Subscan Q4 2024 – Q2 2025 Funding Proposal: Basic Service Fee & Development Cost for the Polkadot and Westend Ecosystems
Subscan Q4 2024 – Q2 2025 Funding Proposal
Basic Service Fee & Development Cost for the Polkadot and Westend Ecosystems
Due to potential display issues with some charts in markdown format across various devices and platforms, please refer to the detailed information in this Google Document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16CMAi-3loa3rcNhYg6VRkV8hPzstC2hovgXcCtz0dso/edit?usp=sharing
This proposal requests funding from the Polkadot Treasury to support two key areas:
- 2025 Q1–Q2 Basic Service Fee — Ensuring uninterrupted, high-quality operations of Subscan across the Polkadot, Westend, and associated parachain networks.
- 2024 Q4–2025 Q1 Development Costs — Recognizing and covering the cost of significant feature development, infrastructure optimization, and ecosystem-aligned enhancements completed during this period.
About Subscan:
Subscan is one of the most widely used blockchain explorers and indexers in the Polkadot ecosystem. It serves developers, validators, parachain teams, governance participants, and the wider community with reliable, accurate, and comprehensive blockchain data. Our infrastructure underpins operational reliability, governance transparency, and cross-chain interoperability — playing an indispensable role in the growth and decision-making processes of the ecosystem.
Past proposals
In our previous proposal (#1366), , we obtained funding for the 2024 Q3–Q4 Basic Service Fee and 2024 Q3 Development Costs, which enabled us to maintain service stability while delivering strategic upgrades. Building on that foundation, this proposal seeks to ensure continuity of core services for the next two quarters, while offsetting the development costs from late 2024 through early 2025.
- #151 Subscan | Infrastructure Costs of Subscan for Polkadot & Westend & Rococo Networks
- #20 Subscan | Infrastructure Costs of Subscan for Polkadot & Westend & Rococo & Statemint & Rockmine Networks (from July to December 2022)
- #1056 Subscan | Infrastructure Costs of Subscan for Polkadot & Westend & Rococo & Statemint & Rockmine Networks (from October 2023 to June 2024)
- #1366 Subscan Q3/Q4 2024 Funding Proposal: Basic service fee & Development cost for the Polkadot, Westend, and Rococo Ecosystems）
Overview and Rationale
Subscan continues to operate as a mission-critical data infrastructure provider within the Polkadot ecosystem, delivering real-time, accurate, and transparent blockchain data for the Polkadot and Westend networks and their parachains.
In the last two quarters, we have:
- Maintained Core Service Reliability
- Achieved sustained high availability and data accuracy across 10 active networks.
- Deployed proactive DevOps monitoring, automated failover systems, and scalable infrastructure to manage increasing transaction and storage demands.
- Delivered Strategic Feature Enhancements
- Introduced XCM V5 support, portfolio and DeFi visualizations, governance timeline improvements, and multi-currency XCM fee support.
- Enhanced Web3 authentication flows, portfolio asset management tools, and cross-chain analytics dashboards to improve accessibility and user experience.
- Optimized Infrastructure for Scalability
- Refined database architecture, reducing API latency and improving synchronization efficiency.
Implemented abuse-prevention measures and strengthened monitoring for both community users and parachain teams.
- Refined database architecture, reducing API latency and improving synchronization efficiency.
Scope of the Current Proposal:
- 2025 Q1–Q2 Basic Service Fee — Maintain continuous, high-availability indexing, storage, and API services across 10 networks.
- 2024 Q4–2025 Q1 Development Costs — Cover the completed feature development, infrastructure enhancements, and operational improvements that are already in production and benefiting the ecosystem.
By ensuring both operational stability and continuous feature evolution, Subscan empowers developers, validators, governance participants, and general users with reliable, comprehensive blockchain data — enabling informed decision-making, broader ecosystem participation, and sustainable growth.
