Polkadot Staking Dashboard: Improvements, Upgrades & DeFi Integration
1. Overview
1.1 Proposal Details
Proponents: Ross Bulat and Joel Kenny
Beneficiary Address: 12zhXsqUgXp6roXoQvy5XbV5Qw2NpGqha66HuZLkAECNw1qs
Requested Amount: $154,000 USDC
Funding Period: November 2025 to July 2026 (9 months)
Track: Medium Spender
1.2 Project Summary
We are pleased to present our proposal for continued development of the Polkadot Staking Dashboard for November 2025 - July 2026. Having successfully completed our previous milestones (verified via OG Tracker) and incorporated valuable community feedback following the completion of our last successful proposal in March 2025, we have strategically adjusted our deliverables to make the Staking Dashboard more dynamic and offer greater variety to meet the evolving needs of the Polkadot ecosystem.
Key points for this proposal:
- 9-month timeframe to accommodate expanded scope including integration of DeFi features
- Enhanced feature diversity responding to community feedback for a more comprehensive staking and DeFi experience across rollups
- Expanded development roadmap targeting user experience, critical network upgrades, and DeFi ecosystem integration
- Funding requested in USDC stablecoin per community preference
- Continued commitment to open-source development and community engagement
- Previous 6-month cycles proved tight for complex features, while extending beyond 9 months reduces treasury flexibility. This duration allows proper DeFi integration research, testing, and iteration while maintaining regular community updates.
1.3 Previous Success Metrics
Our team has consistently delivered on commitments:
- Launched Staking Dashboard 2.0 - Complete API re-architecture with Dedot integration delivering faster performance and type-safe interactions [X Thread, Polkadot Post]
- Launched a dedicated home for the Staking Dashboard at polkadot.cloud/stake, created with support from Flez, project lead for the new Polkadot.Cloud website development project
- AssetHub integration - Support for Westend AssetHub already deployed, with infrastructure ready for Kusama/Polkadot deployment
- Feature parity maintained across all supported networks with enhanced reliability through live RPC health monitoring
- Enhanced pool functionality - Nomination pool invites and quicker one-click pool joining
- Advanced nomination management - introduction of full screen interface, validator search and commission filters
- Staking API launch - GraphQL plugin providing instant historical staking data
- Successful Dedot migration - A flagship implementation of the next-generation Dedot API
- Multi-Language & Currency Support - Offering a more localised Staking experience
- Active community support via Discord and email channels
- Verified completion tracked by OG Tracker (OG Tracker Website)
1.4 What This Means For Users
- Expanded DeFi integration: Liquid staking support, 2-day unbonding, transaction fee payments in stablecoins, expanded balances UI with transfer support, token swaps directly in the dashboard
- Gateway into Polkadot ecosystem: With additional stablecoin and liquid staking derivative support directly in the dashboard, It can act as a powerful gateway into Polkadot DeFi.
- Easier staking: Simpler interfaces for both direct staking and nomination pools
- Better rewards tracking: Enhanced staking reward predictions and forecasts
- Mobile-friendly updates: Improved experience on phones and tablets
- Expanded language support: Adding new language translations to join existing support
- Faster loading times: Technical improvements powered by our Staking API
- More secure staking: Enhanced error prevention and user guidance
- Enhanced support: Dedicated staking support via email and Discord channel for rapid assistance
1.5 Why the Staking Dashboard
- Primary desktop staking gateway: tens of thousands of users rely on the dashboard as their main staking interface monthly
- Reference implementation for the ecosystem: Many users who haven't adopted newer solutions still rely on Polkadot.js wallet integration with the Staking Dashboard, making it the trusted reference point for "set and forget" staking strategies
- Competitive advantage over alternatives: Mobile wallets lack comprehensive analytics, staking on exchanges sacrifices decentralization, and native wallet staking offers limited feature sets compared to the dedicated staking interface
- Educational platform: Users learn staking mechanics through hands-on experience with validator selection and nomination pools
- Accessibility bridge: Simple mode onboards newcomers while advanced features serve power users
- Global reach: Multi-language support and various supported fiat currencies remove barriers for international users
- Open-source ecosystem benefit: Transparent development enables community contributions and third-party integrations
- Cost efficiency: Compared to alternatives (grants to multiple projects or exchange partnerships), the Staking Dashboard delivers comprehensive functionality through a single, proven team at competitive rates
- Gateway to DeFi ecosystem: Expanding beyond traditional staking to offer comprehensive DeFi access including liquid staking, cross-chain transfers, token swaps, and stablecoin support.
