Lighthouse
In reality, you don’t really need to add anything else to the Bitcoin protocol to use it for crowdfunding. In fact, many people are already using Bitcoin for various crowdfunding campaigns with nothing more than the version of the payment protocol that is available to everyone right now. After all, you don’t need more than a Bitcoin address or a QR code to collect funds from people who wish to support your cause or project.
Lighthouse is a new piece of software from Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn that aims to improve crowdfunding campaigns launched on the Bitcoin protocol. The concept is rather simple, and it uses assurance contracts to bring added incentives to possible campaign contributors. These contracts allow donors to support a certain project without having the funds taken out of their Bitcoin wallet until a certain amount of money is raised by the campaign creators. For example, if someone promises to make an upgrade to the Bitcoin protocol in exchange for a certain number of bitcoins, the funds raised during the crowdfunding campaign won’t actually be sent to the creator of the campaign until the funds target has been met. It means that contributors do not have to worry about donating to a campaign that never actually gets started.
Although the early use case for Lighthouse will be for crowdfunding development of the Bitcoin protocol and other Bitcoin-related apps, there is no reason that it couldn’t also be used for anything from collecting funds for a party to supporting a political campaign.
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