Polkadot System Collator Bounty 2nd Top-up - 2026
Polkadot System Parachain Collator Bounty 2nd Top-up
Dear community,
This proposal requests a second top-up for Polkadot system parachain collators covering seven months, from July 2026 through January 2027.
The total request is 96,775 USDT.
Compared with Referendum 1870, the main changes are:
- The funded set increases from 30 to 38 community invulnerable collator assignments, with 8 additional assignments for Bulletin.
- Standard collator compensation is reduced from $300 to $250 per month.
- Bulletin collators receive $500 per month because of their higher infrastructure and operational requirements.
- Curator compensation is fixed at $250 per curator per month, and coordinator compensation is set at $1,000 per month.
- Local infrastructure costs $575 per month, including the Bulletin instance.
- Staking rewards and payments to permissionless collators remain excluded.
The July portion covers work already provided during the gap between the previous allocation and the expected approval of this top-up. This top-up request is needed earlier than expected because the lower DOT price reduced the value of the previous allocation and shortened the programme’s runway. Requesting the funding directly in USDT avoids the same DOT price risk for this period.
The separate Kusama collator top-up is not included in this request.
Check the full details of the proposal here
Regards,
System Parachain Collator Bounty Curator Team
Comments (1)
Voting Period
Decision Period
1 / 28 days
Confirmation Period
0 / 4 days
There are two separate points I would like to clarify regarding the System Parachain Collator Bounty.
1. Bulletin funding
Referendum #1870 states that the funded set was increased from 30 to 38 by adding 8 funded Bulletin invulnerables. However, Referendum #1943 again describes the 8 Bulletin positions as “8 additional assignments”, while also stating that the proposal does not increase the number of funded assignments beyond the existing model.
Looking at the child bounties, I cannot currently find evidence that the Bulletin collators received those payments under #1870. Could you please clarify whether those payments were actually made and, if so, where they can be verified?
2. Who is receiving funding from the bounty?
Separately, I think the community should have a clear and publicly verifiable list of the collators currently receiving funding from this bounty. This is particularly relevant because concerns have previously been raised about some operators receiving treasury funding, including cases involving commission flipping and/or operating multiple identities. Some of the operators discussed in this context include:
I am not suggesting that previous allegations automatically disqualify anyone from receiving funding. However, given that this is treasury-funded infrastructure, I think it is reasonable for the community to be able to verify exactly who is being funded.
3. Remaining DOT in the bounty
It also appears that there is still approximately 12,000 DOT remaining in the existing bounty. Since #1943 is now requesting 96,775 USDT for the next funding period, what will happen to the remaining DOT? Will the remaining DOT be returned to the Treasury before the new USDT funding is provided, or will it remain in the bounty?
It would be helpful to clarify this as well, particularly given the move from DOT-denominated to USDT-denominated funding.
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