SAIB: Chrysalis.Plutus.Builtins - Core Runtime Operations

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

SAIB: Chrysalis.Plutus.Builtins - Core Runtime Operations

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

100000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

6

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

UPLC scripts need core runtime primitives (crypto, hashing, data operations) which .NET lacks, blocking native smart contract evaluation for C# developers building Cardano applications.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://saib.dev
,
• https://github.com/SAIB-Inc/Chrysalis
,
• https://www.nuget.org/packages/Chrysalis
,
• https://docs.saib.dev
,
• https://github.com/Mercurial

[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 dependencies

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

Chrysalis.Plutus.Builtins is fully open source under the MIT License. All primitive implementations, cryptographic functions, data operations, test vectors, documentation, and security considerations will be publicly available on GitHub with transparent development.

[Theme Selection] Theme

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

Developer Tools

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

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

We chose the MIT License for consistency with Microsoft's .NET ecosystem—including .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, and Entity Framework Core. This alignment ensures seamless enterprise adoption by removing license compatibility concerns. MIT allows commercial use, modification, and distribution without requiring derivative works to remain open source, eliminating barriers for both open source and commercial Cardano projects.

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

All development has been public on GitHub since the repository was forked in late 2023, and developers can watch the repository for real-time updates. Every commit, pull request, and issue is visible. Additionally, updates are shared through multiple channels, including NuGet package releases, GitHub releases with changelogs (https://github.com/SAIB-Inc/Chrysalis/releases),,) and X posts. We would also share progress in our public Discord server and through Catalyst reports.

How will you provide high quality documentation?

Similar to our previous Catalyst project, Argus (formerly Cardano.Sync), Chrysalis.Plutus.Primitives documentation will be centralized on our website: docs.saib.dev. It will include API references, integration guides, and working examples for all supported protocols. Currently, the GitHub README provides an overview of the project and quick-start instructions and the source code includes XML comments to support IDE IntelliSense. Documentation is updated on major releases, ensuring developers have accurate and up-to-date information for seamless integration.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

This proposal is part of a suite comprising Chrysalis—the foundational library for developing on Cardano with .NET and the core of our .NET Cardano technology stack.

While Chrysalis.Plutus.Core provides UPLC parsing and CEK machine evaluation capabilities, real smart contracts require comprehensive primitive runtime operations to function. Without these essential primitives, scripts cannot perform cryptographic operations, data manipulation, or even basic arithmetic—rendering the evaluator practically useless despite being technically functional. This critical gap prevents .NET developers from evaluating actual smart contracts, limiting the Core module to academic exercises rather than production applications.

The fundamental challenge is that Plutus smart contracts rely on dozens of specialized primitive operations that must execute with identical behavior to on-chain evaluation. These operations span cryptographic functions for security, data manipulation for processing information, and arithmetic operations for calculations. Each primitive must be implemented with perfect specification compliance, constant-time execution for security, and optimized performance for practical use.

Problem Analysis:

Current limitations include:

• Cryptographic Barriers: Missing cryptographic implementation required by smart contracts
• Data Operation Gaps: Missing serialization, equality checking, and type conversion functions
• Arithmetic Limitations: Lack of integer operations, comparison functions, and list manipulations
• Performance Concerns: Need for optimized implementations that match on-chain execution speed

Comprehensive Solution Architecture:

1. Cryptographic Primitives Suite: We will implement the complete range of cryptographic operations required by Plutus smart contracts. All cryptographic implementations will be following industry best practices for security-critical code.

2. Data Operation Primitives: Comprehensive data manipulation capabilities will enable smart contracts to process and validate information effectively. Serialization and deserialization functions will convert between different data formats, ensuring compatibility with on-chain representations. Equality checking operations will provide accurate value comparison capabilities essential for validator logic.

Type conversion operations will enable seamless data transformation between different representations. ByteString operations will handle binary data manipulation, while list operations will provide data structure management. All operations will maintain exact compatibility with Plutus semantics to ensure identical behavior between local evaluation and on-chain execution.

3. Arithmetic and Logic Primitives: Complete computational capabilities will be provided through integer arithmetic operations covering addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and modular arithmetic. Comparison operations will enable decision-making logic in smart contracts. List and pair operations will provide data structure manipulation capabilities essential for complex contract logic.

Trace operations will assist in debugging and monitoring contract execution, providing developers with visibility into script behavior. All arithmetic operations will handle edge cases like overflow and division by zero exactly as specified in the Plutus documentation.

4. Performance and Security Optimization: All primitives will be optimized for .NET's memory model and garbage collection patterns. Where possible, we'll leverage existing .NET cryptographic libraries that have undergone security audits. For operations not available in .NET standard libraries, we'll implement them following cryptographic best practices with careful attention to correctness.