Scope of This Proposal
- 2025 Q1–Q2 Maintenance (10 Networks):
- Polkadot & Parachains: Polkadot, Assethub-Polkadot (Statemint), Bridgehub-Polkadot, Collectives-Polkadot, Coretime-Polkadot, People-Polkadot
- Westend & Parachains: Westend, Assethub-Westend, Bridgehub-Westend, Coretime-Westend
These networks receive comprehensive indexing, stable uptime, accurate block and transaction records, and reliable APIs essential for developers, validators, and other ecosystem stakeholders.
- 2024 Q4–2025 Q1 Development Costs:
Between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, the Subscan team delivered multiple critical updates, focused on system stability, feature enrichment, and infrastructure performance.
Key achievements include:
- Feature Enhancements: XCM V5 integration, portfolio and DeFi visualization upgrades, asset aggregation improvements, and Web3 login refinements.
- Infrastructure Upgrades: Strengthened monitoring systems, optimized database synchronization, improved abuse-prevention measures, and enhanced governance timeline accuracy.
These efforts have reinforced Subscan’s long-term reliability, scalability, and usability across the ecosystem.
Benefits to Different User Groups
From inception, Subscan has been committed to providing the Polkadot ecosystem with stable, transparent, and comprehensive blockchain data. In the past two quarters, we have:
- For Developers: Expanded APIs, improved data retrieval performance, and enhanced cross-chain visualization for better integration in dApps and analytic platforms.
- For Validators & Parachain Teams: Delivered real-time monitoring, node status alerts, and governance tracking tools to ensure operational efficiency and informed decision-making.
- For Governance Participants & General Users: Improved data accuracy, governance timelines, and portfolio management features, empowering users to participate more effectively in ecosystem governance and asset management.
Our continued work directly supports the community’s ability to access reliable blockchain data, enabling better decision-making and fostering ecosystem trust.
Service Fee Model & Pricing Methodology
To ensure the sustained reliability and efficiency of Subscan’s services, we have adopted a storage-based maintenance pricing model that has been consistently used in our previous Treasury proposals. This proposal continues the same structure to ensure fairness, predictability, and alignment with historical precedent.
Given the multifaceted nature of our operating costs—including infrastructure providers such as GCP, Cloudflare, Datadog, Onfinality, Dwellir, as well as Subscan’s own team operations—storage usage is used as the primary metric for fee determination. Storage consumption is closely correlated with overall costs and increases continuously as new blocks are produced. To maintain accuracy and consistency, we measure the median storage on the 15th day of each quarter to determine the baseline fee.
Pricing Tiers:
a. Basic Plan
- Up to 200 GB: $799/month
- Beyond 200 GB: $5.3/GB
- Automatically upgrades to the next tier after 350 GB
b. Advanced Plan
- Up to 500 GB: $1,699/month
- Beyond 500 GB: $5.2/GB
- Automatically upgrades to the next tier after 750 GB
c. Professional Plan
- Up to 1 TB: $2,999/month
- Beyond 1 TB: $5/GB
Monthly Service Fee Breakdown
- Database Storage & Indexing
- What It Covers: Continuous indexing of on-chain data—from blocks and transactions to event logs, governance info, and NFTs—so users can reliably access both real-time and historical records.
- Why It Matters: As chain activity increases, so does data volume. By tying fees to storage needs, we accurately account for the costs of scaling infrastructure (e.g., additional database capacity).
- Network Egress Bandwidth
- What It Covers: The outgoing traffic required to serve user requests quickly and consistently, including API calls, UI data retrieval, and integrations with third-party tools.
- Why It Matters: A stable, high-bandwidth connection ensures that explorers, wallets, and dApps receive timely data responses, even during peak activity.
- Monitoring & DevOps
- What It Covers: Round-the-clock health checks, internal alert pipelines, CI/CD automation, and system auditing. This includes running multiple nodes, maintaining synchronization, and ensuring high availability.
- Why It Matters: These processes help detect issues early (e.g., node crashes, indexer slowdowns) and streamline updates or deployments, minimizing service disruption for the community.
- Node Status Monitoring & Notifications
- What It Covers: Dedicated tools and alert mechanisms to track the real-time status of network nodes—particularly those relating to the Kusama Relay Chain and the associated parachains (Assethub, Coretime, Bridgehub, People).
