[Proposal setup] Proposal title
Please provide your proposal title
Cardano Token Risk Analysis Bot via Telegram
[Proposal Summary] Budget Information
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
82225
[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?
Cardano users lack an easy tool to assess token risk. Manual checks of tokenomics, policy lock, holder distribution, and liquidity are fragmented, hard to read, leading to poor decisions and scams.
[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation
Supporting links
[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
All project outputs will be fully open-sourced. The bot’s source code and any supporting scripts or data will be published on GitHub under an open-source license (e.g. MIT). This ensures transparency and allows the community to audit, use, and contribute to the tool freely.
[Theme Selection] Theme
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.
Risk Management
[Campaign Category] Category Questions
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).
Chat-first Cardano token risk tool: instant tokenomics + explainable risk score inside Telegram. Unlike prior dashboards/alert bots, it fuses policy-lock checks, holder concentration, liquidity, and activity into one clear message. Open-source, self-hosted, retail-friendly UX, and extensible (rules/SDK) → lower friction, broader reach.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
A working Telegram bot. Paste a policy/asset ID to get: total/circulating supply, minting policy lock/unlock, holder distribution (top 1/5/10), basic DEX liquidity, recent activity, and a risk score with reasons. Access via a public bot link; include a 2–3 min demo video + screenshots; source on GitHub.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
KPIs: 500+ users in 3 months; 1k+ scans/week; 300+ unique tokens covered; p95 response <5s. Open-source traction: 100+ stars, 5+ forks, community PRs. Impact signals (on/off-chain): higher share of locked-policy tokens among new assets; declining high-risk scores; publish periodic, verifiable metrics.
[Your Project and Solution] Solution
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
Problem We’re Solving
Cardano’s DeFi and native-asset ecosystem is growing fast, yet everyday users lack a simple, reliable way to judge a token’s trustworthiness. Today, due diligence means manually checking minting policy, holder distribution, liquidity, and project info across multiple sources time-consuming, fragmented, and often too complex. The scale makes this worse: there are millions of native tokens (≈11M and rising) across hundreds of thousands of policies, creating high noise-to-signal. Retail users can’t feasibly vet this long tail, leaving them exposed to scams, unlimited-mint risks, shallow liquidity, and poorly designed tokenomics.
Why a Telegram Bot?
Telegram is a key communication hub for the crypto and Cardano communities. A Telegram bot offers instant, chat-based access to token analysis without extra apps or websites. Users can query tokens in private chats or directly in community groups, enabling on-the-spot risk checks during live discussions. The platform also allows future features like push alerts when a token’s risk profile changes, ensuring ongoing relevance and engagement.
Solution Details
We will develop an open-source Telegram bot that, upon receiving a policy ID (and asset name if needed), will:
- Check supply & minting policy: Detect if the policy is locked or open, highlighting inflation risks.
- Analyze holder distribution: Flag centralization risk if top holders control excessive supply.
- Retrieve liquidity & market data: From Cardano DEX APIs, identify low or unlocked liquidity that could enable manipulation.
- Monitor recent activity: Detect unusual transfers or volume spikes as potential warning signs.
- Pull metadata & project links: Provide context on purpose and legitimacy.
- Generate a risk score: Summarize all factors into Low/Medium/High risk, with explanations.
When a user queries the bot, they will receive a formatted message containing all the above information in a clear format. For example, a response might say: “Token XYZ – Supply: 1,000,000 (policy unlocked, can mint more until Dec 2025); Holders: 250 addresses (top 1 holds 40%); Liquidity: 100k ADA on Minswap (not locked); Risk Level: High due to unlocked supply and holder concentration.” This kind of summary enables even non-expert users to grasp the risk profile at a glance.
Technical Implementation:
Under the hood, the bot will integrate with Cardano data sources. We plan to use existing APIs or services (for example, Blockfrost, Koios, or cardano-db-sync via a custom backend) to query blockchain data about token supply and holders. For policy information, we can use Cardano’s ledger queries or explorer APIs to determine if a policy ID has an expiration (time lock) or not. Liquidity and price data can be fetched from DEX APIs or aggregators (like Minswap, WingRiders, or Cardano Cube). The bot logic will be written likely in Python or Node.js using the Telegram Bot API, and will include the analysis rules that combine the data into the risk assessment. All collected data and analysis rules will be transparent in our open-source code.
