This proposal requests funding to **support the development of Referendum Alert**, an open-source Telegram bot that delivers instant notifications when new votes are cast on **Kusama and Polkadot referenda**.

🌐️ [https://www.referendum-alert.com/](https://www.referendum-alert.com/)
🐦 [https://x.com/ReferendumAlert](https://x.com/ReferendumAlert)
🤖 [https://github.com/Grahovacc/ReferendumAlert](https://github.com/Grahovacc/ReferendumAlert)

The bot addresses a core gap in OpenGov: governance participants currently need to refresh explorers or Polkassembly to track sentiment changes. Since most discussions and coordination happen directly in **Telegram groups**, a native alert system inside chats is essential. Referendum Alert brings vote events into Telegram in real time, making governance more transparent and easier to follow.

**Current Capabilities**

Referendum Alert is already live and in use:

-          Tracks any referendum by ID using /watch \<id> \[dot|ksm]

-          Works in private and group chats

-          Polls every minute with de-duplication

-          Shows:

•         Vote direction (aye/nay/abstain)

•         Voting power (calculated from amount × conviction)

•         Address of the voter

•         Timestamp in UTC

-          Fully open source

Important: Identity is not enabled yet. Alerts currently show only the account address of the voter. Identity resolution will be added in the next phase of development funded by this proposal.

| Task                                                                        | Time | Cost |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---- | ---- |
| Retroactive development (infrastructure, commands, database, vote fetching) | 30h  | 2400 |
| Identity implementation                                                     | 10h  | 800  |
| Referendum Alert frontend (Retroactive)                                     | 8h   | 640  |
| Design                                                                      | -    | 300  |
| Total cost:                                                                 | 46h  | 4140 |

This proposal ensures Referendum Alert becomes a reliable governance utility across Kusama and Polkadot.

#602 Referendum Alert: Real-Time OpenGov Vote Notifications on Telegram