- Why It Matters: Quick notifications enable parachain teams, validators, and the wider ecosystem to react rapidly to performance changes, forks, or potential security incidents.
- Technical Support & Troubleshooting
- What It Covers: Responsive assistance for users, developers, and validators, including issue resolution, feature guidance, and integration help.
- Why It Matters: Timely support keeps the ecosystem running smoothly and fosters a positive development environment—especially crucial for teams building dApps, explorers, and automation tools.
Why We Use Storage as a Pricing Metric
- Correlation to Real Costs: Storage growth scales in tandem with block production and transaction activity, making it a more stable metric than raw API traffic.
- Quarterly Baseline: By measuring the median storage on the 15th day of each quarter, we capture a fair snapshot of usage to determine the appropriate fee tier.
- Predictable Billing: This approach reduces wild fluctuations tied to sudden traffic spikes and provides a more transparent cost basis for the community and treasury.
Beyond Storage: The Full Cost Landscape
Our pricing also factors in overhead for hosting and operational services such as GCP, Cloudflare, Datadog, Onfinality, Dwellir, plus Subscan’s own team efforts in maintenance, development, and user support. By pegging fees to storage usage, we ensure a straightforward, usage-based cost structure while continuing to deliver reliable, feature-rich explorer services to the Kusama ecosystem.
Fee Details
2025 Q1&Q2 Maintenance Fees
- Total Maintenance Fees for 2025 Q1 & Q2 (10 networks): USD 133,905
| Network | Actual Usage/GB | Date | Package | Fees/Month | Billing Period | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polkadot | 2997.81 | 14/02/2025 | Professional | 12868 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 38604 |
| Polkadot | 3159.89 | 16/05/2025 | Professional | 13678 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 41034 |
| Assethub-Polkadot | 289.26 | 14/02/2025 | Basic+ | 1272 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 3816 |
| Assethub-Polkadot | 315.26 | 16/05/2025 | Basic+ | 1409 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 4227 |
| Bridgehub-Polkadot | 190.67 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| Bridgehub-Polkadot | 241.01 | 16/05/2025 | Basic+ | 1016 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 3048 |
| Collectives-Polkadot | 160.25 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| Collectives-Polkadot | 171.86 | 16/05/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 2397 |
| People-Polkadot | 17.65 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| People-Polkadot | 25.63 | 16/05/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 2397 |
| Coretime-Polkadot | 14.93 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| Coretime-Polkadot | 25.53 | 16/05/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 2397 |
| Westend | 540.47 | 14/02/2025 | Advanced+ | 1909 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 5727 |
| Westend | 578.27 | 16/05/2025 | Advanced+ | 2106 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 6318 |
| Assethub-Westend | 172.7 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| Assethub-Westend | 193.12 | 16/05/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 2397 |
| Bridgehub-Westend | 131.53 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| Bridgehub-Westend | 142 | 16/05/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 2397 |
| Coretime-westend | 79.76 | 14/02/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q1: 01/01/2025-31/03/2025 | 2397 |
| Coretime-westend | 89.7 | 16/05/2025 | Basic | 799 | Q2: 01/04/2025-30/06/2025 | 2397 |
Total：133,905 USDT
2024 Q4 New Features Development Costs
Below are the new features and performance improvements implemented during this period, covering multiple areas such as Web3 authentication flows, portfolio enhancements, cross-chain (XCM) support, staking/DeFi analytics, UI/UX optimization, and infrastructure performance tuning. These updates also include the delivery of Coretime-related functionalities, ensuring compatibility with the latest Polkadot ecosystem requirements.
