Kevin Owocki on Gitcoin, Controversy and the Future of Open Source Funding

The founder of one of crypto’s most buzzed-about projects discusses the origins of Gitcoin, controversy and why open source funding needs to evolve.

Ever since announcing its fourth round of grants, Gitcoin has been a major subject of conversation across the Twittersphere. In addition to all the excited buzz from both technical projects and media creators vying for grants matched based on E. Glen Weyl and Vitalik Buterin’s quadratic funding model, there has been controversy. Some of that controversy has been from outside the Ethereum community, pointing to Consensys and Ethereum Foundation support as an example of centralization. Some of the controversy has come from within, as debates rage about what is or isn’t an acceptable use of “public” resources. 

No matter what one’s position, it’s hard to deny Gitcoin is one of the most interesting experiments in open source funding to date. Listen as @nlw asks the projects founder Kevin Owocki about the history of the project, the controversy, and what makes this round of grants such a big jump forward.