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❓ FAQ

Frequently asked questions from potlock.org/faq, plus additional detail for docs readers.

Quick FAQ (from potlock.org)​

What is POTLOCK?​

POTLOCK (spelled P-O-T-L-O-C-K) is the open funding stack for crypto grants and public goods. Founders, projects, non-profits, and open source contributors use POTLOCK to raise funds, run campaigns, accept donations in multiple cryptocurrencies, and run or participate in grant rounds on NEAR and multi-chain.

How do I raise funds with crypto as a founder?​

Create a campaign at app.potlock.org to raise funds. POTLOCK lets you accept donations on EVM chains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, etc.), Bitcoin and forks, and Layer 1 chains (NEAR, Solana, Sui, and more). You can also apply to quadratic funding rounds for matching funds and embed a donation widget on your site.

Can I build my own donation or funding platform with POTLOCK?​

Yes. POTLOCK is an open funding stack: the protocol and smart contracts are open source (MIT). You can fork the stack, run your own funding rounds (pots), and use the API and widgets to build custom donation flows. Many ecosystems and blockchain foundations use POTLOCK to run their own grant rounds.

How do I get supported for my open source project?​

Register your project on POTLOCK and create a campaign, or apply to funding rounds (pots) that support open source. POTLOCK runs quadratic funding rounds for OSS and public goods where small donations are matched. You can also accept direct crypto donations and stablecoins from sponsors and the community.

How do I find sponsors or donors for my project?​

Use POTLOCK campaigns and funding rounds to surface your project to donors and ecosystem funders. Create a campaign at app.potlock.org, share your link, and apply to relevant pots (e.g. open source, AI, ecosystem). Donors can discover you via the app and donate in NEAR, ETH, SOL, BTC, or stablecoins.

How do I run a funding round or grant round?​

Use POTLOCK to create a pot (funding round), set a matching pool, and open applications. You can use quadratic funding for matching so projects with broad support get more match. Operate as a chef for your ecosystem; guides are at docs.potlock.org. View existing rounds at app.potlock.org/pots.

What is quadratic funding?​

Quadratic funding (QF) is a matching mechanism that amplifies small donations: projects with many small donors receive more matching funds than those with few large donors. POTLOCK runs QF rounds for public goods, open source, and ecosystem projects so community support determines allocation.

Does POTLOCK accept stablecoin donations?​

Yes. POTLOCK supports multi-chain donations including stablecoins across EVM chains, Bitcoin and forks, and Layer 1 chains (NEAR, Solana, Sui, and more). Donors can give in supported assets; campaign and round operators can receive and distribute funds accordingly.

What cryptocurrencies can I use to donate or raise on POTLOCK?​

POTLOCK supports 32+ chains for donations. Every supported chain has a dedicated user guide in the docs. Supported networks include EVM chains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Optimism, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and more), Bitcoin and forks (Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin), and Layer 1 chains (NEAR, Solana, Sui, Stellar, TON, Tron, XRP, Starknet, Cardano, Aleo). See Donate by supported chain for per-chain guides and the supported networks page for the full list.

Is POTLOCK for non-profits and foundations?​

Yes. Non-profits, blockchain foundations, and ecosystem operators use POTLOCK to run grant rounds, fund public goods, and accept crypto donations. Projects and donors use the same stack for transparent, on-chain funding and giving.

How do I donate on POTLOCK?​

Go to app.potlock.org to browse campaigns and funding rounds. You can donate using 32+ supported chains (EVM, Bitcoin and forks, Layer 1—each has a user guide). Donations in QF rounds are matched to maximize impact per dollar.

What is the Open Funding Stack (OFS)?​

The Open Funding Stack is POTLOCK's composable set of primitives: campaigns, pots (funding rounds), quadratic funding, direct donations, identity, and distribution. It is open source so anyone can build donation platforms, run rounds, or integrate funding into their product.

What is AI-PGF and how does it relate to POTLOCK?​

AI-PGF (AI Public Goods Funding) is a research initiative for funding AI and public goods. POTLOCK supports AI-PGF and runs quadratic funding rounds for AI and open-source projects. It is part of the broader POTLOCK ecosystem.

Where is POTLOCK built? Is it on NEAR?​

POTLOCK is built on NEAR Protocol and is the open funding stack for the NEAR ecosystem. It supports EVM chains, Bitcoin and forks, and Layer 1 chains (Solana, Sui, Stellar, TON, Tron, XRP, Starknet, Cardano, Aleo, and more) so donors can give from one interface.

How can blockchain foundations and ecosystems use POTLOCK?​

Foundations and ecosystems use POTLOCK to run their own grant rounds (pots), set matching pools, and fund projects with quadratic funding or custom mechanisms. They operate as chefs on the protocol and can accept any supported crypto and stablecoins for their rounds.

