How Lightning Is Revolutionizing Crowdfunding

This is an sentiment editorial by Kroum Kroumov, a copywriter, exertion and UX writer.

Crowdfunding has ever been a large mode to get backing for your enactment and to nonstop your ambitions flying. Most net crowdfunding platforms haven’t kept up with changes successful politics, exertion and the advances of online interaction, chiefly the maturation of online communities. Government censorship and overreach person played a captious relation successful sparking a request for innovation successful crowdfunding.

Here, we volition research however Lightning is redefining crowdfunding, what caller features are becoming possible, and which crowdfunding platforms are taking the pb successful innovation and raising the bitcoin/lightning ecosystem to caller heights.

Traditional Crowdfunding Platforms Are Outdated

Unfortunately, not everyone is keen connected caller technology, and galore institutions and companies volition combat to support the presumption quo, since they are deriving benefits from it. Therefore, innovation often becomes a menace successful their eyes. Governments, with their propulsion to support a fiat strategy running, are an illustration of this. Another illustration is authorities attempts to digitize fiat currencies done CBDCs to support their fiat strategy going.

Crowdfunding platforms person besides been dilatory successful adopting bitcoin. We could easy property the dilatory gait of bitcoin acceptance by crowdfunding platforms to authorities rhetoric, which has sown the seeds of uncertainty. Regardless of their reasoning, platforms that bash not accommodate volition go outdated, due to the fact that they volition miss retired connected the possibilities that Lightning brings with it.

Government Overreach And Censorship

Nothing has proven that we request backing decentralization much than caller censorship events, similar the trucker protestation successful Canada. A fashionable crowdfunding platform, GoFundMe, froze the donated assets of protesters, giving successful to authorities pressure. This protestation and the resulting authorities reaction, namely the censoring of donated funds, proved that governments volition scope into people’s pockets to effort and halt our close to disagree.

A bitcoin-only crowdfunding level that stepped up to the sheet during the protests was TallyCoin. TallyCoin enabled the protesters to person funds successful bitcoin. This showed the satellite astatine ample the censorship-resistant properties that bitcoin carries with it. As agelong arsenic the task remained open, the truckers could person funds.

As unwarranted arsenic the authorities overreach was during the trucker protest, afloat decentralization of crowdfunding platforms is not thing that anyone is looking to do. The funds are censorship resistant, portion the task is not. TallyCoin did eventually close the project, but the truckers received their funds and nary 1 could instrumentality their wealth distant portion the task was progressive connected the website, since bitcoin transactions are peer-to-peer.

A crowdfunding level cannot instrumentality the work of helping money amerciable activity, successful this lawsuit hosting projects they would deem criminal. While we tin decentralize money, making it censorship-resistant acknowledgment to bitcoin, it is an contented to decentralize the contented of the level entirely.

Lightning-Enabled Crowdfunding

Bitcoin adds a furniture of censorship absorption to crowdfunding. The crowdfunding level hosts projects successful the relation of a 3rd party, portion bitcoin donations stay decentralized, since they are peer-to-peer. Therefore, the wealth a idiosyncratic receives is arsenic censorship resistant arsenic bitcoin itself.

The Lightning furniture is simply a crippled changer due to the fact that it allows for donations to travel successful via third-party websites and assorted societal media platforms. For example, you tin person donations straight successful your wallet by posting your static Lightning code oregon QR codification connected tweets and blog posts. This means that a idiosyncratic wouldn’t request to log successful to the crowdfunding level to donate to your cause.

One level that is pushing the docket for Lightning integration is Geyser.fund. This level is simply a bully illustration of what the caller procreation of dynamic crowdfunding platforms look like. It is simply a Lightning-native crowdfunding level that takes vantage of innovation opportunities that Lightning provides, including:

• Lightning Addresses: Every task connected Geyser gets an integrated Lightning code that creators tin leverage.
• Static QR codes. Creators person wealth straight into their wallets from their societal media accounts by posting their static QR code, frankincense eliminating the request to log successful to Geyser. This lets you person funds from anyone, anytime and anywhere.
• WEBLN browser integration. If you don’t similar QR codes, you tin usage WEBLN browser integrations similar Alby to person nonstop payments done your imperishable Lightning address.
• Live money updates. The task leafage updates arsenic soon arsenic the funds travel in. This shows users however your task is picking up steam.
• Fully borderless crowdfunding. Thanks to Lightning, you tin nonstop and person funds for your task nary substance wherever you’re based, and from anyplace wherever users tin scan your codification to nonstop you tips.
• Engagement with donors and the community. Project owners tin constitute articles and station updates astir their task leafage to support their assemblage successful the loop and engaged. This way, the task is successful a recurring, surviving state.
• Interoperability with podcasting 2.0: Get tipped sats for your crowdfunding run done the Fountain podcast app.
• Censorship-resistant funding. The funds spell straight into your Lightning wallet without going done the 3rd party, successful this case, Geyser. The level lone hosts the project, not the funds.

Dynamic Crowdfunding With Lightning

If you deliberation astir it, each accepted crowdfunding platforms look alike: they are static pages. There is nary engagement betwixt communities and small oregon thing happening unrecorded connected the screen.

On the different hand, Lightning-enabled crowdfunding websites are dynamic. Everything is living, engaging, changing and interacting with the users connected some ends. Dynamic crowdfunding broadens your project’s scope and brings successful much funds done enactment and interoperability done societal media platforms and browser integrations.

Conclusion

The accepted crowdfunding exemplary has go outdated due to the fact that of authorities overreach and the technological opportunities provided by the Lightning furniture of bitcoin. Now bitcoin/Lightning-native crowdfunding platforms specified arsenic Geyser.fund, TallyCoin, and OpenSats are taking vantage of innovation opportunities that Lightning provides to revolutionize the field.

Through the Lightning layer, crowdfunding is becoming decentralized, censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer and dynamic. We instantly reap the benefits of amended selling outreach done societal media, diversifying ways of receiving payments, interoperability and assemblage engagement — each of which amended funding, viewership and accessibility.

So, wherefore not instrumentality vantage of it? If you’re looking to assistance money a cause, you tin present bash it from your favourite societal media platform, and if you’ve already got a project, stock it connected societal media and get funded. It’s clip for crowdfunding to germinate done Lightning interoperability and innovation.

This is simply a impermanent station by Kroum Kroumov. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.