- Completed Feature & Performance Improvements: USD 32,370 (438 hours of work with transparent hourly rates)
- These improvements directly translate to tangible platform enhancements, already deployed and benefiting users.
| Task | Name | Description (functionality & ecosystem contribution) | Product Manager / Test | Designer | Backend Dev | Front‑end Dev | DevOps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Identity Account First‑Load Fix | Resolved the failure when first visiting an account with an on‑chain identity, ensuring smooth onboarding and reliable identity display across all network explorers. | 1 h | – | 2 h | 2 h | – |
| 2 | Price‑Conversion Block Data Fix | Restored block‑level data in the fiat/crypto price conversion widget, bringing back accurate historical valuations for token analytics and DeFi dashboards. | 1 h | – | 2 h | 1 h | – |
| 3 | Future‑Block Countdown Data Fix | Fixed empty data view once a “future block” countdown reached zero; users now land on fully populated block‑detail pages, improving navigation continuity. | 1 h | – | 2 h | 1 h | – |
| 4 | Web3 Login Redirect | Added automatic return to the originating page after Web3 authentication, eliminating manual back‑clicks and streamlining wallet sign‑in flows for dApps. | 1 h | – | 2 h | 2 h | – |
| 5 | Platform Overview API Count Fix | Corrected mis‑counted statistics in the overview API so partner dashboards and research tools receive trustworthy aggregate metrics. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 1 h | – |
| 6 | Chart Watermark | Injected subtle “Subscan” watermark into all charts to reinforce brand provenance while keeping charts share‑friendly across community forums. | 1 h | 2 h | – | 3 h | – |
| 7 | Watchlist Tag Categorization | Split watchlist labels into primary/secondary groups, enabling power users to classify hundreds of addresses without clutter and improving portfolio UX. | 2 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 8 | Polkadot Staking DeFi TVL Chart | Introduced real‑time total‑value‑locked statistics and interactive charts for Polkadot staking/DeFi, supplying analysts with a canonical TVL source. | 3 h | 2 h | 10 h | 8 h | – |
| 9 | Subscan Portfolio Re‑brand | Re‑themed the aggregation page to “Subscan Portfolio”, unifying naming across marketing assets and easing user recognition. | 1 h | 3 h | – | 4 h | – |
| 10 | Chart Theme Color Tuning | Expanded color palette and contrast ratios in the chart engine, making multi‑series data easier to differentiate for visually‑impaired users. | 1 h | 4 h | – | 2 h | – |
| 11 | Block‑Sync Performance | Refactored sync pipeline (batching, parallel fetch, cache priming) to lower catch‑up time by ≈ 35 %, benefiting parachain operators and archive node mirrors. | 2 h | – | 12 h | – | 6 h |
| 12 | XCM V5 Support | Added codec & event handlers for XCM V5, unlocking portfolio and governance visibility for the latest cross‑chain message format. | 3 h | – | 15 h | – | 7 h |
| 13 | Multi‑Currency XCM Fee | Enabled payment of XCM fees in multiple assets, reflecting on‑chain logic and preparing wallets for broader token economics. | 2 h | – | 8 h | 2 h | – |
| 14 | XCM Transfer Definition | Re‑defined “transfer” to include events carrying native or asset IDs, aligning stats with community expectations and on‑chain semantics. | 2 h | – | 6 h | – | – |
| 15 | XCM/Cross‑Chain Display | Redesigned list & detail pages for cross‑chain calls; added direction badges, decoded params, and quick links—boosting data legibility for auditors. | 1 h | 2 h | 4 h | 8 h | – |
| 16 | Portfolio Watchlist Import | One‑click import from Watchlist to Portfolio with network toggle, accelerating address migration for power traders. | 2 h | – | 6 h | 7 h | – |
| 17 | Derive Token Refresh | Added manual refresh & auto‑prune for zero‑balance derivative assets, keeping balances lean and accurate. | 1 h | – | 6 h | 2 h | – |
| 18 | Home‑Page Chart Shortcuts | Placed additional chart links on the landing page, reducing click‑depth for popular metrics (volume, TVL, staking). | 1 h | 2 h | – | 5 h | – |
| 19 | Westend XCM Nav Entry | Added XCM tab to Westend test‑net navbar, giving dev teams parity with mainnet explorers during staging. | 1 h | – | – | 3 h | – |
| 20 | Account‑Card UI Polish | Improved spacing, iconography, and skeleton loaders in the mini account card, enhancing readability in dense tables. | 1 h | 3 h | – | 4 h | – |
