Hi!
You will find here the executive summary of the proposal from the Amaru team that we will turn into an info action once the Net Change Limit is successfully voted.
The detailed proposal is available here: Amaru's treasury proposal - HackMD
A thread is available on the PRAGMA Discord (with the changelog from the versions that were created): Discord thread
For anyone going to the Buidler Fest in Vietnam we will be holding some sessions to refine the content, the roadmap and anything that people deem worthy discussing
The timeline for this proposal is as follows:
- Expected info action: 25 April (because the second info NCL expires 24 April)
- Expected treasury withdrawal: 26 May (1 month +1day)
Here is the content of our proposal:
(Given the limitations of 1 embedded media per post and 2 links for new users of the forum, you might miss some information here, we recommend to use the given link on hackmd to check the full proposal)
[NOTE]
The following document is a proposal for the Amaru project. It is a collective document that describes the vision and the needs of multiple entities/actors involved in the development of Amaru.It is meant as a starting point for discussing Cardano treasury withdrawals in alignment with the incoming constitution.
As such, we invite anyone interested to comment on the following document, and share feedback with us.
Vision
Amaru is an open-source project that aims to build a new fully interoperable block-producing node for improving the overall accessibility and robustness of the Cardano network without compromising on its safety and security. Amaru provides another perspective and solution for stake pool operators and developers alike, focusing on modularity and easy-of-use. The project is implemented mainly in Rust and aims to attract new contributors to the core maintenance of the ecosystem.
This proposal is designed to breakdown the objectives, scopes, timelines and costs pertaining to Amaru. It delivers the full vision behind the project and open the discussion regarding a Cardano treasury withdrawal to sustain its development.
Why build another node?
One of Cardano’s key asset comes from its legendary robustness and stability, which is mainly attributed to the existing Haskell node that has been working without significant disruption for about 5 years now (counting since Byron-reboot, circa February 2020).
So why bother with another node? The answer is, of course, plural:
-
A software is ultimately a collection of design decisions and trade-offs. Some of those trade-offs in the Haskell node have led to rather high resource usages (e.g. resident memory) thus leading to the creation of specific protocol parameters (e.g. min-utxo-value) as counter-measures to ensure resource usage remains somewhat bounded. Our analysis is that different (albeit acceptable) trade-offs would yield better resources usage.
-
Observability is hard, and it is even harder when rolling your own solution. With Amaru, we intend to embrace industry standards when it comes to monitoring, tracing & logging to drastically enhance the user experience for operators seeking insights in the behaviour of their node.
-
Amaru being primarily written in Rust means that we can more easily leverage an existing and thriving ecosystem of blockchain solutions, and aim at multiple target platforms (e.g. web-assembly, RISC-V). This opens up not only to a wide variety of potential contributors, but also to many new use-cases that are much harder (not to say unrealistic) to achieve with a Haskell node.
-
In a world where Byzantine fault-tolerance is at the centre and where decentralisation is a paramount value, we believe that a single node implementation present a single-point-of-failure and a central point of control. A new node not only increases the overall resilience of the network, but also provides perspectives in terms of roadmap and use-cases.
With Amaru, we believe that we can reconcile with those goals, while preserving Cardano’s original focus on security and robustness. Like Haskell, Rust is a statically typed language that provides strong compile-time guarantees as well fine-grained memory management. Its ecosystem is also well-equipped for high-assurance; all-in-all making it a sane choice for implementing blockchain solutions.
Disclaimer: proposal assumptions and bias
We consider that the current ask is a significant amount of money for a project proposal. We are also well-aware of the challenge (and therefore risks) that the project represents. However:
- we don’t start from scratch: the Haskell node is an excellent basis which has already solved numerous challenges. It also provides a solid baseline for performance and reliability.
- we have gathered our best people around the project: we are all actively contributing to the Cardano ecosystem for many years and are recognized leaders in our respective fields.
- lean environment: Amaru isn’t our only project, so we need ways of working that are efficient and lightweight.
- we are builders: we deliver in small steps, showcased in demos. Our main goal is to ship a working software.
- we breathe open-source: we seek constructive feedback and actively engage with contributors who are willing to help us in our endeavour.
In addition, the sizing of this proposal stems from a few assumptions:
- There’s already ongoing work for most of the scopes, but rarely as a primary priority for people involved. The estimation presented in this proposal assumes a dedicated team;
- This proposal spans over a year, throughout which there will be several deliveries of Amaru. We aim to deliver a capable block-producing node by end of 2025, with several useful increments in-between.
- Given the timeline of the governance actions that are linked to this proposal, everything that is mentioned in this document is an estimate of 12 months of work that starts from June 2025 (our realistic timeline to get the treasury withdrawal active); The milestones described in Q1 and Q2 2025 are not taken into account in the FTE asked by each scope.
- All the scopes described here are estimated in FTE (Full Time Employee) for the sake of evaluating the cost of our project we took the assumption that one senior Software Engineer with expertise in Rust and DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) is valued at $200k (remote profile working from the US, recruitment, onboarding and extra costs related to working – i.e paid vacations, sick leave – are considered included in the $200k figure)
- We will secure the treasury withdrawal with stablecoins whenever possible to keep the value until final payment to contributors is done (main assumption: withdraw everything but the Contingency in stablecoins)
- Optimism bias: we are aware that while ongoing the forecast and constructing our proposal we are subject to underestimating complexity, overlooking challenges and undervaluing time and cost required to deliver: we will add a 25% contingency fund
One final assumption for our proposal: we expect to be able to go through with the treasury withdrawal in June, so every scopes and activities forecasted are planned to be from June onwards. Everything mentioned as Q1 or Q2 2025 will be already delivered by the time this proposal is voted.
