📢 This builders program is tracked transparently on GitHub. For private submissions, please read more in this README file.
- Introduction
- Who and what?
- Why would I apply?
- Why build in Astar ecosystem?
- How to apply?
- FAQs
- Credits
The Astar / Shiden Network Builders Program was created to help further the development, growth and adoption of our ecosystem by supporting teams who are building on it. The program is operated by Stake Technologies with guidance from Parity Technologies under the Builders for Builders initiative.
We are always focused on the community and on product development so we have designed the program in a similar fashion - we are interested in high quality teams that are building applications that the community wants. This can be broadly split into 2 different tracks, the ecosystem track and the innovation track.
As the name suggests, the ecosystem track is an umbrella term to categorise any applications or services that can help improve the adoption of the ecosystem. Some common examples include:
- dApps (dexes, lending platforms, mixers, insurance)
- developer tools (libraries, pallets, debugging tools)
- infrastructure (custodians, bridges, oracles, analytics)
- integration grants (port over and maintain dapps from other blockchains)
The innovation track is geared primarily towards research and experimentation. Some examples of what falls under the innovation track could be code obfuscation, cryptography, reputation systems or even unique dapp ideas.
We understand that any talented teams will have no problems applying to other programs so aside from your typical financial support, we will also provide the following:
- In the onboarding phase, one of our devs will walk your team through on how to develop and maintain applications on Astar / Shiden Network (if required).
- We will set up an exclusive discord group between your team and our devs for you to ask any questions.
- Ad-hoc meetings can be arranged with the core team to get help on more complex technical problems.
- We will also perform preliminary code reviews during your milestone submission.
- We have access to a huge network of traditional / crypto investors, industry experts, blockchain mentors, exchanges, marketmakers etc. which we can link you up with to take your project to the next level.
- A very unique feature of the Astar / Shiden Network is dApps staking where developers can earn PLM / SDN tokens by developing and deploying applications. These tokens can act as supplementary income for your team. The better the performance of your dapp (determined by how many tokens are nominated to you), the more tokens you will receive from each block. Please take a look at this forum post for a more detailed explanation.
- We can help to promote your project on our various social media platforms like Twitter, Telegram etc.
- You will also be invited to our community meetups and conferences as a guest speaker to share more about your project and to grow your community.
- We are a big fan of cross collaboration between projects in the ecosystem and will help to connect your team with other projects in the Builders Program to create something amazing.
- It's hard to get into our Builders Program, even harder to graduate from it so if you made it through the entire process, congratulations! As a final gift from us, if you ever need help for your future projects, feel free to reach out to us and we will try our best to help you.
Aside from the Builders Program, there are 4 more compelling reasons why you would build on us instead of other smart contract enabled parachains.
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X-VM (cross virtual machine) interoperability
Contracts deployed on EVM and WASM are interoperable. In fact, through XCMP, we are also able to interact with other smart contracts on other parachains!
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Full Ethereum compatibility
We support all major Ethereum development tools like metamask, remix, truffle, hardhat etc. so deploying contracts on Astar / Shiden is as simple as changing the RPC URL!
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Dapps staking
As mentioneded previously, dapps staking is a unique feature of Astar / Shiden Network. There are no other parachains that naively support dApp developers!
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Scalable from the get-go
If your application requires a much higher throughput, you can easily take advantage of one of the layer 2 modules e.g. Plasma, OVM or ZK rollups that we offer!
- On our forum, create a thread titled "name of your team / company's application proposal"
- We recommend taking reference to the application template when making your application post. If there are any privacy concerns, please reach out to us directly on Telegram or Discord instead.
Builders for Builders is a new initiative that aims to empower teams building Substrate-based parachains to develop and grow their own ecosystem of builders developing on top of their parachain. As part of the Builders for Builders initiative, the Substrate Builders Program team will share best practices gained from running the SBP for over a year now to help parachain teams build their own similar programs for teams building solutions on top of their parachain. These programs, called Parachain Builders Programs (PBP) will allow parachain teams to become mentors to others and develop their own thriving community of builders, enriching the Polkadot ecosystem as a whole.
Learn more from here
The Builders Programs for both Astar Network and Shiden Network will go live soon after winning their respective parachain auctions i.e. Polkadot for Astar and Kusama for Shiden. We accept applications all year round.
Shiden is to Astar what Kusama is to Polkadot. Shiden is our canary network.
The Builders Program is for both networks. Once we win the Kusama parachain auction, we will go live with Builders Program for Shiden Network. Subsequently, when we have acquired a slot on the Polkadot parachain, we will accept applications for Astar Network.
No.
An informal call will be scheduled between your team and the Builders Program committee. The purpose of this call is to get to know your team better, your motivations etc.
The Builders Program committee will evaluate your application based on the following factors:
- your proposal
- your informal chat with us
- your interactions with the commmunity
- the community's sentiments towards your team and idea.
Once the Builders Program committee reaches a majority agreement, we will relay our feedback and decision to your team via the forum. Note that our decisions are not set in stone i.e. if there is overwhelming support from the community for your project, we will reconsider our decision.
Successful applicants will be onboarded to the program as shared earlier.
You should hear back from us within a few days of posting on the forum.
The Builders Program currently consists of 8 members, 4 from the Astar team and 4 ambassadors from our community. These 8 individuals will pull together their unique skillset and experiences to perform a comprehensive evaluation of your application. Note that if a consensus cannot be reached, the default behaviour is to reject the application.
- A well thought out proposal.
- Positive interaction on the forum with our community.
- A technically capable team that is transparent and ambitious.
- Your team has the community's best interest at heart.
Yes. Prior to the commencement of any work, we (you and the Builders Program committee) have to come to an agreement as to:
- how much will be disbursed upon delivering each milestone
- the criteria that will be used to verify that the deliverables are correct
There should be a detailed breakdown of this in your proposal.
There is no hardcap per se so you can request for any amount you want but please be reasonable and don't expect us to agree to a 1m USD proposal for minimal changes.
Yes. Please contact us on Telegram or Discord on how to proceed. You can also send an email to maarten@stake.co.jp
- Banner - LONG_DUONG
- Builders design - Simon