The operating cost for the research organization Polkadot Ecology Research Institute for 2025/4-2026/3
Beneficiary:Hello everyone in the Polkadot community! We are the Polkadot Ecology Research Institute, the largest research institute in Asia focusing on the Polkadot ecosystem, and also a research organization with significant global influence within the Polkadot ecosystem. We have successfully completed all plans for the last treasury application, so we are applying here for our annual operational expenses from April 2025 to March 2026.
Our team at the Polkadot Ecology Research Institute are all from the earliest builders of the Chinese Polkadot community. We have been contributing to the Polkadot ecosystem since 2019, making it more than 6 years of dedicated effort. Due to our contributions and high-quality research content, we have received support from the Polkadot Treasury for 8 consecutive times.
- In the past few years, we have written nearly 300 original pieces of content/in-depth reports on Polkadot and the development of its ecosystem, achieving more than 63 million views. The total word count has exceeded 1.8 million words. We are also the only institution in the Chinese market that publishes research content on the official Medium of Polkadot.
- As of now, we have supported more than 90 Polkadot-related events in total. In 2022 and 2023, for two consecutive years, we participated as guests in the global sharing activities of the Polkadot Decoded Community Conference. The cumulative number of people reaching Polkadot from all activities has exceeded 50,000.
- In addition, we are actively empowering the development of the Polkadot ecosystem. We have provided content/activity/community support for more than 130 projects within the ecosystem. We have provided investment and financing consultation and connection services for some projects to help investment institutions better understand them. Although we are based in the Chinese market, we have also provided assistance and support to many Polkadot ecosystem projects in other regions around the world, and most of it is provided unpaid and voluntary.
- In the past year, we have also increased our overseas operation efforts to serve the global Polkadot market, especially in terms of Twitter operation. We currently have more than 4,700 followers, which is six times the number of followers we had during the same period last year. We have published more than 6,000 tweets in total. Our founder, Zou Yang, has also been actively creating content through his Twitter in the past year. His Twitter account has successfully been selected as one of the top 100 KOLs in the Polkadot Mindshare ranking on KAITO.
As a major institution focusing on the research of the Polkadot ecosystem in the Asia market and even globally, we have continuously contributed to the development of Polkadot over the past 6 years. Whether in a bull or bear market, our research content has been read and adopted by many institutions, and it has also become one of the important channels for ordinary users to understand the development of Polkadot. In the future, we will continue to support the development of Polkadot and its ecosystem!
We have recently released a strategic development report on Polkadot with a word count of more than 12,000 words. This report is a comprehensive report on the current situation, challenges, competitive strategies, and various solutions of Polkadot that we have provided after conducting detailed community research (including developers) and collecting materials, taking nearly one month. It has sparked extensive discussions within the Polkadot community, been reposted and read by many institutions, and has been recognized by the Web3 Foundation. If you are interested, you can refer to this in-depth report.
This is our work feedback report for the past year. You can check the detailed information here:
The development report of Polkadot Ecology Research Institute for 2024/4 - 2024/9
The development report of Polkadot Ecology Research Institute for 2024/10 - 2025/3
In this proposal, we are applying for 12 months of operating funds, mainly for personnel expenses. This is also our 9th application to the Polkadot Treasury. You can check out our detailed proposal and find more information about us here, as well as comments from Polkadot builders on our work.
The amount of our application is not particularly large because it is mainly for the personnel expenses of the daily operation of the research institute. The business costs and travel expenses for our participation in various Polkadot activities have always been paid by ourselves. This has been the case in the past few years, and it will still be the case for this application.
Please consider casting your valuable vote in our favor, and feel free to leave any questions or feedback in the proposal. We will be sure to respond promptly.
Comments (7)
Proposal Passed
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Nay
Aye (63)0.0 DOT
Support0.0 DOT
Nay (71)0.0 DOT
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You gotta be kidding me!
We would like to take a moment to provide some background information to the community.
The Polkadot Ecological Research Institute was established following a suggestion from PolkaWorld.
Going back to 2020, we believed that Polkadot needed to cultivate more contributors in China, and the founder of the Polkadot Ecological Research Institute had, at an early stage, contributed by helping PolkaWorld compile the Polkadot Weekly Reports.
However, we would also like to clarify that PolkaWorld and the Polkadot Ecological Research Institute are two independent entities with separate operations.There has never been any other form of financial or interest relationship between the two.
Overall, based on our observations in China, the Polkadot Ecological Research Institute has indeed produced content that has sparked discussion and thought among Chinese-speaking users. They are particularly good at comparing Polkadot with other ecosystems, drawing lessons from different communities, and encouraging the Chinese community to explore how Polkadot can develop even better.
Turning to the current proposal, as one of the DVs (Decentralized Voices), PolkaWorld, in line with our long-held principles, would like to raise the following concerns and invite the team’s response:
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The proposal mainly emphasizes unstructured metrics such as “influence,” “expanded reach,” and “shares,” while lacking clear and quantifiable deliverables. Although the reports appear voluminous, there are no well-defined KPIs or results-tracking mechanisms. Simply stating “how many words were written” does not necessarily reflect the true impact on the ecosystem. Providing some measurable outcomes would greatly help the community better understand your contributions.
The proposal mentions figures such as “63 million total reads,” “support for over 130 projects,” and “coverage of over 50,000 users,” but no verifiable links or statistical sources were provided. If these figures represent social media impressions, the methodology and data platforms used should be clearly stated.
If the numbers are based on website traffic or media platform analytics, third-party backend screenshots should be included for verification. Without supporting evidence, the credibility of these numbers remains uncertain.
While the proposal states that the team has been successfully funded by the Treasury eight times, it does not provide a clear review of the promises versus actual deliverables from those previous proposals.
For example: Were there any delays or uncompleted tasks? Without a thorough retrospective on prior performance, it would be difficult for the community to supervise another 12-month funding period effectively.
For example, the proposal states that the team will “produce no fewer than 3 original analysis reports on Polkadot or its ecosystem per month” and “produce 4 in-depth contents on Polkadot ecosystem development per month.” It would be helpful to clarify the distinction between these two types of content and specify what topics will be covered, so that the community can better understand the team’s areas of strength.
Additionally, the proposal mentions “participating in at least one online/offline discussion or event related to Polkadot or its ecosystem development per month.” Based on past reports, this task was not consistently completed as originally stated, and interviews were often used instead. While we acknowledge that interviews can be meaningful, it would be better to clearly define the nature of such activities when setting targets — for example, specifying “live events” if they are online sessions. This would make expectations clearer for the community. Overall, we believe that the task descriptions for the next year could benefit from greater specificity.
Conclusion
Given the concerns outlined above, PolkaWorld‘s first vote is NAY.
However, as we have always emphasized, a NAY does not represent a denial of your past contributions or a complete rejection of your work. Rather, it reflects our hope that with clearer deliverables, better-defined OKRs, and more measurable outcomes, you can continue to build trust and support within the community.
We look forward to seeing the team’s response and any adjustments to the proposal. We will continue to follow and pay attention to its progress.