Background

I'm Prasad Kumkar, a software engineer and technical lead with 5+ years of hands-on experience building blockchain protocols, DeFi systems, and cryptographic infrastructure.

I currently lead engineering at ChainScore Labs, where I have worked extensively across Ethereum, Polkadot, Substrate, Solana, NEAR, and more recently JAM. My work spans node clients, protocol implementations, cryptography libraries, SDKs, developer tooling, and performance-critical systems.

I am a Polkadot Blockchain Academy Cohort 4 (HK) alumnus and have been deeply involved in Polkadot protocol-level development over the last several years.

GitHub: https://github.com/prasad-kumkar

Motivation for Applying to the Polkadot Technical Fellowship

Polkadot is the ecosystem where I have consistently found the deepest technical challenges and the strongest culture of rigorous engineering since been to PBA.

I believe with JAM, Polkadot is entering a phase that demands long-term, protocol-first contributors who are willing to invest years into correctness, performance, and developer experience. My motivation for applying to the Technical Fellowship is to formally commit to this long-term stewardship role.

I am already spending the majority of my time working on JAM related infrastructure, including clean-room client implementation, cryptography, and developer tooling. The Fellowship aligns well with how I am already contributing and would allow me to deepen this work in closer coordination with the wider Polkadot technical community.

Areas of Interest in the Polkadot Ecosystem

My primary areas of interest are:

• JAM client implementation
• PVM execution, compilation and performance optimization
• Cryptography for consensus and randomness (VRFs, ring proofs)
• Developer tooling and SDKs for JAM adoption
• Data availability, networking, and protocol correctness

Contributions to Polkadot and JAM

Tessera – JAM Node Client (Python)

I lead the Tessera team, which is building a clean-room implementation of the JAM protocol in Python.

Contributions include:

• PVM interpreter
• Codec and protocol modules
• QUIC-based P2P networking and gossip
• Erasure coding for JAM data availability
• x86 recompiler for PVM focused on high throughput execution

Repository: https://github.com/Chainscore/tessera

Dotring – Cryptography Libraries for Polkadot / JAM

I worked on Dotring, an open source cryptography library implementing:

• IETF VRF
• Pedersen VRF
• Ring signatures and ring proofs
• Fiat–Shamir transcripts
• Support for multiple Twisted Edwards curves including Jubjub, Ed25519, Bandersnatch

This work is based on Web3 Foundation research and is intended for use in Polkadot and JAM consensus related components.

Repository: https://github.com/chainscore/dot-ring

Jamcode.fun – JAM Developer Playground

I built Jamcode.fun, an IDE style playground for developing and invoking services on JAM. The goal is to significantly lower the barrier for developers experimenting with JAM services and execution.

Website: https://jamcode.fun

Ajanta – JAM SDK (C, C++ and Python)

I'm currently working on Ajanta, a multi-language JAM SDK designed to make building applications and services on JAM accessible.

Repository: https://github.com/Chainscore/ajanta

Closing

I am applying to the Polkadot Technical Fellowship to formalize and deepen my long-term commitment to Polkadot and JAM. My focus is on protocol-level work that improves resilience, performance, and developer experience, and I intend to continue contributing at this level for years to come.

Thank you for your time and consideration.