5 Things You Should Know About Fundition

Crowdfunding is nothing new. It's been around for a long time. In fact, it predates the Internet by many years. Both the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty were crowdfunding projects. Online, crowdfunding has been around for almost 20 years. But Fundition.io wants to take crowdfunding to the next level by decentralizing it and putting it on a blockchain--the Steem blockchain.

It's a very simple concept, really. Crowdfunding. Most of us know what it is. If you don't, here'a a Wikipedia article explaining it. But what makes Fundition different than your typical crowdfunding website? There are at least five things.

Why Fundition Is Not Your Typical Crowdfunding Website

1. It's on the Steem blockchain - Fundition could have been built on any blockchain. Philosophically, there's no reason it couldn't have worked on Ethereum, Bitcoin, Waves, EOS, or any of the myriad other blockchains that exist. The Fundition team chose Steem for one simple reason: It's superfast. The Fundition purple paper says it this way:

Additionally, with an average of 1.6 million transactions per day, the Steem blockchain has proven its scalability, currently using only 0.13% of its total capacity, while most other blockchains cannot yet achieve half that figure.

2. It's free for backers and founders - Fundition.io takes no fees. It makes me wonder how they make money, but that's what their purple paper and website say. While other crowdfunding websites charge 5% to 15% of a project's backing, Fundition has decided not to take anything at all. Of course, that's hardly any consolation if you can't raise any money. Take your project to Kickstarter and you'll potentially be able to reach millions of backers. On Fundition, the backer pool is much smaller. But this is where founders have to decide the cost and benefits. While a Kickstarter campaign may have access to more potential backers, there is also much more competition, and what is realistic in terms of those users backing your project? If your project is a Steem-based project, it's more likely to find backers at Fundition than on Kickstarter. Never let good marketing get in the way of sober self-analysis (and that cuts both ways).

3. Fundition is decentralized - The very nature of crowdfunding is peer-to-peer. Nevertheless, Fundition wants you to know that they are peer-to-peer. They also go to great pains to state that they are decentralized, which is another way of saying they don't control the process from beginning to end. They actually put backers and founders together to work things out on their own. This is a benefit if you trust that founders won't abscond with your contributions. If that happens, Fundition won't guarantee a refund. They will take your complaint and allow you to post a review of the founder on the Fundition website, which could be a warning to other potential backers, but it won't get your money back.

One of the most interesting parts of the purple paper on the Fundition website is this paragraph:

The decentralized organizational structure consists of manifold small executive units, all operating in harmony. This allows for close-knit chains of command, and tight testing and feedback loops, allowing for growth mindset and rapid innovation. This is the model for Fundition, as we believe that short-cycle change is what founders require in the coming generations.

In other words, the "decentralization" appears to be on the macro level, but on the micro level, it's simply the centralization we're all trying to avoid. It does sound like double-speak. On the one hand, there is no CEO (although, there is a CTO), but, on the other hand, "small executive units" implies a centralized structure on multiple small scales even if there is no further explanation on how these small units interact with each other besides "operating in harmony." To be fair, as a backer or a founder, this is immaterial if the platform works as it should.

4. Backers have a variety of funding options - One of the more interesting parts of Fundition is its funding mechanism. Backers can fund projects with USD, euro, Bitcoin, ether, STEEM, and other currencies. I find this interesting because everything will be converted to STEEM and sent to founders using SteemConnect straight to their Steem accounts. However, for non-Steemians, other channels are utilized, such as Blocktrades, Changelly, and Coinbase.

What I haven't quite figured out is what HeartPower is all about. Evidently, you can support a project without funding it directly. The purple paper, in very small print, says Hearts "consist of .001 USD" and based on the Steem blockchain rewards pool. It further says "HeartPower is made up of Steem Power," but it doesn't give any further details other than providing micro-donations "on every piece of content posted by the project." So, I'm guessing, upvotes?

5. Fundition facilitates Collaborators - Here's another interesting thing I like about Fundition and which isn't very typical of crowdfunding websites. Like a project and want to support it but not financially? You can volunteer to collaborate on the project instead. That means you can share ideas and maybe even work on the project. This should work great for creatives who might want to create logos or website banners, maybe even build websites, or write content for projects they support. Fundition will even automatically share STEEM, SP, SBD, and upvotes with collaborators according to founders' preferences.

How Fundition Can Be Improved

Fundition is still early stages. It launched earlier this year and still has a long way to go to mass adoption. However, it does have the support of some whales and deep Steemian pockets. I can see it becoming a major part of the Steem ecosystem and will likely even be influential in helping Steemit grow as non-Steemians who sign up on the platform are automatically signed up for a free account. But it is by no means perfect. There are some ways it can be improved, and it's possible the Fundition team has already thought of some of these. Here's my short list:

Give it cross-chain functionality - This is at the top of my list. The Fundition purple paper is explicit in stating that Fundition wants to disrupt the crowdfunding model. That isn't likely to happen if they remain focused on Steem (after all, Steemit hasn't exactly disrupted social media). Sure, Steem is a great blockchain, but it isn't the only blockchain. Ethereum has far more users and many more vocal advocates. Besides, diversification is the only sure security against irrelevance.
Plan for an SMT - Steem is planning to roll out its support of SMTs by March 2019. Fundition could benefit from having its own Smart Media Token (SMT), which could serve as a staking token, a voting token, or even its own currency. Maybe it could replace the touchy-feely HeartPower and add real value to non-financial support in some practical way by allowing founders to engage with supporters through vote-based (RE: SMT-based survey-like feedback). Another way an SMT could benefit Fundition is by serving as a reward for collaborators. Not to mention, it could get its own listing on CoinMarketCap and a market valuation on its own.
Add a "Top Projects" category - Currently, Fundition users can browse projects by category. There are 31 categories from Agriculture to Volunteer. The most popular category is Steem & Steemit, with Charity a very close second. But if I want to see the top projects funded, I don't see a way to do that. There is a HeartLeaderBoard that shows who the top backers are. I guess that's useful for founders who might want to target their project for the top backers, but it's a little disHEARTening that the top backer has only contributed $2,530.648 following by No. 2 at $551.274.

All in all, I think Fundition is a grand project. I'm looking forward to seeing how it grows, and to see the different projects that get funded.

If you are interested in learning more about Fundition, please visit the following:

https://fundition.io
info@fundition.org
https://discordapp.com/invite/ys7Nv7m
@fundition
@fundition
https://www.facebook.com/funditionofficial
https://twitter.com/funditionio
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaTNHseUn7uNsM7MmtArORg
https://www.instagram.com/funditionofficial/