Providing stimulus to create an alternative to the Bitcoin Foundation, early bitcoin adopter, Olivier Janssens announced in May that he would award $100,000 to the best internet based open source platform that would have the ability to fund bitcoin core development as well as lobbying.  The $100,000 bounty proved Janssens was willing to ‘put his money where his mouth i’s, after having voiced his negative opinion towards problems of politics that were ruining the Foundation.

In funding an alternative, Janssens believed that bitcoin needed an open system where the community would vote on how to allocate development and lobbying resources.  Winning the award is Lighthouse.  First showcased at Bitcoin 2014 in Amsterdam and developed by Bitcoin Core developer Mike Hearn, Lighthouse is a blockchain based crowdfunding platform.  In describing the product, Janssens compared it to Kickstarter, explaining that:

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• Crowdfunding platform, running completely on the Blockchain. Assurance contracts which send money back automatically if goals are not met.
• Will be able to fund Bitcoin core devs directly. They propose their schedule and goals, and they can set extra bonus features when they get extra funds (such as with Kickstarter).
• Will allow lobbyists to make proposals and be directly funded by the community, according to their capabilities
• Will allow many other community initiatives, such as supporting adoption in Africa by sponsoring ATMs, etc

In winning the bounty, Lighthouse is being awarded $40,000 now, with another $50,000 provided to fund its first project.  Coming in second place, and receiving $10,000 was Eris by Project Douglas, and Ethereum based system which was submitted by Casey Kuhlman, Dennis McKinnon and Preston Byrne.