Who Benefits & Why It’s Important
- Cardano users & ADA holders: Gain an automated “due diligence assistant” to avoid risky tokens.
- Ecosystem health: Reduces scams and improves trust in native assets.
- Legitimate projects: Transparent tokenomics will be showcased positively in bot reports.
- Developers: Open-source nature allows integration into existing tools, multiplying impact.
By increasing transparency, this bot will help foster a safer, more trusted Cardano token ecosystem, aligning with Cardano’s values of openness and community trust.
[Your Project and Solution] Impact
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
Value to the Cardano Community
- Help investors in the Cardano ecosystem avoid risks when encountering fraud cases, attracting large investors to the Cardano ecosystem.
- Transparency & safety at scale: Turns scattered token data (policy, holders, liquidity, activity) into an explainable risk score inside Telegram helping users avoid scams and costly mistakes.
- Public good, zero-friction UX: Free, chat-first tool used directly in groups where new tokens are discussed; lowers due-diligence barriers for newcomers and non-technical users.
- Ecosystem trust flywheel: The more people scan, the harder it is for bad launches to gain traction; legitimate projects with sound tokenomics stand out.
- Open reuse: MIT-licensed code, methods, and datasets that wallets/explorers and builders can integrate, multiplying impact beyond this grant.
How we’ll measure impact (KPIs)
- Adoption: ≥1,500 MAU; ≥3,000 scans/week; ≥1,000 unique tokens covered; ≥75 Telegram groups using bot.
- Safety signals: ≥50% of “High Risk” flags precede adverse events within 30 days; ≥100 user-reported “avoids.”
- Quality: Policy-lock detection ≥99% accuracy; holder distribution computed on ≥95% tokens; ≥95% replies include factor breakdown.
- Performance: p95 latency ≤5s; availability ≥99.5%; 5xx error <1%; infra cost < $2 / 1,000 scans.
- Open source: ≥100 GitHub stars, ≥5 forks; ≥2 integrations/pilots (wallets/explorers/bots).
How we’ll share outputs & opportunities
- Code & docs: Public GitHub (MIT) with User Guide/FAQ, architecture, risk-model methodology, tagged releases, runbook.
- Public reporting: Live dashboard + monthly summary of MAU/scans/latency/coverage; quarterly “risk insights” brief.
- Education & outreach: 2–3 min demo video; posts on Cardano Forum, Town Hall, Telegram/Discord, X; open call for testers/partners.
- Data access: Publish aggregate CSV/JSON and a lightweight rate-limited API; roadmap toward SDK/web dashboard.
[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 Capability
TEX Labs has a strong track record in the Cardano ecosystem, achieving awards in scientific research competitions, hackathons, and organizing workshops/community events. These activities have built trust and provided direct insights into user needs.
Team Competence
The core team consists of three key members with projects funded in Funds 11, 12, and 13. Each member brings over 5 years of software development experience, more than 2 years of experience in developing and operating Cardano Blockchain infrastructure, and over 4 years in full-stack software development (microservices, clean architecture, database optimization, caching, message brokers). The team is proficient in Haskell/Plutus, Rust, Aiken, and modern frontend/backend technologies. They have successfully delivered multiple Cardano projects implementing CIP-25, CIP-30, and CIP-68, ensuring high reliability in real-world environments.
Feasibility Validation
We build for the real needs of the community. The roadmap begins with an MVP focused on critical “user jobs,” followed by rapid iterations with public releases and open demos. Success metrics are clearly tracked (active users, processed transactions, latency, error rates) and refined based on feedback.
Transparency & Accountability
We adopt an open-source development approach from the start:
- Public repository with transparent issues/roadmap
- Regular progress updates (bi-weekly or monthly) with direct changelogs
- Milestone-based delivery with verifiable outputs before moving to the next phase
- Transparent financial reports with spending tied to each milestone
With a community-driven design, disciplined engineering, and transparent operations, TEX Labs is ready to deliver the project with reliability and accountability.
[Milestones] Project Milestones
Milestone Title
Research & Prototype Data Infrastructure
Milestone Outputs
- Data-source & query brief (db-sync/Ogmios/Blockfrost/Koios) with factor→source mapping.
- System architecture diagram (PNG/SVG).
- Cache/rate-limit/fallback spec (TTL, retries, backoff).
