Gitcoin’s Kevin Owocki On Changing The World With Web3

THELOGICALINDIAN - Crypto Briefing sits bottomward with the architect of one of the above pillars of the Ethereum ecosystem

Gitcoin architect Kevin Owocki talks boxlike allotment in Web3, tokenizing absolute appulse with NFTs, and more.

Introducing Gitcoin

Kevin Owocki is aloof about the adverse of the “crypto bro” stereotype. A Colorado bounded who prefers to absorb his time in the mountains to any accurate jungle, he comes beyond as addition who’d fit in bigger at a alien hippy acquisition than annihilation to do with money—even if it is the basic kind.

When Crypto Briefing met him on the aboriginal day of Consensus 2022 in Texas’ hippy affair atom angry tech hub capital, he angry up in a tee and shorts, allegory the dozens of speakers that sat on panels in big-ticket apparel and aerial heels. When we able Austin’s 100 amount calefaction to acquisition a detached bistro for our conversation, he removed his sandals to sit cross-legged on the sofa, about as if he was practicing a yoga position while we chatted.

Most bodies wouldn’t be able to assumption that Owocki works in blockchain, but as the architect of one of Ethereum’s best basic projects, he’s every bit as crypto as the dollar-eyed tech enthusiasts the amplitude is generally associated with. In fact, he’s afterpiece to the cypherpunks that aggressive Bitcoin than any of crypto’s newer Silicon Valley entrants, admitting he describes himself as a “solarpunk” accustomed his adulation of the outdoors.

His capital venture, Gitcoin, is one of the best acknowledged projects in the blockchain ecosystem, amenable for acknowledging Ethereum mainstays like Uniswap through its groundbreaking association grants program.

Gitcoin is best declared as a allotment belvedere that supports the accessible Internet, a apple crypto citizenry like Owocki accredit to as Web3. It leverages the Ethereum blockchain to accession funds to advice advance the advance of accessible goods. To date, it’s aloft over $63 actor from the crypto community.

Open Source Maximalism

Owocki came up with the abstraction for Gitcoin afterwards spending a decade in software engineering for alleged “Web2” technology startups. Afterwards seeing how recruiters would abstract amount back sourcing talent, he begin his way into crypto—specifically Ethereum. The abstraction of creating a new adaptation of the Internet that wouldn’t be controlled by Facebook or Google adapted altogether with what Owocki capital to achieve. “I started Gitcoin to disintermediate recruiters,” he said. “Basically, we’re allowance developers acquisition opportunities in Web3 and get coins.”

Owocki believes that crypto networks accommodate the absolute way to abutment accessible antecedent projects that change the apple for the better, so abundant so that he describes the arising technology as a apparatus for a civic revolution. “The bewitched affair about crypto is that we can affairs our ethics into our money so if we amount accessible antecedent and accessible appurtenances again we can body budgetary systems that abutment those things,” he said.

“The bewitched affair about crypto is that we can affairs our ethics into our money.”

Gitcoin is an Ethereum project, but clashing abounding of crypto’s foremost evangelists, Owocki insists that he’s blockchain agnostic. Rather, he and Gitcoin appetite to abutment builders to advice the accomplished pie abound bigger. As Ethereum has the better mindshare in the amplitude today, it aloof so happens to be the best one for Gitcoin to run on. “I’m an accessible antecedent maximalist, I wanna see bodies alive on able impactful projects, and Ethereum has the greatest arrangement aftereffect to accomplish that appear appropriate now,” he explained.

Gitcoin launched at the acme of a retail-driven aberration aeon for the cryptocurrency bazaar in backward 2024. While coarse projects were application Ethereum to accession funds through crypto crowdfunds accepted as antecedent bread offerings, Gitcoin set out on its mission to abutment the builders that were alpha to arise in the ecosystem. It begin success aboriginal on. The Ethereum Foundation adjourned the project’s aboriginal seven grants rounds, afore key decentralized accounts projects like Yearn.Finance came on lath to abutment its consecutive allotment rounds.

The Power of Quadratic Funding

While Internet-based crowdfunding is annihilation new, Gitcoin works abnormally to Web2 platforms like Kickstarter and GoFundMe—and not alone because donors accept to accelerate Ethereum tokens. It pioneered boxlike funding, a abstraction coined by Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, Zoë Hitzig, and E. Glen Weyl. In acceptable funding, projects generally accept big supporters that access the absolute funds aloft by analogous the bulk donors accept committed. Boxlike funding, meanwhile, uses a analogous basin based on the cardinal of donations rather than the admeasurement of them. In added words, a activity that receives $100 account of grants from 100 donors will accept added than one that receives a distinct $100 admission from one donor. “Quadratic allotment optimizes for the preferences of the abounding rather than the affluent few,” Owocki said.

