Celestia Foundation Ecosystem Delegation Program
Program Overview
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Cohort size | 10 validators total |
| Duration of delegation | 6 months (July 2025–Dec 2025) |
Basic Eligibility & Compliance
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Validator status | Active validator on mainnet or testnet |
| Commission | Maximum commission of 20% |
| Reliability | No more than 1 jailing incident in the last 6 months (if more than 1, a public forum post with a detailed post mortem is required) |
| Independence | Not associated with an exchange or custodian |
| Compliance | Not based within the US, within any country subject to economic sanctions, or within any other prohibited jurisdiction, and successfully complete a compliance screen |
| Infrastructure | Maintain a fully archival (non-pruned) bridge node for both Mainnet Beta and Mocha if selected for the program |
| Hosting | Not running your infrastructure in Hetzner or OVH |
| Conduct | Violations of the Celestia.org Code of Conduct will result in immediate disqualification |
Form Submission
Please send your application to this form
Background
This 6-month pilot runs July–December 2025 and will result in the Celestia Foundation delegating to up to 10 validators. Every applicant must choose exactly one of our three tracks—Mamo-Users, Bootcamp & Mammothon, or R&D—and will be evaluated solely on that focus area. Eligibility and success criteria are defined separately for each track below.
Mamo-Users Rules & Requirements
Objectives & Key Metrics
| Category | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Recruitment | • 100 total power users* onboarded by November |
| Events & Engagement | • ≥ 1 app-focused meetup or AMA per month • ≥ 10 attendees at each meetup/AMA • Weekly discussion threads on Discord/forum |
| Content Production | • 6 native-language app tutorials or blog posts (1/month) • 6 review videos of Celestia dApps (1/month) • All high-quality content released under CC0 or equivalent |
| Evangelism & Feedback | • Active promotion of Bootcamp & Mammothon outputs in each report • Aggregate and escalate user feature-requests in Celestia Discord/forum |
| Community Health | • Track retention: power users who contribute (reviews, threads, evangelism) • By Month 6, identify a shortlist of "rising stars" in your local community |
*Power User in the Celestia ecosystem is an active, engaged advocate who:
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Regularly Uses Apps | Interacts daily or weekly with Celestia-powered applications, test pilots early access features without handholding |
| Gives Actionable Feedback | Opens tutorial threads, participates in Q&A, and responds to surveys to make products better |
| Creates & Shares Content | Publishes high-quality native-language tutorials or short review videos highlighting real-world use |
| Evangelizes Authentically | Recommends apps to peers at meetups or online, acting as an informal ambassador |
| Leads Locally | Organizes testing groups, spawns discussion threads, mentors newcomers, and escalates critical insights to Community Managers |
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Penalties | Missing a monthly report or skipping the required event ⇒ immediate disqualification |
| Out-of-Scope | Bootcamp/Mammothon programming, R&D/CIP work, general protocol marketing |
| Licensing | All user-facing content must be released under CC0 (or similarly permissive public-domain terms) |
Example Submission for Mamo-Users
Click to expand example
| Month | Event Type | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| M1 | Virtual AMA | • Topic: "Which Celestia dApps do you use daily?" (15 attendees) • Gather feedback on existing apps • Discuss how Bootcamp can grant early-alpha access • Publish recap on Discord & Twitter |
| M2 | In-person meetup | • Hands-on testing of three flagship dApps • 12 power users document UX pain points • Collate feedback for Bootcamp teams on how users discover and adopt alphas |
| M3 | Virtual AMA | • Review updated dApp versions • Solicit feature requests and "wish-list" items (20 attendees) • Share a "User Adoption Guide" draft for Bootcamp cohorts |
| M4 | In-person meetup | • Mammothon idea-pitch event • Power users vote on top 5 hackathon themes based on user demand • Publish pitch summaries and vote results on forum + Twitter |
| M5 | Virtual AMA | • Mammothon kickoff—introduce allowlisted ideas • Advise hacker teams on engaging power users for early testing (25 attendees) • Post "How to Reach Your First 50 Users" guide tailored to chosen hackathon themes |
| M6 | In-person meetup | • Preview of early hackathon prototypes • Power users provide live feedback and adoption tactics • Release a "Community Impact Report" detailing recruitment, retention, feedback loops, and rising-star power users |
Bootcamp & Mammothon Rules & Requirements
Scope & Deliverables
| Deliverable | Description |
|---|---|
| Community Outreach | Host local meetups (dev & product) to promote Celestia Bootcamp (July–Aug) and Mammothon (Sep–Oct) |
| Participant Funnel | Drive recruited attendees into both programs; celebrate completions with exit events |
| Weekly Pit-Stops | During Bootcamp/Mammothon, run ≥ 1 check-in per week to motivate and troubleshoot |