| 21 | Open‑Platform Navbar Entry | Surfaced “Open Platform” in the global header to drive discovery of Subscan APIs by app builders. | 1 h | – | – | 2 h | – |
| 22 | Web3 Signature Readability | Refactored the sign‑in payload to be human‑readable, reducing phishing risk and support tickets. | 1 h | – | 2 h | 2 h | – |
| 23 | Web3 Registration Success Toast | Added success toast after Web3 account creation, confirming completion and guiding first actions. | 1 h | – | – | 2 h | – |
| 24 | Unregistered Login Prompt | Detects unknown addresses and prompts registration, eliminating silent failures during sign‑in. | 1 h | – | – | 2 h | – |
| 25 | Portfolio Layout Revamp | Re‑arranged info blocks, introduced sticky tabs, and improved responsiveness, boosting session duration & mobile usability. | 2 h | 3 h | 1 h | 6 h | – |
| 26 | Public‑Key Address Search | Enabled direct query via raw public key, helping hardware‑wallet users and custodians locate cold accounts faster. | 1 h | – | 6 h | 3 h | – |
| 27 | Asset‑Aggregation Entry UX | Streamlined entry point to aggregated‑asset view, lowering bounce‑rate for portfolio aggregators. | 1 h | – | – | 3 h | – |
| 28 | Balance‑History Time Filter | Added timeline picker to balance chart, allowing historians to isolate event windows (airdrops, slashes). | 1 h | – | 2 h | 4 h | – |
| 29 | Maintenance Banner | Site‑wide banner component for scheduled maintenance, improving transparency and reducing unexpected downtime complaints. | 1 h | – | – | 3 h | – |
| 30 | Unified Network IDs | Harmonized backend & front‑end network identifiers, preventing mismatched endpoints when new parachains launch. | 2 h | – | 5 h | – | 3 h |
| 31 | Fetcher‑Request Merge | Consolidated duplicate GraphQL/REST calls, cutting API latency and egress bandwidth by ≈ 20 %. | 1 h | – | 7 h | – | 4 h |
| 32 | Parachain UI Polish | Enhanced parachain‐specific pages with color coding and relay‑slot hints, giving crowd‑loan communities clear status insight. | 1 h | 2 h | – | 4 h | – |
| 33 | Coretime Price Display | Clarified Polkadot Coretime auction prices with tooltip unit conversions, aiding bidders in cost analysis. | 1 h | – | 4 h | 3 h | – |
| 34 | Coretime Usage & Plan | Surfaced historical usage, active schedule, and effective relay‑chain blocks—vital for chain ops teams planning upgrades. | 2 h | – | 7 h | 6 h | – |
| 35 | Rococo Parachain Decom. | Safely decommissioned Rococo parachain indexers, reallocating infra to higher‑demand nets and lowering cloud spend. | 1 h | – | 4 h | – | 3 h |
| 36 | Polkadot Trace Data Fix | Re‑hydrated missing call traces, ensuring forensic tools continue to map complex extrinsics accurately. | 1 h | – | 6 h | – | 3 h |
| 37 | Info‑Label Optimization | Standardized tooltip labels for better localization and clearer provenance across explorers. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 2 h | – |
| 38 | Auto Hosted‑Challenge | Turned on traffic‑adaptive Cloudflare challenge, reducing bot noise without hurting real users. | 1 h | – | 4 h | – | 6 h |
| 39 | AI‑Bot Feasibility Research | Investigated LLM‑powered alert bots for real‑time anomaly detection—drafted spec & POC code. | 6 h | – | 6 h | – | – |
| 40 | PVM Integration Assessment | Scoped effort to embed Polkadot Virtual Machine metrics into Subscan, informing 2025 roadmap budgeting. | 5 h | – | 10 h | – | – |
| 41 | Substrate‑Ecosystem Stats | Generated quarterly ecosystem dataset (chains, pallets, deployments) for community reports and research grants. | 3 h | – | 9 h | – | – |
| 42 | Ad Impression & Click Count | Added Google Analytics events for banner impressions/clicks, enabling DAO treasury ROI tracking. | 1 h | – | 5 h | 3 h | – |
| 43 | SolidityScan API Hook | Integrated external contract‑audit scores into token pages, promoting safer contract interaction. | 2 h | – | 10 h | – | 3 h |
| 44 | Bot‑Abuse Mitigation | Deployed IP‑rate‑limit & fingerprint heuristics to throttle abusive scrapers, safeguarding API SLA. | 1 h | – | 5 h | – | 4 h |
| 45 | XCM API Docs Refresh | Updated OpenAPI spec & examples for new XCM fields, shortening integrator ramp‑up time. | 2 h | – | 2 h | – | – |
| 46 | RefreshBatchAccountInfo | Refactored batch‑balance updater (goroutine pools, retry logic)—cut nightly job runtime by 50 %. | 1 h | – | 5 h | – | 2 h |
