The Mina Foundation Transparency Report is a quarterly report that includes key platform metrics and protocol developments, among other important updates.

General Update

zkIgnite

• zkIgnite is a cohort-based, community-governed innovation program for builders in the Mina ecosystem. 

• Cohort 2 builders presented their milestones during the week of January 19-23, 2024. You can view the milestone presentations here. Electors then reviewed and voted on milestone presentations (similar to the process from Cohort 1). Electors voted that 23 Cohort 2 projects successfully delivered their milestones. You can see a full list of milestones delivered here.

• Cohort 3 draft proposals were due on January 31, 2024. Electors and technical reviewers assessed 106 grant proposals and allocated funding to 29 projects building zkApps, developer tools, and infrastructure to support the fast-growing Mina ecosystem. After the funding announcement, the private elector channels were made public, in addition to the recordings of the elector & reviewer deliberation calls. 

• Projects are paid 33.3% upfront (upon passing KYC), then 33.3% after successful completion of their midpoint milestones, and the final 33.3% upon completion of their final milestones. A team of technical reviewers will assess and vote on delivery at the midpoint and final milestone dates.The total committed grant amount is 1,279,431 MINA, of which 33% was paid on April 3, 2024.

• 30 electors and 7 technical reviewers received a combined total of 230,000 MINA tokens for their participation in Cohort 3.

‍Mina Navigators

• Navigators is an ongoing developer program for new builders to get started building on Mina Protocol. Through hackathons, curriculum, and learn-to-earn technical challenges, Navigators accelerate their understanding of ZK tech and Mina and are rewarded for their participation with monthly grants.

• As of March 31, there are 85 developers who have received Navigator badges throughout the program. As of April 3, 2024, 1,683,000 MINA tokens have been committed (with lockup) or paid out to Navigators from the period of October 2023 - March 2024. You can reference more program information, including the list of Navigators and project repositories here.

• A team of 5 technical reviewers are responsible for evaluating Navigators’ month-over-month milestones, checking github commits, and providing feedback on the work. The reviewers use a set of public criteria to determine the monthly grant amounts paid to each Navigator. The reviewers earn 5k MINA per month for their efforts. A total of 75k MINA has been paid to technical reviewers since the beginning of the Navigators program.  

• The current Navigators program concludes at the end of April, and will be relaunched with improved features shortly after. 

‍Core Grants

• In December 2023, the Mina Foundation announced a new grants program called Core, which aims to support projects committed to improving the Mina Protocol. There are two primary funding areas. The first relates to ecosystem advancements, covering specific deliverables in areas that promote the growth of the Mina ecosystem. This can include anything from token standards, to zkOracles, DA layers and more. The second area is focused on supporting public goods. By actively participating in open discussions and submitting proposals, community members not only play a key role in shaping the vision of Mina but also have the opportunity to secure funding.

• A public facing project board is updated to keep the community informed, supported by regular community calls by the MIna Foundation team.

• The work covered under RFC Asynchronous Circuits in o1js was completed by O(1).

• In Q1, under the Core Program Ecosystem Advancement Track, Mina Foundation issued grants for proposals on RFPs for:‍
  • ZkOracles
    • ‍3 partners were selected; zkPass, Reclaim and ZKON
  • ‍Side-Loading Verification Keys‍
    • Protokit's proposal was selectedZkOracles

Road to Upgrade

Progress towards Mina Protocol’s major mainnet upgrade continues, with major testing milestones now completed successfully: 

• Track 3: Protocol Performance Testing was launched to stress test the protocol and push the network to its limits, and concluded on January 22nd, 2024. 
• The Upgrade Mechanism Testing (UMT) program was launched to validate the end-to-end process and dry-run the upgrade mechanisms and tools, concluding in March, 2024.
• Preparations for Mina’s Devnet upgrade, the final milestone before the major upgrade, commenced in March 2024, and is set to conclude in April.

Finally, three additional ‘‘Road to Upcoming Upgrade’’ Discord events have taken place throughout the quarter, providing the community with the opportunity to engage, collaborate and discuss progress ahead of Mina’s Berkeley upgrade. 

Governance

Mina Foundation’s Governance Team is completing the proposal for Mina Protocol’s governance vision and scheduling the public announcements in early Q2.

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