Welcome!

Disclaimer: This proposal is individual in nature and is not brought forward by Dash Core Group

I'm Kittywhiskers Van Gogh (kwvg on GitHub, kittywhiskers on Keybase), I've been contributing to Dash Core since Dec, 2020 (my first pull request!), contributed through the Dash Incubator program since Jan, 2021 (pull request, Incubator claim) before transitioning to a role within Dash Core Group effective Apr, 2022.

Since then, except for brief periods, I have contributed to Dash Core in full-time capacity for 5 years.

What do I do?

I filled the role of C++ Software Engineer in the Core team. My responsibility was, beyond routine backports, implementing features needed in Dash Core sooner than sequential backports would allow.

This proposal seems familiar...

Because it is. Below are my past proposals.

Proposal Name	Funding Period	Work Period
kwvg-core-dev-nov24	Nov, 2024 - Jan, 2025 (3 months)	Dec, 2024 - Feb, 2025 (3 months)
kwvg-core-dev-apr25	Apr, 2025 (1 month)	Apr, 2025 (1 month)
kwvg-core-dev-may25	May, 2025 (1 month)	May, 2025 (1 month)
kwvg-core-dev-jun25	Jun, 2025 (1 month)	Jun, 2025 (1 month)
kwvg-core-dev-jul25	Jul, 2025 - Sep, 2025 (3 months)	Jul, 2025 - Sep, 2025 (3 months)   
kwvg-core-dev-oct25	Oct, 2025 - Dec, 2025 (3 months)	Oct, 2025 - Dec, 2025 (3 months)   

What have I done since last time?

Contributed 35 merged pull requests between Oct 6th, 2025 and Jan 5th, 2026 (source) totaling ~330 commits[1].