5. Integration Strategy:

The primitives will integrate seamlessly with Chrysalis.Plutus.Core through a clean API surface that abstracts implementation complexity. Developers will access primitives through the evaluator without needing to understand internal operation details. Error handling will bubble up meaningful context for debugging, while logging will provide visibility into primitive execution for monitoring purposes.

6. Validation and Testing:

Every primitive will be validated against official Plutus test vectors to ensure specification compliance. Differential testing against reference implementations will verify correctness across edge cases. Performance benchmarking will ensure acceptable execution speed for production use.

This comprehensive primitive suite transforms Chrysalis.Plutus.Core from a theoretical tool into a production-ready smart contract evaluator, enabling .NET developers to build sophisticated Cardano applications with confidence in local evaluation accuracy. Beyond .NET, it also provides Cardano developers across the community with a reliable, high-fidelity tool for testing, experimentation, and rapid prototyping—helping everyone build smarter, safer, and more efficient smart contracts.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

Chrysalis.Plutus.Builtins represents the critical bridge between theoretical capability and practical utility, transforming the Chrysalis.Plutus.Core module from an academic exercise into a production-ready smart contract evaluator. This foundational infrastructure unlocks real smart contract evaluation for the massive .NET developer ecosystem while providing essential tools for security, debugging, and development.

Immediate Technical Impact:

Production-Ready Evaluation:

With complete primitive implementations, .NET developers can evaluate any mainnet smart contract locally with identical behavior to on-chain execution. This enables comprehensive testing, debugging, and optimization workflows that are currently impossible without these primitives.

Security Enhancement:

Security auditors and developers gain the ability to verify smart contract behavior before deployment, identifying potential vulnerabilities and edge cases in controlled environments. This reduces the risk of costly bugs and security exploits in production contracts.

Development Acceleration:

Developers can debug smart contracts with full primitive support, understanding exactly how their contracts will behave on-chain. This eliminates the trial-and-error cycle of deploying to testnets for basic validation.

Quantitative Impact Measurement:

Technical Metrics:

• Percentage of Plutus primitives implemented (target: 100%)
• Test vector compliance rate from official Plutus specifications
• Performance benchmarks compared to reference implementations
• NuGet package downloads tracking ecosystem adoption
• GitHub engagement metrics including stars, forks, and contributors

Adoption Metrics:

• Smart contracts successfully evaluated using the complete primitive suite
• Security audits conducted using the local evaluation capabilities

Qualitative Impact Measurement:

Developer Experience:

• Developer satisfaction surveys measuring ease of use and completeness
• Feedback on integration experience with existing .NET applications
• Security audit effectiveness reports from teams using the evaluation tools
• Performance satisfaction assessments from production users

Community Engagement:

• Educational impact through tutorial engagement and developer onboarding
• Technical presentation feedback from conference and workshop attendees

Long-term Ecosystem Impact:

Foundation for Innovation: This primitive suite enables the development of sophisticated tooling including smart contract analyzers, optimization tools, security scanners, and development environments. These tools become possible when complete primitive support exists.

Enterprise Readiness: Organizations can confidently build smart contract evaluation into their existing .NET applications, enabling automated testing, security validation, and contract analysis at scale. This eliminates the need for external services or complex FFI integrations.

Educational Advancement: Complete primitive implementations serve as reference materials for understanding Plutus semantics, enabling educational platforms to demonstrate how smart contracts actually execute. This accelerates developer onboarding and community growth.

Market Expansion: By completing the evaluation stack, we enable .NET developers to build production DApps, security tools, and infrastructure components. This expands Cardano's addressable developer market by millions of experienced enterprise developers.

Technical Delivery Strategy:

All deliverables will be published through multiple channels for maximum accessibility. The NuGet package provides instant installation for .NET developers. Complete source code will be available on GitHub with comprehensive test suites for verification. Performance benchmarks will be published for transparency and trust building.

Documentation will be centralized on docs.saib.dev with API references, security considerations, and practical examples. Video tutorials will explain complex primitives and demonstrate real-world usage. Monthly progress reports will keep the community informed throughout development.

Community Engagement:

Regular engagement through Discord support channels will provide direct developer assistance. GitHub discussions will facilitate community feedback and contributions. Beta testing programs will validate functionality with real-world users before final release.

The success of this primitive suite directly enables the future Chrysalis.Plutus.SDK development while providing immediate value through production-ready smart contract evaluation capabilities. This transforms Cardano development possibilities for the entire .NET ecosystem.

[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?

