DFINITY Foundation

Synapse.vote (original)

ICDevs.org

CryptoIsGood

Anvil

ICPL.app

ysyms

The Accumulators’ Neuron

RawTech Venture

Paul Young

ICPMANUAL

8yeargangDAO

Isaac Valadez

Krzysztof Żelazko

Nicolas.ic

Smaug’s Neuron for Retail Investors

ICLight.io

Synapse.vote (NEW)

Taggr Network

CodeGov

Sonic AMM

Rakeoff.io

OpenChat

ELNA AI

GEEKFACTORY

ICP Hub México

ICP Hub Poland

Jerry Banfield

WaterNeuron

ICP Hub Bulgaria

Gold DAO

NeuronPool

LORIMER ♾️ 🐶

B3Pay

ZenithCode

Aviate Labs

D-QUORUM

Yuku AI

CO.DELTA △

DragginCorp

Gwojda

Thyassa

🌮 TACO DAO Neuron

Cosmicrafts

Arthur’s Neuron (used to be cycle_dao)

Inactive (Request Removal) - The Fools' Court

$STACK

Always Rejects

John Wiegley

# Background 
As part of an ongoing effort to incentivise neurons to verify proposals in depth, voting neuron grants will be provided for candidates selected by the community. Overall, 2 candidates are selected for each of 7 proposal topics. **This is one of multiple motion proposals submitted today to select these candidates**: 

- one NNS motion proposal is submitted for each candidate and topic for which the candidate applied  

- for each proposal, the result is computed as the number of YES minus the number of no votes (#YES-#NO). Proposals that are not adopted are not considered.

- for each topic, the 2 candidates with the highest results get the grants 

You can read more about the motivation and the process [here](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/voting-neuron-grants-season-2). 

# Proposal Topic 
Participant Management & Node Admin

# Is this a team grant application? 
yes

# [Application Text](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/voting-neuron-grants-season-2/53020/28?u=cryptoschindler)


# [CO.DELTA △](https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/neuron/33138099823745946) - Participant Management & Node Admin

### Voting Neuron Grant Application

* **Topic:** Participant Management & Node Admin

* **Total Team Size:** 9
* **Specialist Team Size:** 3
* **We’re different △** - verifiably decentralised, high quality, publicly shared proof of due diligence, provided by experienced members of the community, for the community. CO.DELTA has no hierarchy. All team members are co-owners of the neuron, the fund dispersal canister, and all other aspects. This is enforced by threshold consensus. Each specialist sub-team within CO.DELTA thereby acts as a distinct entity covering their respective topic.

### Specialist Team Members

---

#### Name:

Alex Lorimer

#### Applied Topic(s):

**Participant Management & Node Admin**, SNS & Neurons’ Fund, Subnet management & API BN Management

#### Why Participant Management & Node Admin:

These topics are fundamental to the sanctity and intengrity of the decentralised infrastructure running the IC, and the promise of deterministic decentralisation. As with all topics that I cover, if elected I will build and refine tooling to better understand and visualise the utilisation, arrangement and distribution of node providers, their nodes, data centers etc. across the IC, automatically fact-checking a range of claims and detecting topology weaknesses. I’ve been a very active member in discussions and proposals in these topics; attending meetups, appraising and helping to shape initiatives, and writing up analysis at important junctures. Here are some examples:

* [SYBILing nodes! scream Exploiting IC Network… Community Attention Required!](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/sybiling-nodes-exploiting-ic-network-community-attention-required/40690) - An article I wrote to highlight weaknesses in current node provider onboarding processes. I proposed clustering certain node providers (an approach which has now be adopted). I wrote up further commentary here - [On-chain Node Beneficiaries](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/on-chain-node-beneficiaries-scalability-without-sacrificing-independence/50024).
* To compensate for lack of fact-checking practices during node onboarding, I currently fact-check claims regarding node location during subnet membership changes ([here’s a recent example](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/subnet-management-fuqsr-application/33655/89)). This is one of many practices I’d like to take to Participant Management & Node Admin due diligence.
* [Enhancing Network Decentralization - Proposals for Node Provider Standards](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/enhancing-network-decentralization-proposals-for-node-provider-standards/43053/121) - An example of basic tooling I wrote to establish node provider clusters based on their data center arrangements (another example of due diligence that should have taken place during onboarding, rather than as part of Subnet Management).
* [Guidance Beneficial Ownership Legal Persons](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/enhancing-network-decentralization-proposals-for-identity-verification-and-subnet-allocation/42664/134) - An example of the time and effort I put into understanding and fact checking initiatives relating to node provider integrity
* [Node Snapshots](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/subnet-management-general-discussion/34091/246) - An example of regular snapshots I take of node downtime, which is an important consideration for performance based node rewards.
* There are [many more examples that evidence my engagement on these topics](https://forum.dfinity.org/search?q=%40Lorimer%20topic%3A16643%20order%3Alatest), and my commitment to independent participation and critical thinking.

#### About me:

I’m an experienced full-stack software developer, with an MSc in Computer Science and a ResM (research masters) which focused on mass-participatory design. I’m passionate about Web3 governance, and I’m dedicated to improving tooling, as well as processes and procedures relating to NNS participation. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The IC is the solution, and I’m very driven to help it succeed. I’m also heavily staked in the IC. I’m devoted to securing that long-term stake, and that of all other ICP stakers. I regularly review IC code and have received numerous bug bounties in the IC ecosystem. I’m also extremely active in governance matters and regularly post reviews, and vote on a range of topics. I’m always looking for opportunities to build tooling for the topics that I focus on in order to improve reliability, robustness and attention to detail.

