Abstract

Amaru is an open-source project that aims to build a new fully interoperable block-producing node for improving the overall accessiblity and robustness of the Cardano network without compromising on its satefy and security. Amaru provides another perspective and solution for stake pool operators and developers alike, focusing on modularity and easy-of-use. The project is implemented mainly in Rust and aims to attract new contributors to the core maintenance of the ecosystem. This proposal is designed to breakdown the objectives, scopes, timelines and costs pertaining to Amaru. It delivers the full vision behind the project and open the discussion regarding a Cardano treasury withdrawal to sustain its development. For better viewing experience please use this link: https://hackmd.io/@PRAGMA-org/amaru-proposal Disclaimer: The following document is a DRAFT proposal for the Amaru project. It is a collective document that describes the vision and the needs of multiple entities/actors involved in the development of Amaru. This proposal will evolve in January 2025 following changes of scopes and resources allocated to the project It is meant as a starting point for discussing Cardano treasury withdrawals in alignment with the incoming constitution. As such, we invite anyone interested to comment on the following document, and share feedback with us. Result of the estimation phase of our proposal: 6 FTEs + $60k (see https://hackmd.io/@PRAGMA-org/amaru-proposal for details) Given our assumptions the valuation of this proposal based on a 200k$ base for an FTE, the estimation comes down to: 6 * 200k$ + 60 k$ = 1260k$ Given our assumption regarding our optimism bias (add 25% of contingency), the proposal submitted will be targetting: $1.578M as a result of the scopes covered in Amaru and ask for the equivalent in ADA at the time the treasury withdrawal is emitted.

Motivation

Along the lines of the project, it aims to bring diversity and operational resilience to the Cardano network, improve the overall performance with no compromise regarding security and focus on operator experience by having a modular design.

Rational

For better viewing experience please use this link: https://hackmd.io/@PRAGMA-org/amaru-proposal The result of applying every steps of the framework described and the mindset used on the project gave us the following: Achieved demos for Amaru so far are: - Chain-synchronization proof-of-concept in Dolos (30th May 2024) - First Amaru node experiment : Simple peer-to-peer network with a single block producer (22nd October 2024) - Amaru (20th Dec) - Ledger progress demo (20th December) The demos that are currently forecasted are: - Amaru Q1 25 (Private testnet launch, Mempool simple implementation, Networking peer discovery) - Amaru Q2 25 (Ledger full validation, Consensus tested, UTxO RPC implemented, Networking Inbound & Outbound) - Amaru Q3 25 (Ledger governance rules, Consensus full validation & conformance tested, Sundae Sync implemented, Complex mempool) - Amaru Q4 25 (Consensus block production, Mempool operator environment, Testnet tuning down, Ledger with Amaru as a trusted peer)

Supporting links