IOHK has announced that the funds will be destined to promote groundbreaking ideas that boost the development of the Cardano ecosystem.

Project Catalyst was created as the first stage of Cardano’s Voltaire era, the last era in the project’s roadmap which will focus on placing the final pieces to allow the project to self-sustain by creating a voting and treasury system, meaning that the project will no longer be managed by IOHK.

The technology company founded by Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood sees effective governance as one of the most essential aspects for Cardano’s success, as it would put control of the ecosystem in the user’s hands and allowing it to become a truly decentralized network.

Project Catalyst: Accelerating Cardano Development

Allowing users to govern the ecosystem will not only ensure its continued growth through user trust but also by favoring innovation and sustainability in the long term.

IOHK had previously launched two different test funds (fund0 and fund1) before the launch of “Fund2” in September of 2020, in which thousands of users participated and $250k worth of ADA were allocated to allow them to propose ideas and have them developed after a successful vote.

Now that Fund2 has officially finished, IOHK is doubling its efforts (and funding) by launching Fund3 to continue the process of receiving user proposals and having them developed if the community agrees on its usefulness for the ecosystem.

Democratizing the Platform

Project Catalyst operates by launching different funding round, each of them with a specific concern in mind as deemed desirable by the Cardano community. Users will then be able to share their ideas to address this specific concern and discuss them with the rest of the community.

As long as the proposal addresses the concern that was set for that funding round, it doesn’t matter if it is technical, philosophical, economic, or social in nature, it will be taken into consideration.

Once the funding round is over, users can vote for their favorite proposal by using the Catalyst Voting app or the innovation platform, which will provide them with rewards as well as allow them to help shape the future of Cardano.

The project is looking to gather ideas from people from all backgrounds, not only software developers or entrepreneurs. In fact, only 44% of Fund2 participants described themselves as being in one of these categories.

The Three Challenges of Fund3

Fund3 of project catalyst will be focusing on addressing the Developer ecosystem, DApp creation, and a “Community Choice” challenge, each of them with a specific question aimed to aim the efforts of the community when proposing ideas.

The questions for the first 2 challenges are “How can we encourage developers to build on Cardano in the next six months?” and “What decentralized applications (DApps) should be funded to drive user adoption in the next six months?”, showing a clear interest in attracting developers and users alike.

The third challenge is destined to collect feedback from the community on what their concerns are when it comes to the ecosystem development, with the winners having their own funding rounds once fund5 is launched.

Collaborators can also provide their feedback when it comes to the challenges themselves before the funding rounds starts, allowing them to brainstorm and understand other user’s perspectives and concerns.

Once all proposals are ready, they will be scored by a group of experts depending on how well they address each of the challenges, with ADA holders then being able to register and vote for their favorites to make them a reality.

The company is continuing to develop ideas and is on track to deliver new options DApps to the wider community as a whole

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Source: https://blockonomi.com/iohk-allocates-500k-ada-project-catalyst/