This is OpShin: a toolchain that lets developers construct Cardano smart contracts in Python. The toolchain comprises several projects that aim to facilitate the development of Smart Contracts and dApps on Cardano. They are largely based on Python, or integrate well with it for maximal accessibility. On top of accessibility, OpShin ensures low transaction cost compared to PlutusTx.

At the time of writing, Python is the second-most used language on GitHub, with 14.75% of the active userbase working with Python, and enjoys a 22.5% year-over-year increase in users; this is driven in part by its utility in data science and machine learning.

Everyone who knows Python can leverage the toolstack available for Python development to build on Cardano; and that is a lot of people, with a lot of tools.

OpShin enforces strict typing on the high-level programming: it implements a type system on top of Python type hints. However, all traces of typing are erased during compilation, for a maximum efficiency program. OpShin beats many programming languages when taken to the test for real use-cases.

Developing Smart Contracts on Cardano is difficut to get started with. Historically, the functional programming paradigm of Haskell and Plutus has scared away new developers. Aiken, Plu-ts and similar alternatives are also based on functional programming. Moreover all of these languages are rare, some specifically designed for Cardano Contracts. Thus, if developers want to start building for Cardano, they need to to learn a completely new language.

We propose OpShin, a Python-based smart contract language for Cardano. Python is one of the most popular programming languages known. On top of this we provide the security guarantees that are the reason for the Cardano community to embrace functional programming - thus offering an accessible and easy to start with alternative to current languages.

OpShin is aimed at developers that want to build on Cardano. It drastically simplifies onboarding when experience in Python is given, and even without is easy to read and access.

By making development of Smart Contracts more accessible, OpShin is a key catalyst for a growing ecosystem of DApps on Cardano. The benefit to community is immense.

The project is under ongoing development. The language itself is already completed and production ready, but the Smart Contract Ecosystem is always evolving (i.e. new Plutus versions, standards, CIPs). This evolution requires continuous adaptations. The proposal is enough to fund further development for one year. There are no fixed deliverables as it is hard to predict the changes in the ecosystem.

The main part-time developer has a yearly salary of USD 60000 for a normal, part-time contract at 20h / week. Additional contracts are estimated to cost around USD 30000 per contract, we expect 2 contracts per year based on historical involvements. Moreover we estimate additional administrative overhead, including servers and bookkeeping at USD 10000.

1 core technical contributors is required part-time to maintain the OpShin project successfully for one year. Moreover, in the past, on-demand contracts have shown to be successful at increasing the contributing power in times of demand.

The main proposer, Niels, has already bootstrapped the main part of the project. In its current form the tool is able to be used and already being used. The proposer is completely doxed and well-known in the Community.

He also has a strong network of competent and experienced developers interested and capable in supporting the project. He is supported on a per-demand basis by contributors to OpShin such as Julius Frost and S.C. Musson, who have redeemed themselves by contributing valuable improvements.

The main goal of this proposal is to improve usability and developer experience with respect to Smart Contracts on Cardano. With the given funds, the continued development of the toolchain is secured as developers can be hired to tackle basic issues in the toolchain whereas the main proposer is able to allocate more time of the day towards developing OpShin himself.

The project is currently maintained by a team of motivated open-source developers, who will be eager to continue development after an initial phase.

OpShin and its related project have in the past received 6 Catalyst Grands over 4 Funds, showing continued support from the community. OpShin has also contributed to various CIP discussions about Smart Contract standards have been discussed.

No dependencies.