General FAQ​

What is considered a public good?

  • A public good is generally considered a project that provides more value creation than extraction. For projects that approved on our registry; check out https://potlock.org/guidelines

What if I don't qualify as a public good?

  • You can check out our uncensored version showing all pots and unapproved projects in registry soon. Will be hosted at uncensored.potlock.org

Why do you have referrals?

  • To gamify and incentivize a decentralized referral network. A donor can always take out the referredId from URL and this will make it so referrer does not get fee. Also on pots fees can be zero and this can be used to keep track of who brings in more people.

Are fees mandatory?

  • Fees on the pot level are determined by pot owner. However from the factory contract that is locked (check potlock.org/changelog) has max fees for protocol, chefs, and referrer to prevent abuse by pot owner. Additionally a pot deployer can see fees for all parties to zero (or less than max). For direct donations fees are also optional. Front ends may not reflect this at the moment.

What blockchain and currencies do you currently support?

  • We are on the NEAR Blockchain, a highly performant layer 1 blockchain,. Our quadratic funding contracts support the nativer crypto currency NEAR, while our direct donation contract supports any fungible token. (We are still adjusting front end). Star our core contract repos for any relevant update https://github.com/potlock/core

What is quadratic funding?

  • Quadratic funding is a novel funding mechanisms that incentivies smaller unqiue contributions against a matching pool. Learn more at https://wtfisqf.com

Do you have a token?

  • We currently do not have a token. But we are interested in providing incentiv ies for those who provide regular impact. If you do tokenomics or want to contribute to a discussion like this, check out the POTLOCK community telegram?

What is next after quadratic funding?

  • We are working on public goods legos on how to compose these interfaces. Currently we are designing campaigns for anyone to launch. More information can be found in our roadmap (also checkout our designs at https://potlock.org/figma

How is nada.bot related to POTLOCK?

  • It is a sybil contract aggregator we are spinning to address our immediate sybil needs in the ecosystem. We aggregate with outher sybil providers. Check out https://nada.bot/support if you have any questions and https://docs.nada.bot to integrate

Is POTLOCK a platform or a protocol?

  • POTLOCK is a protocol, a collection of platforms, and an ecosystem for public goods funding, and impact tracking. however, anyone can fork or use our technology at standard for reoutfitting funding mechanisms for any set of accounts and changing donor requirements. Check out our ecosystem ideas board on how to get started

Project FAQ​

Why isn't my project showing up on explore section of main POTLOCK gateway?

  • need to be approved by an admin.

How much do projects usually get funding?

  • You can see average donation amount for approved projects on our registry at statistics at POTLOCK.org/flipside and we will be having more data dashboards soon. Currently funding rounds in total would not exceed $40,000 about as February 2024 when we are launching, so consider that a cap. However we are using participation in round and growth in impact and justification for higher rounds in the future. We encourage other funding mechanisms and plural funding mechanisms, and creating a profile with attestations will increase the odds of getting other funding sources. Join the POTLOCK ecosystem chat if you need support with higher direct grants from a funding vertical on NEAR, a multichain ecosystem grant, or if you are looking to transition to a private company with appropriate accelerators. We are here as a public good to support projects making an impact in the space, and even if you don't consider yourself a public good, we are here to help!

How to do I get on the featured projects page?

  • Contact Potlock Community. Currently we are just randomly picking projects we like and that are undervalues. In the future with creation of a more robust curation system we can better democratize this or automate this based on trending donations>

Developer FAQ​

Is there a place to test on testnet?

Who is involved in ecosystem?

What license is POTLOCK front ends and contracts under?

  • We are under a MIT open source license, and encourage others to fork us and build new funding mechanisms

How do I get involved building?

What are ways you mitigate risks?

  • Opsec. Locking our contracts and after audits so their is no backdoor. Redundant front ends and decentralized gateways with different einvronments. Open source building so anyone can fork us if they dont like us.

Do you have any middleware or any indexers?

What tech stack are you building on?

  • We build on BOS, which is a React like JSX framework, our smart contracts are in Rust, and use NextJS for our traditional app we are building. Our Indexer is in python. We also use Shell for some scripts, and Markdown for documentation. Data analysts use SQL and Python for data queries. If you are looking to contribute and build in the POTLOCK ecosystem, we can support a wide array of stacks.

Do you have a security audit?

  • We have two from Ottersec and Guvenkaya for our contracts and can be found in github.com/potlock/core "audits" repo, but as we develop more contracts for the funding stack, we will get more audit programs. We currently do not have an active bug bounty program, but reach out to owner on community telegram for responsible disclosure so we can address in a timely fashion