| 47 | Internal‑Tx Relink | Anchored internal asset transfers to block‑events instead of extrinsic 0, aligning with indexer best practice. | 1 h | – | 6 h | – | – |
| 48 | ForeignAssets ID Redefine | Re‑numbered ForeignAsset IDs to prevent collision with new Statemint assets, protecting downstream wallets. | 1 h | – | 5 h | – | – |
| 49 | Vesting Logic Fix | Patched vesting‑record writer to handle delayed balance updates, ensuring beneficiary dashboards stay correct. | 1 h | – | 4 h | – | – |
| 50 | Admin‑Panel Stats Upgrade | Added caching & drill‑down filters to the admin analytics panel, letting ops spot hot endpoints faster. | 2 h | – | 6 h | 2 h | – |
Our Compensation Rates and Total Costs:
- DevOps Engineer: $75/hour
- Front-End Engineer: $75/hour
- Back-End Engineer: $75/hour
- Product Manager/Test: $70/hour
- Designer: $70/hour
With a total of 438 hours worked, the calculated cost based on the above rates amounts to $32,370
2025 Q1 New Features Development Costs
During this period, we delivered key improvements across portfolio accuracy, governance transparency, cross-chain (XCM) tracing, API stability, UI/UX refinement, and infrastructure reliability — including enhanced Transfers API, multi-layer XCM routing visibility, integrated Referenda–Treasury linking, refined portfolio and asset displays, and upgraded monitoring systems — ensuring better performance, transparency, and compatibility with the evolving Polkadot ecosystem.
- Completed Feature & Performance Improvements: USD 18,390 (249 hours of work with transparent hourly rates)
- These improvements directly translate to tangible platform enhancements, already deployed and benefiting users.
| Task | Name | Description (functionality & ecosystem contribution) | Product Manager / Test | Designer | Backend Dev | Front‑end Dev | DevOps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CSV Download Fix | Resolved CSV export issue that blocked users from downloading activity records for offline use, critical for analysts and compliance review. | 2 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 2 | API Timeout Fix | Eliminated frequent timeout errors on key APIs, stabilizing third-party integrations and improving experience for wallets and indexers. | 2 h | – | 4 h | 1 h | – |
| 3 | Profile Page Rendering | Fixed an issue where user profile pages did not render, restoring account detail access for community and audit tools. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 4 | Sovereign Account Fix | Corrected identity parsing and display for sovereign accounts, ensuring accurate governance-related representations. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 1 h | – |
| 5 | Portfolio Value & Asset Display | Resolved mismatch in value calculation and asset count on portfolio view to ensure precision for DeFi and fund managers. | 1 h | – | 4 h | 3 h | – |
| 6 | AssetHub Migration Support | Conducted feasibility analysis and bootstrapped an explorer for AssetHub Next, improving visibility of new parachains. | 4 h | – | 5 h | – | – |
| 7 | Transfers API Upgrade | Enhanced Transfers API to return indirect transactions, enabling richer block-level tracing for researchers. | 1 h | – | 7 h | 1 h | – |
| 8 | Ad Removal | Removed legacy third-party advertisements from the interface to reduce distractions and improve neutrality. | 1 h | – | – | 3 h | – |
| 9 | Maintenance Email System | Added notification feature to admin panel to proactively inform users about service disruptions. | 3 h | 1 h | 3 h | 1 h | – |
| 10 | XCM Execution Display | Implemented message execution tracing in XCM dashboard, improving traceability of cross-chain state transitions. | 3 h | – | 8 h | 3 h | 1 h |
| 11 | Token Distribution Timeline | Integrated token distribution milestones into governance timelines, supporting better community transparency. | 1 h | – | 4 h | 3 h | – |
| 12 | Asset List Expansion | Added market cap, transfer stats, and asset icons to token lists to enhance visual comparison and value assessment. | 1 h | 1 h | 3 h | 4 h | – |
| 13 | Multisig Member View | Enabled on-demand expansion of multisig member lists, providing clarity to validators and custodial account observers. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 14 | XCM Channel Sorting | Added sorting logic and UI to the XCM channel list, aiding chain integrators and cross-chain app builders. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 15 | Token Logo Optimization | Improved token logos with network format labels, helping users identify bridged vs. native assets at a glance. | 1 h | 3 h | 1 h | 3 h | – |
