To sustain and enhance Paseo Network's impact, this proposal seeks funding to continue operations in 2025, ensuring the same high level of service from a dedicated group of ecosystem contributors.

We are requesting a top-up of $653,500.00 from the Polkadot treasury to cover operational costs for 2025. The funds will be managed via the original Paseo Bounty (#37), with payments distributed quarterly over the 12-month funding period.

Along with this funding request, we are proposing several efficiency improvements to make bounty management more transparent and automated. These include changing the curator set, retroactive payments at the end of each quarter, eliminating the need for manual payout requests, automating validator payouts, and implementing performance-based benchmarks to ensure validators and service providers meet expected reliability standards.

For more information, we encourage ecosystem participants to review the full proposal 

1.1 Introduction
This proposal seeks retroactive funding for the development and key feature implementations of the PolkaGate MetaMask Snap over the past four months. These updates significantly enhance MetaMask’s usability for Polkadot users by introducing support for staking, fund transfers, and UI improvements.

Product Page:  https://snaps.metamask.io/snap/npm/polkagate/snap
Staking Feature Announcement Video: https://x.com/PolkaGate/status/1889391109610283166

2. Context of the Proposal

2.1 About PolkaGate
PolkaGate is a dedicated team of Polkadot enthusiasts focused on enhancing the user experience for interacting with Substrate-based chains like Polkadot and Kusama. Through our MetaMask Snap project, we aim to simplify complex processes such as asset management, staking, and governance participation. By integrating seamlessly with MetaMask, PolkaGate empowers users to manage their digital assets and actively engage with the Polkadot network. PolkaGate is committed to lowering entry barriers, making the Polkadot ecosystem more accessible to both newcomers and experienced users.

2.2 Overview of Product
PolkaGate MetaMask Snap enables Polkadot and Kusama users to manage assets and participate in staking and governance directly through MetaMask. This integration extends the Polkadot ecosystem’s accessibility to millions of MetaMask users. The Snap supports multiple tokens, including testnet assets like Westend and Paseo, and displays balances directly on the home page for easy tracking. Users can transfer tokens within MetaMask without relying on external dApps. By integrating directly with MetaMask, users benefit from a frictionless experience in managing assets and participating in staking and governance.

3. Features

PolkaGate Snap extends beyond basic transaction signing by integrating an interactive JSX-supported UI and advanced staking options. It aims to evolve into a full-featured Polkadot wallet within MetaMask.

3.1. Current Features:

Sign Transactions: Execute transactions on supported Polkadot networks.
Sign with Metadata: Support for signing transactions even when APIs are unavailable.
Fund Transfers: Send tokens (e.g., DOT, KSM) directly within MetaMask.
Staking Support: Configure solo and pooled staking, manage rewards, and unstake efficiently.
Enhanced UI: Interactive interface with JSX elements for improved usability.
Account Export: Securely export accounts as JSON files. Whitelisted dApp Support: Seamless integration with staking platforms, governance dApps, and PolkaGate apps.
(Details are in the full document)

4. Projected Allocation & Budget

4.1 Team Members and Roles

The PolkaGate team consists of the following key members who have contributed to the project’s success:
G. Kami Ekbatanifard, PhD — Founder/CEO & Engineering Team Lead
Morteza Chalaki, BA — CFO
Mehran Pourvahab, PhD — Blockchain researcher & TS Engineer
Martin Azarbad, BA — UI/UX specialist
Amir H. Ekbatani, PhD candidate — Test engineer

4.2 Payment Breakdown

5. Upcoming Features

These upcoming features will enhance the MetaMask Snap by introducing advanced functionalities such as token swapping and improved smart contract support. They align with our vision of continuously improving user experience and providing a comprehensive solution for Polkadot and Kusama users.

Smart Contract Support: Exploring integration with asset hubs.
Bridge Ethereum to Polkadot
Token Swapping: Researching seamless in-app swaps.
User-Requested Features: Prioritizing enhancements based on community feedback.

6. Links and References

In this section, we provide essential links to access our resources and stay connected with the PolkaGate community:

6.1 Official Website and Documentation

Product link:  https://snaps.metamask.io/snap/npm/polkagate/snap
Website: polkagate.xyz
Documentation: docs.polkagate.xyz
X: x.com/@polkagate
YouTube: youtube.com/@polkagate
Element: matrix.to/#/#polkagate:matrix.org
GitHub: github.com/polkagate

6.2 Notable Announcements

Staking Feature Announcement Video: Watch on X

Click to view the full document on Google Docs.

These are the main changes compared to last year's top-up:

Main numbers we've achieved in 2024:

This referendum aims to top up the Anti-Scam Bounty, whose aim is to protect the community from scams by tracking/pruning scam activities, supporting scam victims, and promoting user safety via educational initiatives. The anti-scam bounty has been running for three years now and has helped fund multiple anti-scam tasks.

Spending Analysis and Budget Request

Requested allocation: $369,610 at 13/03/2025 EMA7 $4.098/DOT = 90,193 DOT

A general view of the bounty and spending analysis can be found here.

Thanks to some automation tools created by our members and our possible partnership with third parties, we have managed to lower the budget of our team by 46% as you can see below.

For more details, see the full table here.

Full details of this proposal, including what we have achieved so far, our future goals, and an estimated break-down of the requested top-up, can be found in the proposal document.