Gitcoin (GTC) is a decentralized platform that seeks to empower communities by offering technologies and opportunities to fund, build, and protect what matters to them. The platform's core products include the Gitcoin Grants Stack, a grants management solution, Allo Protocol, an open-source funding protocol, and Gitcoin Passport, a decentralized identity management tool. GTC, the platform's governance token, was launched in May 2021 and plays a crucial role in the creation and funding of the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that governs Gitcoin.

Gitcoin operates by utilizing its core products to facilitate community-led initiatives. The Gitcoin Grants Stack is a solution for managing grants, enabling communities to create, manage, and grow their own grants programs. The Allo Protocol is an open-source funding protocol that provides a way for communities to distribute pooled funds. Gitcoin Passport, on the other hand, is a tool for managing decentralized identities and defending against Sybil attacks. GTC, the governance token, enables community ownership and decentralized stewardship of Gitcoin's products, protocols, and programs.

Gitcoin strives to provide a platform for funding and building public goods initiatives in various sectors, including decentralized finance (DeFi), climate, and open sourcing. Gitcoin has distributed over $54 million to early-stage builders through the Gitcoin Grants Program. The platform also offers a suite of tools for managing grants programs, allocating shared resources, and protecting projects from bots and bad actors. Furthermore, Gitcoin Passport allows users to create a digital identity and prove their humanity without storing personally identifiable information.

Gitcoin was founded by Kevin Owocki and Scott Moore. Since its inception, the platform has evolved from a monolithic platform to a suite of modular protocols, embracing mechanisms like Quadratic Voting, Direct Grants, and Retroactive Public Goods Funding. Gitcoin has contributed to creating over $29 billion in global financial impact and has cultivated the "Quadratic Lands," an ecosystem focused on community building. The GTC governance token was launched in late May 2021, marking a milestone in the platform's journey towards decentralized governance.

GitcoinGTC encourages developers to contribute to open-source software projects and accomplishes this by providing non-monetary incentives and grants for development projects. GitcoinGTC focuses on supporting "public goods" projects, which are designed to benefit everyone without necessarily competing with one another. Examples of these projects include those related to clean air, infrastructure, and privacy. However, most of the public goods projects supported by GitcoinGTC are those that address blockchain within the Ethereum ecosystem. GitcoinGTC motivates talented developers to join the platform by providing a non-financial motivation to participate in hackathons, bounties, and community grants. Developers who have a project they wish to work on can submit it on the GitcoinGTC platform and crowdsource support directly from other contributors. GitcoinGTC employs a unique system known as quadratic funding to help align with community support efforts to accelerate the development of the projects the community deems most popular.

GTC, or Gitcoin, is a governance token that encourages developers to contribute to the Gitcoin platform. It was launched in May 2021 and has since been used to fund public goods and facilitate decision-making within the Gitcoin network. Developers who hold GTC tokens can participate in the governance of the platform, influencing its direction and future developments. This includes ratifying grant round rules and results, funding workstreams, and approving partnerships with other DAOs. GTC serves as a form of acknowledgment for developers who contribute to the platform, encouraging their continued participation. GTC is used in identity staking, an integral part of Gitcoin's Passport, a digital identity solution built on the Ceramic Network. This staking mechanism aims to establish a 'price of forgery,' a new score being evaluated to reduce Sybil attacks, which may contribute to the platform's security.

Gitcoin Grants seeks to empower project creators and contributors in the cryptocurrency space by providing a platform for funding and stewarding public goods. For project creators, Gitcoin Grants provides a decentralized platform to gather support for their projects. This initiative utilizes a Quadratic Funding distribution mechanism, which magnifies the impact of individual donations, enabling creators to gather support for their projects from a wide range of contributors. For contributors, Gitcoin Grants provides an opportunity to support projects they believe in and have a say in their development. By utilizing GTC tokens, contributors can stake for Proof of Humanity on Gitcoin Passport, participate in Gitcoin governance, and fund public goods. GTC token holders can contribute to the stewardship of Gitcoin's products, protocols, and programs, contributing to their involvement in the platform's development.

Gitcoin employs a unique system known as quadratic funding to distribute funds in a democratic and fair manner. This mechanism optimizes for the preferences of "the many" rather than "the few". In other words, if a project garners support from a larger number of individual contributors, it receives a bigger portion of the matching pool. This approach strives to ensure that the distribution of funds is not dominated by a few wealthy contributors but is instead reflective of the broader community's preferences. The quadratic funding mechanism is powered by Gitcoin's native token, GTC. As a donor, contributions of any size have the potential to influence the projects you support. This system encourages broad participation and fosters a distribution of funds that aims to reflect the preferences of a broader community, thereby contributing to the democratic nature of the Gitcoin platform.