2. Development Roadmap
2.1 DeFi Integration
Staking Dashboard’s position as one of the most widely used Polkadot Dapps positions it to be an effective gateway into the Polkadot DeFi ecosystem. This proposal outlines plans to onboard critical DeFi features directly into the Staking Dashboard to provide a seamless experience for key tasks, such as:
- Adding the ability to pay for transaction fees in stablecoins USDC and USDT, alongside any other coins that roll out during the proposal period
- Expanding the balance interface to also include stablecoins
- Discovering an account’s DOT on other rollups and transferring it back to AssetHub to stake
- Rolling out liquid staking support on Polkadot to increase yields amid the upcoming fixed supply cap
- Adding DOT / KSM / Stablecoin swaps directly in the Staking Dashboard.
Priority: High
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allow transaction fee payment in stablecoins and future supported tokens | After the AssetHub migration, transaction fees can be paid in USDC and USDT stablecoins. Staking Dashboard will roll out support to pay in these currencies. | Month 8-9 |
| 2 | Add cross-chain DOT transfer support via Paraspell SDK(Related issue) | Dedot and ourselves are currently working with the Paraspell team to add Dedot API support to their XCM tools. Upon the inclusion of this support we will roll out cross-chain DOT transfers directly in the Staking Dashboard and create a seamless experience for users to move all their DOT to AssetHub in order to stake.NOTE: Requires Dedot support in Paraspell SDK | Month 8-9 |
| 3 | AssetHub currency interface for relevant coins, with ability to transfer tokens. | With stablecoins now playing a central role in DeFi and the Polkadot protocol itself, with plans of validators being paid a fixed stablecoin amount, it is imperative that Polkadot Dapps offer first-class support for them.A new interface that displays the active account’s balances for the supported currencies (DOT, USDC, USDT, and others) is required, along with quick actions like transferring tokens to and from accounts. | Month 7-8 |
| 4 | Liquid staking support:(As outlined in this poll) | With potential decreases in staking rewards as the fixed supply cap is implemented, users may explore alternative options to sustain competitive staking yields. One way to aid in this transition is to introduce liquid staking support directly into the Staking Dashboard. We envisage a solution whereby a user can split their staking portfolio into native DOT staking and liquid staking, depending on their risk appetite. We would like to explore rolling out UI directly in the Staking Dashboard to support liquid staking, with Bifrost as our first protocol of interest. | Month 4-6 |
| 5 | Add DOT / KSM / Stablecoin swap interface. | Allowing swapping directly in Staking Dashboard will bring multiple benefits:Quick swapping for users if they want to pay for Tx fees in stablesQuick swapping for users who wish to quickly convert their DOT or KSM rewards into stablecoinsAllows stablecoins received from the treasury, fellowship, other DeFi yields to quickly be swapped to DOT or KSM to then stake. | Month 9 |
| 6 | Add 2-day unbonding support when deployed | 2-day unbonding is an upcoming update to how unbonding happens, speeding up the time it takes to unlock your tokens from 28 days to potentially 2 days. We plan to support this feature with a dedicated UI as it is deployed, further complementing the DeFi focus of this proposal. | Month 4-5(when deployed) |
| 7 | Add staking reward predictions to reward charts | With the inclusion of the Staking API, we now have the necessary infrastructure to analyse staking reward history and create a prediction model based on an account’s staking reward performance. We plan to roll out reward predictions on a per-era basis and embed these predictions directly inside the current reward charts in the Staking Dashboard. Predictions can be toggled on and off. | Month 2 |
2.2 Core Maintenance & Protocol Adaptation
Priority: Critical
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Continue dependency updates to keep the codebase up to date. | Critical to keep Staking Dashboard up to date using industry-standard dependencies as they are updated. | Weekly |
| 9 | Continued hosting of the dashboard on staking.polkadot.cloud. | Continue serving as the primary staking interface for the Polkadot ecosystem. | Ongoing |
| 10 | Continue management of the Staking Dashboard Discord channel and email support. | The launch of the Staking Dashboard Discord channel has been a resounding success. With easy access to the team and same-day support responses, we have been able to support user queries and fix issues when they arise. Non-staking related queries often crop up on our channel (e.g. how to withdraw DOT into fiat currency), where we also attempt to provide guidance. We see the Discord channel as a vital support resource for the foreseeable future. Email support was also rolled out in the previous proposal period and is also being used by users. We aim to maintain both support channels in this next funding period. | Ongoing |
| 11 | Respond to protocol-level changes and Proof of Personhood rollouts where it pertains to staking. | With the active exploration of Proof of Personhood (PoP), specifically for the purpose of backing validators and reducing the DOT required to be locked, there could be repercussions for the Staking Dashboard roadmap as and when these protocol level changes roll out. The Staking Dashboard may need to roll out PoP support in some form, but this is to be determined based on protocol developments. | Ongoing |
