Main discussion thread on the Polkadot Forum: https://forum.polkadot.network/t/discussion-pseudonym-generative-portraits-of-kusama-and-polkadot-accounts-a-social-experiment-in-on-chain-identity/18920
Comments are welcome in either place. I will answer both.
This is a discussion post. Nothing has been submitted on-chain yet. I would like your feedback first, and I will revise the proposal based on it.
Your wallet already has a portrait. Have you seen it?
On a public chain, every transaction, vote and stake is recorded forever. A wallet address is a pseudonym, not a mask. PSEUDONYM is an artwork that translates the public activity of any Polkadot or Kusama account into a generative portrait. It reveals nothing that is not already public. It makes that record visible, so people can see what the chain has already built about them and decide how they feel about it.
In June, I asked where a project like this should look for funding, and was advised that Kusama OpenGov is the right path, once there is a solid working version. That version now exists.
I have worked on PSEUDONYM part-time and alone since May 2026. I shared the first public version, then called ARKAIN, on X on 4 June 2026: https://x.com/ArkainArt/status/2062612272996888584
Since then it has been rebuilt from a simple prototype into the work described here.
Try it with any address: https://arkain.vercel.app
Kusama is built around sovereignty over digital identity. Most people, though, have never seen how much their public activity already says about them. Tools like ZK proofs and Proof of Personhood protect identity. PSEUDONYM shows what is visible without them, in a form anyone can understand in a few seconds.
1. Ownership verification. An account holder connects a wallet (Polkadot.js, Talisman, SubWallet or Nova) and signs a simple message. This costs nothing and writes nothing on-chain.
2. Claim or veil. Only a verified owner can choose:
mint_pre_signed), so no one can mint another person's portrait. The owner pays only the network fee. There is no platform fee and no sale.That tension is the heart of the experiment: what do people choose when they see an image of their own data, and how much control do we really have?
3. Verified reflections. Reflections from verified owners carry a "verified" mark. An anonymous option does not send the full address to the browser.
4. Public results.
Anyone can generate a portrait of any address. I don't hide this tension; it is part of the work. PSEUDONYM is designed not to cause harm:
Retroactive: 4,000 USD for the working version described above. This is a conservative valuation of about five months of part-time work. Anyone can check what was delivered at arkain.vercel.app before voting.
Phase 1: 10,000 USD
| Item | Hours | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership verification and verified reflections | 80 | 1,720 |
| Claim or veil, with minting on Kusama Asset Hub | 140 | 3,010 |
| Testing and security review of signing and minting | 50 | 1,075 |
| Documentation, public report and online presentation | 66 | 1,419 |
| Community engagement and reflection moderation | 80 | 1,720 |
| Subtotal: 416 hours at 21.50 USD/h (16 h/week for 26 weeks) | 416 | 8,944 |
| Subscan API, Developer plan, one year (also covers six months after Phase 1) | 182 | |
| Hosting, database and IPFS pinning, six months | 390 | |
| On-chain collection deposit and test minting fees | 50 | |
| Contingency | 434 | |
| Phase 1 total | 10,000 |
The hourly rate is well below market rate. The difference is my contribution, alongside the working version that already exists.
| Payout | When | Covers | USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On approval | Retroactive (4,000) and the start of Phase 1 (3,500) | 7,500 |
| 2 | Week 10 | After ownership verification and verified reflections are live (week 8) | 3,000 |
| 3 | Week 22 | After claim or veil is live and the first portraits are minted (week 18) | 3,500 |
| Total | 14,000 |
Payouts 2 and 3 will be scheduled spends. If a milestone has not been delivered by its date, the community can void the remaining spend before it is claimed. The final report and presentation (week 26) will be delivered after the last payout, as my commitment to finish the work in public.
I am Arkain (Amir Keshavarzian), an architect and generative artist based in Armenia. I have been active in Web3 art for about six years and in the Polkadot community for about three. I am on the Polkadot Ambassador list.
PSEUDONYM continues the same practice: turning data that already exists into images people can feel.
Questions I would especially value your view on:
Thank you for reading. I will answer every comment.