We believe that SAIB Inc. has a strong track record of technical success and community-oriented tool creation and management. Highlights include achieving major milestones in our Catalyst Fund 12–funded project Argus (Cardano.Sync - https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/12/cardano-open-developers/cardanosync-or-a-netc-indexing-framework-for-cardano) delivering consistent Chrysalis updates from v0.1.0 to v0.7.18 (https://github.com/SAIB-Inc/Chrysalis/releases) and deploying Levvy (https://levvy.fi/) which leverages Chrysalis and Argus to process Mainnet transactions.Furthermore, our tool development is open and transparent, with code publicly available on GitHub and progress tracked in real time.

The team brings over 15 years of full-stack development experience, with six dedicated engineers who have proven Cardano expertise. We have successfully implemented complex Conway-era CBOR types, built high-performance networking protocols that outperform Rust implementations, and created production-ready transaction building systems. Amplified by the leadership of Clark Alesna, bringing his strong involvement with key ecosystem participants including TxPipe, dcSpark, and the Cardano Foundation, previous experience operating the ADAPH stake pool, and contribution to multiple open-source Cardano tools, we present hands-on network experience and deep integration within the Cardano community.

Furthermore, this deep expertise enabled us to architect Chrysalis.CBOR with zero external dependencies, reducing project risk and ensuring long-term ecosystem stability as the foundational .NET library for Cardano. The successful development and testing of the existing CBOR engine Chrysalis grants us the confidence to further enhance and validate the module.

Our risk management approach builds on this solid foundation. Since the most challenging aspect—CBOR serialization—is already complete and battle-tested, the primary risk lies in protocol-specific implementation complexity. We mitigate this through rigorous validation: each protocol type will be tested against live mainnet transactions before integration, ensuring robust handling of edge cases. Our incremental development model enables early identification of unexpectedly complex protocols, allowing us to reallocate resources while maintaining our 10+ major DeFi protocol target.

With this, we believe our track record of successfully managing and delivering complex tools demonstrates our capability to execute this project with the highest quality standards while ensuring responsible and transparent fund usage.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Cryptographic Primitives Foundation (Months 1-2)

Milestone Outputs

Implement all cryptographic primitive operations essential for smart contract security and authentication, establishing the security foundation for the entire primitive suite.

1.Source code containing:

• Complete implementation of cryptographic functions
• Comprehensive test suite with official Plutus test vectors integrated

2.Public link to reports:

• Performance benchmarks comparing against reference implementations

Acceptance Criteria

1. A reviewer can see the source code contains the listed updates:
   • Complete implementation of cryptographic functions
   • Comprehensive test suite with official Plutus test vectors integrated
2. A reviewer must be able to see a report that details:
   • 100% pass rate on all related test vectors
3. A reviewer must be able to see a report that details:
   • performance benchmarks comparing against reference implementations

Evidence of Completion

• A link to github source update with the refinements / updates.
• A link to the published NuGet package release with the updates included.
• A publicly accessible to a simple tutorial for a .NET developer to follow
• A publicly accessible link to the progress reports

Delivery Month

2

Cost

30000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Data Operations & Arithmetic Primitives (Months 3-4)

Milestone Outputs

Implement comprehensive data manipulation and arithmetic operations that enable smart contracts to process information, perform calculations, and make logical decisions.

1. Source code containing data operations code
2. Source code containing arithmetic primitives code

Acceptance Criteria

1. A reviewer can see the source code that has:
   • Data operations code in the github repository.
2. A reviewer can see the source code that has:
   • Arithmetic primitives code in the github repository.

Evidence of Completion

• A link to github source update with the refinements / updates.
• A link to the published NuGet package release with the updates included.
• A publicly accessible link to the progress reports.

Delivery Month

4

Cost

40000

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Performance Optimization & Production Readiness (Months 5-6)

Milestone Outputs

Ensure production-ready performance and reliability for real-world usage and add comprehensive documentation.

1. Source code containing comprehensive integration testing with real mainnet smart contracts
2. Public report containing performance comparison documenting optimization achievements

Acceptance Criteria

1. A reviewer can see the source code that has:
   • Comprehensive integration testing with real mainnet smart contracts
2. A reviewer can access a document that details:
   • Report containing performance comparison documenting optimization achievements

Evidence of Completion

• A link to github source update with the refinements / updates.
• A link to the published NuGet package release with the updates included.
• A publicly accessible link to the progress reports.