| 16 | Favorites Management Refactor | Revamped follow feature to enable one-click portfolio tracking and inactive account cleanup. | 3 h | – | 4 h | 4 h | – |
| 17 | XCM Asset Flow Chart | Added interactive, filterable XCM flow chart, enabling users to visualize historical cross-chain movements. | 3 h | 1 h | 5 h | 5 h | – |
| 18 | Portfolio Rebranding | Updated branding on aggregation pages for consistency with Subscan Portfolio naming across ecosystems. | 1 h | 1 h | – | 3 h | – |
| 19 | Favorite Button in Portfolio | Introduced direct favorite/unfavorite toggle for accounts in aggregation view for UX improvement. | 1 h | – | 1 h | 3 h | – |
| 20 | Supply Chart Treasury Split | Visually separated Treasury-held tokens in supply chart, improving economic transparency for treasury watchers. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 21 | Global Time Display Update | Refined timestamp display logic to show ‘time ago’ for recent entries and absolute time for older entries. | 1 h | – | 1 h | 3 h | – |
| 22 | User Feedback Entry | Added feedback button across key views to streamline input collection from users and the community. | 1 h | 1 h | – | 3 h | – |
| 23 | Multi-Level XCM Support | Supported tracing of multi-layer XCM transfers spanning multiple chains, unlocking full routing visibility. | 3 h | – | 7 h | 3 h | 1 h |
| 24 | XCM Dashboard Update | Enhanced dashboard with inbound/outbound flow toggle to aid visual distinction of cross-chain directions. | 1 h | – | 4 h | 3 h | – |
| 25 | URL Redirect in Events | Enabled URL jump from event and extrinsic parameters to their targets, streamlining dev workflow. | 1 h | – | 1 h | 3 h | – |
| 26 | User Network Notifications | Built alert system to push multi-network operational messages to users in-app. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 1 h | – |
| 27 | Unified Config Structure | Standardized database, frontend and domain configs to reduce dev friction and CI/CD mismatches. | 1 h | – | 3 h | – | 3 h |
| 28 | Testnet Maintenance Alerts | Added banner support to testnet explorers to announce upcoming maintenance, improving reliability. | 1 h | – | – | 3 h | – |
| 29 | Monitoring Upgrade | Enhanced internal monitoring with better failure alerts and endpoint dashboards. | 1 h | – | 1 h | – | 4 h |
| 30 | Database Monitoring | Added dedicated database performance metrics and alerting to ensure uptime and fast recovery. | 1 h | – | 1 h | – | 4 h |
| 31 | System Account Identity Submission | Published identity info for system-level accounts across networks to build trust and traceability. | 1 h | – | 1 h | – | – |
| 32 | Treasury Payment Display | Linked outgoing Treasury payments to their related extrinsics in UI, closing traceability gaps. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 33 | Treasury Proposal Linking | Added bi-directional navigation between Referenda and Treasury proposals, improving governance data exploration. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
| 34 | Governance Timeline Upgrade | Included award countdowns and Referenda–Treasury associations in the governance timeline. | 1 h | – | 3 h | 3 h | – |
Our Compensation Rates and Total Costs:
- DevOps Engineer: $75/hour
- Front-End Engineer: $75/hour
- Back-End Engineer: $75/hour
- Product Manager/Test: $70/hour
- Designer: $70/hour
With a total of 249 hours worked, the calculated cost based on the above rates amounts to $18,390
Reasons for the Decrease in 2025 Q1 Development Costs and Future Direction Toward Intelligence
In 2025 Q1, development costs decreased compared to the previous period for two main reasons. First, a significant portion of the team’s time was dedicated to research and preparatory work for the PVM project, resulting in fewer total tasks for core feature iterations. Second, we began gradually introducing AI-assisted programming, which significantly improved efficiency in development and testing processes. Moving forward, we will continue exploring the use of AI to enhance productivity and advance blockchain explorer (Subscan) data analysis, aiming to make Subscan more powerful, user-friendly, and intelligent—delivering more accurate and higher-value on-chain data services to the community.