| Translations & Workshops | Translate in-house learning materials; optionally host validator-onboarding workshops (must notify council) |
Timeline & Cadence
| Period | Activities |
|---|---|
| Jul (Recruitment Warm-Up) | ≥ 1 local promo event per month |
| Aug-Sep | Execute Bootcamp programming & weekly pit-stops |
| Oct-Nov | Run Mammothon hackathon & weekly pit-stops |
| Dec | Wrap up what local talent has delivered as an event |
| Reporting | For each month, deliver a written + social-media report at least 24 h before the B&M council sync |
Participation & Scale
| Aspect | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Recruitment Target | Recruit ≥ 50 individuals or 10 teams (3–5 members each) per applicant for bootcamps and mammothons participation |
| Mentorship Format | (one-on-one or group) at team’s discretion |
Review Process
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| Monthly B&M Council Sync | Present outreach stats, pit-stop summaries, and issue resolutions |
| Attendance Policy | Live attendance may be waived if all written reports and community responses are complete |
Success Criteria
| Criterion | Target |
|---|---|
| Bootcamp | ≥ 50% of recruited participants complete the program |
| Mammothon | ≥ 30% of Bootcamp graduates (and new public sign-ups) finish & submit a built application |
| Competition Results | Produce at least 1 winner (or 2 semi-finalists) in the hackathon |
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Penalties | Missing a monthly report or weekly pit-stop ⇒ immediate disqualification |
| Out-of-Scope | • Working with pre-existing, production-grade teams or products • Gambling or unrelated hackathon content |
| Licensing | All created materials must be open-sourced |
Example Submission for Bootcamp/Mammothon
Click to expand example
| Month | Activities |
|---|---|
| M1 | • Host first local meetup to announce Celestia Bootcamp • Recruit ≥ 20 devs • Translate Week 1 slides • Publish a forum post + tweet • Hold second meetup focused on career pathways through hackathons • Recruit additional ≥ 30 individuals • Finalize pit-stop schedule • Share update on Discord/Twitter |
| M2 | • Kick off Bootcamp Month 1 • Run weekly pit-stop check-ins • Post attendance stats & participant feedback to forum + socials |
| M3 | • Conclude Bootcamp • Host exit celebration event • Report 50%+ completion rate • Gather testimonials • Publish a wrap-up thread |
| M4 | • Activate Mammothon • Onboard participants (Bootcamp grads + public) • Facilitate team formations and ideas selection / commitment |
| M5 | • Run pit-stops for teams locally • Motivate team progress with help on sharing progress to the broader audience • If applicable, help or be teams' first users |
| M6 | • Close Mammothon • Report ≥ 30% finish rate • Open-source all demo projects • Publish final outcomes |
R&D Rules & Requirements
Scope
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| CIPs | Research & propose protocol improvements (e.g. fee-models, staking incentives); produce Celestia Improvement Proposals with simulations or data analysis |
| Public-Goods Tooling | Develop open-sourced libraries/SDKs for JSON-RPC or canonical APIs (e.g. Python, JavaScript), or reusable CLIs for developer workflows |
| Duration | 6 months |
| Deliverable Volume | Teams may tackle multiple CIPs and/or tools as they choose |
Milestone Reporting
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Monthly Demo | Recorded video + written summary published at least 24 h before the R&D council sync |
| Feedback Response | Must address council comments and community feedback on the forum/socials within 2 weeks of receipt |
| Communication Channels | Celestia Forum, X and Discord required; other platforms optional |
Review Process
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| Monthly R&D Council Sync | Live attendance may be waived if demos, write-ups, and feedback responses are all complete |
Success Criteria
| Area | Target |
|---|---|
| CIPs | ≥ 1 proposal advances to "beyond Draft" and is featured on a Core Devs call, with clear ownership and resolved feedback |
| Tooling | Adoption by ≥ 1–2 external teams (e.g. Mammothon or Bootcamp cohorts); bonus for third-party startup integration |
| Penalties | Missing a demo/report deadline or failing to address feedback on time ⇒ immediate disqualification |
Example Submissions for R&D
Click to expand example
1. CIP: "Dynamic Data Availability Fees"
| Month | Deliverables |
|---|---|
| M1 | • Publish forum post with proposal outline • Promote via Twitter thread |
| M3 | • Share on-chain simulation results • Respond to community Q&A on forum & Discord |
| M6 | • Submit final CIP • Present on a Celestia Core Devs call |
2. Tooling: "py-celestia-node-rpc"
| Month | Deliverables |
|---|---|
| M1 | • Repository skeleton + basic JSON-RPC wrapper |
| M4 | • Release v1.0 (support subscriptions + tests) • Demo recording + write-up on Discord & Twitter |
| M6 | • Enable two Bootcamp teams to build MVPs using the library • Collect adoption feedback |
3. Tooling: "bridge-health-checker"
| Month | Deliverables |
|---|---|
| M1 | • Repo skeleton + CLI that reads DA bridge node disk usage • Forum post + Twitter announcement |
| M2 | • Add PagerDuty integration + unit tests + CI • Demo recording + write-up on Discord & Twitter |
| M3 | • Onboard 3–5 validators • Collect usage metrics & feedback • Publish adoption report |