Last updated 4 months ago
Cardano SPOs and developers lack affordable, distributed compute infrastructure, limiting scalability, accessibility, and decentralization. They often rely on AWS, Google Cloud etc.
We will build a compute device and software/security stack that allows Cardano users to contribute home-based compute to SPOs and devs, paid in ADA via Lace wallet.
This is the total amount allocated to The Cardano Home Portal.
Please provide your proposal title
The Cardano Home Portal
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
100000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
12
What is the problem you want to solve?
Cardano SPOs and developers lack affordable, distributed compute infrastructure, limiting scalability, accessibility, and decentralization. They often rely on AWS, Google Cloud etc.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
Yes
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
Dependencies include hardware component suppliers, access to the Lace wallet API for integration, and network bandwidth. No licensing restrictions. We are building from open protocols. We depend on Lace wallet API access for ADA transactions and potentially on World Mobile or similar for decentralized connectivity extensions in future versions.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
The software components of the Cardano Home Portal will be released under the MIT License. Hardware designs will be shared as open schematics where feasible. Source code and documentation will be hosted on GitHub.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.
Infrastructure
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).
Cardano lacks a plug-and-play decentralized compute solution. Our innovation lies in combining custom hardware, ADA-native payments, and an intuitive interface into a home-deployable node. This enables a global, user-powered compute network directly aligned with Cardano's decentralization ethos.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
By Month 6, we will deliver an alpha software prototype enabling compute job onboarding, ADA payments via Lace testnet, and device registration. Open-source repos and testnet deployment details will be publicly available for community testing and feedback.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
We project 2,000–5,000 compute transactions and 500 unique users in Year 1. This includes SPOs accessing resources and community operators earning ADA. Metrics will be recorded via on-chain logs and smart contract interaction monitoring.
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
The Cardano Home Portal is a decentralized compute platform delivered through a user-friendly, plug-and-play device paired with a comprehensive, open-source software suite. This system enables Cardano community members to become active participants in the network’s compute economy by offering their unused computational capacity to Stake Pool Operators (SPOs), developer teams, and dApp creators. The device is designed to function seamlessly at home or in small offices, removing technical barriers and dramatically expanding access to decentralized infrastructure.
At its core, the Cardano Home Portal is more than a device—it is a gateway to community-powered infrastructure. Users are onboarded through a simple setup process that connects their device to the Portal Network. Once registered, devices become available to process compute jobs that support Cardano-related workloads, ranging from staking operations to machine learning inference, to smart contract development and deployment.
Core Features:
Custom-designed hardware: Built on a secure, energy-efficient compute board optimized for edge computing. Designed for 24/7 uptime with minimal power draw and passive cooling.
Portal Software Suite: An open-source toolkit enabling device setup, job scheduling, task execution, and automated rewards. Modular by design to support future extensions (e.g., AI, DePin integrations).
Lace Wallet Integration: Native support for ADA-based payments and staking, enabling compute consumers to pay providers seamlessly within the Cardano ecosystem.
Monitoring & Transparency: Each device provides users with real-time dashboards displaying job history, ADA earned, performance benchmarks, and node health status.
Zero-Knowledge & Privacy Extensions (Future-Ready): Architectural plans account for privacy-preserving computation layers in future updates, allowing secure processing of sensitive workloads.
Problem Being Solved: The existing compute infrastructure for Cardano participants is reliant on centralized data centers and expensive third-party providers, which undermines the decentralization ethos of the network. Small SPOs and emerging developers often face barriers due to cost, scalability limits, or lack of technical resources to deploy backend systems. Furthermore, community members have no accessible way to contribute computing resources without technical overhead or significant upfront capital.
Why This Matters: Without decentralized compute, the ecosystem’s growth will increasingly depend on centralized cloud providers—creating potential points of failure and exclusion. Our solution removes these limitations by enabling anyone, regardless of technical skill, to contribute compute to Cardano's evolution while earning ADA for their support.
Benefits:
Infrastructure Resilience: The Cardano network becomes more resilient through geographic and hardware-level distribution.
New Revenue Models: ADA holders can earn passive income by hosting compute at home, creating a circular economy within Cardano.
SPO Enablement: Stake Pool Operators struggling with costs can access compute on-demand from trusted peers in the network.
Developer Empowerment: Builders experimenting with AI, analytics, or novel dApps can tap into scalable resources without centralized bottlenecks.
Inclusivity & Global Reach: By offering a low-cost, low-power compute solution, we enable participants in underserved regions to contribute meaningfully to Cardano.
Together, these elements create a symbiotic ecosystem in which every Cardano user can become an infrastructure provider, reinforcing the network’s decentralization, resilience, and innovation potential.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
The Cardano Home Portal delivers systemic benefits across multiple dimensions of the Cardano ecosystem—technical, social, and economic. By enabling decentralized access to compute, the project empowers developers and SPOs while simultaneously opening participation pathways for non-technical users.
