We should talk less about public goods funding and more about open source funding

We should talk less about public goods funding and more about open source funding

https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/03/29/pubos.html

First Draft Club

🧵 THREAD: Why open source devs are still struggling to get paid in 2025 - and how I am fixing it.

The open source ecosystem powers 90% of the web, yet most maintainers work for free. Let's explore the problem and a simple solution:

1/ The open source paradox: Projects like elizaOS  (powering AI agents, MC reached $2B+) are built by devs working nights and weekends

"This is @shawmakesmagic - $100k in debt 70 days ago. Coding till 3am every night to pay rent. Turns a crazy idea into $2B+ AI project."

2/ "Having an incentive mechanism while being open source is quite challenging - it's a balance between 'community' and 'value capture'"

This is the core problem: How do we fund public goods without paywalls that limit adoption?

3/ Contribution-based systems show promise but have limitations:

"On-Chain Contribution Tracking: Use verifiable logs (GitHub commits, forum posts) to measure actual work done."

The problem? Complex to implement and maintain for smaller projects.

@vitalik.eth spoke it here https://farcaster.xyz/xr0am-/0xce2c0a02