The Watchdog Program: Get Rewarded for Reporting Suspected Grant Misuse

Announcements
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Community members and sleuths can now submit evidence-based reports of fund misuse through the official Watchdog portal: https://watchdog.arbitrum.foundation/

The Watchdog is a grant misuse bounty program designed to serve as a decentralized accountability layer for DAO-allocated funds. Reports will be reviewed by a three-member committee composed of members from the Arbitrum Foundation, Entropy Advisors, and SeedGov.

Misuse is defined as the following:

Any action or inaction by a recipient of DAO-allocated funds that directly violates the stated terms, objectives, agreement, or overall spirit of the allocation under which those funds were provided.

Reports that are deemed valid will be eligible for a base ARB bounty, with amounts depending on the severity (low, medium, high) of the case, which is at the full discretion of the reviewing committee. If funds are recovered, 10% of the recovered amount will be paid out to the reporter as an additional reward up to a certain cap, which is again based on the severity, and paid out in the recovered asset.

After an update by the reviewing committee on October 14th, 2025, the reward tiers are as follows:

  • Low: 1k ARB base payout deducted from recovered funds if applicable. Total possible reward is capped at $10k.
  • Medium: 5k ARB base payout deducted from recovered funds if applicable. Total possible reward is capped at $25k.
  • High: 10k ARB base payout deducted from recovered funds if applicable. Total possible reward is capped at $100k.

The Watchdog is operating on an ongoing basis until its 400k ARB budget is exhausted or the program is transitioned to the OpCo.

Please refer to the full Tally proposal and the Watchdog subcategory for additional details and information about the Watchdog.

How to Submit a Report

Submitting a report through the Watchdog portal is simple and private. Below is a step-by-step guide:

  1. Access the Portal: Open the Watchdog submission portal and click the “Submit a Report” button to start a new report. For individuals especially concerned about privacy, the Watchdog Portal can be accessed through the Tor at the following link: http://3t6ypxpgnsdpc6mwc6zg4z3whkyo3wwjjymhce5ugzeujrkmyvld24id.onion/#/

  2. Fill in the Form: You will be taken to a page with a series of questions. Provide as much evidence and detail as possible to help the reviewers assess the case. There is an option to provide attachments. Any uploaded document can be viewed by reviewers through the Watchdog Portal. A contact information field is provided, but it is optional. If not provided, communication will occur through the Watchdog portal via comments.

  3. Submit & Confirmation: Once complete, submit the form. You will receive a receipt token that can be used to log back in to check on the status of your report. This is important to save, especially if you choose not to provide contact information.

  4. Review Process: Your report will then move into the review queue. The committee may follow up for clarifications in the comments section of your report in the Watchdog Portal. Please expect at a minimum several weeks as a turnaround time as the reviewing committee works to investigate the reported instance of misuse.

8 Likes
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I really love it! Meanwhile at Near, The HoS core team and Hack Humanity is afraid of such programs, fearing their own exposure. Overall, this is a great initiative to support investigators — and unlike the HoS core team, Arbitrum is not afraid to make such investigations public. At the same time, many people currently working with NEAR also hold active roles in Arbitrum, yet conveniently forgot to disclose these conflicts of interest.

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Hi @Entropy, thank you for your consistent commitment to the DAO Progress.

After going through previous discussions around The Watchdog Program we thought to ask.

Question: Is it possible to have a dashboard with timestamps showing the Date of Submission and a Submission Progress Tracker?

Given the goal of anonymity, without providing full details, there’s a need for the public to see when a submission was received and its current progress.

2 Likes
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Hey all,

I’ve moved this to announcements – so it is easier to find.

2 Likes