Hello beautiful soul!
Aaaand that’s a wrap. For now.
Fund15 submissions are officially closed and here’s the headline: 700+ proposals from 540 proposers, supported by 1,500 reviewers.
What this all means? Less noise. More signal. Community has asked us to fix the overwhelming volume of submissions to help the best builders and educators shine.
We listened to you.
The Pre-Moderation Result? Fund14: 1,643 final submissions vs. Fund15: 761 final submissions.
With this meaningful step and increased moderation/quality standards - @Catalyst_onX is officially pivoting from simply encouraging quantity to optimizing for elevated quality.
Team promised to meaningfully limit submissions to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and the data shows it’s working. The work is far from over and we have more upgrades and optimisations in the pipeline, just like the ones rolled out last week for the milestone module.
Thank you for making Project Catalyst a success!
Head of Community Operations (let’s connect on X; LinkedIn)
What’s coming next?
Here is where we are in the cycle and what you need to know:
Phase 1: Community Review (Now)
If you are a reviewer, it’s go time this week.
- Proposal Review: Week of Dec 1 – Dec 15, 2025
- Community Reviewers will be providing valuable feedback on all proposals.
- Review Moderation: Week of Dec 15, 2025 – Jan 5, 2026
- Following the review period, Community Moderators will assess the feedback provided to ensure fairness and quality.
- Action: Registered as a reviewer? Check your inbox for instructions once it lands there and Read the Guidelines. For everyone else - you can see
Phase 2: The Proposals (Next)
Curious to see what was submitted while reviews are ongoing? Looking for the original links to each one of them? We’ve released the preliminary data:
- Download the official CSV here
- Heads up: These proposals are going to be moderated for adherence with Fund Rules, Category Briefs and their self-assessment checklist. You will be able to see the moderated proposals in the CSV here.
- This effort follows the official bounty program that looks at every proposal in greater detail. You can learn more about it here.
Phase 3: The Snapshot (Later)
All proposals that will pass the moderation will proceed to the voting ballot. To vote on these proposals, you must be registered before the deadline.
- Deadline: Jan 4, 2026 @ 9:45 PM UTC
- Action: Check the Registration Guidelines to ensure you are eligible and ready.
Town Hall With Fay
Want to catch up on the latest from our community town halls? Here’s what you missed from Town Hall #217, hosted by Catalyst Community Manager, Fay Adams.
Last week’s Town Hall delivered some great insights.
GovChain Lab shared a deep dive into their mission to grow participation and adoption of Cardano across Brazil.
To set the scene: Brazil’s Cardano community is held back by a lack of consistent Portuguese-language content and too few accessible local events. These are real barriers that limit participation, engagement, adoption and wider ecosystem growth. GovChain Lab is tackling this head-on. How you might ask? They are tackling this through focused education, community activation, and locally relevant resources designed to unlock Cardano’s potential in one of the world’s most vibrant emerging markets.
The Catalyst team also unveiled significant updates to the Milestone Module.
These improvements introduce smarter workflows, clearer collaboration, and long-awaited enhancements designed to strengthen transparency and streamline the entire proposer–reviewer experience. We’ve received good feedback so far but we want more. Keep your eyes peeled across channels as we will be sending out forms to get more feedback from the community.
Read the full Milestone Module update here which also includes the demo shared in the Town Hall.
What’s next?
- Register for the next Town Hall
- Want to host a community-led After Town Hall discussion? Register via this link before each Tuesday.
Beyond the Newsletter
That’s all for now. To get a behind-the-scenes look and catch all the latest news as it happens, follow us on our social channels below.
—
Note: References in this newsletter to the 3rd party projects, products, and services are provided for information purposes only and are not endorsements. Everyone should carry out their own investigations before relying on the information provided in this newsletter.
