Cardano’s Catalyst Funding Round Ends With Cheers and Jeers 

• Cardano’s largest funding round to date has concluded with a bang. 
• While Project Catalyst celebrated the success of the funding round, many shared their concerns with the system. 
• Community members had mixed feelings and raised valid apprehensions about their experiences. 

Project Catalyst, Cardano’s driving force behind grassroots innovations and growth, has concluded its largest funding round after two intense months of proposals, submissions, and voting. 

However, despite being marked as the most successful funding round in Cardano history, it didn’t come without its fair share of controversy and challenges. While Project Catalyst gears up to onboard the next cohort of projects, community members were bittersweet about the results, with some cheering and others jeering. 

Project Catalyst Fund10 Ends On A High Note

Project Catalyst’s Fund10 stands as Cardano’s largest funding round to date, boasting over 50 million ADA up for grabs. It attracted submissions from some of the industry’s top projects and startups, all working to solve the network’s challenges. 

Data revealed 1,467 proposals flooded in, sparking a voting frenzy with a record-breaking 408,000 votes, the most since the program started. Among these proposals emerged interesting ideas, including social media platforms, Web3 games, NFTs, etc. 

However, despite the popularity and scale of this round, only 192 projects earned approval, much of which were aimed at improving Cardano’s infrastructure, introducing Web3 games, and NFTs.  

While Fund10 wrapped up on a high note with its team already planning for another round, community sentiment painted a more nuanced picture, sharing concerns and critiques about the current edition. 

Cardano Community’s Bittersweet Reaction

Many Cardano influencers took to Twitter to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Catalyst funding round. However, their affirmations didn’t come without critique. They raised several concerns about the funding round, particularly regarding the influence of Whales and the lack of diversity in applicants. 

Cardano developer Kaizen Crypto was one of the most notable voices expressing apprehensions about Whale manipulation. He posited that the current system was susceptible to their influence, highlighting that wallets holding over 50 million ADA could easily downvote proposals, jeopardizing a project’s chances of securing funding and thus undermining Catalyst’s democratic ideals.

To address this issue, the Cardano developer suggested implementing a cap on the voting power of initial wallets to such instances in future iterations. 

Many community members echoed Kaizen Crypto’s reservations and shared their experiences with Whale manipulation, alleging that larger wallets consistently downvoted proposals not associated with existing Cardano infrastructure. One member further revealed that 63% of the 50 million ADA ended up with only ten teams, labeling them as the de facto gatekeepers of Cardano. 

The lack of diversity in applicants was particularly noticeable in Catalyst’s voting data, with this year’s most voted projects coming from Paima Studios and other established development teams. Adding to the controversy, one Paima Studios proposal, despite receiving approval for 450,000 ADA, appeared to lack substantial effort in addressing the proposal questionnaire.

Still, despite these concerns, most community members argued against Whale manipulation. They emphasized that a project’s success depended on its ability to market itself and pitch its products. A Cardano influencer even compared fundraising to a popularity contest, where popularity often garnered more votes than quality.

On the Flipside

• IOG recently raised alarms for requesting 2.14 million ADA or $700,000 to maintain fund operations and ensure Project Catalyst runs smoothly.
• Project Catalyst has distributed over $38 million in funding so far. 
• Charles Hoskinson believes that by the summer of 2023, Cardano could surpass Bitcoin, Ethereum, and every other cryptocurrency in decentralization. 
• Recent Santiment data named Cardano the industry’s top dev platform at press time, eclipsing competitors Polkadot and Kusama.

Why This Matters

Project Catalyst is the world’s largest decentralized grant fund, renowned for driving adoption in the Cardano ecosystem. However, issues that tarnish its democratic ideals must be addressed before the next funding round. 

Read why Bitcoin is struggling with network congestion:
Bitcoin Overflows with Pending Tx in Record Congestion

Read how the Cardano community reacted to a research criticizing its TPS:
Cardano Community Strikes Back at Researcher’s TPS Critique