| 12 | Contingency planning and risk management | Document and communicate potential blockers (protocol delays, technical challenges) proactively. | Ongoing |
2.3 Hardware Wallet Support & Improved Transaction Signing
Priority: High
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Ledger Flex & Stax support. | Ledger Stax and Flex are the latest generation of Ledger hardware devices. To keep the dashboard relevant and up to date, Ledger Flex and Stax support should be added along with UX improvements such as per-device icons that will make the UI more intuitive. | Month 2 |
| 14 | Improved transaction signing / submission UI. | The transaction sign / submit button is embedded throughout the Staking Dashboard. This component also hosts the estimated tx fees, whether there is enough DOT to pay for transactions, and the name of the signing account.This transaction submission UI has not evolved much over time as dashboard form factors have expanded (canvas, full screen interfaces, modals, cards). We’d like to further improve this component by optimising its design depending on the housing component, and dynamically adjust submission text to match the transaction context. This will streamline and simplify transaction signing for users. | Month 1 |
| 15 | Improve Mimir SDK support. | Mimir is currently hosting an outdated fork of the Staking Dashboard in its app catalogue. To prevent the need to maintain a fork, we would like to integrate Mimir’s SDK directly into the main staking dashboard deployment. | Month 1 |
2.4 User Experience Improvements
Priority: High
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Further enhance Simple Mode, making it easier to onboard new stakers. Further differentiate advanced mode with more complex metrics. | Simple Mode simplifies the dashboard by hiding complex UI and streamlining the nominator setup process. We envisage more opportunities to improve simple mode, such as the following:Combining the Nominator and Pools page into a single “Stake” page. Moving reward metrics to the Overview page, combining all staking-related metrics into the Overview page.Remove unnecessary network statistics that casual or new stakers will not appreciate. | Month 9 |
| 17 | Improved UI aesthetics and theme alignment to better align with polkadot.cloud branding. | With the launch of the best-in-class Polkadot Cloud landing pages, at https://polkadot.cloud/, the Staking Dashboard can now take inspiration from this theming and design philosophy to match its theming with the overarching Polkadot Cloud Platform. In addition to amending the theme colours and other theme elements such as spacing and rounding, we have identified a number of UI elements that can be simplified, requiring less styling and doing a better job at utilising space. Amend light and dark themes to align more with main Polkadot.cloud website design.Simplify applicable UI elements by requiring less styling while using space more efficiently.Refresh icon and simple chart aesthetics to be more eye-catching and modern, aligning with polkadot.cloud’s 3D logo and icon design.Align favicons to match the Polkadot.cloud platform, and establish design guidelines for hosted app favicons.All changes in this action item should be applicable to any Polkadot Cloud hosted app. | Month 9 |
| 18 | Visual progress tracker for unbonding periods, with improved UI/UX. | A common request has been to improve the unbonding / unlock chunk UI in the Dashboard. This can be achieved with visual progress tracking and more eye-catching countdowns. With the 2-day unbonding also rolling out soon, it is prime time for this component to be overhauled. | Month 4-5 |
| 19 | Move Resources section to dedicated documentation portal | Staking Dashboard documentation is currently fragmented, with some of it hosted within the app inside the Resources section, and others hosted on Polkadot.network. This action item aims to launch a dedicated documentation portal for all Staking Dashboard help resources. We envisage this new documentation portal to cater for simple and advanced modes, be localised in all dashboard supported languages, and be kept up to date with latest flows and app UI. | Month 2-3 |
2.5 Network & Language Expansion
Priority: Medium
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Onboard Paseo testnet as an additional network. | Westend RPC and light client connections often disconnect due to unstable node support. In addition to this, Westend is now not reflective of Polkadot / Kusama staking setups (e.g. Westend has over 60,000 nominators, with less than 1% supply staked). For these reasons, a more stable testnet should be supported in the Dashboard. Paseo is the most suited test network to resolve Westend drawbacks, and needs to be supported in both the dashboard and Staking API. | Month 1 |
| 21 | Onboard Vara Network as additional solo chain network, and expand Staking API to support it. | The previous proposal period saw the successful migration to the Dedot API, which has allowed fully typed, multi-network support in the Dashboard. With this huge infrastructure boost, the Dashboard is now in a position to support more than the current networks (Polkadot, Kusama, Westend, Paseo).To improve discoverability of other networks and their staking features, they can be directly supported in the Dashboard. In addition to this, developers no longer need to fork the Dashboard codebase to add support for new networks - networks can now be supported directly in the main Staking Dashboard repo. | Month 2-3 |
