What happens if @Polkadot’s inflation drops,
security costs shrink,
and Treasury inflows equal what it currently spends in just ONE month?
Will the 500 agents already funded still receive Treasury support in the future?
I think when Treasury inflows plummet, the community will scrutinize proposals much more carefully and plan scarce funds strategically.
Possible scenarios:
1️⃣ Treasury funding goes back to basics — only public goods & nonprofits get funded.
2️⃣ Tooling proposals shift to retroactive funding — build it first, show users, then get paid.
3️⃣ Budgets capped per category (e.g. wallets get a funding ceiling).
4️⃣ Bounty-style RFPs — multiple teams bid, community picks the best.
5️⃣ Baseline funding only — just enough for core dev, no ops/BD/admin/legal overhead.
6️⃣ Treasury will reject low-ROI proposals or those with no real benefit to Polkadot — many agents will be filtered out.
7️⃣ Sports, racing & similar proposals won’t get support — or at least not as a priority.
So what may happens to the ~500 agents who’ve already received Treasury funding?
🔹 Profitable agents will need to stand on their own and generate revenue to survive.
🔹 High-rate agents may pivot to W3F, while Treasury might only fund those under $100/hr.
🔹 Treasury may stop approving huge budgets — $500K–$1M proposals or $3M events should be W3F’s job, not the Treasury’s.
That’s how I see it for now.
What do you think?