Intro to Geyser Grants

Geyser Grants are our way of giving back to the most impactful contributors in the Bitcoin ecosystem

The origin

Brad Mills and the Geyser team came up with the Geyser Grants as a way to support the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem by providing grants directly to creators.

Grants are not a new thing in Bitcoin, with projects like HRF and Opensats providing much needed funding towards developers. But few grants were supporting Bitcoin creators - educators, creatives, or community builders. This is why we started Geyser Grants.

The why

• Geyser Grants reward and recognize the work done by Bitcoin creators and builders

• Geyser Grants foster the creation of a vibrant community around crowdfunding

• Geyser Grants promote a Bitcoin-only philosophy through content and culture, and by supporting developments in this space

Principles

1. Bitcoin only We believe that bitcoin is the signal in the midst of the noise. Our aim is to remain bitcoin-only.

2. Problem-solving oriented With Geyser Grants we aim to funnel funds towards what we believe are the biggest obstacles to hyperbitcoinization. For example: 85% of the world don’t speak English, means that we need more creators to translate Bitcoin content into many languages.

3. Transparency We operate as transparently as possible by providing insights into:

   • where funds come from

   • how evaluations are carried out to select grant winners

   • how funds are distributed between grant winners

4. Neutrality We operate without letting possible personal connections compromise any aspect of the grants. To achieve this, we've implemented a robust system, explained in the next section.

How it works

1. Where the money comes from

   • Bitcoin philanthropists We partner with Bitcoin philanthropists to provide funding towards creators providing value on the ground.

   • Sponsorships We partner with other Bitcoin companies that are willing to spend some of their marketing budget towards the Bitcoin creator ecosystem.

2. Who can apply In order to apply, a creator needs to have a project on Geyser. Anyone can create one quickly and for free. Click here for more information on how to get started.

3. How the evaluation process works We have two evaluation processes in place:

   1. Board voting We select a board of subject-matter experts to do the evaluation and the allocation of funds.

   2. Community voting Each donation to a project is worth as many votes as the size of the donation (for example, 1 sat = 1 vote). Funds are allocated proportionally to all votes cast within a pre-determined time period.

   Read our dedicated page to learn more about how the two processes work in practice.

4. How funds are distributed

   All funds are distributed as donations, according to the agreed allocation, to their respective Geyser projects.

Monetization

Geyser does not charge any fee on the grants directly. Geyser only monetizes through our crowdfunding platform. Creators can run their own node and use Geyser for free, or they can choose to use a lightning address, in which case we charge our standard 4% fee.