FundRequest – Project Issue Funding & Rewarding Development?

FundRequest is a funding platform that promises to make it easy to fund open issues on any project, in any language. Here’s our FundRequest review.

What Is FundRequest?

FundRequest, found online at FundRequest.io, is a platform designed to incentivize the open source community to contribute to open projects. It was designed to break down barriers typically associated with open source projects by providing a support layer.

In other words, FundRequest acts as a middle ground between no support layer (something we see with most open source projects) and a full enterprise support team (something we see with enterprise-grade projects).

The ease of use of the FundRequest platform allows users to fund issues without any coding knowledge. It also allows developers to search for funded issues that best match their skill set to solve.

The platform aims to provide value to users, businesses, developers, and software projects. Ultimately, it’s like an organized bug bounty program built on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s designed to help developers, users, and businesses access enterprise-grade levels of tech support without actually employing an enterprise-grade team of tech support professionals.

FundRequest first started appearing online in 2016.

How Does FundRequest Work?

FundRequest is a global decentralized platform where contributors can get compensated for their work on open source projects. Decentralization allows participants to remain in complete control of their funds while using FundRequest.

Payments and payouts are made by the individual participants, with all payments cleared on the Ethereum blockchain without being possessed by a bank or any third party institution.

Here’s a basic overview of how the FundRequest process works:

Funding A Request

The pilot version of FundRequest will only accept FND tokens to fund an issue. In later stages, FundRequest will accept funds from other cryptocurrencies and non-crypto assets (like PayPal).

To get started, pilot users need an active FundRequest account and they need to download the FundRequest browser plugin button. The user will see a fund button for each open GitHub request. The user can choose to fund the issue and specify the amount.

After confirming the transaction, the transaction amount is sent to the Ethereum blockchain where it will be validated and processed. Funding an issue generates a smart contract for that specific issue and is used for identifying allocated funds until the contract’s conditions have been met.

Solving A Request

Issues are solved by either providing the best answer, best bug fix, or a solution. The contributor who offered the solution will be notified, and can then collect the reward.

Claiming The Reward

The contributor who solved the problem presses the reward button to claim the allocated funds. Contributors then accept the transaction, and the reward for that request is transferred to the account.

Reward Distribution

Smart contracts decentralize the distribution of a reward in an autonomous and completely transparent way. You can use a site like Etherscan.io to see and follow transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. The specific distribution model is currently under review and will be added to the FundRequest whitepaper in the future.

FundRequest Benefits

FundRequest offers all of the following benefits to different parties:

Users: Users can fund an issue that impacts them personally. Or, they can contribute to raising funds for the implementation of a desired feature.

Developers: Developers are rewarded for their time and effort in supporting open source projects. Those who don’t care about the reward can donate to their favorite charity.

Businesses: FundRequest allows businesses to build a custom support package tailored to the needs of their customers – like a “pay as you fix” model.

Software Projects: FundRequest creates a market for projects with high business value but with little community support, which stimulates open source collaboration.

FundRequest Features: How to Use FundRequest

FundRequest can be used for all of the following tasks and features:

Support Communities: Help the open-source community and free software movements to increase development.

Reward Contributors: Developers can receive rewards for their contributions to an open source project.

Accelerate Development: Anyone can offer a reward for improvements to their favorite open source tool, generating more incentive.

Measure Community Interest: Developers can use rewards to quickly understand what a community is most interested in improving.

Custom Assistance: FundRequest can create a bridge between full support (enterprise-grade support) and no support (the support we typically see with open source projects).

Trust and Security: FundRequest uses the Ethereum blockchain and its open source smart contracts to assure trust and security.

About FundRequest

FundRequest was created by Karel Striegel (Founder).

The company introduced itself to the internet in November 2016.

FundRequest Conclusion

FundRequest is an innovative and ambitious platform designed to facilitate cooperation in the open source industry. Today, the open source industry relies on bug bounty programs and the volunteer efforts of developers – many of whom give away their time for free.

That’s not an ideal system. FundRequest aims to make the system more efficient by creating a crowdfunding system on the Ethereum blockchain. Developers can address bugs, while programmers can receive rewards for solving bugs.

FundRequest is more than just a glorified bug bounty program. The platform moves beyond bugs. The developers describe it as like “asking the OpenStack community to add support for your proprietary storage backend, or ask another open source project to write some kind of Slack integration service.”

To learn more about FundRequest and how it works, you can view the FundRequest whitepaper online today.