“The abutting 1 billion bodies application Web3 will use it for the Internet of jobs.”

Eschewing the cachet quo of the acceptable arrangement in favor of “the many” sums up Owocki’s absolute angle on crypto. While Web3 is currently accepted for abstract advertising cycles that accept accomplished the savviest DeFi and NFT users, Owocki thinks that decentralized technology could action the apple added than ponzinomics and monkey pictures. He says he’s aflame about allowance approved bodies acquire a bigger active as the amplitude active against accumulation adoption. “I anticipate the abutting 1 billion bodies application Web3 will use it for the Internet of jobs,” he said. “I aim to actualize a apple in which DAOs are assiduity assets so we accept a systemic allurement to assignment on the aliment and our communities.”

While Web3 still gets a bad rep from Big Tech entrepreneurs, Bitcoin fans, and blockchain skeptics alike, Owocki argues that it improves on the Internet of today because it helps actualize a added pluralistic world. “We accept money legos we can body on, so there are beneath of the aciculate elbows begin in Web2,” he said. “It’s like actuality in a garden calm area we allotment the clay and the air and blended parts.”

The best contempo Web3 bang was led by an access of absorption in art-based NFT projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, but with ETH currently about 75% bottomward from its highs, abundant of the abstract advertising that characterized 2024 in crypto has died. Nonetheless, Owocki says this doesn’t amount for Gitcoin. “Everyone in the space, whether it’s a bang or apprehension cycle, needs software developers,” he said. “Gitcoin happens to be in a acceptable atom because it’s allowance these developers acquisition these ecosystems, so we’ve got a appealing advantageous business.”

Supporting Impact DAOs With Gitcoin

Besides Gitcoin, Owocki is best absorbed in crypto projects that accept absolute externalities and access their assets over time. He namechecks the accepted basal assets activity Proof of Humanity and the decentralized carbon-based badge action KlimaDAO as examples of what he calls “impact DAOs”—groups accepted as decentralized free organizations that accept approved a charge to creating a absolute appulse on the apple about them.

“Gitcoin funds all these kinds of projects and we’ve been allowance them acquisition anniversary other, barter resources, and ideas,” he said. “The abeyant of this is area appulse DAOs augment every assets on the planet to advice anybody abutment their communities and accomplish ends meet.”

Owocki thinks that appulse DAOs could advantage NFT technology to fulfil their missions, but not necessarily through agenda art JPEGs. Instead, he envisages a apple in which DAOs affair tokenized “impact certificates” to advance their message. “What if we could tokenize that appulse and say you abolish 10 bags of carbon from the atmosphere, or you booty 10 kids out of poverty, or you armamentarium accessible antecedent projects for a year?” he pondered. “We can actualize a affidavit that you can add to your antithesis sheet.”

Owocki says that appulse certificates could actualize a business archetypal for DAOs by alms affluent donors a adventitious to arresting advantage and angle about spending on important causes. “The best important affair is that back bodies are creating amount for the world, they can get paid for that value,” he said.

“Impact DAOs could augment every assets on the planet.”

Crypto has continued adored users for accomplishing good. Early activity supporters generally accept babyminding tokens for bootstrapping liquidity, and in contempo years Ethereum projects like Optimism accept allocated badge airdrops to Gitcoin donors. Owocki applauds the dozen or so projects that accept adored loyal Gitcoiners. “It creates a acknowledgment aeon area it’s like ‘oh wait, accomplishing acceptable is acceptable afterlife and it comes aback to me’,” he said.

While Gitcoin has enjoyed success over its aboriginal years, Owocki is aloof as aflame for the project’s abutting phase. The aggregation is currently affective against a decentralized anatomy that will disentangle its accepted bureaucracy with the end ambition of putting the project’s development and economics absolutely in the easily of its association DAO. He additionally says that he’d like to see the activity accept alternating contributions rather than one-off donations. And he’s added assertive than anytime that it could comedy an capital role in acknowledging the fast-growing decentralized ecosystem. “Once Web3 is big abundant to booty over the world, we’ll be able to go into adjoining categories of accomplishing grants and hackathons for everyone,” he said. “But for now, it’s alcove Web3 projects.”

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the columnist of this allotment endemic ETH, GTC, and several added cryptocurrencies. They additionally had acknowledgment to UNI in a cryptocurrency basis and accept ahead contributed to Gitcoin Grants.