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 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)
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)

What have I done since last time?

Contributed 32 merged pull requests between Jul 6th, 2025 and Oct 5th, 2025 (source) totaling ~350 commits[1].

• Assume UTXO
  • Separation of masternode-mode logic
    • #6742 (refactor: move InstantSend impl. to src/instantsend/ and split sources for islock, database and masternode logic)
    • #6761 (refactor: move ChainLocks impl. to src/chainlock/ and split masternode logic out of manager source)
    • #6770 (refactor: follow-up dash#6742, implement review suggestions, avoid redundant transaction queries)
    • #6815 (refactor: follow-up dash#6761, implement review suggestions, ChainLock and InstantSend refactoring)
    • #6828 (refactor: drop fMasternodeMode global, create new context for masternode mode-only logic (ActiveContext), move spun-off signers and EHF signals handler)
    • #6838[2] (refactor: split off governance masternode-only logic to GovernanceSigner, drop Relay()s and use periodic relay instead, minor cleanup)
• Backports
  • Build/CI
    • #6752 (backport: merge bitcoin#25058, #25107, #26481, #27598, #29180, #29407, #29528, #28893, #29834, partial bitcoin#26158, #25200, #24322)
  • Miscellaneous
    • #6775 (backport: merge bitcoin#25153, #25113, #25249, #25369, #25617, #25611, #25736, #25714, #26612, #27605, #30464, partial bitcoin#25551)
    • #6784 (backport: merge bitcoin#24098, #26143, #24576, #24739, #25011, #25045, #25106, #25213, #25003, #24629, #24640, #24913, #24924, #25023, #25887, #25810, #25792, #25227, #27218)
    • #6788 (backport: merge bitcoin#25447, #25624, #25641, #25683, #23679, #26216, #26295, #26513, #26515, #26727, #25374, #25272, #26408, #25112, #26702, #25932, #26822)
  • Networking
    • #6018 (backport: merge bitcoin#24356)
  • UI
    • #6829 (backport: merge bitcoin-core/gui#594, #617, #612, #627, #711, #658, #813, #825, #626, #831, #835)
  • Wallet
    • #6733 (backport: merge bitcoin#24711, #24666, #25083, #25005, #25410, #24236, #25438, #25036, #25489, #25544, #25594, #13226, partial bitcoin#25218, #26005)
    • #6755 (backport: merge bitcoin#17211, #23188, #24859, #20640, #24649, #25118, #25481, #24699, #25790, partial bitcoin#23201, #11403)
    • #6823 (backport: merge bitcoin#25218, #25721, #25656, #25616, #26005, #24855, #18554, #17204, #20562, #21166, #25044, #25364, #25525, #25512, #24678, #26747, partial bitcoin#22154, #24584)
• Extended addresses support
  • Preliminary work
    • #6729 (feat: prohibit new legacy scheme masternodes, restrict ProTx version changes with DEPLOYMENT_V23)
  • Implementation
    • #6665[3] (refactor: model interface after MnNetInfo and support switching impls, add new ProTx version)
    • #6666 (feat: introduce basic extended addresses implementation, stop using platform{HTTP,P2P}Port)
    • #6674[4] (feat(rpc): allow reporting multiple addresses with new addresses field, deprecate service field, allow submitting multiple addresses)
• Miscellaneous
  • #6837 (feat(stats): add support for IPv6, introduce functional tests, deprecate -statsport)
• Optimization
  • #6765 (chore: remove unused hash variants from proof of work hashing sources)
  • #6796 (crypto: assume true 64-bit target, add benchmarks for constituent hashes, apply stronger optimizations)
  • #6852 (crypto: add dispatcher and implement hardware acceleration for Echo512 and Shavite512, improve benchmark stability)

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?

175 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 of the standard compensation paid by 25 DASH in recognition of market conditions and budget contention.

Note: Current fluctuations in DASH/USD have not been factored in as they are too recent to be the basis of a multi-month proposal and existing price fluctuations have already been absorbed alongside the aforementioned reduction in DASH. Should it emerge as the new price floor, the next proposal will adjust the amount of DASH against it.

Verification

The below message can be verified using Keybase (source)

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Notes

[1] - Calculated using 'git shortlog a6c43706..55f723e9 --summary --numbered --no-merges | grep "Kittywhiskers Van Gogh"', rounding down to nearest 10.
[2] - Not merged as of Oct 5th, 2025, included as most work for it was done during Q3 CY2025. It is not counted towards merged pull requests or commit count.
[3] - Mentioned in previous proposal (i.e. Q2 CY2025) but included here as merged in Aug, 2025
[4] - Omitted in previous proposal, mentioned in Jun, 2025 proposal but included here as merged in Jul, 2025