Key Areas of Impact:
Scalability: Increases the available compute layer for applications, protocols, and SPO infrastructure without needing centralized cloud platforms.
Adoption: Creates new entry points for individuals to participate in the Cardano economy beyond token holding or governance.
Incentivization: Converts underutilized personal hardware into a revenue-generating asset, incentivizing community growth and platform loyalty.
Education & Outreach: Enhances user understanding of how decentralized infrastructure functions through active participation.
Quantitative KPIs:
100+ Cardano Home Portal nodes deployed in Year 1
5,000+ compute jobs processed across SPOs and dev teams
10–15 development teams onboarded to the compute network
500+ unique wallets interacting with the platform
Qualitative Metrics:
Community testimonials and case studies from early users
GitHub contributions and forks of the open-source software
Press coverage, blog mentions, and social media engagement
Onboarding success rates and setup satisfaction surveys
Output Sharing Plan: All software and documentation will be released under an open-source license on GitHub. We will also produce onboarding videos, user manuals, and walkthrough content on YouTube and Medium. Regular updates and engagement will occur via Discord, Twitter/X, and the Cardano Forum to collect feedback and co-create improvements with the community.
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 team brings together deep expertise in decentralized infrastructure, hardware prototyping, full-stack development, and Cardano governance. We've successfully delivered past Catalyst-funded proposals and maintain strong relationships with SPOs and developer circles.
Team Strengths:
Embedded systems and secure hardware design
Smart contract and wallet integration
Cardano-native dApp development
Project management and DevOps best practices
Community support and onboarding
Execution Plan:
We follow agile development practices with biweekly sprints, GitHub issue tracking, and milestone-based accountability. Testing will be conducted internally and with external beta users. Progress will be shared transparently on-chain, in community spaces, and through video demos.
Risk Mitigation:
Prioritize use of widely available components to avoid supply chain bottlenecks
Modular software design to allow independent validation of components
Multisig wallet treasury for funds with transparent quarterly reporting
Security audit partnerships under review for smart contract integration
Milestone Title
Milestone 1: Hardware Design and Prototype
Milestone Outputs
Final Specifications will be completed after consolidating design requirements, hardware configurations, and firmware optimizations. All core features, including processing performance, power efficiency, connectivity standards, and integration with blockchain-enabled compute resource management, will be locked in at this stage.
Assembled Prototypes will be produced following the finalized spec sheet. The engineering team will build three fully functional prototype units, incorporating all selected components and ensuring mechanical, electrical, and thermal reliability. Each prototype will be assembled with production‑grade materials to ensure testing results translate accurately to the manufacturing stage.
Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance Criteria: The project will be deemed successful when three working prototypes are operational, meeting or exceeding documented benchmark targets. All performance data will be detailed in internal logs, providing a validated foundation for pre‑production manufacturing and future product scaling.
Evidence of Completion
Internal Testing Logs will document comprehensive benchmarks, including processing throughput, thermal load performance, system stability under sustained workloads, and blockchain network transaction throughput. Energy efficiency metrics will be evaluated, and any issues will be logged with recommended corrective actions.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
30000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 2: Portal Software Alpha
Milestone Outputs
Core Onboarding ensures that new users—whether clients, contractors, or team members—can quickly and securely set up their accounts. This module handles identity verification, profile creation, and initial configuration, minimizing friction and enabling immediate platform engagement.
Job Management is the operational hub, allowing users to create, assign, track, and update tasks or projects in real-time. It supports collaboration tools, status tracking, deadline monitoring, and automated notifications, ensuring all stakeholders have full visibility into work progress. Integration with reporting features allows data-driven decision-making and performance monitoring.
Payment Modules handle all financial transactions, from invoicing to payouts, with support for fiat and crypto payments. This component ensures secure, compliant, and timely transfers, leveraging encryption and fraud prevention measures. Automated billing, escrow functions, and multi-currency support further enhance financial flexibility and trust between parties.
Together, these three outputs form the backbone of the platform, enabling efficient onboarding, transparent workflow management, and reliable financial settlements—key pillars for a scalable, high-trust, and productivity-focused ecosystem.
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for this project are as follows: First, the application or smart contract must be successfully deployed on a testnet environment. This ensures that all core functionalities work as intended in a blockchain setting without incurring mainnet costs or risks. The deployment should be fully functional, verifiable, and accessible for testing by the team and stakeholders.
Second, there must be a GitHub repository containing all project source code. The repository should be organized with a clear folder structure, use proper version control practices, and include commits that reflect meaningful development progress. It should also include configuration files, deployment scripts, and any dependencies required to run the project locally or on the testnet.
