ILLUMINATE - NOVEMBER ECOSYSTEM UPDATE
The Mina ecosystem is heads down shipping as much as possible before year-end so let’s try a different format for this month’s update. Illuminate townhalls will likely be revamped next year too – so if you have any suggestions, leave your feedback below.
OVERVIEW
- SingularityNET and Mina Foundation Forge Strategic Partnership in Decentralized AI.
- The community ran OpenMina nodes on everything from smart fridges to Teslas — yep, you read that right.
- Beta testing kicked off for multiple projects across the ecosystem, including: Lumina, zkNoid, ZKON, and an Ethereum Token Bridge.
- The Auro browser wallet now seamlessly integrates custom token support, allowing users to view balances, send/receive tokens, and track transaction history for custom tokens on Mina.
- The Mina ecosystem took over Bangkok for Devcon, participating in multiple events throughout the week, including DeAI Summit, Open Source AI Summit, Shielding Summit and more!
- Evan Shapiro was featured on numerous panels and gave talks at different side events, here’s his keynote: ‘ZK Chains: Powering Verifiable Applications for the Private, Provable Web’.
These are just some of the ecosystem wins for November! Let us know in the thread if we’ve missed any, and what your Mina highlight of the month is 
PRODUCT & ENGINEERING
Rust Node
Version 0.12.0 of the Rust-based Open Mina node is live on Mina’s Devnet! This release is focused on fixes and performance improvements, including:
- Lower memory requirements
- Lower network traffic
- Faster ledger operations
- Faster webnode bootstrap
- Bug fixes
- Faster proving/verifying in web node (a work in progress)
Find the full 0.12.0 release notes here.
Core Grants
Core Grants is a program designed to address critical infrastructure needs and fund public goods. Once an RFC (Request for Comment) is finalized, it evolves into an RFP (Request for Proposal) stage where Mina Foundation issues grants for fulfilling the RFC objectives. Find a status summary of proposals below:
- Private Credential Standard (previously attestation API): The zkSecurity team presented a demo of their work, which you can find here. To join the conversation on Private Credentials, join the new Discord channel #credentials-and-id-builders.
- ZK Passport: This delivery aims to develop the circuits to generate a ZK proof from scanning passport information via NFC. This RFP has been granted to Piconbello, who showcased a demo and end-to-end flow of their work here!
- Tokenomics: Work has been realigned with the original RFP: Economics Design is now preparing an in-depth study of Mina’s current tokenomics structure. This will be followed by a comparison with other ecosystems, and a decision matrix for potential changes.
- Wallet Provider API: Tbc
- zkOracle: ZKON, who received a grant for this RFP, launched an incentivised testnet, which you can learn more about here.
- NFT Standard: Milestone 2 was delivered and reviewed, with the contracts deployed on devnet. @DFST presented the latest on the Non-Fungible Token Standard in a presentation for the community here.
Find published RFPs or updates on in-flight projects here. For any questions, please reach out to @wndercloud, @Philipp, @davewedge on the #core channel in Discord!
COMMUNITY
Navigators
Navigators is a milestone-based grant program with a heavy emphasis on technical mentorship, hands-on support, and fast delivery. The program supports teams that are in the early to mid life cycle of their projects, accelerating the deployment of applications/tooling into production.
Total proposals submitted to the Navigators Growth track reached 100 this month! As of November, there are 12 proposals in progress, 10 have been delivered, and 2 are in review. 7 new builders/teams were onboarded to the Navigators Starter track.
You can see all in-progress and completed Navigators growth grants here, find upcoming Navigators calls here, and submit your proposals here.
Developer Leaderboard
In July 2024, Mina Foundation launched a Community Leaderboard Program to recognize and incentivize continuous contributions of builders who have previously participated in Mina developer programs, such as zkIgnite and Navigators.
The initiative offers participants the opportunity to win a 500 MINA grant by generating consistent GitHub contributions (a minimum of at least 10 days of qualified commits per calendar month).
13 builders were eligible for grants after the November snapshot, you can find the list of grantees here.
GOVERNANCE
MIP: ‘MIP Upgrade’
Joaquin Lopez, Governance Analyst at Mina Foundation, has published a new Mina Improvement Proposal: MIP Upgrade.
This proposal introduces changes to the MIP process to make protocol decision-making more transparent, effective, and community-aligned, which you can read more about here.
RSVP for the ‘MIP Upgrade’ community call on December 18th here. You’ll be able to learn more about the MIP, as well as ask questions, give feedback and voice your opinion.
Research
As part of a new research series, Mina Foundation’s Protocol Governance team has been exploring the ‘social layer’ and how to ensure it remains trustworthy to maintain confidence in the protocol. You can read the first blog post here: Building trustworthy and trusted communities | Mina Protocol
The team will also be hosting a community call on Wednesday, December 11th to talk through the latest research. You can RSVP here: Discord
EVENTS
Bangkok
Mina Foundation, o1Labs, and community contributors were on the ground representing Minaat events throughout DevCon week in Bangkok, including zkAccelerate, ZK Hub, DeAI Summit, the Open Source AI Summit, Shielding Summit, Hack Seasons Conference, and BuilderHaus: Data Privacy and Use Cases of zkTLS.
Mina also sponsored ETHGlobal Bangkok, where 11 teams hacked on Mina. Find an overview of the winning projects here.
Which events would you like to see the ecosystem attend next year?
ECOSYSTEM SPOTLIGHTS
We’re counting on you to share your ecosystem updates and highlights this month! Drop them below in the thread 