- Working prototype (CLI or Telegram test) returning total supply and policy lock/unlock for a given policy/asset ID.
- Public repo initialized (README, MIT license, CI, quick start, architecture.md, risk-model.md v1).
Acceptance Criteria
- The summary includes a list of exact elements and endpoints.
- Diagram reflects end-to-end flow and components.
- Spec lists numeric thresholds (e.g., TTLs, retry limits).
- Prototype returns mainnet data for ≥1 token in <5s (cache allowed).
- Repo builds with CI green and contains all listed docs.
Evidence of Completion
- Link to brief (PDF/MD).
- Link to diagram file.
- Link to cache/rate-limit spec.
- 60–120s screen capture (or screenshots + trimmed logs) showing input→response.
- Public GitHub link with CI badge passing.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
16075
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Telegram MVP & Small-Group Beta
Milestone Outputs
- MVP bot returning a formatted analysis: supply & policy, holder distribution, basic DEX liquidity, recent activity, and Risk Score v1 with explanations.
- Core commands: /scan, /score, /holders, /liquidity, /help.
- Closed-beta onboarding guide + feedback form.
- Updated docs covering assumptions, limitations, and “how to interpret results”.
Acceptance Criteria
- Processes ≥5 diverse tokens (many holders / unlocked policy / thin liquidity / recent mint/burn) with p95 <6s on test set.
- Risk v1 is deterministic; replies show main contributing factors.
- 5–10 testers confirm accuracy/clarity; all critical bugs resolved.
- CI green; changelog for MVP features present.
Evidence of Completion
- Bot invite link or full demo video showing multi-token analyses.
- Annotated screenshots for each command.
- Test report (cases, timings, issues fixed, feedback summary).
- Repo updated with MVP code, reproduction steps, metrics snapshot (counts per command).
Delivery Month
2
Cost
24550
Progress
50 %
Milestone Title
Risk Engine v2, Performance Optimization & Extended Closed Beta
Milestone Outputs
- Risk Engine v2 with 8–10 factors (team/issuer heuristics, whale flows, abnormal volume, LP dispersion) and per-factor explainability.
- Performance upgrades (caching, batching) and observability (structured logs, basic metrics).
- Methodology doc: normalization, weights, thresholds, calibration plan, anti-manipulation guardrails.
- Expanded closed beta (more tokens/users) with consolidated report.
Acceptance Criteria
- Analysis remains consistent; factor explanations included in replies.
- Load test ≥20 req/min sustained with p95 <5s on common tokens.
- Methodology document published and internally reviewed.
- Closed-beta report aggregates usage metrics, feedback themes, and implemented improvements.
Evidence of Completion
- Performance logs + summary graphs (latency percentiles, throughput).
- Demo video covering edge cases (extreme concentration, low LP, sudden spikes).
- Repo commits for v2 scoring, cache settings, metrics; updated methodology doc.
- Public PDF/MD closed-beta report linking to artifacts.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
23850
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Public release, full documentation & closing report
Milestone Outputs
- Public, discoverable bot.
- User Guide/FAQ.
- Final technical docs (architecture, data adapters, risk model).
- Ops runbook (deploy/self-host, monitoring, incident).
- Launch announcement + polished 2–3 min demo video.
- Close-out report (outcomes, KPIs, lessons learned, forward roadmap).
Acceptance Criteria
- Bot is publicly reachable and stable; meets SLOs (p95 ≤5s, availability ≥99.5%).
- User Guide/FAQ peer-reviewed by ≥3 external users; clarity ≥4/5.
- Tech docs complete & accurate; updated architecture diagram; risk model versioned with changelog.
- Runbook validated via fresh machine self-host by a non-dev; steps reproducible end-to-end.
- Launch posted on ≥3 channels (Forum/Telegram/X); video 2–3 min shows live query.
- Close-out report published with KPIs vs targets and links to all evidence; team lead sign-off.
Evidence of Completion
- Bot link/handle + uptime/latency dashboard screenshot (last 7 days) or healthcheck page.
- Link to User Guide/FAQ + reviewer notes or forms from ≥3 external readers (screenshots or PR comments).
- Links to final tech docs + versioned diagram in repo; tagged release notes referencing the risk model version.
- Runbook validation pack: screen recording or transcript of a clean deploy, time-to-deploy noted, artifact checksums.
