Open source programs have become a vital part of the organizational framework of many business ventures across the globe. However, with increasing interest in this technological domain, a whole new set of growing pains have come to light. For example, open source platforms present a severe lack of incentives for developers, thereby rendering many projects inactive within a short span of time.

FundRequest is an all-new venture that has been designed to fund open source issues on any project, irrespective of the programming language that has been used to develop it.  

The platform makes use of a blockchain-driven framework as well as smart contracts to provide users with all of the necessary tools to foster an open source development community. Through the deployment of smart contracts, conflicts between the participating actors can be resolved without any third-party interference. This not only increases efficiency but also reduces platforms’ upkeep costs drastically.

FundRequest can combine issues with ongoing projects under a governance structure to support large features and projects in a hassle-free manner.

Overview of the platform

• Because upkeep costs for the platform are low, FundKeep is able to minimize unforeseen expenses for all of the parties involved in a particular transaction.
• FundRequest does not levy a service fee on any of its users.
• Through the use of distributed ledgers, this platform is able to maintain a high level of transparency.
• Via the deployment of special blockchain protocols, the FundRequest platform allows third-party services to access its core system module.
• All internal transactions taking place within the ecosystem are facilitated through the use of a currency called FND.
• FundRequest aims to become the first platform within the cryptoverse to employ the SkillToken Factory smart contract.

Key Features

For starters, the FundRequest platform allows a user to submit a request to work on or improve his/her favorite target platform. With a plethora of functional features delivered via the platform’s native API and browser extensions, the user is able to raise funds accordingly.

 Overview of what the platform has to offer

A user request can be funded using any ERC20 compliant token. As a result, projects will be able to reimburse solvers using their own native currencies.

Other key aspects of this service include:

(i) Seamless community support: when using this platform, anyone can fund requests for their favorite open source projects. This not only encourages the development of the project in question, but also allows qualified independent developers to earn a steady revenue stream.

(ii) Discovery of popular, untapped projects: through FundRequest, developers have the ability to find out which technical issues plague the crypto community at large. Participating devs can then work on these problems and support the widespread adoption of blockchain technology across the globe.

(iii) Development of customized projects: by proposing or funding new features, users will be able to directly participate in the evolution of existing projects.

Diagrammatic representation of the FundRequest ecosystem

How it Works

FundRequest contains four primary components:

• Blockchain smart contracts: as mentioned earlier, these contracts are a predetermined set of tools that help facilitate smoother internal processes.
• Core transactional framework: this is the part of the platform that contains the driving logic for all internal transactions.
• Native API framework: it consists of a set of APIs that will be offered to the internal applications making use of the FundRequest platform. Additionally, it serves as a gateway for all front-end services.
• Communications module: it acts as a means of linking the front end with back-end applications such as native web modules and chrome plugins.

A simplified overview of how the platform works

In terms of transaction flow, the platform works as follows:

• The requesting organization (funder) first allocates a certain amount of money to an
  open source issue.
• These funds are stored in a smart contract and are distributed only when a set of predetermined conditions are satisfied.
• Once the open source issue has been funded, the developer (solver) has the ability to select the project in question.
• To avoid malicious activities, the developer is only allowed to request funds that are proportional to the value of the funded issue.
• After the developer has completed the claimed work, he or she is automatically allocated his or her share of money via a smart contract.
• If any disputes arise, they can be solved directly by fostering interactions between the involved actors.

About the team

Karel Striegel is the CEO of this venture. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has previously been involved with various other projects such as:

• Striegel BVBA (Founder and CEO)
• International Post Corporation (DevOps Engineer)
• Steria (Linux System Engineer)

Davy Van Roy is the CTO and co-founder of FundRequest. Davy is a blockchain and web development professional who specializes in technical domains such as:

• Java
• Spring
• JPA
• TDD
• Maven

Token Performance Details

Introduced to the market just under ten days back, the value of FND tokens has remained fairly stable.

FND token performance data (courtesy of CoinMarketCap)

As of May 29, FND is valued at $0.177 per token and has a total market cap of US$5,479,138. A total of 98,611,464 FND have been minted, of which only 30,851,003 are currently in circulation.

Final thoughts

FundRequest introduces an easy and secure way to reward bug fixes and feature builds on any project. With FundRequest aiming to deliver a decentralized marketplace for open source collaboration, it would not be surprising to see this service fare well in the coming few months.

If you would like to start investing in this venture, FND trading pairs are currently available on IDEX and Coinbene.