Open-Source Development

The Problem

Open-source developers contributing to a project — if not hired or compensated by a supporting company — are currently not paid for their contributions. There are concepts like bounties that have helped financing open-source projects, but these are limited and mostly involve centralized companies.

The Vision

An open-source project used for operating a value-generating decentralized network can include mechanisms for adjusting its own official code and rewarding adjustments automatically and flexibly.

This goes beyond just being open-source. It is open-development, open-test, open-contribute — fully openly created software. If a huge software project can be open-source, managed by a hierarchy of volunteering engineers and other relevant experts, it represents a new model of collaborative creation.

Network Development Rewards

Every modern decentralized network runs software that creates value for the network. While there are many ways to participate and earn rewards (providing processing power, data, or storage space), the structural reward for developing the network is underrated.

There are few inbuilt reward systems for continuous development, leading either to:

Higher centralization embedded in the network’s conception to cover development costs, or
A comparatively static network that requires no development once optimized

The QuestBoard Solution

The QuestBoard provides a specific mechanism for rewarding open-source contributions through token-based bounties and community funding. It connects the need for specific features with economic models to encourage development.

QuestBoard for the specific implementation of development rewards
Social Tokens for tracking developer reputation and contribution history
Governance Engine for democratic allocation of development resources