* **DFINITY forum:** [Profile - Lorimer - Internet Computer Developer Forum](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/lorimer/summary)
* **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/aodlorimer/
* **Github:** [aodl (Alex Lorimer) · GitHub](https://github.com/aodl)

---

#### Name:

Donna Powell

#### Applied Topic(s):

**Participant Management & Node Admin**, SNS & Neurons’ Fund

#### Why Participant Management & Node Admin:

Toward the end of 2024, I identified warning signs related to Node Provider independence, which led me to conduct deep dives into the entire system. Since then, I’ve played a key role in driving the improved KYC initiative currently being piloted and introducing a new clustering methodology.

My company, Dragginz SARL, has also been approved as a node provider, should there be demand for additional nodes. Completing this process has given me valuable insight into how node provider documentation and onboarding could be significantly improved.

At a minimum, I believe reviewers should confirm an applicant’s identity through public records, check for connections to existing node providers, and verify the technical capability to manage nodes. These simple steps would reduce centralization risk and strengthen the IC’s integrity.

I want to apply everything I’ve learned to ensure node providers are well supported and truly reflect the decentralized, sovereign nature the IC network is meant to embody.
In addition, I believe there needs to be greater transparency in discussions among existing node providers. I will strongly advocate for moving these communications away from the current private Matrix channels and into the Dfinity forums, where they can be publicly visible and open to community oversight.

#### About me:

Hi, I have been active in the Internet Computer (IC) ecosystem since genesis and participated in the seed investor round. I’m also building on the IC as one of the creators of Dragginz and the Toko Marketplace/NFT maker. Before that, I spent over a decade involved in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

While I am not a developer, I bring strong analytical skills, experience and passion to the table. The Internet Computer’s technology drew me in because it offers something rare - code as an unbiased, incorruptible source of truth. The potential applications are vast, with the power to make systems fairer and more transparent. Seeing such potential misused for personal gain is deeply frustrating, and I’m committed to putting in the time to help protect the technology and give it the best chance to fulfil its promise.

Regardless of the grant outcome, I will actively review proposals in these areas and continue beyond the grant period. In the past, these topics did not receive the attention they deserved, and I am committed to ensuring that gap is closed.

If CO.DELTA is awarded a grant, I will donate any rewards I receive to initiatives developing tooling for the Internet Computer ecosystem.

* **DFINITY forum:** [Profile - Thyassa - Internet Computer Developer Forum](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/thyassa/summary)
* **Thyassa on X:** https://x.com/Donna_icp
* **Dragginz Website:** https://dragginz.io/
* **Toko on X:** [https://x.com/TokoMarket](https://x.com/TokoMarket_)

---

### Name:

Malith Hatanachchige

### Topics Applied:

**Participant Management & Node Admin**
Subnet management & API BN Management
Application Canister Management

### Why Participant Management & Node Admin

I applied for Participant Management & Node Admin because, as a node provider, I’ve worked end-to-end from the technical side to understanding the user experience. This gives me a clear perspective on how proposals affect both operations and participants, and it allows me to guide proposers in correcting submissions when needed.

Notable contributions

1. Built several tools for NPs to help diagnose and monitor node performance.

* IC Node Dashboard for Grafana
* iOS XDR Rewards Widget
* IC Netprobe (ping monitor for NPs)

2. Shared detailed downtime reports so reviewers can make informed decisions quickly, whether to keep a node online or replace it to protect subnet health.
[Incident report & recommendation
](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/subnet-management-x33ed-application-sns/36393/73)
3. Active discussion on forum regarding performance based reward : [Performance Based Node Rewards - #22 by MalithHatananchchige](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/performance-based-node-rewards/35208/22)
4. Wiki Updates on IPv6 migration with HSM key deployment update

### About me:

Hi, I’m Malith. I’ve been working in software and infrastructure for over 13 years, across everything from frontend/backend development to AI/ML and large-scale infrastructure for Web2, Web3, and AI inference workload. I’ve been part of the ICP community for the past two years, contributing by building useful tools for node providers, actively participating in the AI Technical Working Group, and operating as a node provider covering the South Asia region. And, as a Subnet Management & API BN Management reviewer, I’ve reviewed over 120 proposals.

My voting principle has always been to respond quickly, even if it’s to reject, while keeping my decisions fair and focused on the long term, so people can move forward with their tasks faster. To support this, I’ve built automation tools to handle background fact checking and research, which I then manually double check. Before casting my vote, I make it a point to consider the bigger picture.

In the blockchain industry as a whole, ICP is setting a strong precedent for driving mass market adoption of DApps, and the progress so far has been remarkable. I believe that supporting ICP by ensuring the safety and integrity of the community is crucial, as it allows the core team to focus on advancing the ICP and accelerating meaningful change.

I have been continuously contributing to the community, and I intend to maintain the same effort beyond the grant period.

* **DFINITY forum** : [DFINITY forum](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/malithhatananchchige/summary)
* **LinkedIn:** [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/malith-hatanachchige-8450b022)
* **Github:** [GitHub](https://github.com/GeoddHQ)

Voting Neuron Grants application of CO.DELTA △ for topic Participant Management & Node Admin