The problem Tipsy solves

Tipsy - Solana tipping on BitClout

Squad Wealth + Quadratic Funding = Squadratic Crowdfunding

Tipsy improves upon the existing tipping mechanisms of BitClout via squadratic crowdfunding -

Tipsy encourages busking on web3 and incentivizes both tippers and tippees to crowdfund.

Ideas - quadratic funding, microtipping, escrows, cross-chain transactions

Design

• The current "tipping" mechanism involves sending creator coins or diamonds. This is a zero-sum game.
• We like positive-sum games. Small value tips powered by Quadratic Funding encourages everyone to participate.
• It's important to support one's favourite creator on BitClout with small tips based on their proof of work (posts).
• This idea of tipping has proven successful in live synchronous events Twitch, Youtube, etc.
• Asynchronous ad-hoc events are not designed for tipping. Tipsy fixes this.
• Creative projects require a consistent stream of funding. Patreon has proved this.
• Squads are the native power structure in web3.
• Squad Wealth + Quadratic Funding = Squadratic Crowdfunding
• A simple button connected to the Sollet wallet makes it easy to integrate it with the BitClout API.
• BitClout's FOSS-nature and the ability to run one's own node lets us customize Tipsy as a creator-first crowdfunding platform.

Challenges we ran into

The BitClout developer documentation is still a work in progress but was helpful enough for our needs. Modifying the frontend code in Typescript and backend code in Go were our primary challenges.

Solana - We wanted to implement an escrow-based contract in Solana where the funds don't reach the tippee's wallet until after a certain time period. We were able to implement the contract but not use it in our final demo. Thus, the current demo is about a tipper on BitClout sending a small tip from their Sollet wallet to the tippee from their BitClout custom card.