<\/p>\n
A founder handing over the reins of a project to a decentralized community is a noble goal but can be difficult to execute.<\/p>\n
In the latest example of the challenges faced by decentralized organizations (DAOs), Kevin Owocki<\/a>, the founder of Gitcoin, plans<\/a> to play an active role in the project once again., according to a Sept. 5 post<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last few months, I have heard variously from different people who think that things are going great for Gitcoin and also from people who think they are going poorly,\u201d he wrote. Owocki left<\/a> Gitcoin in June 2022 after starting the project in 2017.<\/p>\n Gitcoin\u2019s flagship Grants product, which funds public goods through donations from the community, launched in 2019 and was quickly embraced by crypto enthusiasts as a way to support their favorite projects.<\/p>\n More recent initiatives have taken heat from the crypto community\u2014\u00a0in May, the project announced a funding round that included a diversity mandate. Many in the crypto community disagreed with making aspects of teams\u2019 identities a criteria for eligibility.<\/p>\n In another controversial move, Gitcoin partnered<\/a> with oil and gas conglomerate Shell to fund its climate-oriented rounds with $500,000 over 12 months.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time a founder has returned to a major crypto project in times of crisis \u2014 Kain Warwick rejoined<\/a> Synthetix in 2021.<\/p>\n Prominent members of the crypto community have decried the current state of the project on social media. Martin K\u00f6ppelmann, the co-founder of Gnosis, calls<\/a> Gitcoin \u201calmost unusable.\u201d<\/p>\n David Mihal<\/a>, who has received grants in the past for useful tools like CryptoFees.info, also noted<\/a> that he had been rejected from recent funding rounds without apparent cause.<\/p>\n In a follow-up interview with The Defiant, Mihal talked about how much he appreciated Gitcoin but also deplored the project\u2019s user experience.<\/p>\n \u201cGitcoin is one of the best examples of how you can use this technology to do something good and helpful,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s really unique to crypto.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Gitcoin\u2019s strong brand and mission, Mihal thinks the project isn\u2019t living up to its potential. \u201dThe tech has always been super buggy,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have all the attention, the mindshare, the user base, but I don’t think they’re executing super well.\u201d<\/p>\nControversial Moves<\/h2>\n
Need For Improved UX<\/h2>\n