Status Network Evaluation

DAO

Date: 2026-02-20 Bead: beads-hub-607 — “DAO Phase 2: Extend to Status Network (gasless L2)” Status: Evaluation complete — prep work done, not yet deployed

Network Details

Property	Value
Network Name	Status Network Testnet
Chain ID	1660990954 (0x6300b5ea)
RPC Endpoint	https://public.sepolia.rpc.status.network
Currency Symbol	ETH
Block Explorer	https://sepoliascan.status.network
Bridge	https://bridge.status.network
WebSocket RPC	Contact Status team on Telegram
Stack	Linea zkEVM rollup (L2 on Sepolia)

Faucet Info

ETH Faucet: https://faucet.status.network — 0.01 ETH/day, requires 0.01 ETH on mainnet
STT (test SNT) Faucet: https://hub.status.network/stake — 10,000 STT/day
Alternative: Bridge Sepolia ETH via https://bridge.status.network

EVM Compatibility Assessment

Verdict: COMPATIBLE ✅

Built on Linea zkEVM stack — full EVM bytecode compatibility
Solidity 0.8.20 and 0.8.28 both supported (docs show ^0.8.24 in examples)
Standard EVM opcodes supported; Linea zkEVM has minor limitations on some precompiles but nothing affecting our contracts (B4MAD.sol, MyVestingWallet.sol)
Hardhat + ethers.js deployment workflow works (confirmed by their docs)

Aragon OSx Support

Verdict: NOT SUPPORTED ❌

Aragon OSx does not have official deployments on Status Network. This means:

No pre-deployed DAOFactory, PluginRepoFactory, etc.
We would need to deploy the full Aragon OSx framework ourselves (complex, not recommended)
Recommendation: Use our own lightweight DAO contracts (B4MAD.sol) instead of Aragon OSx on Status Network, OR wait for Aragon to add support

Pros vs Base (Sepolia)

Factor	Status Network	Base Sepolia
Gas fees	Gasless (zero gas for users) ✅	Low but non-zero
User onboarding	No gas needed = frictionless ✅	Need to acquire ETH first
Spam protection	RLN (rate-limiting nullifiers) ✅	Standard gas-based
Aragon OSx	Not supported ❌	Supported ✅
Ecosystem maturity	Very early, small ecosystem ⚠️	Large, established ✅
Block explorer	Basic (Blockscout-based)	Robust (Basescan)
Developer tooling	Minimal, growing	Extensive
Native integrations	Status Wallet, Keycard, Waku	Coinbase Wallet
Public funding model	Native yield + DEX fees → builder funding ✅	None built-in
Target audience	Social apps & games	General purpose

Cons / Risks

No Aragon OSx — must use custom DAO contracts or deploy Aragon framework ourselves
Early stage — testnet only info available, mainnet details TBD
Small ecosystem — fewer users, fewer composable protocols
Faucet requires mainnet ETH — 0.01 ETH on mainnet to use faucet
WebSocket RPC not publicly available — need to contact team
Unknown block finality characteristics — zkEVM proving times may vary

Deployment Readiness Checklist

Network details documented
Hardhat config added (statusTestnet network in hardhat.config.js)
EVM compatibility confirmed
Aragon OSx support — NOT AVAILABLE (blocker for Aragon-based DAO)
Testnet ETH acquired (faucet requires 0.01 mainnet ETH — needs manual step)
Contract compilation tested on Status Network
Contract deployment tested
Block explorer verification workflow tested

Recommendation

Status Network is a strong candidate for Phase 2 due to gasless transactions, which aligns perfectly with a community DAO where we don’t want members to worry about gas. However, the lack of Aragon OSx support is a significant consideration.

Recommended approach:

Complete Phase 1 on Base Sepolia with Aragon OSx
Deploy our custom B4MAD.sol contracts (non-Aragon) on Status Network testnet as a parallel experiment
Monitor Status Network ecosystem growth and Aragon support
If gasless UX proves valuable, consider Status Network for mainnet DAO

Changes Made

Added statusTestnet network config to hardhat.config.js in b4mad-dao-contracts
Created this evaluation document