On December 29th, 2023, I received a DM from Chris, aka "Learn Polkadot." He is the Head Ambassador of North America and was instrumental in helping me throw my first Polkadot Decoded watch party earlier in the year. He asked me if I would be interested in trying to bring the Indy 500 opportunity to our community, and I excitedly said yes.

After many meetings with Andrew, Conor, and others, we finally got Ref 514 live on chain. Then, after the treasury payout snafu, he helped Jay and I rally DOT token holders so that we could get the replacement Ref 616 passed in record time to replace the funds and help make the race team whole in time for the race.

And though I had no hand in the Inter Miami deal (Ref 644), I am genuinely impressed and exceedingly grateful that Chris helped orchestrate this deal as well. I ardently believe that both of these marketing opportunities will bring a lot of attention to our incredible ecosystem, something that I personally believe is sorely lacking here in the United States.

As far as I am aware, Chris has never received any tips from the treasury, and certainly not for spearheading these two incredible opportunities. Moreover, he has been a stalwart ecosystem agent by getting involved in the early years of the network. While he may not be the most public facing Polkadot promoter, it is amply evident that he has the chops to help pull important strings behind the scenes (let alone acting as our on-the-ground reporter the day of the Indycar reveal about a month ago).

For these reasons and many more, I hope that other DOT token holders will join me in celebrating these recent successes, as well as his prior contributions across many years, by voting AYE on this tip for "Learn Polkadot."

Gratefully,

Ryan / Phunky

P.S. — For Six or anyone else who needs a formal proposal written up, I've linked the document here.