# Argument-0008: Retention at Rank III

|                  |                |
| ---------------- | -------------- |
| **Report Date**  | 2026/04/09     |
| **Submitted by** | Davide Galassi |


## Member details

- Matrix username: @davxy:matrix.org
- Polkadot address: 16Q4qkRcWd4r8196dVGNLYVfy7H86MJYJBMockPaMigFXCyv
- Current rank: 3
- Date of initial induction: 2024/01/08
- Date of last report: 2025/10/20
- Area(s) of Expertise/Interest: JAM Protocol, Applied Cryptography, Consensus Protocols


## Reporting period

- Start date: 2025/10/20
- End date: 2026/04/09


## Argument

During this period my work has been concentrated on PolkaJam development, Gray Paper review, JAM cross-team conformance tooling and VRF cryptographic primitives.

### JAM

#### PolkaJam

As a member of the PolkaJam team, submitted several [PRs](https://github.com/paritytech/polkajam/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-10-20..2026-04-04) during this period.

Most of the work focused on improving the conformance fuzzer tooling integrated into the node: STF coverage, custom block mutators, remote target support, and CLI features. The fuzzer has been actively used by the W3F team in charge of [JAM Milestone 1 delivery](https://github.com/w3f/jam-milestone-delivery/pulls) assessments.

Other contributions include bug fixes and security patches, several of which surfaced through fuzz testing, and Gray Paper 0.7.2 alignment of our experimental node.

#### Gray Paper

Continued contributing to the [Gray Paper](https://github.com/gavofyork/graypaper) specification with improvement proposals, fixes, and review of other contributors' work. [PRs](https://github.com/gavofyork/graypaper/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-09-17..2026-04-04)

#### JAM Conformance

Maintenance of the [JAM Conformance](https://github.com/davxy/jam-conformance) repository, the coordination hub for cross-team M1 conformance testing. During this period, a simple web application has been developed to easily run the fuzzer and visualize results, primarily to support the W3F assessment team and as a reference for the upcoming self-service fuzzer from Parity. Other work included refining a conformance matrix proposal for M1 acceptance criteria, onboarding additional JAM implementations as fuzzing targets, and keeping conformance reports up to date. Currently [23 teams](https://github.com/davxy/jam-conformance/issues) are being actively fuzzed and monitored.

Released [JAM Test Vectors v0.7.2](https://github.com/w3f/jamtestvectors/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-10-20..2026-04-04) aligned with the latest Gray Paper version, and published [ed25519 critical test vectors](https://github.com/davxy/jam-conformance/tree/main/crypto/ed25519) for JAM conformance.

### Polkadot SDK

Authored [RFC-163: EC Host Functions](https://github.com/polkadot-fellows/RFCs/pull/163), merged into the Fellowship RFCs repository, proposing a set of elliptic curve host functions for the Polkadot runtime. The implementation [PRs](https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-10-20..2026-04-04) in [polkadot-sdk](https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk) leverage the [arkworks-extensions](https://github.com/paritytech/arkworks-extensions/) library, also maintained as part of this effort, to route compute-heavy arkworks operations through the host functions specified by the RFC.

### Crypto

#### Bandersnatch VRF

The [ark-vrf](https://github.com/davxy/ark-vrf) library, used by all JAM teams, received substantial work during this period. Major changes include batch verification for Ring, Thin and Pedersen VRF, multi-I/O VRF support, Thin and Tiny VRF, a pluggable Transcript trait for challenge and nonce derivation, and Straus MSM. [PRs](https://github.com/davxy/ark-vrf/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-10-20..2026-04-04)

In parallel, the [Bandersnatch VRF-AD specification](https://github.com/davxy/bandersnatch-vrfs-spec) advanced from Draft 29 to Draft 33, incorporating a major spec rework, security hardening of nonce procedure and challenge length, transcript and delinearization refactoring per W3F research team review, and the introduction of Tiny VRF. [PRs](https://github.com/davxy/bandersnatch-vrfs-spec/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-10-20..2026-04-04)

#### Ring Proof

Some contributions to the [ring-proof](https://github.com/paritytech/ring-proof) library, mostly focused on batch verification optimization and API refinement. [PRs](https://github.com/paritytech/ring-proof/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3Adavxy+created%3A2025-10-20..2026-04-04)

The [Ring Proof specification](https://github.com/davxy/ring-proof-spec) was also updated to improve consistency and add implementation references.

#### Verifiable

Main contributor and maintainer of the [verifiable](https://github.com/paritytech/verifiable) library, a middleware layer between chain business logic and ring VRF cryptographic primitives, mostly used by the upcoming Individuality project, best known for its Proof of Personhood logic.


## Voting record

| Ranks | Activity thresholds | Agreement thresholds | Member's voting activities | Comments |
| ----- | ------------------- | -------------------- | -------------------------- | -------- |
| I     | 90%                 | N/A                  |                            |          |
| II    | 80%                 | N/A                  |                            |          |
| III   | 70%                 | 100%                 | 87%                        |          |
| IV    | 60%                 | 90%                  |                            |          |
| V     | 50%                 | 80%                  |                            |          |
| VI    | 40%                 | 70%                  |                            |          |


## Misc

- [ ] Question(s): 

- [ ] Concern(s): 

- [ ] Comment(s):