Comparison to similar projects
RETH
| Project | RETH |
|---|---|
| Description | A high-performance, modular, and open-source Ethereum execution layer client developed in Rust to enhance speed, efficiency, and client diversity for the Ethereum network |
| Timeline | 2 years of development before mainnet |
| Dedicated team | 8 core developers; 90 contributors |
| Roughly estimated overall cost | >3M$ |
Firedancer
| Project | Firedancer |
|---|---|
| Description | A high-performance, C+±based validator client for Solana, to enhance scalability, decentralization, and network efficiency by optimizing transaction throughput and reducing system bottlenecks |
| Timeline | 2 years of development (still ongoing) mainnet targetted for 2025 |
| Dedicated team | no public figures available |
| Roughly estimated overall costs | >5M$ |
Cardano-node
| Project | Cardano-node |
|---|---|
| Description | The core implementation of Cardano’s blockchain, written in Haskell, enabling decentralized transaction processing, consensus mechanisms, and smart contract execution within the Cardano ecosystem |
| Timeline | Started with the Byron release on 2017, still ongoing |
| Dedicated team | no public figures available |
| Roughly estimated overall costs | >20M$ |
[!TIP]
As our project is closer to RETH in its setup and environment this will be our target when coming down to the final estimate comparison.
Estimates and contributions
Overall sizing of the project
(See picture in Hackmd > cannot link/embed on the forum)
You will find here the result of the estimation:
| Scope | Resource estimated |
|---|---|
| Ledger | 2.5 FTEs |
| Consensus | 2.5 FTEs |
| Ad-hoc mercenaries | 2.5 FTEs |
| Public Relations & Marketing | 0.5 FTE |
Total size estimated: 8 FTEs
Already secured resources allocated to the project
(See picture in Hackmd > cannot link/embed on the forum)
Here are the already funded that have resources allocated or a funding secured:
| Scope | Resources already secured |
|---|---|
| Ledger | 1 FTEs |
| Consensus | 1 FTEs |
| Ad-hoc Mercenaries | 0 FTE |
| Public Relations & Marketing | 0 FTE |
Total of the resources already available or funded: 2 FTEs from people that are employees of the Cardano Foundation.
[!TIP]
The scope owners will also dedicate time managing their activity on the project but this has not been reflected in the above FTE evaluation.
Treasury ask breakdown
Here are the treasury ask for each scope:
| Scope | Resource estimated | Resources already secured | Resources asked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ledger | 2.5 FTEs | 1 FTEs | 1.5 FTEs |
| Consensus | 2.5 FTEs | 1 FTEs | 1.5 FTEs |
| Ad-hoc Mercenaries | 2.5 FTEs | 0 FTE | 2.5 FTEs |
| Public Relations & Marketing | 0.5 FTEs | 0 FTEs | 0.5 FTE |
Total of the asked for our proposal: 6 FTEs.
Given our assumptions the valuation of this proposal based on a $200k comes down to:
6 FTEs * $200k = $1200k
Given our assumption regarding our optimism bias (add 25% of contingency), here are the final figure for each scope and the contingency amount that will be available:
| Scope | Resources asked | Scope owner |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | $300k | Matthias Benkort |
| Consensus | $300k | Arnaud Bailly |
| Ad-hoc Mercenaries | $500k | Pi Lanningham |
| Public Relations & Marketing | $100k | Damien Czapla |
| Contingency | $300k | Amaru Maintainer Committee (AMC) |
| TOTAL | $1500k |
The proposal submitted will be targetting: $1.5M as a result of the scopes covered in Amaru.
Conclusion
The proposal submitted will be targeting: $1.5M as a result of the scopes covered in Amaru, as summarized in Estimates and contributions.
The Amaru project represents an opportunity to bring node diversity through the development of a modular, high-performance, and interoperable block-producing node for enhancing the Cardano ecosystem. Our approach, rooted in openness, innovation, and operational resilience, aims to deliver significant advancements in blockchain technology without compromising security or operator experience.
Through rigorous design and execution phases, we have outlined actionable scopes, realistic timelines, and comprehensive resource allocations to achieve our ambitious goals. The detailed breakdown of scopes, funding and resources already secured reflects our commitment to transparency and efficiency. While we remain optimistic about our forecasts, we acknowledge the complexities involved and have incorporated contingencies to address unforeseen challenges.
The requested treasury funding of $1.5M will empower us to build on the foundational work started, enabling us to transition from vision to reality. We firmly believe that the exceptional talent and dedication of our team, combined with the robust framework, will ensure the project’s success.
This proposal is more than just a funding request; it is an invitation to collaborate and innovate together. The Amaru project is ambitious, but it is also achievable with the collective effort of our contributors and the broader Cardano community. By focusing on building, learning, and demonstrating tangible progress, we are confident that Amaru will pave the way for a more resilient and decentralized Cardano ecosystem, ensuring long-term reliability and innovation.
Let’s build the future of Cardano together.