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2025 October Polkadot OpenGov Report

People Initiative​

Without question, The People Initiative was the most discussed referendum in October, and the debate continues in November.

A proposal was submitted on the root track to dollar cost average (DCA) into HOLLAR stablecoin for the upcoming Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) incentives. If approved, the funds would be used over the long term to attract and retain users for the Polkadot App on a continuous basis.

The first attempt sparked a little controversy. It proposed the DCA from DOT into HOLLAR over four days, which attracted backlash for the method and for insufficient details. The proposers withdrew it and issued a canceller to clear the root track. A rare and proper use of the referendum canceller.

There is currently a new and updated proposal. This time, the DCA comes from treasury held stables, USDT and USDC, instead of DOT. This matters a lot for acquisition cost since the Treasury built these stables over a longer DCA period. The write-up also includes more detail about the use of funds.

In summary, the final proposal seeks $3m in stablecoins. The plan is to swap into HOLLAR over ten days. Funds would support an airdrop campaign for the Individuality project on the Polkadot People chain. The spend targets early adopters of PoP, small weekly rewards for governance activity, and weekly airdrops. The proposal promises the funds to go directly to users without any middleman. The program is aiming to link with staking, future voting models, and full app and Hub integration in the medium to long term.

Departmental Updates​

Bounty Runways​

We published a bounty runway research in October as a follow-up to our earlier bounty compliance audit.

The aim is to map bounty runways as of October 2025 and forecast likely top-up periods. We gathered data manually from referenda, bounty pages, and curators, then compiled it into a table with status, balances, key dates, runway, and expected next submissions.

This work is important in terms of setting a base for cohort-based funding. Cohorts already form naturally since many bounties will seek renewals in Q1 2026. With small adjustments and stablecoin funding for bounties being possible soon, timing can align even more. Then OpenGov can set standard seasons for each bounty and group them into four quarters for more focused and intentional budgeting.

Marketing Bounty Deep Dive​

Another research we published in early November is the Marketing Bounty Deep Dive. It reviews the department’s spending over the past year and initiates a discussion ahead of an expected top-up.

We focused on the largest spends that merit community review, which include the Blast campaign, the Kusamarian, KOL, and Kaito campaigns, as well as wages for community managers and curators. We also examined individual wages for the curators since they greatly varied.

The research is complementary to our upcoming Q3 Treasury Report. And we plan more deep dives through November and December, bringing specific bounties and spends to community's attention for closer evaluation.

Notable Mentions​

  • The Treasury Guardian project seeks to adjust OpenGov spending by adding curator and milestone oversight to each spend. After the first proposal struggled to gain support, it was withdrawn by the proposers. A second proposal is now up, but still has zero support with about a week left in its decision period.
  • HR Initiative in the ecosystem got another hit. After OpenGov.Watch proposal to appoint a dedicated HR failed a couple of months ago, Anaelle’s individual contributions to the HR effort is also defunded, and currently the project is on hold. Sad to see that one of the core functions of an organization could not secure even $3.5k of funding.
  • DeFi incentive program from StellaSwap is another struggling proposal. It asks for 1 million DOT to continue the incentives approved last year. The vote sits near 4 percent approval with only 3 days left in the decision period.
  • W3F’s Decentralized Nodes program selection process sparked a debate, which began on the forums and moved to OpenGov as a wish for change referendum. However, without a decision deposit, the proposal timed out and did not move to the decision period.
  • The latest Staking Dashboard proposal is also struggling after last month’s rejection. The current ask, which is 50k more than the previous, sits near 30% approval with three days left in the decision period.
  • Ink Alliance returned with a direct spend proposal after their bounty proposal was rejected last month. The new proposal is struggling yet close to approval, with 42 percent support and seven days left in the decision period. This proposal is separate from the Ink!ubator bounty and aims to support Ink! smart contracts development on the Polkadot Hub.