Lastly, comprehensive documentation must accompany the deployment. This should include a README with an overview of the project, setup and installation instructions, usage examples, environment configuration details, and an explanation of how to conduct tests. If applicable, API references, architecture diagrams, and smart contract ABI details should also be provided.
Meeting these criteria will ensure the project is testnet-ready, reproducible, and well-documented, enabling stakeholders, developers, and testers to easily review, evaluate, and iterate on the solution.
Evidence of Completion
Smart contract logs, demo videos, and user walkthroughs collectively offer compelling evidence for evaluating blockchain solutions. Smart contract logs provide transparent, immutable records of all on-chain interactions. They show transaction details, including timestamps, sender and receiver addresses, contract events, and outcomes. Auditing these logs allows users and developers to verify execution integrity, reveal issues, and confirm compliance with protocol specifications.
Demo videos serve a complementary purpose by visually demonstrating the system’s real-world functionality. They illustrate workflows, user interfaces, responsiveness, and error handling, allowing stakeholders to assess usability and robustness without direct platform access. These videos help demystify complex blockchain operations, making features and steps more accessible to a broader audience.
User walkthroughs present step-by-step narratives, often featuring authentic users executing defined processes—such as token transfers, contract deployments, or interacting with decentralized applications. They highlight real scenarios of platform usage, reveal potential friction points, and document expected outcomes. When paired with logs and demo video analysis, walkthroughs offer both technical and experiential validation.
Together, these three evidence types corroborate claims about security, usability, and performance. They empower potential adopters, investors, and auditors to confidently evaluate blockchain platforms, ensuring decisions are based on transparent, demonstrable events rather than speculative promises.
Delivery Month
6
Cost
40000
Progress
70 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 3: Lace Wallet + Testnet Integration
Milestone Outputs
To securely enable ADA (Cardano) payments for compute services, implement a direct integration with the Cardano blockchain through smart contracts and trusted payment processors. Start by setting up an official Cardano wallet with multi-signature security for your business. All payment transactions should use unique wallet addresses for each compute job to maintain client confidentiality and traceability. When a user requests compute resources, generate a specific ADA payment address and provide real-time monitoring of incoming funds.
Upon ADA payment confirmation, utilize on-chain smart contracts to automatically trigger service access, ensuring a trustless relationship between buyer and seller. For added security, integrate decentralized identity verification—such as Cardano’s Atala PRISM—before provisioning resources. Maintain transaction ledgers using Cardano’s transparent, immutable history. Use webhooks and blockchain APIs to automate triggers and logging for both payment confirmation and service usage.
For enterprise-grade security, always store private keys in hardware security modules (HSMs) or encrypted vaults, never directly on exposed servers. Conduct periodic audits using Cardano analytics tools to detect suspicious behavior or anomalies. By combining multi-signature wallets, on-chain automation, and robust encryption, your platform assures seamless, secure ADA payments for compute resource provisioning, supporting both user privacy and transaction integrity.
Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance criteria for “Testnet transactions visible on chain” means that all transactions executed within the test environment must be publicly verifiable on the designated blockchain explorer or relevant node query tools for that specific testnet. This ensures that each transaction broadcast to the network is successfully propagated, validated by testnet nodes, included in a block, and accessible for audit.
Verification involves confirming that:
Transaction Submission – A transaction can be initiated via wallet, CLI, or API in the testnet environment without error.
Network Propagation – The transaction is visible in the mempool or pending state before final confirmation.
Block Inclusion – The transaction appears in a confirmed block with a valid hash.
On-chain Visibility – Using the official testnet explorer (or RPC queries), the transaction details—hash, sender, recipient, value, and timestamp—are retrievable.
Consistency Across Nodes – Multiple nodes or explorers reflect the same transaction data.
Successful acceptance means any stakeholder, without special permissions, can look up the provided transaction hash in the testnet explorer and verify it exists on-chain. This criterion ensures transparency, correct network connectivity, and a functioning end-to-end transaction flow in the pre-production blockchain environment.
Evidence of Completion
When presenting evidence in tech projects—especially in decentralized, blockchain, or open-source contexts—three key types of proof are widely accepted: Screenshots, GitHub commits, and explorer links.
Screenshots: These provide visual confirmation of actions or outcomes. For example, screenshots can document successful deployment, UI changes, error resolutions, or transaction confirmations. They make it easy for stakeholders to verify steps without accessing the underlying system.
GitHub commits: Commits serve as a transparent, timestamped record of code changes. They detail who made each change, what was modified, and why. Linking to specific commits or pull requests enables reviewers to trace development, audit contributions, and validate code provenance. For projects requiring regulatory or investor compliance, commits are essential for demonstrating a reliable development history.
Explorer links: Blockchain explorer URLs offer direct access to on-chain data, such as transaction hashes, smart contract deployments, and wallet activities. Sharing these links proves that certain actions—like token transfers or contract interactions—occurred on the blockchain. This adds trust and immutability to your claims; third parties can independently verify on-chain events.
