# <center>Merge Rewards (BETA)</center>
#
<center>Merge Rewards is a **fully automated** bounty and sponsorship service for GitHub.</center>
## <center>Go to:<br>[merge-rewards.com](https://merge-rewards.com)</center>
<center><sup>[Repository](https://github.com/mktcode/merge-rewards)</sup></center>
# Storing Data on Steem Blockchain
This update is small but important. It took a while because I had not much time recently to work on this.
Before, everything that happens on merge-rewards.com was just stored in a simple SQL database. Now almost everything is also stored on the Steem blockchain as custom JSON.
The SQL database is still used to access the data quickly and easily. There is a [initDB](https://github.com/mktcode/merge-rewards/blob/master/lib/initDb.js) script that fills your local database with all the data from the blockchain, in case you want to install a local development copy with real data.
So on the website I can now say:
> All transactions on merge-rewards.com are stored on the Steem blockchain to make them immutable and public. Everything from transferring boosters to depositing money for a bounty is recorded in a trustworthy and verifiable way.
# Delegation
Before Steem Power was only needed for the rewards for claimed pull requests. Now it is even more important because of the custom_json operations. Every little bit of Steem Power is very appreciated and increases the project's scalability.
# Next Steps
I am currently checking out the API of my bank, to see if it's possible to integrate direct SEPA payments and withdrawals to users, projects and issues on GitHub.
Automated Steem posts and comments on GitHub are also something I'd like to see soon. And gosh... there are so many more ideas.
I would really appreciate some developers getting involved in this. I created [these bounties](https://merge-rewards.com/bounties) to hopefully get some more attention. If you are a developer, comment on the issues, start working on them or, if you see anything else you can fix or improve, simply go ahead and submit a pull request. But maybe you should [delegate](https://beta.steemconnect.com/sign/delegate_vesting_shares?delegatee=merge-rewards&vesting_shares=100SP) first, to increase your rewards, in case I merge your pull request. ;)
There are some [more issues](https://github.com/mktcode/merge-rewards/issues) that I created more or less as notes but if you have thoughts on them, let me know.
At least you should subscribe to @merge-rewards to not miss any updates and new bounties.
hiveblocks