Has decentralized crowdfunding finally arrived for DAO with Juicebox?

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and GoFundMe are no strangers to controversy, as they find themselves caught between different sides of the political divide, their users, and even governments when controversial topics hit their sites.

Like social media platforms, they can rely on their ToS (Terms of Service) to revoke service when activities pose a risk to their business, even in the middle of a fundraiser.

No wonder crowdfunding has become the latest model to be disrupted by blockchain.

Juicebox is a crowdfunding platform where the rules for donations, refunds, and disbursements are hard-coded into the chain. What will decentralization mean for crowdfunding and why is Juicebox trending among DAO projects?

A Closer Look at Juicebox

Launched last July, Juicebox is a programmatic treasury management protocol for Ethereum-based projects.

Unlike Kickstarter or GoFundMe, the deployment of funds is governed by code-based rules, rather than the discretion of platform staff.

It is the first Web3 project built by @me_jango who met the first Juicebox team members on Discord. Juicebox has not yet been audited or funded by any VC.

In addition to transforming the traditional crowdfunding model, Juicebox also aims to simplify the process of creating a treasury and issuing tokens to the community of a decentralized project, currently a complicated process. In other words, it makes it easy to start a DAO.

How does Juice Box work?

Anyone can use Juicebox to set up and implement a smart contract for fund management and token distribution for any project.

Juicebox – Design your project Project Details – Display project name, description, website and official media (eg Twitter, Discord) Funding Cycle – Manage funds by setting a funding goal and duration Distribution: commit portions of each withdrawal to other Ethereum wallets or Juicebox projects to pay contributors, charities, other projects, or anyone else. Reserved Token – Set the tokens rewarded for the community when they contribute, as well as the reserved percentage. Incentives and Restricted Actions – Set additional settings, such as discount rates and other restrictions.

As an individual investor who wants to support a project, you can donate your ETH and get the project token at an exchange rate. For example, you can get 1 million JUSTICE by donating 1 ETH to AssengeDAO.

Currently, there are 372 projects powered by Juicebox, which together have raised 44,195 ETH in total. The main project is AssangeDAO (17,422 ETH), followed by ConstitutionDAO (11,613 ETH). Together, they represent 66% of all funds raised.

Juicebox charges a 5% fee on all funds in exchange for $JBX, the Juicebox governance token. From the $JBX price trend shown in Footprint Analytics, it fluctuates with the popularity status of previous projects.

$JBX Price Trend

Why is Juicebox trending among DAOs?

Although Juicebox has not been funded by any VC, it has already raised 6721 ETH (approximately $18 million) funded by its own community on JuiceboxDAO through 15 funding cycles (14 days each). Such funding size is as big as a Series A or even Series B round on average in the crypto industry.

Your project page shows the distribution of funds and the current holdings of each receiving address. This transparency sets it apart from most crypto projects, which usually display this in a section of their white paper.

Distribution of funds from JuiceboxDAO

This is the transparency of each donation, redemption, withdrawal and reservations.

juice box activity

JuiceboxDAO activities include paying, redeeming, withdrawing and reserving

Juicebox makes it very clear where funds come and go, and leaves it up to the community to assess the value and risk of a project.

This meets the DAO requirements. It also represents the spirit of Web3, community to community: decentralized token-based economy.

Thoughts on decentralized crowdfunding

With blockchain technology, the power of the community has evolved from ICOs to IDOs to groups within those DEXs, for example, Curve CIP (Curve Improvement Proposals) and non-factory permission groups.

Throughout the blockchain industry, anyone can pitch a project, which has led to many exciting developments, but also many scams.

At Juicebox, everyone can start their own DAO and it shows.

There is a MoonDAO whose mission is to send people to the moon. A Crypto Island DAO proposes to co-own an island in the Bahamas. Clearly, not all DAOs are reasonable.

With AssangeDAO, a heated controversy arose among the community due to the drastic price drop of its token, $JUSTICE. Some have asked if it is a call for justice or a scam? Many donors are suspicious of the project and its founding team.

Juicebox is a great example of Web3, where anyone can raise funds directly from the community. However, not all individual investors are knowledgeable enough to assess the risks and benefits of these unexamined permit-less projects or DAOs.

What is footprint analysis?

Footprint Analytics is an all-in-one analytics platform for blockchain data visualization and insight discovery. Cleans and integrates on-chain data so users of any experience level can quickly get started investigating tokens, projects, and protocols. With over a thousand dashboard templates plus a drag and drop interface, anyone can create their own custom charts in minutes. Discover blockchain data and invest smarter with Footprint.