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 a brief periods, I have contributed to Dash Core in full-time capacity for 4 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)

What have I done since last time?

Contributed 8 merged pull requests between Apr 1st, 2025 and Apr 30, 2025 (source) totaling ~60 commits[1] with the majority of time being spent on as-of-this-writing unpublished code for a new, in-development feature, extended addresses.

• Extended addresses support

• Preliminary work
  • #6626 (refactor: reduce references to masternode service, cleanup index code, consolidate ProTx versioning)
  • #6636 (refactor: replace CDeterministicMNStateDiff macros with boost::hana)
  • #6635 (refactor: reduce ostringstream usage, reduce GetHash() usage)

• Work in progress
• #6627[3] (refactor: section off masternode network information to MnNetInfo, lay groundwork for multiple entries)
• #6629[3] (feat: introduce type-flexible NetInfoEntry to allow non-CService entries, use in MnNetInfo)
• dips#162[3] (docs: move (platform) network information fields from DIP-00{03, 04, 28} to Appendix C of DIP-0003, minor cleanup)
• dips#164[3] (docs: document the extended addresses format in Appendix C of DIP-0003, add new {ProTx, SML} version to support it

• Improving CI coverage
• #6637 (fix: restore --enable-werror coverage, tenatively disable it for Clang and GCC builds)
• #6638 (fix: resolve or sidestep compiler warnings, reenable -Werror builds for Clang)
• #6639 (fix: resolve or sidestep compiler warnings, reenable -Werror builds for GCC)

• Non-trivial backports
  • #6633[2] (backport: merge bitcoin#22100, #25148, #22941, #20591, #23596, #22868, #24225)

Tell me more about this "extended addresses"...

• Why?
  
  Currently, we store an address and port pair for all masternodes and two port numbers for EvoNodes (formerly known as HPMNs). The first pair is used by Dash Core for inter-masternode P2P communication and the latter two port numbers are attached to the address from the first pair and are used by Dash Platform.
  
  The arrangement for Dash Core traces back to the earliest introduction of masternodes and the arrangement for Dash Platform was suitable enough for bootstrapping infrastructure but it has become clear that the changing landscape and infrastructure needs have outgrown current capabilities.
  
  How so?
  
  
• Of the two ports registered for Dash Platform, one of them is used for the HTTPS API. As the API is exposed through a bare IP address, operators must pay for an HTTPS certificate from a CA that permits bare IP addresses. Obtaining such a certificate comes at a significant cost compared to a certificate for a domain.
  
  
• When masternodes were introduced in 2014, IPv6 adoption was at 2.80%[4] and when IPv6 masternode support was dropped in 2016[5], it was at 5.71%[4]. It has been a while and a half since and in 2024, adoption is at 46.76%[4]. Alongside this, increase in demand for IPv4 addresses has resulted in pricing changes by providers like AWS (source). We expect that similar competition for allocations in the IPv4 address space will result in cost increases that will be passed down and adversely affect operating costs.
  
  
• How?
  
  Through a hard fork that changes the way we store masternode network information to allow multiple entries for multiple purposes and introduces support for domain names. This requires changes to internal structures, the ProTx transaction format, simplified masternode lists and masternode diffs. Work on this is currently underway and the specification can be viewed at dips#164.

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?

200 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.

Verification

The below message can be verified using Keybase (source)

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https://www.dashcentral.org/p/kwvg-core-dev-may25
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Notes

[1] - Calculated using 'git shortlog 1e062a665..420615cd --summary --numbered --no-merges | grep "Kittywhiskers Van Gogh"', rounding down to nearest 10.
[2] - While outside the Apr, 2025 range (and therefore excluded from merges and commits stats) and being merged May 1, 2025, the work for it was done in Apr, 2025 and is therefore included.
[3] - Not merged as of May 1, 2025, included as most work for it was done during Apr, 2025 or earlier.
[4] - https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html, annual percentage is taken "Total IPv6" from Dec 31st of the respective year.
[5] - #1065 was merged on Oct 10, 2026.