OSC

You can now use Crypto to Support Open Source Software

Today we are adding limited support for cryptocurrencies on the Open Collective platform. Collectives hosted by Open Source Collective and Open Collective Foundation can now receive contributions in over 40 cryptocurrencies.

Benjamin Nickolls, Pia Mancini

Sep 29, 2021 • 2 min read

Contribute to Open Source Software using Cryptocurrency.

Last week we released OpenStocks, allowing unincorporated, borderless communities to access a traditional economic tool: public stocks. Today we’re bringing those same communities access to the next generation of tools: allowing them to receive crypto as Collective.

Close up of contribute section showing of Collective page, showing Donatation Tier and new 'Crypto Contribution' tier. — Contribute to Open Source Software using Cryptocurrency.

Stocks and shares are a huge part of the economic power of traditional geo-political structures, and while we believe that equivalent access to those structures is a positive move for the communities we support we can’t ignore that the world is changing...

Over the last decade, we have seen cryptocurrency grow from play-things and thought experiments for academics and cryptography geeks, to a genuine financial power. Whatever your thoughts on crypto, it is undeniable that they are now a part of every conversation about money, trade, and value.

So today, we are adding limited support for cryptocurrencies on the Open Collective platform. Collectives hosted by Open Source Collective can now receive contributions in over 40 cryptocurrencies. This feature is an opt-in, Collectives can decide to enable contributions in crypto from their settings.

Open Collective exists to provide communities with a way to access the financial system and we believe that cryptocurrencies are a part of that financial system. That said, we are concerned about both the impact of some cryptocurrencies on the climate and the volatility that comes with cryptocurrencies as a store of value.

For now, we will not add support for holding a balance in cryptocurrencies, nor will we add support for paying expenses and invoices using cryptocurrencies. Instead, we will immediately settle contributions made to Collectives in the fiat currency of the Collective.

How does it work?

The process is a little more involved than fiat contributions, but for regular crypto users it should not be unusual: we will ask which currency and amount that you would like to contribute. We generate an individual wallet address to receive your contribution and monitor the blockchain for confirmations. Once you have transferred the indented amount to the wallet address (and we see enough confirmations) we exchange the currency, credit the equivalent amount in USD to the Collective, and acknowledge your contribution.

Image showing process for dontating cryptocurrency. Screen left shows a contribution to the Octobox Collective in progress. Screen right shows payment information including a wallet address. — Select a cryptocurrency, enter an amount, transfer that amount to a unique wallet address.

We’re very excited to announce this release. We believe that how we embrace and organize around the changing world of global finance will have a huge impact on the very real causes that we support on a daily basis.