Delivery Month

5

Cost

20000

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Project Close-out Report and Video (Month 6)

Milestone Outputs

1. Final Close-Out Report:

• Summary of milestone activities, achievements, and outcomes
• Metrics and results (engagement metrics, feedback, performance indicators)
• Challenges and solutions
• Lessons learned
• Next steps and recommendations

1. Overview of the project and milestone:

• Key achievements and milestones
• Metrics and results (visual representation)
• Challenges and solutions
• Lessons learned
• Future plans

Acceptance Criteria

1. Final Close-Out Report:

• Document all activities and tasks completed during the milestone
• Summarize key achievements and milestones reached
• Include metrics and results (engagement metrics, feedback, performance indicators)
• Address challenges faced and solutions implemented
• Compile lessons learned
• Provide next steps and recommendations

1. Final Close-Out Video/Presentation:

• Create a video overview of the project and milestone
• Highlight key achievements and milestones
• Present metrics and results with visual representation
• Discuss challenges faced and solutions implemented
• Share lessons learned
• Outline future plans
• Ensure the final close-out report, video, and presentation are publicly available for review and access.

Evidence of Completion

1. Link to Final Close-Out Report:

• Comprehensive document summarizing all activities, achievements, and outcomes
• Includes metrics and results, challenges and solutions, lessons learned, and next steps

1. Link to Final Close-Out Video/Presentation:

• Video overview of the project and milestone
• Highlights key achievements, metrics, challenges, solutions, and future plans
• Detailed presentation covering project overview, milestone activities and tasks, key achievements, challenges and solutions, metrics and results, lessons learned, and next steps

Delivery Month

6

Cost

10000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

The project's cost breakdown ensures value for the Cardano ecosystem by focusing on key areas:

Development Team (65,000 ADA): Core cryptographic primitive implementation. Data operation primitives covering serialization, equality checking, and type conversions. Arithmetic and logic operations with comprehensive edge case handling. Integration layer development ensuring seamless operation with Chrysalis.Plutus.Core. This investment ensures complete primitive coverage with enterprise-grade reliability and performance optimization.

UPLC Expert Consultation (15,000 ADA): Lucas and Casey consultation covering cryptographic primitive implementation guidance and security validation. Performance optimization strategies and benchmarking expertise. Code review and specification compliance validation. This investment ensures our implementations correctly handle complex evaluation scenarios and maintain compatibility with official Plutus specifications.

Testing & Security Validation (10,000 ADA): Comprehensive test suite development with official test vector integration. Security validation including constant-time operation verification and timing attack analysis. Performance benchmarking and optimization profiling. These investments guarantee secure, reliable primitive implementations that meet production standards.

Documentation & Community (10,000 ADA): Technical documentation including API references, security considerations, and implementation details. Educational content creation including tutorials, video demonstrations, and migration guides. Community engagement through Discord support, developer workshops, and feedback collection. Two frontend engineers will enhance the documentation website as part of this allocation.

Total Budget: 100,000 ADA

Third-Party Services:

Cryptographic libraries utilize existing open-source implementations where available. Development tools leverage existing team licenses and free-tier services. All primitive implementations will be original work based on specifications, eliminating licensing costs.

No Additional Funding Required:

The 100,000 ADA fully covers all project costs. We leverage existing Chrysalis infrastructure and our established development environment, eliminating setup costs. Our team is based in the Philippines where development costs are competitive, maximizing value per ADA spent.

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

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

The costs of this project have been carefully structured to represent exceptional value for money for the Cardano ecosystem, while delivering production-grade cryptographic and computational primitives. Here's how the costs were determined and why they represent unprecedented value:

Development Investment Justification (65,000 ADA):

The 65,000 ADA allocated for development reflects the specialized expertise required to implement cryptographic primitives with security-critical requirements. Commercial cryptographic library development typically exceeds $200,000, while our approach achieves 75% cost reduction through leveraging existing .NET libraries where available, expert team efficiency reducing development time, and building on the proven Chrysalis.Plutus.Core foundation.

Expert Consultation Value (15,000 ADA):

Cryptographic primitive implementation expertise is exceptionally rare, with only a handful of developers worldwide having built production Plutus primitive suites. Lucas and Casey's proven experience implementing UPLC primitives provides invaluable guidance that prevents costly specification misinterpretation and ensures security compliance. This investment eliminates months of trial-and-error development while guaranteeing compatibility with Plutus semantics.

Security & Testing Investment (10,000 ADA):

Cryptographic primitives require absolute correctness—any implementation error could compromise smart contract security across the entire ecosystem. Professional security validation including constant-time operation verification, timing attack analysis, and comprehensive test vector compliance ensures our implementations meet the highest security standards. This investment prevents potential security vulnerabilities that could cost the ecosystem millions in exploits.

Documentation & Community Impact (10,000 ADA):

Comprehensive documentation transforms complex cryptographic implementations into accessible developer tools. Clear API references, security considerations, and practical examples enable rapid adoption by the 10.6 million .NET developer community. This investment multiplies project value by ensuring developers can successfully integrate and build upon our primitive foundation.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes