Not that long ago, Steemian @elear, announced a new service built on the Steem blockchain, [Utopian](https://steemit.com/busy/@cryptoctopus/utopian-io-encentivizing-contribution-to-open-source-projects).

The announcement landed with a splash and since the service, in its most basic form, has captured the developer crowd and inspired thousands of actions, comments and contributions already.

With [one ideal](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-my-contribution-to-the-open-source-world): to FINALLY reward open source developers for their work and contributions. Developers, designers, and collaborators in general, even bug trackers and reporters, even project promoters.

> Utopian was born to be Crowdfunding/Crowdsourcing platform for Open Source projects, where everyone, with no budget but a good project, could eventually share it with the Open Source community, get it done and access investments/donations to further improve it.

> That's an Utopia, isn't it?

![utopian.io logo](https://i.imgur.com/qvJeep5.png)
 
 
### Github, the Giant of the Open Source World

Founded in February 2008, Github has become the giant of the Open Source world and hosts millions of open source products, also [Steem(it)](https://github.com/steemit), Busy, and many other projects each Steemian is familiar with.

One of the core foundations Github's success was built on was the interface. As one of the first players in the space Github provided an njoyable and easy to navigate online interface with to projects for non-command line specialists.

Some of the biggest open source products in the world, like WordPress, are available on Github and everyone with a (free) Github account can contribute to those projects in the true spirit of open source.

> <strong><em>What is Github</em></strong>
> The money may be in private and on-premise hosting, <strong><em>but the love is in the public repositories</em></strong>. Perhaps most importantly, GitHub has become the Library of Alexandria for code examples. Since Git encourages granular recording of changes, programmers, be they absolute beginners or experts, can trace the steps of some of the greatest developers in the world and find out how they solved thorny problems.
> <em>~ Klint Finley in "[What Is Github Anyway](https://techcrunch.com/2012/07/14/what-exactly-is-github-anyway/)" for TechCrunch (2012) &amp; emphasis mine.</em>

The true spirit of open source software,  which often also means.. for free. While the latter isn't always 100% true (but most definitely 99,99999....98% correct), most contributions to open source projects are indeed done for free.

## Utopian Stands on the Shoulder of Giants

[Off-topic: this subtitle is going to be a trope in more upcoming articles here on *theSteemObserver*]

When @elear announced Utopian he could immediately tap in the existing Steem blockchain system and create a platform which already had an existing community, and ecosystem, and already did reward contributors for their craft. While currently most rewards on Steem(it) are made for content creation, @utopian-io took this to another level and actually requested another level of creation from members: bug reports, [accepted] pull requests, promotional content for projects, [feature requests](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@fknmayhem/all-steemit-alternative-interfaces-are-a-ux-nightmare-steem-needs-a-url-protocol-handler), and actual code submitted.

Helped by an active and supportive Steem netizens community, Utopian quickly gathered much support, both in the form of active followers, contributors and also Steem Power delegations. Delegation both because [open source projects deserve to be rewarded and Utopian is big a deal](https://steemit.com/busy/@cryptoctopus/why-i-delegated-25000-steem-to-utopian-io).

While Utopian rewards still depend on announcing eveything with a post, since launch Utopian has developped additional features already which will contribute to further adoption of the platform. More about that later.

After less than a month Utopian.io already had [more than 1 million Steem Power](https://steemit.com/@utopian-io/transfers), almost all of it delegated to it by Steemians. At the current exchange rate at the time of writing, this means that Utopian has been trusted with around USD 950,000 Steem Power coming [from the Steem community](https://utopian.io/sponsors). 

Without any (outside) investment taken.

<strong>Update:</strong> Utopian [just announced](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-ned-has-just-delegated-1-million-to-utopian-we-have-2m-steem-power-now) it now holds 2 million of Steem Power.
<strong>Update 2:</strong> Utopian founder elear announced that the project has received [another SP delegation](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-forget-it-utopian-had-2-million-now-3-million) and now holds 3 million Steem Power.

## Utopian.io Delivers and Rewards Quickly and Decently

Built on the Steem blockchain, as a MVP, @elear and the Utopian community have more more than 1,000 contributions, generated more than $15,000 rewards for both contributors and (SP) sponsors and won the second price in the SteemFest² hackathon.

Let that sink in for a second: in [little more than a month](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-look-what-we-achieved-in-4-weeks), newcomer on the block Utopian.io has generated **more than $15k rewards for open source** contributions. In almost a decade since launch, Github has still no such principle or setup rewarding contributors.

Utopian even has its own upvoting bot which rewards valuable contributions. All rewards can transparently be checked and verified in any capable Steem blockchain browser [such as Steemdb.com](https://steemdb.com/utopian-io/@fknmayhem/all-steemit-alternative-interfaces-are-a-ux-nightmare-steem-needs-a-url-protocol-handler/data).

Users can bank their rewards 7 days after publication, via their Steem wallet.

## Where is Utopian Going?

After the resounding success of Utopian's first month, founder @elear has decided to [leave his well-paying job](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-i-have-just-left-a-13k-month-job-for-making-this-real) and go all-in on Utopian. People have taken bigger financial risks when launching their own projects.

Diego Pucci, AKA @elear, has not only been able to validate his project but already found a product-market fit for it as well.

But ~~can he do it on a cold wet weekday in Stoke~~ will it scale?

As with any project that is the question and it all depends on the execution, more so even on the team.

But with an already thriving community, Utopian could very well become the next Unicorn of tech. Or may already be a unicorn, a unicorn in the sense that it does make an until now utopia a reality. 

Financially rewarding open source contributions.

## What's Next for Utopian.io?

Currently Utopian.io already has some aces up its sleeve and is capable to push contributions, pull requests [directly to Github project feeds](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-is-unstoppable-now-fully-integrated-with-the-github-project-feeds). 

![utopian-chrome](https://i.imgur.com/rnVQjbv.png)

Utopian's upcoming browser extension will also allows Utopians (🤔) to sync their Github account with Utopia.io, from within Chrome browser.

The community has already delivered a [new, suggested homepage](https://utopian-io.github.io/utopian-io-landingpage/) for Utopian.

And @elear has [pre-announced](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-i-have-just-left-a-13k-month-job-for-making-this-real) that the platform will be rebuilt now he can dedicate more time to this ~~unicorn~~ Utopia.

One of the major assets for Utopian going forward is its developed capability to directly interact with Github, whether via sync or via pushing contributions [of quality] directly to project in their own Github feed.

> If ever there's been a possible ICO to watch, Utopian.io is that one.
> ~ @fknmayhem

Of course, all of this amplified by the possibility for the Utopian.io project to make use of the Steem blockchain and possibly issue its own own user-issued assets (UIAs) or even become a SMT, complete with an own Utopia coin and ICO.

If Utopian.io decides to pursue the latter path and host its own ICO, that is the one ICO everybody wants to watch.

Thanks to [Utopian.io](https://utopian.io) millions of open source contributors stand to finally financially benefit from their work.