Rules of Conduct

Applications will be assessed by PNF before voting begins and after voting concludes.

Violating any of the following rules may result in disqualification. Violations also can be reported by voters during the voting period. Disqualifications and the underlying reason(s) will be published by PNF.

The following actions may lead to your application being disqualified:

  • Promising future impact

  • Contacting voters to ask them to vote for you

  • Voting for your own application, or the application of an organization you have a direct interest in (as an employee, contractor or equity holder)

  • (As an applicant) refusing to disclose the identity of voters to which the above applies, which is necessary to aid the Conflicts Committee in eliminating conflicted interests from the result

  • Duplicating applications, or submitting the same application to multiple categories

  • Refusing to KYC if asked by PNF

  1. Promises of future impact - You are evaluated solely on the impact you have already created. Do not mention or allude to your future work or future impact. This is retroactive funding, not prospective funding!

  2. False statements & deception - False claims about your contributions, past impact or funding & grants are not allowed.

  3. Hateful Content - No racist, sexist, or otherwise hateful speech, and no discrimination.

  4. Malicious Content - Statements that could harm or cause unintended consequences to participants and other users, e.g., proclaiming that the voting is rigged.

  5. Fraud & Impersonation - Claiming to be a brand or person you are not. The Grant applicant must be directly affiliated with the project; the funds must go to the people behind the project.

  6. Advertising - Using your RetroPGF application to showcase something you are promoting, like a token sale or NFT drop.

  7. Bribery - Bribing voters or vote buying is strictly forbidden.

  8. Contacting voters to promote your application - Using private channels such as DMs to promote your application among voters.

  9. Self-dealing - Voting for your own application (self-dealing) or refusing to comply with the Conflicts Committee's efforts to prevent self-dealing. This includes failing to disclose the existence of Conflicted Voters* when applying, refusing to disclose the voting addresses of Conflicted Voters if asked by the Conflicts Committee**, or receiving votes from a Conflicted Voter. The Conflicts Committee, not PNF, will be the final authority on self-dealing disqualifications.

*Conflicted Voters are defined as DAO voters who have a direct interest in an applicant organization, either as an employee, contractor or equity holder.

**The Conflicts Committee ensures that PNF is not the unilateral authority on suspected self-dealing activities. It consists of three members – a PNF director, a DAO-nominated board observer, and a neutral (non-POKT) third-party selected by PNF. The Committee will determine if applications have failed to disclose Conflicted Voters and will inspect the ballots of Conflicted Voters to ensure that no self-dealing votes have been cast.

  1. Refusing to KYC - PNF reserves the right to request successful applicants to complete KYC for its ongoing risk-based assessment. If you are asked to complete KYC and fail to comply, your grant will be returned to the RetroPGF treasury for future funding rounds. Applicants on behalf of a DAO or other entity will be required to supply proof that the provided wallet addresses are official wallet addresses of the entity in question.

Successful applicants may be asked to complete KYC by the POKT Network Foundation (PNF) for ongoing risk-based assessment. Failure to comply will result in rewards reverting back to the RetroPGF Treasury for future funding rounds.

  1. Outside of RetroPGF’s scope - Contributions that do not have a clear relationship to POKT Network, applications that do not highlight a valid contribution***, or contributions which are outside of the RetroPGF scope.

***We define "contribution" as any activity that created impact for POKT and required at least one hour of work. User interactions (e.g. sending transactions) with POKT or wPOKT and staking do not qualify as "contributions."

  1. Spam - Applications containing spam, such as irrelevant answers, plagiarized content, unrelated impact metrics and broken or irrelevant contribution links.

  2. Languages other than English - English is the working language of the majority of voters so please ensure you translate any content that is part of your application.

  3. Duplicate applications - Multiple applications from the same individual, project or group that relate to the same impact. While a single application can list multiple projects in regard to the same impact, applying with different applications regarding the same impact is not allowed.

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