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Vote NAY - Pixelproof – A Decentralized Photo App for Everyone
Update: 11.07.2025:
We have heard the community loud and clear and will post an updated referenda with a more detailed document and a lower ask.
Apillon, in collaboration with Parity Technologies and R0gue, is proud to submit this proposal for Pixelproof — a fully decentralized, production-grade photo storage application built on the Polkadot ecosystem. Our goal is simple yet bold: to create the first flagship consumer-facing dApp on Polkadot that rivals mainstream solutions like Google Photos, but with true user ownership, privacy, and decentralization at its core.
Despite Polkadot’s maturity in infrastructure and protocol-level innovation, the ecosystem still lacks powerful, user-first applications that resonate beyond crypto-native circles. Pixelproof fills that gap.
Pixelproof is more than a technical showcase — it is a usable, polished, multi-platform application designed for everyday users. It leverages:
- IPFS + Polkadot-native storage (built by Eiger)
- Embedded wallet authentication with no seed phrase friction
- Smart contract-based access control and monetization features
- AI-powered content moderation and safety layers using Umanitek
- Phala Cloud deployment for privacy-preserving self-hosted instances
This proposal outlines a 6–8 month development roadmap with the total requested funding of $575,000, covering infrastructure, smart contract development, wallet integration, UX, DevOps, and open-source tooling.
We invite the Polkadot community to review the full proposal PDF for an in-depth breakdown of architecture, and the strategic value Pixelproof brings to the ecosystem.
Together, let’s show the world what a real Web3 app can look like.
Comments (16)
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Proposal Failed
Summary
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Aye (29)0.0 DOT
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Nay (53)0.0 DOT
Hello,
Thanks for the proposal, the project is relevant and well-structured. I have a few quick questions:
Thanks in advance for your answers.
Hey @13TiVJm5vLCvFuNu3sWbyuRoqHdzGLkEcBmwzmvP2Uv3sUDk, thanks for the thoughtful questions!
Apillon has been building in the Polkadot ecosystem for over four years now, with deep experience across backend, frontend, infrastructure, and UX. We’ve worked closely with many parachain teams and ecosystem partners, and our SDKs are powering several production use cases today. The core team on this project brings full-stack capabilities - from decentralized storage and wallet auth to smart contract development and user-facing design.
Parity is focused on the protocol layer and has asked us to lead this initiative as a real-world, user-facing dApp. They’ll provide strategic oversight and input, while R0gue will support us on smart contract architecture and implementation - especially with ink! and Solidity components.
As this will be a community-owned project from the start, the long-term business model and monetization strategy will ultimately be defined in collaboration with the DAO. That said, we’re exploring freemium features, NFT-based monetization, and creator tooling - and are excited to co-create the most compelling path forward with the community.
Regarding the name - totally fair point. “Pixelproof” is the current working title to reflect its core utility, but the DAO will absolutely have the opportunity to define the final brand identity once the proposal is approved and development begins in order to make it more appealing to the masses.
Agree with the poster above, needs a new name. My concerns revolve around revshare. I assume at some point this will be monetized, will any of that revenue flow back to treasury? If so, how, and what will revshare look like?
@Stake Plus
Great point, and thanks for surfacing it.
To clarify: Pixelproof is a 100% revenue-to-treasury initiative. Apillon is not pursuing private commercialization - we are focused solely on technical delivery. All monetization features (e.g. tipping, NFT minting, storage extensions) will be structured so that any revenue flows directly to the Polkadot treasury or treasury-designated addresses.
We're also not taking this to market alone. We will engage with ecosystem partners like Distractive and the Marketing Bounty for go-to-market efforts, user onboarding, and awareness. Our role is to deliver a polished, scalable dApp that the community and ecosystem can rally around.
Importantly, Pixelproof is not a one-off - it’s designed to be a kickstart dApp for a larger initiative: proving that real, retail-grade Web3 apps are possible on Polkadot. It will serve as both a flagship product and a developer reference implementation, helping onboard new builders and teams into the ecosystem using Polkadot-native tools like Apillon SDKs, POP CLI, PAPI and many more.