Hello everyone,
We have sent all the remaining funds to close the UX Bounty (see transfers 1 and 2).
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After more than a year of service to the Polkadot ecosystem, recent shifts in vision and priorities led by Parity and the Web3 Foundation have made it necessary for us to reassess our role and long-term viability. We explored multiple paths with the Foundation to continue the work, but in the absence of clear direction, we believe closing the Bounty and returning all remaining funds is the most responsible course of action.
We continue to believe that user experience is critical to meaningful, long-term adoption, and we hope it receives stronger focus in the future.
Below is a brief summary of our work and the challenges encountered.
On ecosystem-wide UX issues
We addressed 10 high-impact UX issues across the ecosystem. For each, we identified stakeholders, recruited delivery teams, reported progress publicly, and made solutions available for adoption.
The primary challenge was not delivery, but adoption. Despite the urgency of many issues, implementation across teams remained limited for reasons outside the Bounty’s control.
On project-specific UX improvements
To support teams directly, we introduced UX Audits as a structured way to identify and prioritize usability issues. The program was well received and produced actionable insights and user feedback.
However, follow-through on implementation proved difficult without additional dedicated capacity. While we introduced an Implementation Tracker, Success Metrics, and later a Data Tracking Program with privacy considerations, execution ultimately depended on individual teams, and engagement remained limited.
On collaboration and resourcing
We worked with a broad range of stakeholders inside and outside the ecosystem to build alignment around UX, a discipline still not widely understood within Polkadot.
Internal resourcing for UXB tasks was generally achievable. External UX specialists were harder to secure, and in several cases curators or curator-affiliated teams delivered the work to ensure continuity. Two external vendors with no curator affiliation were successfully onboarded: Jelly Studio and Saturnia.
On curator spending
Curator spending remained consistently below the 2k monthly cap, except for the General Manager. On rare occasions where an individual exceeded the cap, others adjusted to maintain the overall limit. Rates and hours were carefully negotiated and often below market levels, reflecting a cost-conscious approach throughout the Bounty’s operation.
Closing
As of today, UX Bounty spent in total 362,399.99 USD.
You can read our final Q4 2025 report here. All Bounty channels will be closed. While the Bounty concludes, we hope to continue participating in the community as individuals.
All resources can be found in this Google Drive and our Notion HQ.
Thank you to the amazing people that took part of this journey:
Jakub, Remy, Thomas, Anton, Tommi, Jeeper, Rocio, Cisco, Nico, DJ, Toby, Thomas, Florentina, Lazar, Ben, Reka, Mike, Darren, Stefan, Husni, Nikos, Sacha, Sebastian, Otar, Raul, YongFeng, Liu, and the folks in the UX Guild 
Happy Holidays and New Year to everyone!
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The UX Bounty team (Valeria, Nino, Niklas, Flez and Alex)
PS: In recent weeks, some public discussion around UX Bounty decisions became increasingly targeted and, at times, distasteful. To be clear: at no point have we been accused of mismanaging funds. This is supported by OpenGov’s evaluation and by the successful refill request approved in Q3 2025. Throughout the year, we maintained transparent reporting and open communication channels. We hope that both our work and the contributions of all team members are evaluated with balance, fairness, and respect.