Block.one Awards Grant to EOS Nation and EOS Asia for New Crowdfunding Platform

Written by Mark Bailey

Thanks to a $631,000 grant from Block.one's EOS VC, development on EOSIO-based blockchains is about to get a whole lot more interesting. Awarded to leading block producers EOS Nation and EOS Asia, the grant will be used to create and launch a crowdfunding platform on the EOS Public Blockchain. This open-source platform will become a self-funded, community-driven portal that will encourage and fund EOSIO-based projects. Grant recipients will be selected by a transparent community process.

Block.one itself intends to be an initial funding contributor. For this and other reasons, the creation of this platform ushers in a new era of direct collaboration between Block.one, block producers, and the broader EOS community.

"As a long-standing member of the EOSIO community, we have seen first-hand the power that comes from community contributions and innovation," said Kevin Rose, SVP, Public Blockchain Engagement at Block.one. "Block.one is excited to tap into that collective dynamism by supporting the launch of a crowdsourced funding platform, which could also serve as a reservoir for sharing project ideas and developer best practices."

The portal will launch later this year. It may include a token similar to Gitcoin, which facilitates decentralized application development on Ethereum. An EOSIO version of such a token would create incentive structures for project proposals and contributions. It would make it easy for developers and entrepreneurs to contribute to the EOS ecosystem.

Here's what EOS Nation has to say about it:

"Inspired by Gitcoin, the platform enables users to contribute EOS tokens directly to projects seeking funding. Projects that are providing a public good for the community will have contributions matched from a pool of funds initially provided by Block.one and other matching partners. Matching will leverage quadratic funding to allocate more matching funds to the projects who have received more contributions from more unique users. The platform’s goal is to help developers within the community capture the value they create and grow the developer population. The platform is voluntarily self-funded, democratically driven, carefully administered, and aims to help the community become more independent."

How Cool is That?

It is, in my opinion, very cool. The platform will include mechanisms for bounties as well as for grants, making it flexible enough to meet the needs of all kinds of prospective funders as well as developers. Creating an incentive structure based on Gitcoin is a very smart move. To date, Gitcoin has provided over $16 million in funding to open source development projects. That's $16 million on Ethereum. The sky's the limit of what's possible with EOS.

Thousands of EOSIO developers will soon have access to a grassroots funding mechanism, supercharged by matched funding from major players. Expect an EOS-fueled explosion of everything from wacky games to novel DeFi instruments. The EOSIO ecosystem will grow rapidly, with all the transparency, security, and reliability that comes along with open source. And we'll all be able to follow along with our favorite projects, from their proposals through their implementations.

The creation of the platform is in good hands. EOS Nation and EOS Asia are excellent block producers, perfectly capable of realizing this grand vision in a timely manner. The rumor is that the platform will go live in Q3 of this year, so we probably don't have long to wait. I expect to see hundreds of funded, successful projects launched by this time next year.

Next Steps

For the latest updates on this EOS crowdfunding platform as it unfolds, you can join EOS Nation on Telegram or follow them on Twitter. Given Gitcoin's strong influence on this new platform's creation, reading the Gitcoin wiki might also be instructive, particularly if you're a developer or prospective funder with a pet project you'd like to see funded in the months to come.

So far, everyone I've talked to about this new crowdfunding platform is very excited about it. I get the sense that it's a game-changer for EOS. There are a million little reasons for this, but the big reason is that it will focus the energy of the EOS community in a new, structured way to build the blockchain tech we all want to see. Personally, I'll be setting some EOS aside for the most interesting projects that show up on the new platform.

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