boosting a bounty 🚀
A boost is a contribution to an existing open bounty.
When you boost a bounty, you're doing two things:
- Increasing the reward available to whoever completes it.
- Gaining voting power in the bounty's claim verification.
You don't need to be the person who created the bounty, and you don't need permission from the creator.
One person creates the incentive. Other people can make it bigger—and have a say in whether claims are legitimate.
why boost a bounty?
You might see a bounty and think:
“I want this to happen too.”
Boosting lets you put money behind that outcome.
Maybe the original reward isn't large enough to attract someone.
Maybe you think the bounty is particularly valuable.
Maybe you simply want to help make it happen.
When you boost, your contribution increases the incentive for someone to complete the bounty and gives you a stake in evaluating the claims that come in.
boosting gives you voting power
Funding and verification are connected on poidh.
When you contribute to an open bounty, your contribution gives you voting power over confirming the eventual recipient of that bounty.
This means that people who put money behind an outcome aren't merely passive funders. They also have a role in determining whether the people attempting to fulfill that outcome actually succeeded.
Your voting power is proportional to your contribution to the bounty.
For example, imagine an open bounty has received:
- Alice: 0.05 ETH
- Bob: 0.05 ETH
- Charlie: 0.05 ETH
The bounty has 0.15 ETH in total funding.
Alice contributed 33% of the funds, so she has 33% of the voting power.
Bob contributed 33%, so he has 33% of the voting power.
Charlie contributed 33%, so he has 33% of the voting power.
This creates an important relationship:
The people who have economic stake in an outcome also have a corresponding stake in verifying it.
See Voting on Claims to learn more about how claim voting works.
open bounties can be boosted
Only open bounties can receive additional funding.
An open bounty is designed to let anyone contribute to its reward after it has been created.
Every additional contribution increases the total reward and gives the contributor a corresponding share of voting power.
This means an open bounty can grow over time as more people decide that the outcome is worth supporting.
A bounty might start small and become significantly more attractive because other people believe in it.
solo bounties cannot be boosted
A solo bounty is funded exclusively by its creator.
Other people cannot contribute additional funds to it.
Because there are no additional funders, there is no additional voting power to distribute through boosting.
If a creator wants to remain the sole funder and maintain guaranteed control over payout of the bounty, they can choose a solo bounty when creating it.
how to boost a bounty
Find an open bounty that you want to support, connect your wallet, and click the "add funds" button.
You'll choose how much you want to contribute, click "boost bounty", and confirm the transaction with your wallet.
Once the transaction is confirmed, your contribution is added to the bounty's total reward.
That's it.
You don't become the bounty creator. You don't change the bounty's requirements. You simply add more incentive for someone to complete the existing outcome and gain a corresponding stake in evaluating the claims.
why this matters
Boosting turns a bounty from an individual request into something that can become a collective request.
Consider the difference:
“I want someone to do this, so I'll pay $100.”
versus:
“We want someone to do this, so we'll collectively pay $1,000—and we'll collectively evaluate whether it happened.”
The underlying bounty is the same.
What changes is the amount of economic and social coordination happening around it.
This is one of the reasons open bounties are powerful: the person who wants an outcome doesn't have to be the person who provides all of the incentive or the only person who verifies its completion.
what makes a good bounty to boost?
You don't have to boost every bounty you encounter.
A good bounty to boost is usually one where:
you want the outcome to happen
The simplest test is also the most important:
Would I be happy if someone completed this bounty?
If yes, you're a potential funder.
the reward could use more incentive
Sometimes a bounty is compelling but the reward isn't enough to motivate someone to take action.
Adding funds can make the opportunity more attractive.
you understand what you're funding
Before putting money behind a bounty, make sure you understand:
- What the bounty asks someone to do
- What evidence is required
- What counts as a successful claim
- How the community will evaluate the result
You're not just funding a person.
You're funding an outcome under the terms defined by the bounty—and gaining a stake in verifying those terms were satisfied.
withdrawing a boost
If you lose faith in a bounty being completed, you can withdraw your funds at any time before a claim is submitted for vote.
To do this, simply connect your wallet that originally boosted the bounty, click the "withdraw" button on the bounty page, and confirm your transaction.
Your funds will then be available to claim via your wallet's profile page.
before you boost
Before confirming your contribution, make sure you understand:
What outcome are you funding?
What does someone have to do to claim the reward?
What evidence do they need to provide?
Is this an open bounty?
How much are you contributing?
Do you want a stake in evaluating the resulting claims?
Once you've confirmed those details, you're ready to boost.
help make something happen
You don't need to create every bounty you want to see succeed.
Sometimes someone else has already articulated the outcome perfectly.
If you think it should happen, boost it.
You're putting money behind the outcome, making the reward more attractive to potential claimants, and gaining a stake in verifying the result.
Find something worth doing. Put more money behind it. Help decide whether it gets done.