completion

GitHub repository with complete circuit implementations and test suites

Testnet deployment with verified contract addresses and transaction logs

Mathematical proof of circuit soundness and constraint satisfaction

Video demonstration: end-to-end voting flow from ballot casting to result verification

Performance benchmarks showing processing capacity and latency metrics

Delivery Month

4

Cost

35000

Progress

30 %

Milestone Title

DVote Node Cardano Migration & Avail DA Integration

Milestone Outputs

DVote node fully migrated from Base to Cardano

Avail Data Availability layer integration completed

Sequencer network operational with recursive proof generation

API endpoints updated for Cardano compatibility

Acceptance Criteria

DVote node successfully processes votes and generates proofs on Cardano

Avail DA integration handles data availability for vote batches

API documentation updated with new Cardano-specific endpoints

Performance benchmarks show >1000 votes/second processing capacity

Recursive proof generation working with <500ms latency

Evidence of Completion

Deployed DVote nodes on testnet infrastructure

Swagger API documentation with live testnet endpoints

Performance test results meeting benchmarks

Integration test results with Avail DA layer

GitHub commits showing migration from Base codebase

Delivery Month

7

Cost

22000

Progress

60 %

Milestone Title

Security Audit, Testing & Production Launch

Milestone Outputs

Comprehensive Security Assessment:

Professional smart contract audit by Cardano-specialized firm

Infrastructure penetration testing with threat modeling

Formal verification of critical governance functions

Economic security analysis for incentive mechanisms

Production Infrastructure:

Mainnet deployment with high-availability architecture

Monitoring and alerting systems with 24/7 coverage

Disaster recovery procedures and backup systems

Production-grade API infrastructure with rate limiting

Ecosystem Integration & Adoption:

Partnership integrations with 3+ established Cardano DAOs

SDK and API curl development in JavaScript/TypeScript with comprehensive examples

Integration templates for common governance patterns

Community workshops and developer training sessions

Documentation & Educational Resources:

Complete technical documentation with architecture diagrams

User guides for voters, proposers, and DAO administrators

Video tutorial series covering all major features

Best practices guide for governance design and implementation

Acceptance Criteria

Security audit passes with zero critical and <3 medium severity findings

Mainnet deployment achieves 99.9% uptime in first 30 days

Successfully facilitate governance for 3+ partner organizations

Documentation receives positive feedback from 10+ community developers

Training sessions reach 50+ participants with >4.5/5 satisfaction rating

Evidence of Completion

Published security audit report with remediation documentation

Live mainnet dashboard showing system health and usage metrics

Partner case studies demonstrating successful governance implementations

Training session recordings and participant feedback surveys

Delivery Month

9

Cost

36560

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pCsl9hitjc2vhZ5JqO-wODLggqRLhSmhaFk9F6ea1ZM/edit?usp=sharing

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

Open Source Multiplier: Every dollar invested creates reusable components for the entire Cardano ecosystem

Cost Comparison: Traditional governance development costs $300K-500K; DVote delivers equivalent functionality for $100K-140K

Ecosystem-Wide Savings:

Reduced Barriers: Eliminates $50K-100K governance development costs for each new Cardano project

Infrastructure Sharing: Shared governance infrastructure reduces individual project overhead

Innovation Acceleration: Open-source governance primitives enable rapid experimentation and deployment

Long-term Value Creation:

Network Effects: Each governance implementation strengthens the overall Cardano governance ecosystem

Standards Development: DVote patterns become reference implementations, improving ecosystem consistency

Educational Impact: Comprehensive documentation accelerates governance adoption across Cardano projects

Quantifiable ROI:

Direct Savings: 20+ projects using DVote = $1M+ in avoided development costs

Participation Growth: Zero-fee voting increases governance participation by estimated 300%

Developer Productivity: Reusable components save 200+ development hours per project

Maintenance Efficiency: Shared infrastructure reduces ongoing operational costs by 60%.

DVote represents infrastructure investment that grows more valuable over time as more projects build upon it, creating a positive feedback loop of utility, adoption, and ecosystem strengthening that far exceeds the initial development investment

Community Ownership Multiplier: Unlike traditional development grants, DVote creates lasting community ownership through token distribution to 300,000+ Cardano participants, transforming users into stakeholders and advocates. Token Economy Value Creation: $93,560 investment generates projected $250M community-owned token economy by Year 5, representing 2,673% value multiplication for Cardano ecosystem participants. Viral Adoption Mechanism: Token airdrops to Catalyst voters, SPOs, and DeFi users create immediate stakeholder army of 25,000+ advocates, dramatically reducing customer acquisition costs compared to traditional marketing. Sustainable Revenue Independence: Token-based subscription model and fee burning mechanism eliminate dependency on future grants, creating self-sustaining platform that continues generating value indefinitely. Ecosystem-Wide Network Effects: Each new DAO using DVote increases token value for all Cardano community members, creating positive feedback loops that benefit the entire ecosystem rather than just platform operators. Quantifiable ROI Projections: Year 1: 15 active DAOs, $15,000 platform revenue, $10M token value creation. Year 3: 100 active DAOs, $150,000 platform revenue, $62.5M token market cap. Year 5: 400 active DAOs, $1.25M platform revenue, $250M token ecosystem value. Open Source with Token Incentives: All code remains open source with token rewards for contributors, accelerating development while maintaining community ownership and preventing platform capture by centralized entities

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes