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By GrantFox
Open source collaboration hub for the Stellar ecosystem, allowing projects to receive meaningful contributions and build community, while contributors gain experience and build a portfolio on the network.
This submission delivers GrantFox as the default open-source collaboration hub for Stellar, with clear product additions and improvements aligned to MVP → Testnet → Mainnet.
-Maintainer App: Unified workspace to connect GitHub orgs/repos, publish and scope issues, review contributor applications, assign work, and track PRs end-to-end. Improves project visibility and reduces time-to-merge.
-Contributor App: GitHub-synced discovery and application flow so builders find relevant issues by language/topic, apply with context, track progress, and build a verifiable contribution record in the Stellar ecosystem.
-Admin App: Operational controls for platform admins to approve/reject projects, curate featured repos, and create contribution campaigns. Enables Stellar and ecosystem partners to fund maintainers and contributors directly via smart escrows, no middlemen.
-GitHub-Native Sync: Robust, bi-directional synchronization for repos, issues, and PRs using GitHub´s API. Application comments, assignments, and status changes are reflected on GitHub to minimize friction and spam.
-Campaigns: Built-in, time-boxed contribution sprints (OnlyDust-style) that concentrate attention on selected repos, increasing qualified applications per issue and bootstrapping network effects without paid marketing.
-Smart Escrows: Integration of the Trustless Work API to create milestone-based escrows and trigger transparent, instant payouts in USDC on Stellar. Simulated in MVP/Testnet; live on Mainnet.
-On-Chain Transparency & Reputation: Public levels and tiers to gamify the platform and give contributors sense of progress. Higher tiers mean higher rewards and reputation on the platform.
-Human Verification KYC: Verification flow for contributors and maintainers to reduce spam, Sybil behavior, and payout fraud. Integrated into onboarding, verification status is enforced in-app and can be surfaced as a trust signal for assignment decisions.
-Analytics & Quality Signals: Issue funnel metrics (views → applications → assignments → PRs), contributor history, and repo health indicators to guide assignment decisions and reduce low-quality submissions. Admin page will have full stats dashboard with live data for contributor, projects and rewards numbers.
-Documentation & Onboarding: Clear docs, in-product checklists, and short how-to videos (now in production) to accelerate setup for maintainers and first-issue success for contributors.
Yes
$60.0K
If GrantFox stays on course and gains traction, success looks like this: within 90 days of mainnet, the platform becomes the default hub for open-source collaboration on Stellar, with over 200 contributors actively shipping across more than 50 repositories from at least 40 organizations. Maintainers see smoother funnels, about 500 issue-to-pull-request workflows with roughly 70% conversion on assigned issues, and contributors build visible track records tied to real work.
Also, success to GrantFox means projects see the platform as an incubator to exponentially grow their projects, with support from the community, and scale from “another project” into a real startup. We want the Stellar Foundation to work hand-to-hand with our team, selecting projects with potential to participate on the platform, and creating a whole connected ecosystem through GrantFox.
Trust shows up on-chain. At least 200 escrows are created and released on Stellar, 95% within 24 hours of merge, with every payout provable on the ledger. Human verification keeps noise low and confidence high, while merge rates hold near 80% and the median time from assignment to merge lands at 7 days or less.
As momentum compounds over the first year, GrantFox stands as the recognized, central place to collaborate on Stellar: more than 600 active contributors working across at least 150 repositories, over 2,000 completed workflows, and about 1,000 escrows settled on Stellar, translating into faster repo velocity, stronger contributor retention, and a durable collaboration engine for the ecosystem.
We’ll grow GrantFox organically by doing what works for open source: visible work, real opportunities, and community storytelling. We will run recurring, large-scale social campaigns on X, LinkedIn, GitHub, and Discord to attract both sides of the market. For projects, we’ll highlight benefits like increased visibility, qualified applications, and faster issue-to-PR turnaround. For contributors, we’ll emphasize concrete perks: hands-on experience, portfolio-ready PRs, reputation building in the Stellar ecosystem, and rewards via trustless escrows.
Content will include Campaigns that concentrate attention and activity across selected projects.
Offline, we’ll show the product at Stellar-related and blockchain events and conferences, demoing the POC/live app to onboard maintainers and builders on the spot. We’ll pursue lightweight partnerships with ecosystem programs, meetups, and hackathons to make GrantFox the default collaboration hub they recommend.
All promotional efforts will use founder time, community partnerships, and non-SCF resources. SCF funds will only be used for product development and delivery. Success will be tracked by repos onboarded, qualified applications per issue, issue-to-PR conversion, active monthly contributors, and successful on-chain escrows.
In the first 48 hours of our open beta, GrantFox has attracted over 10 real Stellar projects (actively creating issues today) and more than 15 ready-to-work contributors, no mock data, no placeholders. Anyone can verify the live activity in real time at:
https://contribute.grantfox.xyz
These are early, organic beta numbers after just two days. If GrantFox continues on this path into mainnet and we open the doors to the broader Stellar community, we expect a step-change in adoption: more projects listing issues, more qualified applications, and a rapidly compounding contributor base, positioning GrantFox as the default collaboration hub for the ecosystem.
At the end of the day this is an already-proven business model, OnlyDust already had a succesful community full of builders and projects, and it´s a matter of time until it happens to GrantFox next, and our beta numbers back it up.
Goal: Build the foundation of the GrantFox platform enabling open-source collaboration between Stellar-based projects and contributors.
Deliverables:
-Core web application (frontend + backend) integrated with GitHub API for repository, issue, and PR synchronization.
-Maintainer Dashboard: project setup, issue management, contributor assignment.
-Contributor Dashboard: project discovery, applications page, and contribution tracking.
-Admin page: approve or reject projects, create campaigns, fund escrows.
-User authentication system (OAuth via GitHub).
-Initial smart escrow integration for simulations.
-Stellar wallet linking for maintainers and contributors.
How to measure completion:
Public MVP live with Stellar projects and contributors onboarded. All dashboard features functional and synchronized with GitHub repos. Internal test of escrow flow completed (no real funds).
Estimated completion: Month 3 after award approval.
Budget: $30,000 USD
Budget breakdown: $18,000 development, $7,000 escrow integration, $3,000 design, $2,000 infrastructure.
Goal: Deploy GrantFox to Stellar Testnet, validate stability, security, and gather community feedback.
Deliverables:
-Testnet deployment for simulated escrows in Testnet USDC.
-Community testing with 25+ contributors and 15+ projects.
-QA, bug bounty, and feedback program.
-Backend refinement and security hardening.
How to measure completion:
Successful simulated escrow transactions on Testnet. At least 50 issue-PR workflows completed. QA and feedback reports documented.
Estimated completion: Month 5 after MVP delivery.
Budget: $10,000 USD
Budget breakdown: $5,000 QA/testing, $3,000 backend optimization, $2,000 security improvements.
Goal: Launch GrantFox on Stellar Mainnet with live escrow payments, reputation tracking, human verification (KYC) to reduce spam and fraud, and community-ready infrastructure.
Deliverables:
-Mainnet deployment with smart escrows live in USDC on Stellar.
-Human Verification (KYC) flow for contributors and maintainers, integrated into onboarding and payments (provider integration, verification UI, webhook handling, secure storage and permissions).
-On-chain reputation signals tied to contributors.
-Full documentation and onboarding process; performance/stability improvements based on Testnet feedback.
How to measure completion:
Live mainnet app processing confirmed escrow transactions. KYC live and enforced for payout flows; ≥90% verification pass rate within 3 minutes median time; <1% false positives in manual review. Verified onboarding of 20+ projects and 35+ contributors; public docs available.
Estimated completion: Month 6 after Testnet completion.
Budget: $20,000 USD
Budget breakdown: $6,500 Smart escrow finalization and production deployment, $4,000 KYC, $3,500 Backend optimization, scalability, and node hosting, $4,500 UX improvements, $1,500 Post-launch monitoring and maintenance.
We´re a team of three members, two members have 3+ years experience in blockchain, building projects, and they have won grants and hackathon prizes by Stellar and other blockchains. The other member has one year of experience working and building product, participating in hackathons and winning trips to hacker houses.
LinkedIn profiles:
Marco Araya - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcoarayajimenez/
Joel Vargas - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelvr/
Pablo Mora - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablo-mora-serrano-989570253/
Marco Araya Jimenez
Pablo Mora
Joel Vargas
By GrantFox
New era of payouts via smart escrows
By GrantFox
Seed grant for building