- URLs of announcements (Forum/Telegram/X) + demo video link; engagement snapshot (views/reactions).
- Close-out report (PDF/MD) with a KPI table (target vs actual) and a checklist mapping each Acceptance item (1–6) to its evidence links.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
17750
Progress
100 %
[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Milestone 1: Research & Prototype (1 Month)
Total: $12,860 (~16,075 ADA)
- Product Manager: 80h × $30/h = $2,400
- 2 Senior Developer: 2 people x 160h × $22/h = $7,040
- Data Analyst: 100h × $18/h = $1,800
- Business Analyst: 100h × $15/h = $1,500
- Infra/tools: $120
Milestone 2: Core MVP (2 Months)
Total: $19,640 (~24,550 ADA)
- Product Manager: 100h × $30/h = $3,000
- 2 Senior Developer: 2 people x 220h × $22/h = $9,680
- QA Engineer: 140h × $15/h = $2,100
- Data Analyst: 100h × $18/h = $1,800
- DevOps: 120h × $22/h = $2,640
- Infra/tools: $420
Milestone 3: Risk v2 & Performance (2 Months)
Total: $19,080 (~23,850 ADA)
- Product Manager: 100h × $30/h = $3,000
- 2 Senior Developer: 2 people x 210h × $22/h = $9,240
- QA Engineer: 160h × $15/h = $2,400
- Data Analyst: 120h × $18/h = $2,160
- DevOps: 80h × $22/h = $1,760
- Infra/tools: $520
Milestone 4: Public Release & Docs (1 Month)
Total: $14,200 (~17,750 ADA)
- Product Manager: 80h × $30/h = $2,400
- 2 Senior Developer: 2 people x 100h × $22/h = $4,400
- DevOps: 80h × $22/h = $1,760
- QA Engineer: 160h × $15/h = $2,400
- Technical Writer: 160h × $15/h = $2,400
- Infra/tools: $840
Total project cost: $65,780 = 82,225 ADA (1 ADA = $0.80)
[Final Pitch] Value for Money
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
The 82,225 ADA request represents exceptional value because it directly prevents large investor losses and upgrades Cardano’s market hygiene.
- Investor-loss prevention (hard ROI). One mid-scale rug (e.g., 1,000,000 ADA across 1,000 users) dwarfs this budget. If the bot helps just 5% avoid it, that’s 50,000 ADA saved; 10% → 100,000 ADA, already exceeding 82,225 ADA. Break-even: avoid 1,000 ADA/user → 84 users; 500 ADA → 167; 200 ADA → 418.
- Ecosystem “watchdog” effect. Systematic checks for unlocked policies, holder concentration, and weak liquidity make scams harder to spread, protecting thousands of users and reducing reputational damage that deters capital.
- Open-source multiplier (MIT). Code, scoring rules, and datasets are reusable in wallets, explorers, and community bots—compounding impact without future grants. Builders can embed pre-trade checks or publish dashboards.
- Competitive edge for Cardano. Safety-first tooling attracts risk-aware users and institutions. Cleaner markets and fewer exploits increase confidence, liquidity depth, and user stickiness.
- Acquisition & retention via safety. One-tap due diligence in Telegram drives more engagement with native assets/DeFi. Even modest lifts in active users and retained balances justify the spend through fees, activity, and network effects.
- Developer magnet & standards. A transparent risk framework (weights, thresholds, examples) becomes a shared standard, accelerating higher-quality launches (more policy/LP locks, better distributions) and reducing duplicated effort.
- Long-term vision (sustainability & scale).
- Default pre-trade safety layer: integrations so wallets/DEXs surface our score before a swap/mint.
- SDK/API + community rules: open registry of factors; community PRs tune weights as patterns evolve.
- On-chain transparency options: periodic, anonymized score snapshots or risk registries for verifiable audit trails.
- Proactive protection: opt-in alerts when a tracked token’s risk worsens (policy changes, LP pulled, whale dumps).
- Outcome target: measurable decline in prevalence/success of obvious scam tokens over 12–18 months.
Bottom line: Spending 83,625 ADA to deploy a public-good “risk radar” that can prevent multi-million-ADA (and multi-million-dollar) losses is a highly leveraged investment protecting users today and raising Cardano’s security and trust standards for tomorrow.
[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation
Terms and Conditions:
Yes