VOTE NAY! Polkadot Blockchain Academy, PBA Campus 7, The JAM Course launch, University partnerships expansion, ongoing PBA-X evolution, Alumni program. 9 months funding from April to December.
Beneficiary:*******VOTE NAY****** this proposal has been replaced by
https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referenda/1497
We are switching to USDT and a tranche based release schedule to help treasury cashflow
The Future of Polkadot Depends on Talent
The Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) is the single largest and most effective pipeline of talent into the Polkadot ecosystem. Over the past three years, close to 750 learners have completed our courses, many of whom now produce significant contributions towards Polkadot or ecosystem projects.
We are at a pivotal moment. The future of Polkadot depends not just on innovation but on a steady stream of highly skilled, motivated builders who can create and execute impactful projects, advance the network's capabilities and drive adoption. The PBA has proven its ability to deliver, our alumni are shaping the ecosystem, and demand for our programs has never been higher.
To capitalize on this momentum, we are requesting nine months of funding to scale our programs and diversify our offerings, making PBA more inclusive, relevant and far-reaching than ever before.
Why support PBA? A Track Record of Success
- We are the largest producer of well educated, Polkadot-native talent – No other initiative has onboarded more developers successfully.
- Close to 70% of 409 PBA Campus graduates actively contributed to open-source Polkadot-related repositories in 2024.
- Trusted by ecosystem leaders – Parity, The Web3 Foundation and other top teams recruit directly from our alumni.
- Expanding accessibility – Our online course, PBA-X, launched in January with 580+ learners, and close to 60% completion rate, proving demand for remote education for a diverse audience.
Ongoing Evolution: Scaling & Strengthening Polkadot’s Talent Engine
With this funding, we will:
- Expand PBA’s flagship in-person PBA Campus program (Wave 7) to train and place the next cohort of high-impact developers.
- Launch The JAM Course, an intensive in person course demystifying Polkadot’s JAM protocol, for top-tier engineers from the Web3 community.
- Grow university partnerships, integrating PBA content into curricula and securing the next generation of builders.
- Enhance alumni engagement through ongoing participation orientated events, education, placement and mentorship opportunities.
- Build upon the success of PBA-X to offer new content based on the needs of the ecosystem, whilst continuing to run the original PBA-X content for 5 more cohorts in 2025.
- Continue to identify, mentor and funnel new projects into the ecosystem via the Pitch and Mentor program.
Polkadot’s growth depends on its builders. By funding PBA, we secure a sustainable, scalable pipeline of developers, entrepreneurs and advocates who will drive the ecosystem forward.
Follow the below link to find out more about our latest proposal;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11fKCbYG79VomgYFK4FDsK534ihmfSDG3wCnmLpo_kws/edit?tab=t.0
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Can the proposers comment on the continuously increasing costs for PBA. For reference, PBA 7 alone costs 2M and the equivalent for wave 5 cost 1.6M (refill included) and wave 6 included X production and launch had the same 2M cost.
It is a ~25% increase in less than a year's time.
Operational costs (500k USD) are also presented separately for the first time as far as we aware.
Considering the value of the token at the moment, I think it is a sensible measure to try to maintain or reduce the cost of previous editions. Good work is done but the impact on the treasury of this type of proposals is high. Suggestion: Look for locations, especially for in-person activities, with suitable conditions and more efficient costs.