No Witness - DeFi Data Layer for Cardano

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

No Witness - DeFi Data Layer for Cardano

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

200000

[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 is disconnected from the multi-chain data ecosystem. This increases time-to-market, reduces the likelihood that dApps add Cardano, and new builders to explore Cardano using the tools they know

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://github.com/no-witness-labs/firehose-cardano
,
• https://github.com/no-witness-labs/substreams-cardano
,
• https://nowitnesslabs.com/

[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

Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.

Fully open source under MIT license

[Theme Selection] Theme

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

Interoperability

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).

Existing indexing tools we have (Dolos, Kupo) are Cardano specific, and this proposal brings industry-standard Firehose/Substreams to Cardano developers.

Innovation lies in connecting Cardano to the established Web3 data ecosystem used by 10,000+ developers across multiple chains. Instead of reinventing indexing, we're making Cardano compatible with proven infrastructure that powers billions of monthly queries, enabling seamless multi-chain development and attracting external developers familiar with these tools.

Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.

The MVP will demonstrate a working Firehose endpoint streaming Cardano block data and a sample Substream extracting ADA transfers with real-time processing. Developers can access it via public endpoints to query Cardano data using familiar Substreams syntax. We'll provide documentation, example queries, and integration guides. The prototype will show compatibility with existing Substreams tooling and demonstrate indexing Cardano transactions into standard formats that work with The Graph and other Web3 infrastructure.

Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.

Success metrics include successfully deploying a working Firehose endpoint that streams live Cardano blocks, building a functional Substreams module extracting transaction events, processing at least 1000 historical blocks without errors, achieving basic query functionality with documented API, completing integration testing with existing Substreams tools, publishing working code examples and setup guide, and demonstrating end-to-end data flow from Cardano node to queryable format.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Our solution addresses Cardano's data extraction fragmentation by implementing the industry standard StreamingFast Firehose and Substreams infrastructure, making Cardano data accessible through the same tools used by thousands of developers across multiple blockchains.

We already have working Proof of Concept with documentation and a demo which can be found at

https://github.com/no-witness-labs/substreams-cardano

and

https://github.com/no-witness-labs/firehose-cardano

The current landscape presents significant challenges for developers wanting to work with Cardano data. While solutions like Dolos and Kupo serve the Cardano ecosystem effectively, they create barriers for external developers and limit Cardano's integration with multi-chain applications. This isolation reduces Cardano's attractiveness to developers building across multiple ecosystems and forces teams to maintain separate codebases and expertise for different blockchain integrations.

Our technical solution builds a complete Firehose implementation for Cardano consisting of several integrated components.

The core infrastructure includes a Cardano-specific data extractor that interfaces with node APIs to capture real-time blockchain data, protocol buffer definitions that map Cardano's UTXO model, native tokens, and smart contracts to the standardized Firehose format, a high-performance streaming server delivering block data with guaranteed ordering and completeness, and a Substreams execution environment enabling parallel data processing with the same performance characteristics as other major blockchains.

The most critical component is our data transformation engine, which translates Cardano's unique data structures into standardized formats.

This includes handling UTXO transactions with their input and output relationships, multi-asset native tokens with their minting policies, staking certificates and rewards, governance actions and voting, and Plutus script executions with their redeemer data, all while preserving semantic meaning and maintaining the relationships between different blockchain elements.

The integration layer provides built-in compatibility with existing Substreams tooling, including seamless integration with The Graph infrastructure, support for multiple database sinks such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB, compatibility with streaming platforms like Kafka and Flink, and connection to dozens of production-ready data pipelines that teams are already using for other blockchains.

This approach fundamentally improves the developer experience by allowing teams to use familiar Substreams modules to extract exactly the data they need from Cardano.

A developer building a multi-chain DEX aggregator can use identical code patterns for Cardano, Ethereum, and Polygon data extraction, significantly reducing development time and maintenance overhead while ensuring consistency across different blockchain integrations.

https://imgur.com/a/pF9AwzP

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

By bringing Substreams to Cardano, we eliminate the learning curve preventing external developers from building on Cardano, directly increasing ecosystem participation.

Multi chain protocols could easily add Cardano support using existing workflows, while Cardano developers gain access to production grade infrastructure used across Web3.

This standardization enables seamless integration with business intelligence tools, institutional platforms, and educational resources, positioning Cardano within mainstream blockchain development rather than as an isolated ecosystem requiring specialized knowledge.

[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?

No Witness Labs is founded by seasoned blockchain developers with a proven track record of delivering high-quality, impactful open-source tools and protocols in the Cardano ecosystem.

Our co-founder, Jonathan Rodriguez, is the creator and lead maintainer of Evolution SDK—the next generation of the widely adopted Lucid—which has become a cornerstone for off-chain transaction building on Cardano. His work has enabled countless developers to rapidly build, test, and deploy Cardano dApps with improved developer experience and reliability.

Our team collectively has extensive experience building both open-source and production-grade blockchain solutions. Members have contributed to many ecosystem projects and several protocol-level designs including cross-chain bridges, staking systems, and Layer 2 frameworks.

No.Witness Labs operate with transparency and accountability as core principles and all significant of our work are developed open-source, ensuring community visibility, code review, and independent audit potential.

Our deep experience, combined with a proven history of delivering developer-focused infrastructure, ensures that No Witness Labs can execute this project with the highest standards of trust, transparency, and technical excellence.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Development Environment & Initial Data Extraction Schema

Milestone Outputs

• Operational development environment with working Cardano testnet node connection.
• Documented analysis of Cardano node RPC interfaces and core data structures.
• Initial Firehose protobuf schema created for basic block data (header, transactions, metadata).

