Polygon PoS Innovation: Azuro Launches $20K Grant for Prediction Apps

• Azuro has launched a grant program worth $20,000 to support the development of prediction applications on the Polygon POS.
• Azuro will offer $4,000 for new dApps or the addition of complex features to existing applications and technical support to developers.

Azuro, an online predictions layer for EVM blockchains, is offering up to $20,000 in grants for developers building prediction dApps on the Polygon network.

Azuro announced the initiative on Tuesday, describing it as “an exciting grant opportunity to foster the onchain prediction dApp ecosystem.”

grant opportunities for builders continue @azuroprotocol launched a grants program to support the development of onchain prediction apps on Polygon PoS

→ enhancing the collaboration between Azuro x Polygon community. providing financial and technical support to devs https://t.co/LGjxJEDHzK

— Polygon | Aggregated (@0xPolygon) June 18, 2024

The new initiative will focus on on-chain prediction catering to sports and entertainment events. Developers can submit their proposals over the coming weeks. Azuro will then assess them, and the successful applicants will receive either $4,000 if they are developing new dApps or $2,000 if they are adding prediction features to existing applications.

Through the program, Azuro will also offer technical support to the developers, “encouraging innovation and expanding the ecosystem of applications.”

Applicants will be judged on their ability to add value to the Azuro and Polygon ecosystems. Some of the key points the team will consider include well-defined development stages, elaborate time estimates, technical specifications, and the efficiency of the go-to-market strategy.

Azuro is an onchain predictions layer that offers developers modular tooling, oracles, and liquidity solutions dedicated to the prediction and gaming apps. It caters to apps built on Ethereum and other EVM chains. It boasts over 20 live applications with 26,000+ users, whose combined volume is over $320 million. It’s backed by some of the industry’s most renowned investors, including Delphi Digital, Arrington Capital, and Merit Circle.

On why it partnered with Polygon, Azuro noted that it’s one of the most widely used blockchains, “processing more than 200 million unique addresses, 3 million average daily transactions, and securing $5 billion in assets.”

It added:

Polygon PoS offers scalability and cost-efficiency, with an average transaction cost of just ~$0.015, making it an ideal blockchain for Azuro and its growing, user-centric prediction markets ecosystem, particularly strong in the sports sector.

Polygon has emerged as the leading Ethereum Layer 2 chain, offering users the security and stability of the underlying Ethereum blockchain without the high fees or slow confirmations. Through its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, Polygon’s fees are up to 10,000 lower than on the main Ethereum chain.

Meanwhile, Polygon’s MATIC trades at $0.5742, gaining 3.6% in the past day amid a 40% dip in trading volume. MATIC now boasts a market cap of $5.66 billion.

The move follows the SEC’s decision to quit pursuing ConsenSys over securities violations and, by extension, exempt Ethereum from being a security. This has sparked discussion on what that means for other proof-of-stake blockchains like Polygon. Some, like former SEC lawyer Marc Fagel, believe it might be too early for MATIC holders to start celebrating.

I have no visibility into their thinking but, no, I wouldn’t make that leap. I don’t know what evidence (or lack of such) led the SEC to close the investigation, but I assume the prevalence of serious defenses (not present for other crypto) was a big factor.

— Marc Fagel (@Marc_Fagel) June 19, 2024