Total Requested Amount
- 2025 Q1 & Q2 Operations: USD 133,905
- 2024 Q4 Development: USD 32,370
- 2025 Q1 Development: USD 18,390
Total: USD (USDT) 184,665
Westend Support Rationale
While Paseo has increasingly become the primary testnet for most development and integration scenarios, Westend continues to play a critical role in certain high-impact testing processes that require a long-running, production-like environment. Recent examples include the AssetHub migration, which was first validated on Westend before being gradually rolled out to mainnet. Westend’s system parachains — AssetHub, BridgeHub, and Coretime — are actively used for realistic simulations of network upgrades, cross-chain messaging (XCM) changes, and asset migrations.
In the current proposal period, maintaining Westend and its system parachains accounts for approximately 20% of total maintenance costs. This cost is directly tied to storage growth, high-availability indexing, and API uptime commitments, which must match mainnet-level standards to ensure test results are reliable and immediately transferable to production.
Subscan will continue to monitor ecosystem usage and coordinate closely with the community. If Westend is formally sunset or no longer required for production-critical testing, we will promptly decommission related infrastructure and remove the associated costs in the next funding proposal. This ensures that Treasury resources are used efficiently while preserving necessary infrastructure for as long as it delivers tangible ecosystem value.
Development Approach & Ecosystem-Wide Benefit
Most of Subscan’s development efforts are focused on Substrate-native modules, with nearly all new features first implemented and validated on Westend as the initial testing ground. Once the feature has passed functional and stability verification on Westend, it is then adapted for Kusama, Polkadot, and other Substrate-based chains using the same modules.
Importantly, we charge a one-time development fee only within the Polkadot proposal. All subsequent adaptations and deployments to other Subscan-supported Substrate-based networks are provided at no additional cost. This ensures that the entire ecosystem benefits from enhancements and infrastructure upgrades without incurring duplicate charges — ensuring improvements are shared across the ecosystem as true public infrastructure.
Conclusion
This proposal reflects Subscan’s ongoing commitment to serve as a trusted, neutral, and indispensable infrastructure layer for the Polkadot ecosystem. The requested funding will:
- Cover essential operational expenses to guarantee uninterrupted service quality.
- Recognize and offset the cost of tangible, high-impact development work already benefiting the ecosystem.
Our transparent, storage-based pricing model ensures predictable budgeting, while our track record demonstrates consistent delivery of features and improvements that address community needs. By supporting this proposal, the community invests in both the stability of current services and the strategic evolution of Subscan to meet future challenges.
In our previous proposal, we received significant feedback from the community expressing that the inclusion of third-party advertisements negatively impacted the user experience. The limited revenue — less than USD 3,000 per quarter — did not justify this trade-off. Based on A/B testing results and user research, we have since phased out these ads entirely. Going forward, we will continue to explore alternative and sustainable revenue streams to reduce long-term reliance on Treasury funding, while preserving a clean, user-friendly interface.
We are grateful for the community’s trust, feedback, and participation, and look forward to continuing our role in strengthening the accessibility, transparency, and resilience of the Polkadot ecosystem.
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