Proposal “dash-incubator-ash-2024-q3“ (Closed)Back

Title:Dash Incubator Ash 2024 Q3
Owner:AshFrancis
Monthly amount: 200 DASH (4814 USD)
Completed payments: no payments occurred yet (3 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2024-07-09 / 2024-10-07 (added on 2024-07-13)
Final voting deadline: in 2 days
Votes: 468 Yes / 169 No / 17 Abstain

Proposal description

This proposal is intended to continue funding the two projects I am working on right now:


DashPay Extension Wallet

Simplified; 'MetaMask for Dash'. An extension wallet that makes Dash Evolution accessible for developers and users; for developers there will be a simple library to integrate that allows them to support Sign-in via Dash Identity as well as requesting transactions, signed messages, writing data to platform and other related functionality.

Without this the Evolution experience is going to be outdated at launch; inputting seed words or uploading a keystore to try out our dapps is a significant security risk and barrier to adoption. I believe DCG have something in mind regarding this on mobile in the future but in my view its essential we have the familiar UX and quick onboarding an extension provides. 

This project currently has L1 features as well as social graph features as this is more of a social oriented wallet; you pay to names not addresses (though you can still do legacy address based payments). There are also chat based features too; you can think of this as more of a Venmo/CashApp/WhatsApp/Telegram hybrid than your traditional crypto wallet.

The next stage of work will be focused on the dapp + extension functionality with the dapp library and two way communication with user approval on subsequent actions covering features like message signing, transactions, writing to data contracts and so on. 

As part of this work it will be necessary to create some reference implementations alongside which will hopefully serve as a basic first exposure to Evolution for users and developers alike.  


Explore Dash Web + Mobile

The goal of this is to take the mobile wallet 'Explore Dash' experience to discover Dash merchants (direct accepting and gift card) and ATMs to be available on the web and extended with some more functionality around third party gift card providers (CTX, BitRefill, Coinsbee, Coincards). We also want to extend this directory to utilize platform as a source of truth for the multiple front-ends / deployments where this data is useful. 


Last Quarter

Last quarter I spent 222 Dash in total, all on these two projects; 139.2 Dash on the Extension, taking it from a very outdated project to one that was actually functional (after going through many different developers, I unfortunately resorted to bring Alex in and away from some of his CTX work to get this accomplished). It's now at a much better stage ready for ongoing development. I have also spent 82.8 Dash on the Explore Dash web + mobile apps with a further 177 awarded this month (outside of the quarter but important to factor in). This application is now at a beta stage and I should have more news on this very soon, though I am keen to scale use gradually to avoid some of the issues that impacted DashDirect. 


Budget

My current reserve sits at just over 200 Dash, the smallest of all strategists and I haven't received funding since Q2 2023, instead opting to draw down from my reserve to this point.

As many of you know I have other work I am focused on too, so I have had to significantly cut my incubator responsibilities to what I believe the most pressing projects. The extension in my view is absolutely necessary for a successful platform/evolution launch, on-going experience and just for adoption in general. The Explore Dash web + mobile apps are related to Dash Spend in that the goal is to encourage acquisition and spending through any platform; I believe it in Dash's best interest to own this codebase and have it fully open source. I also believe that encouraging spending at any partner that supports it (direct merchants, CTX, Bitrefill, etc. etc.) is good for every participant in this ecosystem; a rising tide lifts all boats.

Budgets are very limited at the moment but I will do what I can to gain the most value for Dash out of these funds. 

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Ash

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Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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0 points,1 month ago
Changing my YES votes to NO votes, untill there is more clarity on how involved the PO currently is with his Dash projects through Dash Incubator.
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1 point,1 month ago
I replied to Pasta below and on Discord if that's what this comment is referring to.
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0 points,1 month ago
Actively voting NO on this proposal, the PO seems to have gone AWOL and there are more valuable things to fund this month, sorry.
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1 point,1 month ago
Not sure why you think I am not around, but fair enough.
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2 points,2 months ago
Hey Ash,

Can you please link the code / github for these projects?
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1 point,1 month ago
Hi Pasta, just seen this.

DashSpend:
https://github.com/mayoreee/dashspend
This consists of a back-end clustering service that is designed to scale to millions of data points without issue and a front-end to display those locations on a map. It currently has the CTX Spend locations with the next steps being finishing the gift card purchase flow, importing ATM data and then direct merchant listings. After that the directory will be expanded to include other merchants supported by other gift card providers.

DashPay Extension
https://github.com/alexdcox/dashpay-extension
This is an extension wallet based on the JS Dash SDK with some platform features for the social aspects. There are a couple of things I want to work on next, the library for dapp developers to initiate writing to platform and the corresponding functionality in the wallet. I have also been impressed with the new Uniswap Extension Wallet (https://wallet.uniswap.org) and would like to incorporate some updates to the designs / flows based on their work, including the use of the sidebar.
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2 points,1 month ago
Hi Ash,

Sorry for the late reply.

dashspend had it's last update on August 15th (over 3 weeks ago) and dashpay-extension has not been touched since February?

Please provide further information if I am missing something.
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1 point,1 month ago
The extension is at a stage where its ready for more development but it's very inefficient to put Alex's time into it. I intend to use this funding to onboard a new developer, but its hard to convince someone to commit significant time into on-boarding to a project without giving them the confidence that they will receive further work if they deliver well on it.

The explore dash project is being actively worked on but around a developers full time job and they do have some work yet to commit I believe.

The very limited funding I receive doesn't allow for full time developers and I myself have other obligations, I still believe these projects essential to Dash but if the DAOs preference is for either these projects to be taken on full time by someone at a much greater ask, or to not be worked on at all, then that's fine too.
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1 point,2 months ago
Thanks for your time and consideration; whilst this first month didn't get funded I am hopeful subsequent months will be. Either way I will continue to use my remaining funds to deliver on these projects. If you have any questions or feedback please let me know.
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0 points,2 months ago
There is some misinformation spreading on this site suggesting this proposal will be funded for its first month. I regret to inform, that it will not be funded for the first month.

https://mnowatch.org/leaderboard/?20240721212925
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