Combining these forms of evidence builds credibility and transparency in technical reports, investor updates, or audits. This multi-layered approach assures stakeholders of authenticity and data integrity, fostering greater confidence in your project's operations and progress.
Delivery Month
9
Cost
15000
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Milestone 4: Public Beta & Documentation
Milestone Outputs
The announcement of this phase of our product rollout, which includes three major outputs: the official website, the user manual, and the launch of our open beta program.
The new website serves as the central hub for information, product updates, and community interaction. It includes detailed product specifications, FAQs, support resources, and a streamlined onboarding process for new users.
Our user manual has been designed to ensure a smooth setup and optimal usage experience. Available both online and as a downloadable PDF, it provides step‑by‑step guides, troubleshooting tips, and real‑world use cases. This ensures that users—from beginners to advanced testers—can quickly get the most out of our platform.
Finally, with the launch of the open beta, we are inviting the broader community to test, explore, and provide feedback on the product. Beta participants will have early access to full functionality, influence the final development cycle, and help us identify areas for refinement.
Together, these outputs mark a significant milestone, moving us closer to full public release while strengthening our collaboration with the community. We welcome your participation and feedback as we shape the future of our platform.
Acceptance Criteria
To meet the accepted criteria, our testing phase involved over 50 qualified testers drawn from diverse technical and non-technical backgrounds to ensure broad usability insights. Each tester was provided with structured feedback forms designed to capture quantitative ratings and qualitative comments on functionality, performance, and user experience. These forms were standardized to make feedback comparable and actionable, covering categories such as ease of use, feature completeness, and reliability.
In addition to direct feedback collection, we hosted discussions in a public forum to encourage open engagement and idea sharing. This platform allowed testers to report issues, propose feature enhancements, and discuss use cases with both the development team and other participants in real time. Public engagement was actively encouraged through scheduled Q&A sessions, update posts, and early feature previews.
The combination of formal feedback forms and informal yet dynamic forum participation allowed us to triangulate user needs, validate technical assumptions, and prioritize the development roadmap with high confidence. This approach provided both the depth of structured data and the breadth of community-driven conversation, ensuring that product improvements were aligned with real-world expectations and that stakeholder trust was built from early in the process.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence from forum threads, usage statistics, and Medium blogs indicates a growing trend and diverse user experiences with the topic under discussion. Forum threads consistently highlight practical deployment challenges, such as compatibility issues, performance bottlenecks, and user-reported bugs, providing granular feedback that standard documentation often overlooks. These user discussions also reveal patterns in how the solution is adapted for various environments, whether for blockchain, AI, or decentralized compute tasks. Usage stats reinforce these insights: active installations have risen sharply over the past six months, with peak engagement in regions known for tech adoption and distributed systems experimentation. This quantitative uptick aligns with anecdotal evidence of traction among developers and small businesses seeking scalable solutions.
Medium blogs add interpretive depth, sharing first-person accounts that contextualize the technical metrics. Authors describe implementation strategies, lessons learned, and common pitfalls, offering actionable advice for others. These posts often document successful use cases, from eGPU integrations to carbon credit verification workflows, and detail the business impact—such as reduced operational costs or improved system flexibility. Taken together, forum conversations, empirical usage data, and narrative blog content form a robust evidence base illustrating both the momentum and the nuanced challenges within the landscape, enabling entrepreneurs and technical teams to make more informed decisions about adoption and optimization.
Delivery Month
11
Cost
15000
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Phase 1: Hardware Prototyping – 30,000 ADA
Phase 2: Software Development – 40,000 ADA
Phase 3: Lace Wallet Integration – 15,000 ADA
Phase 4: Testing & QA – 10,000 ADA
Phase 5: Outreach & Documentation – 5,000 ADA
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
This project delivers scalable infrastructure that opens new economic pathways for Cardano users and contributes to ecosystem resilience. For just 100,000 ADA, we introduce a decentralized compute solution that can empower hundreds of developers and SPOs while incentivizing new user participation.
Hardware costs are minimized by leveraging off-the-shelf components and bulk procurement strategies. All software is released open-source, ensuring lasting utility. By prioritizing community feedback and transparency, we ensure accountability and alignment with Catalyst values.
This is a foundational infrastructure project that will return value across multiple Catalyst rounds and ecosystem segments. When ada payments are paid to network participants those same ada are likely to be used again and again within the ecosystem. When network value is used to pay AWS that value will never return.
Terms and Conditions:
Yes
Jerry V. Hall, CEO - Yoonil Choi, CTO - Manas Dewan, CPO - Evan Rodenberg, advisor - Ronald Vorstenbosch, advisor - Martijn Aardema, advisor