Proposal Key Aspects
- Receiver Entity: Celo Governance
- Status: [DRAFT]
- Author(s): @swiftstaking, @kamikazechaser, @thylacine, @clemens, @dee
- Type of Request: Funding
- Funding Category: Infrastructure
- Funding Request: We are requesting $75,000 USD to support five independent challenger operators for 12 months, at $1,250 per month per operator.
We have been running this infrastructure since December 2025 so this proposal covers the period until November 2026.
1. Summary
This proposal requests funding to compensate five independent infrastructure operators: @swiftstaking, @kamikazechaser, @thylacine, @clemens, @dee for running Celo Challengers and the supporting infrastructure required to do so reliably over a 7-month period.
Running a challenger requires operators to maintain the following infrastructure:
- full Ethereum/L1 node stack or equivalent trusted L1 connectivity
- Celo L2 archive node
- challenger service itself, with local derivation and historical state access
The Celo challenger documentation also notes that challenger operators should run as much of the stack locally as possible, that historical state roots may need to be checked up to roughly one week back, and that an archive node and dedicated EigenDA proxy are part of a robust setup.
The goal of this proposal is to strengthen Celo’s fault-proof and dispute infrastructure by ensuring that multiple independent operators have resources to run challengers continuously, monitor network behavior, and remain ready to challenge invalid state proposals when necessary.
2. Motivation
Celo’s security model benefits from having multiple independent challenger operators actively running the infrastructure required to verify proposed state roots and react if an invalid proposal appears. The challenger compares the proposed dispute game L2 state root against the operator’s own locally derived state, and when there is a mismatch, the challenger can publish a challenge on L1.
That means challenger operations impose real and ongoing infrastructure costs. Operators must maintain a properly configured Celo archive node in full-sync mode, ensure access to the required L1 data sources, and operate the challenger service continuously.
This compensation helps ensure sustained uptime, distributed responsibility and continuity of operations.
3. Specification
This proposal funds five independent operators to run Celo challenger infrastructure for a period of seven months.
Each funded operator will be expected to:
- Run and maintain the infrastructure required to support a Celo Challenger.
- Respond to incidents, configuration updates, software upgrades, and operational issues during the funding period.
Challenger needs to compare proposed state roots against a synced L2 state. because historical state roots may need to be checked for approximately a week, the operator must run a local L2 archive node. The setup also calls for a dedicated EigenDA proxy.
Each operator will be independently responsible for their own infrastructure, monitoring, and maintenance.
4. Metrics and KPIs
Success for this initiative will be evaluated using the following metrics:
- Operator continuity: 5 funded operators remain active until the end of term.
- Infrastructure availability: challenger and related services remain operational with minimal downtime.
- Operational readiness: operators maintain configurations required to actively monitor and, where applicable, challenge invalid proposals.
5. Current Status
This proposal aims to formalize and support challenger operations carried out by five experienced contributors within the Celo ecosystem. Collectively, these operators have contributed to Celo across multiple areas over the last half decade and are well positioned to run this infrastructure reliably.
Challenger operations require continuous technical oversight, dependable uptime, and meaningful infrastructure resources. The funding requested here is intended to support the ongoing operation of security-relevant infrastructure that strengthens Celo’s fault-proof and dispute mechanisms.
6. Timeline and Milestones
Timeline
Duration: 12 months from the start of the program in December 2025.
Monthly milestones
For each month, operators are expected to:
- Keep their challenger infrastructure running and maintained.
- Apply required software updates and configuration changes.
- Monitor logs, alerts, and service health.
7. Detailed Budget
We are requesting a total of $75,000 USD for 12 months of operations.
This funding is calculated as follows:
- 5 operators
- $1,250 USD per operator per month
- 12 months
This budget is intended to compensate operators for the ongoing cost and time involved in maintaining the required infrastructure, including compute, storage, bandwidth, monitoring, maintenance, and operational attention. Payments will be distributed monthly.
The Budget will be managed in a Multi Sign designed to have three members, part of the proposal.
Multisign Address (Threshold 3/5):
0x68ce71d4CECA3003701ca6844D9a345925407455
Signers:
@swiftstaking: 0x8e52a8822dFBb2eA6cEdb84032A8acce7Fc05838
@kamikazechaser: 0x0330F6bE6aCE2D975b4aC7Be109C46015C508BB1
@thylacine: 0x37BAedAA536f7144E72915C683e6095177D33e78
@clemens: 0x9B121b10dAdF1D97526Bc575Ef724fF45Bc7b3a2
@dee: 0xD9eaEeA9b4AFccA934008429a1bC063C19518b6A
8. Payment Terms
One transfer covering the full amount will be sent to the existing multisig 0x68ce71d4CECA3003701ca6844D9a345925407455 and then monthly payments shall be made to each operator.
9. Team
Each team member has been involved in the Celo ecosystem for over half a decade across a wide range of roles, including running validators and RPC nodes, serving on the former Score Management Committee, supporting the initial launch of the Celo Community Fund and Prezenti Grants, maintaining monitoring infrastructure, and building on Celo.
The five operators covered by this proposal are:
PS: We would greatly encourage you to look at these projects from one of the builders: Sarafu Wallet, Grassroots Economics
10. Additional Support / Resources
Useful reference for challenger setup:
We welcome the community’s review and feedback on the scope of this proposal, payment mechanics and the importance of maintaining a decentralized set of challenger operators for Celo.