Call for Proposals: Making Satoshi’s Vision a Reality with Bitcoin Unlimited

Bitcoin Unlimited is making several hundred thousand dollars available for projects that advance Bitcoin as a global peer-to-peer electronic cash system

The “Satoshi’s Vision” conference, held 25 September 2016 in San Francisco, brought together like-minded people to share ideas and strategies for realizing Satoshi Nakamoto’s ambitious vision of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system accessible to the world’s 7 billion people.

Although the critical innovation — Nakamoto’s ground-breaking solution for achieving decentralized consensus — was made 8 years ago, it became clear at the conference that bringing peer-to-peer electronic cash into the mainstream requires ongoing scaling research, empirical studies, bottleneck removal, quality control, and community outreach.

Bitcoin Unlimited has several hundred thousand dollars available to help fund such work. The purpose of this post is to define a framework upon which the open-source community can solicit funding for high-quality projects that move us closer to making Satoshi’s vision a reality.

Areas of Interest

Research for longer-term scaling initiatives — A very limited amount of funding is available for applied research projects where the time scale of integration into the Bitcoin Unlimited client is further than one year away, but where eventual integration is highly feasible.

Development of incremental scaling improvements — Funding is available for development efforts aimed at making incremental progress on Bitcoin. The scope of such projects should be sufficiently narrow to permit integration into the Bitcoin Unlimited client within 12 months. An example of 0ne such past project was the Xthin effort lead by Peter Tschipper: it yielded objectively-measurable improvements on main-net and the work was largely completed within 6 months.

Empirical studies— Empirical studies that seek to identify and quantify bottlenecks to scaling are of interest.

Quality control — Open source projects often lack the finishing touches that make commercial products reliable and user friendly. Proposals to improve documentation, professionalize the Bitcoin Unlimited website, automate regression testing for BU releases, etc., are welcome.

Outreach — Dissemination of the excellent work being done is also critical to winning hearts and minds. Outreach projects to improve communication with miners and industry leaders, or advance scientific discourse with the academic community, are both needed.

Here are some further ideas: https://bitco.in/forum/threads/bitcoin-unlimited-proposed-development-roadmap.1401/

Format of Proposals

The length of proposals should be commensurate with the amount of funding sought. For example, a 2 to 3 page proposal might be suitable for a project requesting $3000, whereas 10 or more pages might be needed for a project requesting $100,000.

1. Project title

Provide a descriptive title for the proposed project.

2. Bitcoin address

State the bitcoin address that will be used to receive payments should the BU members elect to fund the project.

3. Motivation

Briefly describe the motivation for the project.

4. Objectives

Clearly state the objectives of the project. The objectives must be defined in such a way that whether or not they are met is easily measurable.

5. Project duration

State the start and end date for the project. Project duration must be limited to a maximum of 12 months.

6. Project team

List the people who will carry out the project tasks along with their qualifications. If the project involves hiring people who have not yet been identified, describe the qualifications the ideal candidates would have.

Proposals submitted by people who are unknown to the Bitcoin Unlimited community are advised to provide proof of their qualifications and experience as an addendum (e.g., a resume).

7. Summary of work completed to date

Summarize the work that the proposed project builds upon (regardless of whether or not that work was done by the proposed team), and provide the motivation for the current project.

8. Description of activities

Break the project down into a number of tasks that, if successfully completed, would result in the project objectives being met. Include man-hour estimates and expected completion dates for each task.

9. Anticipated challenges and uncertainties

Identify the risks (technical, political, market-based, or otherwise) and describe what strategies are in place to mitigate them.

10. Budget

Prepare a budget for the project, identifying all project costs. For work that will be done on a volunteer basis, associate an appropriate hourly rate for this work and identify it as a “volunteer contribution.” If the funds requested do not cover, or cover only a portion of, the total project costs, explain how the other costs will be covered. If the project is jointly-funded, state the source of this funding, the total amount, and whether that funding is contingent upon receiving matching funds from BU.

11. Impact

Describe the anticipated impact that the successful completion of this project would have on Bitcoin in the context of on-chain scaling and advancing peer-to-peer electronic cash.

Proposal Submission

Proposals should be posted as a “new thread” on the Bitcoin Forum in the “Bitcoin Unlimited” sub-forum. Readers may then comment or ask question regarding your proposal, which your team can answer in the same thread. You may modify your proposal based on public feedback until the proposal becomes locked when voting begins.

Evaluation of Proposals

Bitcoin Unlimited’s Articles of Federation prohibit the spending of BU funds unless authorized by a BUIP. After a length of time deemed sufficient by the President, the proposal will be locked and voting will begin via a BUIP opened by a Bitcoin Unlimited member. Successful projects will receive the requested funding, paid in Bitcoin, in installments as deemed appropriate by the President.

(Note that there is no requirement for a BUIP to be opened for a given proposal, although several members have committed to doing so for proposals that are formatted correctly and appear to be of interest to the community.)

Deadline for Submissions

Proposals will be accepted on an ongoing basis for at least one year or until the available funds are exhausted.