BitPools

= a way of pooling your money with other people. In a broader sense, it allows for moving projects forward using your money as your biggest voice on voting for how things are done.

URL = http://www.bitpools.com/

A Bitcoin voting system to help people pool their bitcoins together for large projects.

How it works

"From a more technical stance, when you sign up for your account you will also include an empty Bitcoin address. You will then fill that address with the amount you plan to use toward pledging toward projects. (It has to be empty first to verify that you did not just go out and grab someone else's address). From there you can either create a pool or join one.

Pools: Pools are basically groups of people getting together with a common goal. When a pool is created, the description of the purpose will be spelled out and a minimum pledge to join will be included. When you join the pool, a portion of your bitcoins from your bitcoin address will be dedicated to that pool. But you still hold your bitcoins in your wallet. When the pool grows large enough that they have enough bitcoins to put toward their common goal, then proposals will start being put forward.

Proposals: Proposals can be made by anyone (pool criteria may restrict proposals to only members). This is where it gets a bit more technical, click here to read about Dominant Assurance Contracts. Basically a proposal will be created, the proposer will fund a "Voter fund" with the proposal (or an address will be created and if there is interest, people can support the proposal by sending bitcoins to the "Voter fund"). The proposer will also include his/her own fee in the proposal along with the amount of bitcoins required to move forward with the proposal. Once the voter fund is sufficiently filled, a date will be set up and voting will commence.

Voting: When it is time to vote on a proposal, each pool member will receive a set of addresses with options (or a single address if it is a Yes/No proposal). A file with all addresses and their choice meaning will also be released, encrypted with a password. Before the end of the voting date members will then vote the amount of bitcoins required in the proposal by sending their bitcoins to the specified address. When the voting date has passed, the password to the encrypted file will be released. The BitPools site will automatically tally the votes and determine if the proposal passed or failed. If the proposal fails, everyone's bitcoins will be returned to their bitcoin address. If it succeeds it will be passed on to the address given by the proposer (this could be an escrow account or whatever the voters are comfortable with, that is part of the criteria for deciding to vote for a proposal or not). Regardless of the outcome, the "Voter fund" previously filled will be distributed to all voters. This creates an incentive for people to vote even those who would usually sit on the sidelines. At the very minimum the voter fund will cover transaction fees. If the proposal passess, a new pool will be created consisting of the members that voted for the proposal.

New Pools: When the proposal succeeds, those that funded the proposal will be part of the new pool. The proposal will include the exact same criteria as when a new pool is created. The new pool could be exclusive only to those that funded the proposal, or a fee could be created for entry by new members. The fee can then be distributed in any way to the current members. Imagine a club getting together to fund a club house, the members have already paid for the club house...new members would pay those original members to be allowed access and join their club. Again, this is all criteria that would be included in the proposal. It also allows for many unique ways of distributing fees (equally, more to early members, tiered, etc.).

Your funds are always under your control until you fund a proposal." (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?&topic=207759.0)

Discussion

Potential Use for Funding Projects

"Whether you are a small group of people trying to fund a small project or a large group of people with big goals in mind, BitPools offers an easy way to get involved and grow a project from a simple idea to a final ending. You may have heard the term crowdfunding at some point, someone will come up with an idea and ask people for money to fund his or her project. A website will collect people's money and if that person gets enough funding the money will be transferred to that person and s/he will move forward toward executing their plan. BitPools is a bit different. While anyone can come up with an idea or a goal, it does not need to be completely hashed out right away, and you keep your money until you are satisfied with the final plan.

Someone could come up with a broad idea such as funding a group vacation for the members of an online community for example. Those who support the idea would simply sign up for that project by placing a minimum amount of bitcoins in your public bitcoin address and pledge those coins toward that goal. While you are not committed toward spending those coins on that project if the final decision is not something you agree with, you are not able to pledge those same coins toward any other projects while you have them currently pledged.