Acceptance Criteria

• Environment can build, run, and connect to the Cardano testnet node to retrieve block data.
• Technical analysis document covers available APIs, data formats, and access methods.
• Protobuf schema compiles successfully and includes all defined basic block fields.

Evidence of Completion

• Code repository containing node connection scripts, protobuf files, and setup instructions.
• Documentation folder with the technical analysis and data extraction architecture diagram.
• Screenshots or logs showing successful block data retrieval and schema compilation.

Delivery Month

1

Cost

30000

Progress

10 %

Milestone Title

Core Firehose Data Extractor & Streaming Endpoint

Milestone Outputs

• Core data extractor implemented to read Cardano blocks from the testnet.
• Transformation layer developed to convert Cardano block data into Firehose format.
• Basic streaming endpoint deployed to serve live testnet block data.

Acceptance Criteria

• Extractor can read synchronized Cardano testnet blocks in real-time.
• Transformation process outputs valid Firehose-formatted data verified against the protobuf schema.
• Streaming endpoint delivers continuous live block data to connected clients without errors.

Evidence of Completion

• Source code in repository for extractor, transformation logic, and streaming service.
• Logs or sample output demonstrating successful conversion and streaming of testnet blocks.
• Screenshot or recording of a client receiving live Firehose-formatted block data from the endpoint.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

40000

Progress

30 %

Milestone Title

Substreams Transaction Event Extraction & Validation

Milestone Outputs

• Functional Substreams module built to extract Cardano transaction events.
• Data validation implemented to ensure extracted events match Cardano node output.
• Historical block processing completed with consistent, error-free results.

Acceptance Criteria

• Substreams module correctly identifies and outputs transaction events from testnet blocks.
• Validation tests confirm data accuracy against Cardano node API responses.
• At least 1,000 historical testnet blocks processed without errors or data mismatches.

Evidence of Completion

• Repository containing Substreams module source code and validation scripts.
• Logs or reports showing side-by-side comparison of Substreams output and Cardano node data.
• Processing run logs demonstrating successful handling of 1,000+ historical testnet blocks.

Delivery Month

4

Cost

40000

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Query API Implementation & Substreams Integration

Milestone Outputs

• Query API developed with core functionality for accessing processed Cardano data.
• Comprehensive documentation created, including endpoint descriptions and example queries.
• Integration testing performed with the existing Substreams toolchain to confirm compatibility.

Acceptance Criteria

• API endpoints are functional, documented, and return valid data from the processed dataset.
• Documentation includes setup instructions, example requests/responses, and usage guidelines.
• Integration tests confirm the API works seamlessly with Substreams tools without errors.

Evidence of Completion

• Source code for the Query API and documentation stored in the project repository.
• API documentation available in Markdown or HTML with tested example calls.
• Logs or reports from integration tests showing successful communication with Substreams tools.

Delivery Month

5

Cost

40000

Progress

70 %

Milestone Title

Testnet Deployment, Developer Resources & Helper Libraries

Milestone Outputs

• Full solution deployed to Cardano testnet with public access endpoints available.
• Comprehensive code examples and setup guides published for developers.
• Helper libraries created for working with Cardano data in Substreams modules.

Acceptance Criteria

• Testnet deployment accessible to external users via documented public endpoints.
• Code examples demonstrate complete data flow from Cardano node to queryable format.
• Helper libraries are functional, documented, and reusable for building custom Substreams models.

Evidence of Completion

• Public repository containing deployed code, helper libraries, and setup instructions.
• Documentation and example scripts showing end-to-end data flow and usage.
• Logs, screenshots, or video demonstrating successful queries against the deployed testnet endpoints.

Delivery Month

6

Cost

40000

Progress

90 %

Milestone Title

Final Milestone – Project Close-Out Report & Future Roadmap

Milestone Outputs

• Comprehensive close-out report detailing achievements against defined success metrics.
• Documentation of technical challenges encountered and solutions implemented.
• Recommendations for future development

Acceptance Criteria

• Report clearly maps each success metric to corresponding evidence of achievement.
• Technical lessons learned are documented with practical insights for future work.
• Actionable recommendations provided for next development phases or mainnet rollout.

Evidence of Completion

• Final report in PDF stored in the project repository.
• Supporting evidence such as logs, screenshots, code references, and test results.
• Summary presentation or document highlighting key achievements 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 total budget for the proposed project is estimated at 200,000 ADA, equivalent to 82,000 USD at the current ADA price of 0.41 USD. This plan is designed to efficiently deliver the project within 6 months, ensuring quality while addressing all cost considerations.

Senior Developers:

Hiring two senior developers is essential for the successful completion of this project within the specified timeframe. Their expertise will be crucial for delivering high-quality code.

Senior developers' rate: Range from 80-120 USD per hour.

Estimated Total Cost in ADA (3 months):

80 USD/hour: For two developers working full time (40 hours per week for 4 months), the total cost would be 102,400 USD, equivalent to 249.000 ADA.

However, since the total project budget is 200,000 ADA, the cost per developer will be split, bringing each developer's effective budget allocation down to 100,000 ADA for the duration of the project.

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

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

By integrating Cardano with the widely-adopted Firehose/Substreams infrastructure, we align Cardano with industry-standard tools already used by most blockchain developers. This ensures adoption, significantly reduces entry barriers for new developers, and facilitates easier integrations with upcoming PartnerChains and Layer2s.

Projects and developers building on Cardano will benefit from a standardized indexing environment leveraging proven, existing infrastructure which lowers costs associated with onboarding and maintenance.

By being an Open Source project, community improvement and evolution will multiply the value beyond the initial investment. Documentation, code examples, and integration guides facilitate a developer-friendly ecosystem for new developers.

[Self-Assessment] Self-Assessment Checklist

I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)

Yes

I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.

Yes

I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.

Yes

I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.

Yes

I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.

Yes

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

I Agree

Yes