Gitcoin: An Innovative Platform for Building Open Source Ecosystems

Gitcoin is an Open Source platform based on Ethereum, designed to provide rewards and incentives for developers, designers, and other contributors to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The main goal of the platform is to help Open Source projects gain funding support while encouraging more people to participate in project development.

Main Features of Gitcoin

1. Run donation projects: create and deploy funding projects, review applications, manage fund allocation.

2. Project Funding: Create project profile, apply for funding, verify project credentials.

3. Project Donations: Browse and discover beneficiaries, and donate to different projects.

4. Building Protocol: Gitcoin is launching Grants Stack, allowing any community to create and manage grant programs.

Development History

• 2017: Gitcoin was established
• 2018: Release of the quadratic donation paper
• 2019: Funding program launched
• 2021: GTC governance token launched
• 2023: $50 million allocated

Secondary Donation Mechanism

The quadratic donation matching mechanism is a funding allocation method based on the number of donors, aimed at achieving fair funding, reducing the influence of large donors, and encouraging more people to participate. The basic principle is that the matching amount of donations has a quadratic relationship with the number of donors, rather than the size of the donation amount.

Gitcoin's Vision

Establish and fund digital public goods to connect builder communities and collaboratively create the future of an open network. Mainly includes:

• Open Network: A P2P community that builds Open Source code, shares open data, and adopts open governance.
• Open Source: Work and earn in a collaborative culture.
• Open Economy: Build Web3 technologies that support financial freedom, shared ownership, and collaborative decision-making.

Main Sections of Gitcoin

1. Bounty: Project owners publish tasks and provide cryptocurrency rewards.

2. Funding Program: Grant projects based on quadratic donation matching.

3. Virtual Hackathon: Regularly held online events.

4. Gitcoin Passport: A user's digital identity, containing contribution, participation, and reputation records.

Token Economics

In May 2021, Gitcoin released the governance token GTC. The total supply is 100 million, initial distribution:

• Airdrop:15%
• Gitcoin DAO:50%
• Existing stakeholders: 35%

GTC is mainly used for governance proposal voting and determining the focus areas of funding plans.

Gitcoin DAO

Gitcoin is managed by the community and votes on platform affairs in the form of a DAO. Activities are organized around Grants Rounds and Hackathons every quarter to deploy funds to the community.

Ways to participate in DAO:

• Register Weekly Summary
• Interact on platforms like Discord
• View Available Positions
• Earn, learn, or fund using Gitcoin

Governance

Governance Process: Discussion → Proposal → Workflow → CSDO → Funding → Voting

Participation method:

• Join Discord
• Participate in Governance Forum
• Delegated Token
• Vote on Snapshot and Tally

Financing History

• April 2021: Secured $11.3 million led by Paradigm
• November 2021: Received $500,000 from the Ethereum Foundation

Similar platform

1. Bounties Network: Decentralized Bounty Task platform
2. SourceCred: A tool for quantifying and rewarding Open Source contributions
3. CLR.Fund: A decentralized funding platform utilizing a quadratic donation mechanism

Summary

Gitcoin is a bounty distribution platform that connects developers, project parties, and users. It provides funding for startup blockchain projects while showcasing these projects to users, injecting vitality into the entire market. In the future, Gitcoin will continue to promote Open Source ecosystem development, focus on real-world issues such as climate, and look forward to the upcoming beta round.