• Assume UTXO
  • Separation of masternode-mode logic
    • #6838[3] (refactor: split off governance masternode-only logic to GovernanceSigner, drop Relay()s and use periodic relay instead, minor cleanup)
    • #6840 (refactor: move CDSTXManager to NodeContext, abstract wallet-only CoinJoin managers behind interface)
    • #6849 (refactor: update lock annotations for CGovernanceObject and GovernanceStore, move away from RecursiveMutexes)
    • #6841 (refactor: move CSigSharesManager to ActiveContext, drop CActiveMasternodeManager from CSigSharesManager)
    • #7056 (refactor: extract CActiveMasternodeManager from LLMQContext, part 1)
    • #7062 (refactor(rpc): add watch-only/masternode mode restrictions for quorum dkg{info,status}, move CDKGDebugManager to {Active,Observer}Context)
    • #7063 (refactor: extract CActiveMasternodeManager from LLMQContext, part 2)
    • #7065[2] (refactor: extract CActiveMasternodeManager from LLMQContext, part 3)
    • #7066[2] (refactor: extract CActiveMasternodeManager from LLMQContext, part 4)
    • #7081 (refactor: streamline LLMQ utils and snapshot logic)
• Backports
  • Assume UTXO
    • Chainstate separation
      • #6904[2][4] (backport: merge bitcoin#25065, #25290, #25494, #25439, #25648, #25772, #25222)
  • Build/CI
    • #6918 (backport: merge bitcoin#28900, #29249, #29895, #30387, #31461, #31484, #31498, #31552, #31627, #30774, #31125, #31661, #31800, #31500, #33494, partial bitcoin#30940)
    • #6919 (backport: merge bitcoin#31100, #31626, #31840, #30584, #31982, #32086, #31998, #32505, #32568, #32690, #32731, #32716, #32837, #32266, #30095, #30137, #33580, partial bitcoin#30454)
    • #6987 (merge bitcoin#28347, partial #30527, #26257, bump to Python 3.10, mypy 0.981, fix Docker group assignment, minor housekeeping)
    • #6895 (ci: merge bitcoin#24585, #25549, #26834, #26773, #30989, #32498, #32439, #32678, #33073, update channels, substitution servers, fix guix-check)
    • #6927 (backport: merge bitcoin#31048, #31099, #31172, #32400, #31608, #13151, #26415, #30321, #30263, #33489, partial bitcoin#29023, #30454, #32922, #27125)
  • Miscellaneous
    • #6888[2][4] (backport: bitcoin#23508, #24187, #24528, #24579, #25412)
    • #6901 (backport: merge bitcoin#23345, #24410, #15936, #25748, #25863, #24051, #25315, #26624, #26894, #26673, #24462, #25815, #22949, #26723, #23395, #27016, #27189, #27317)
    • #6933 (backport: merge bitcoin#24595)
  • UI
    • #6831 (backport: merge bitcoin-core/gui#79, #497)
    • #6833 (backport: merge bitcoin-core/gui#600, #601, #602, #701, #603)
• Build/CI
  • #6966 (build: update libbacktrace, make detection more robust, refactor and add platform-specific checks, add linker and compiler flags)
  • bls-signatures#117 (build: ensure LINK_FLAG propagation, enable MacPorts/Homebrew awareness for Go builds, enable WASM debug runtime assertions, bump Go, add Rust to matrix)
• Documentation
  • #6872 (docs(rpc): introduce GetJsonHelp() to complement ToJson() for Dash-specific objects to aid generating RPC help text)
  • #7061 (docs(rpc): introduce more RPC help text and deduplicate governance RPC logic to resolve pending definitions)
• Extended addresses
  • #6809 (feat: add support for internet domains, CJDNS, I2P and Tor to extended addresses, permit registering internet domains for Platform HTTPS API)
  • #6943 (fix: don't treat arrays/objects as string literals for composite methods)
• Miscellaneous
  • bls-signatures#118 (fix!: pass the actual size of the buffer from the {Go,Rust} bindings)
• UI
  • #7068 (feat(qt): extract Dash-specific font infrastructure to qt/guiutil_font.{cpp,h}, encapsulate globals into Font{Info,Registry}, add arbitrary font support)
  • #7072 (feat(qt): introduce Wallet::startRescan() to replace append-and-restart method in Qt wallet, enable wallet rescan for multiple loaded wallets)

Why am I asking?

Due to external factors, current DCG funding would be insufficient to allow retaining me as a contractor. This proposal will allow me to continue my work in the Core Dev Team, retaining my reporting structure and maintaining work output.

How much am I asking for?

145 DASH per month for the duration of the proposal period. The amount disbursed will be paid to DCG's compensation fund for conversion and payment to me and shall be treated as proposal income and compensation expense for DCG.

The currently proposed amount is a reduction from previous proposals by 30 DASH in recognition of DASH appreciation and assuming a higher price floor compared to past proposals.

Verification

The below message can be verified using Keybase (source)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

https://www.dashcentral.org/p/kwvg-core-dev-jan26
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iHUEARYKAB0WIQSWkYeo50/kCopIBnQwzQwGXlxKrQUCaVwFngAKCRAwzQwGXlxK
rSqRAP968Y15rmmKVOM0pmZ2Oo5vOjllXFgElwacZ5+0QqjmsQEA+O0rCIeIlFvE
KwgAsnQvNxvMd3T+Bsbc0SfglTYhtgQ=
=MZ4F
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Notes

[1] - Calculated using 'git shortlog 21481060..7a2943ee --summary --numbered --no-merges | grep "Kittywhiskers Van Gogh"', rounding down to nearest 10. Does not include contributions to repositories outside dashpay/dash.
[2] - Not merged as of Jan 5th, 2026, included as most work for it was done during Q4 CY2025. It is not counted towards merged pull requests or commit count.
[3] - Mentioned in previous proposal (i.e. Q4 CY2025) but included here as merged in Oct, 2025
[4] - Likely to remain in stasis until appropriate merging window has opened.