At that point, as a group, you can start deciding things such as where to stay, minimum cost, travel agency, length of time and dates, etc. Throughout the process voting may be done to determine the sentiment of the group until the point is reached where final proposals can be voted upon. There may be several different final choices and you do not necessarily have to put your money toward one you do not like. When a proposal comes forward for a vote, a pledge goal will be included. At this point you will vote with your money. If the pledge total is reached, the proposal will go forward. A new group will be created just for those who supported the proposal.

Those who did not support the decision can either stay in the current group with those who did not agree with the proposal or, if allowed by the proposal, pay to join the winning group (usually the same amount that was required by the other voters). Or you can unpledge your funds and move onto another project (your funds never left your wallet). The winning proposal will have their bitcoins transferred to the proposed location (funding source, escrow account, broker, etc.) and each group member may move forward in their new group and even have the opportunity to propose further goals." (http://www.bitpools.com/)

Potential Use for Voting

"Utilizing the Bitcoin network, voting can be done in a secure, anonymous and transparent manner which does not rely on a third party to count your votes. While your group is working on your project there may be times where you want a formal vote whether it is for choosing leaders or any other manner of important decision. For these small votes you will not be voting with your money, but will still be using bitcoins to do so. When the vote is proposed, each group member will be given a unique bitcoin address for each proposed option (several leaders, group bylaws, etc.). The proposal will include a deadline to get the votes in.

At that point, each member will send a small refundable transaction (also determined in the proposal) to the address of their choice. Before the vote all bitcoin addresses and their corresponding vote option will be encrypted in a file and will be made available to all group members. Once the deadline has passed, the password to decrypt the file will be made available as well as an automatic tally of the votes. Anyone will then be able to verify through the encrypted file and password that the tally is correct.

The anonymity of the Bitcoin network allows people to send bitcoins to any address without anyone knowing where the money came from (caveat: there are ways of tracking the source of transactions but this can be easily overcome if you are truly worried about your vote being discovered).

One of Bitcoin's most intrinsic values is its security. With more computer power being spent on securing the Bitcoin network than any other computer process in the world, Bitcoin offers the best vehicle for secure, anonymous, transparent voting. All of this with very little overhead.

For the larger votes you will actually be voting with your pledged funds. Someone will propose a vote by the group members with the money going toward the final destination for the funds. This will consist of several options. It could be a Bitcoin address where the money is to be spent either for a service or a product or anything that is not in any way connected to the BitPools network. Or you will have the option of using an escrow service or a broker for more complex proposals. You may want an escrow service for something like serveral retailers pooling their money to purchase a large order through a wholesaler. The escrow service could take the bitcoins and convert them to the currency of the wholesaler and put the order through. A broker or contractor could be used for larger projects such as putting together subcontractors to get something built (website, park, software, TV ad, etc). The funds would go to the broker with the proposed agreement.

If the proposal fails to achieve enough votes, and thus enough funding, then all funds will be returned to the public addresses of those who voted. This allows for further proposals and further votes until the best possible outcome is achieved. Nobody is forced to spend their money on something they do not agree with and when a proposal is finally successful it is supported by all of those who fund it.

For those who do fund the proposal, a new group is created for that group. This allows that group to move forward together to communicate the progress of the project and to be involved in follow up projects. If allowed (as part of the proposal), new members will be allowed to join the group. In most cases, those new members will be required to submit the minimum amount that was funded by the other members in order to achieve this vote. This amount is then either put toward the project or distributed to the members in a way that was included in the proposal.

As the BitPool network grows, the voting structures available to groups will grow too. Each group may come up with their own voting structures and hierarchies which they find best suits their needs. This will allow for like minded people to move forward together in the way that they feel the most comfortable. But no BitPool user will be forced to spend their money for anything they do not agree to spend their money on. There will always be the choice to spend your money however you wish because you will always be in control of your funds at all times." (http://www.bitpools.com/)