Applicant Flow
There are two periods associated with the application process, the Application Period and the Voting Period. These periods will be on an approximately 15 day (648,000 blocks) rotation. The Contribution Proposal System will accept applications only during the Application Period, then registered Validators will vote on pending Contribution Proposals and re-evaluate Active Contribution Proposals during the Voting Period.
The Application Period is when ICONists have the opportunity to submit Contribution Proposals to the Contribution Proposal System and Progress Reports for Active Contribution Proposals.
All Contribution Proposals will go through the following application process: publish & discuss on the ICON forum (recommended), write the Contribution Proposal, enter the requested budget amount, select the Sponsor Validator (the Sponsor Validator will then approve or reject the sponsorship), pay a 50 ICX fee to be burned, then submit the proposal.
The Application Process of a Contribution Proposal is best understood through example. See the below user flow of Bob, an ICONist looking to submit a Contribution Proposal:
-
Bob wants to submit a Contribution Proposal to get funding for his project
-
Bob writes his proposal using the recommended proposal template and publishes it on the ICON community forum
-
Validators and ICONists all discuss the proposal
-
A few Validators volunteer to “Sponsor” Bob’s proposal
-
Bob visits the CPS Dashboard and writes his official proposal. Bob requests 100,000 bnUSD for a 3 month project
-
Bob selects Validator ABC to be the Sponsor because this Validator has offered their resources to help Bob with the project
-
Bob submits his proposal and pays a 50 ICX fee for the proposal. The 50 ICX is burned
-
Validator ABC receives an alert that they have a Sponsorship Request
-
Validator ABC knows Bob is not a scammer and approves the Sponsorship
-
Validator ABC sends 10,000 bnUSD to a smart contract for the Sponsor Bond
Upon completion of the above process, Bob’s Contribution Proposal will be pending until the end of the following Voting Period.
*for additional explanation on the various proposal states, please see the provided glossary here
The Voting Period is when all registered Validators are responsible for evaluating and voting on pending Contribution Proposals and re-evaluating Progress Reports from Active Contribution Proposals.
In order to pass a Pending Contribution Proposal, at least 67% of registered Validators must vote to approve and at least 67% of the stake-weighted vote of registered Validators must approve. Registered Validators will have the option to approve, reject, or abstain. The only difference between a reject vote and an abstain vote is to allow registered Validators to express a more specific opinion. Additionally, registered Validators will be required to type a brief explanation of their decision in a text box when submitting their decision to give more visibility into the decision making process.
We continue the previous example with Bob’s Contribution Proposal below:
-
Bob’s Contribution Proposal is currently pending and is being evaluated by registered Validators
-
Registered Validators vote on the proposal
-
70% of registered Validators and 70% of the stake-weighted vote of registered Validators decide to approve Bob’s Proposal
-
Validator ABC will receive the Sponsor Reward in monthly installments and Bob will receive the funding for his project in monthly installments
-
If Bob’s proposal did not pass, Bob’s proposal is moved to “Rejected” status. The Sponsor Bond would then be returned to Validator ABC and 50% of Bob's application fee is returned to him (25 ICX)
-
If approved, and later disqualified for being a scam, the 10,000 bnUSD from Validator ABC is kept by the CPF Treasury, no more funding goes to Bob’s proposal, and no more Sponsor Rewards are paid to Validator ABC
All approved Contribution Proposals are expected to execute the project in accordance with the original proposal and are expected to start work upon receiving payment of the first installment. In order to prevent malicious actors from taking advantage of the Contribution Proposal System, approved Contribution Proposals must follow up with Progress Reports each Application Period. If a Progress Report is not submitted on time, the funding from the CPF will not be paid, the proposal will be paused.
If a Progress Report is not submitted on time in consecutive periods, the funding from the CPF will not be paid, the proposal will be disqualified making it no longer eligible to receive funding, and the Sponsor Bond will be kept by the CPF.
Once a proposal is approved, funds will be released in the form of monthly installments, with the first installment being paid at the end of the Voting Period in which its first progress report was approved. For example, if the approved budget was 6,000 bnUSD over 6 months, 1,000 bnUSD will be paid at the end of each Voting Period for 6 months.
In order to increase transparency, support active community engagement, and increase participation in the ecosystem, approved Contribution Proposals will be required to prepare Progress Reports. These reports will need to be submitted during every Application Period in which it is an Active Contribution Proposal. The submission cycle of Progress Reports matches the cycle of Application Periods (see here for an explanation on CPS funding cycles).
Registered Validators will have the option to Approve or Reject the Progress Report. If a Progress Report does not receive enough Approval Votes, it becomes Paused. If a Progress Report is rejected, the Contribution Proposal will also become Paused (see project states here).
For the recommened structure of a Progress Report, please visit our template here. Progress Reports are designed to ensure approved proposals are contributing in a satisfactory manner relative to ICONists’ expectations. To this point, the proposer must submit a Progress Report every cycle in order to claim funding from the CPF. Progress Reports provide registered Validators an opportunity to re-examine whether or not they would like to allow this project to continue to receive funding. Once submitted, an immutable record of each Progress Report will be saved on the ICON public blockchain.
A Contribution Proposal becomes Paused if the Progress Report did not receive enough Approval Votes. Paused Contribution Proposals will not receive funding at the end of the Voting Period. During the next Voting Period, registered Validators will have the option to resume the Contribution Proposal or disqualify the Contribution Proposal.
If registered Validators reach consensus to resume the Contribution Proposal, the Contribution Proposal will receive funding at the end of the Voting Period. If registered Validators reach consensus to disqualify the Contribution Proposal, the Sponsor Bond will be kept by the CPF and the Contribution Proposal will no longer receive funding. If registered Validators can not reach consensus, the Contribution Proposal will be disqualified.
Disqualifications can occur if a Progress Report is not submitted prior to the end of an Application Period or if registered Validators vote to disqualify a paused Contribution Proposal. Registered Validators can disqualify a Contribution Proposal to prevent malicious actors from taking advantage of the network. Disqualification should be used in situations of blatant scams or continued poor performance, while pausing a Contribution Proposal should be used for projects that have temporarily halted work or projects that have submitted an unsatisfactory Progress Report. If poor performance continues, registered P-Reps can resort to a full disqualification.
This vote will be made available during the Voting Period. In order to disqualify a Contribution Proposal, 67% of the stake-weighted and non-stake-weighted vote of the registered Validators in the current Voting Period must vote to disqualify.