This article aims to introduce the Bounty system in Polkadot and Kusama and encourage the community to participate in them actively. Bounties are an excellent opportunity to contribute to the ecosystem's growth through activities such as events, marketing, development, security, education, and more.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

What are bounties?


Bounties are a funding mechanism within the Polkadot and Kusama networks designed to incentivize the completion of specific tasks that benefit the ecosystem. These tasks can be technical, creative, educational, organizational, or otherwise community-oriented.


Unlike a traditional treasury proposal, which requests funding for work already completed or planned, a bounty establishes an open reward that anyone can claim if they successfully complete a task under clearly defined conditions.


Whereas treasury proposals are subject to network-wide voting—often by individuals without specific knowledge of the topic—bounties entrust decision-making and task evaluation to specialists (curators). This approach ensures that contributions are judged with the appropriate expertise and that rewards are distributed based on merit and quality.


In summary, bounties are a way to fund community-driven work, and their main benefits are:

  • Decentralizing work across various contributors in the ecosystem.
  • Ensuring task quality and follow-up through curators.
  • Encouraging community participation by allowing anyone with relevant skills to contribute.
  • Improving public fund management by distributing rewards based on actual task completion.
  • Accelerating collaboration without requiring a new governance proposal for each contribution.

What are curators?


Curators are qualified members of the community responsible for managing the proper functioning of a bounty. They also play an active role in improving the bounty and its processes, ensuring that tasks are executed efficiently and with the expected level of quality.


Their main responsibilities include reviewing participation requests, monitoring task development, and validating results before authorizing the corresponding rewards.


Although curators do not have direct access to the bounty funds, they are responsible for authorizing payments once the agreed-upon conditions are met. For this reason, it is essential that the curators form a diverse and decentralized group, helping to ensure transparency, minimize risk, and safeguard the proper use of ecosystem resources.

What are child bounties?


Child bounties are rewards linked to a parent bounty and created directly by the curators. Their primary purpose is to enable individual payments for specific tasks related to the bounty's objective, without requiring a new governance proposal.


This mechanism gives curators more flexibility, as they can issue a child bounty to reward contributors who complete work aligned with the main bounty, such as organizing a meetup, developing a tool, creating content, etc.


Child Bounties are also commonly used to compensate the curators themselves, if that was defined as part of the bounty's original scope.


They are published and managed through platforms like Polkassembly or Subsquare, where all relevant information is displayed:



  1. Title: The name assigned by the curators.
  2. Parent Bounty: The main bounty to which it's linked.
  3. Status: Can be Active, Claimed, or Canceled.
  4. Comments: A space for curators to leave notes or feedback.
  5. Editors: Only curators can edit or sign the child bounty.
  6. Overview: Includes beneficiary, amount, curator's fee, and reference to the parent bounty.
  7. Metada and Timeline: Detailed information about the child bounty, plus a timeline of all actions and events.

Who can create a bounty?


Anyone can propose the creation of a bounty on Polkadot or Kusama, as long as they hold the minimum amount of DOT or KSM required to submit a governance proposal.


When creating a bounty, it's important to include:

  • A clear description of the task or set of tasks to be incentivized.
  • The total budget requested.
  • The estimated duration of the bounty.
  • A suggested list of curators.


Visit the OpenWatch website and learn about best practices for Bounties.


Once the bounty is approved, the allocated funds are transferred to an account controlled by the curators, who are responsible for its correct execution and distribution.


If you want to learn more about creating a bounty, check out the Polkadot Wiki.

How to apply for a bounty?


If you'd like to contribute through a bounty, the first step is to explore the currently active ones. You can do this on platforms like Polkassembly or Subsquare, under the Bounties section:




Once you find a bounty that interests you, click to see all the details: Bounty description, budget, assigned curators, and any specific participation requirements.


If the bounty is open to the community, contact the curators to express your interest and submit a short proposal. You'll typically need to explain:

  • What task do you plan to complete?
  • How will you do it?
  • The value it brings to the ecosystem.


If your proposal is accepted, the curators may issue a child bounty to fund your work. Once you've completed the task and submitted the necessary evidence, the curators will review your results and, if everything is satisfactory, approve the payment directly to the account you used to apply.



ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

Please note that having an on-chain identity is often required to participate in a Bounty. If you don't have one yet, we recommend setting it up.

You can follow this article to learn how.


Bounties are a powerful tool for promoting decentralized collaboration within the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems.


If you have the skills, motivation, and the will to contribute, this might be your gateway to getting involved and being rewarded for it.


Check out the active Bounties on Polkassembly or Subsquare and take the first step.