| 22 | Expand localisation to cover most visited locales, building on existing English, Spanish & Chinese support | Based on traffic analytics, we will implement full translation support for the most visited locales, complementing our existing English, Spanish, and Chinese language offerings.This data-driven approach to internationalisation unlocks ease of use for the vast majority of our global user base, allowing easier onboarding locally by removing language barriers. By providing native-language experiences in regions with demonstrated demand and active usage, we make Polkadot staking more accessible and intuitive for users worldwide, regardless of their native language. | Month 3 |
2.6 Advanced Features
Priority: Medium
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Expand notifications with more staking activity. | A notifications bell was rolled out in the previous proposal period, that displays nomination pool invite notifications if visited from an invite URL. With the Staking API now established, more notifications can be delivered to the Staking Dashboard pertaining to the connected active account. This is an opportunity to further personalise the Dashboard and deliver more historical notifications to the user.In addition to the new notification UI, this action item also requires an authentication method in the same fashion that platforms like PolkAssembly use to enable user logins with their wallets. By signing an authentication token with a Polkadot account, the user proves who they are, and notifications can be safely delivered to their Dashboard thereafter. | Month 8-9 |
| 24 | Validator status page: Advanced mode feature | A new page for validators to check their status and reward data, and carry out essential tasks like updating their blocked status and commission. | Month 3-4 |
2.7 Further Codebase Formalisation
Priority: Medium
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Further codebase formalisation: Modularise page sections into re-usable components. | With the addition of Simple Mode and our ambitions to improve it, modules from one page now need to be used in more than one page. e.g. displaying reward graphs and metrics in the Overview page when Simple Mode is turned on. As a result of this requirement, there is an opportunity to formalise components at the page level, making entire modules re-usable. This not only improves reusability of components, but can also further separate concerns by using props rather than relying on recursive hook usage in the module’s child components. | Month 1 |
2.8 API & Developer Resources
Priority: Medium
| No | Task | Rationale | Approx ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Improve Staking API documentation and API reference material for apps to integrate. | The Staking API has been a resounding success since it launched, dramatically speeding up the Staking Dashboard syncing and response times to various features, all the while being treated like a plugin, so the Dashboard can still function without the Staking API enabled.We now would like to take this initiative further by introducing official documentation of the GraphQL interfaces, along with API key support and throttle protections for other applications to leverage the Staking API. | Month 7-9 |
| 27 | Roll out health monitoring RPC endpoints. | Open up useful API endpoints to expose RPC providers and their health metrics, with a focus on onboarding more hosted apps. Create accompanying documentation and API Key infrastructure / throttle limits to onboard clients. | Month 2-4 |
3. Community Impact & Involvement
For detailed community impact information, visit the Full Proposal: Community Impact & Involvement section.
4. Team
For detailed team information, visit the Full Proposal: Team section.
5. Budget
For detailed budget information, visit the Full Proposal: Budget Breakdown section.
6. Alternatives Considered
For a summary on alternative approaches, visit the Full Proposal: Alternatives Considered section.
7. Summary
The Polkadot Staking Dashboard has established itself as essential infrastructure for the ecosystem. This expanded 9-month proposal, shaped by valuable community feedback, ensures continued excellence while introducing meaningful improvements that benefit both new and experienced stakers. The extended timeline and expanded scope reflect our commitment to delivering a more dynamic and feature-rich platform that extends beyond traditional staking to embrace the broader DeFi ecosystem.
With a proven track record, experienced team, and clear deliverables, we are confident in delivering significant value to the Polkadot community. The requested funding represents efficient allocation for maintaining and enhancing critical ecosystem infrastructure while expanding its capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the Polkadot ecosystem.
Should this proposal not pass, we remain committed to the dashboard as critical infrastructure. We will continue maintaining core functionality while seeking alternative sustainable funding models, though the expanded DeFi integration and advanced features outlined here would be delayed or unfeasible without treasury support.
Questions? Comments? Give us your feedback!
Kind Regards,
**
Ross Bulat and Joel Kenny
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