The document discusses how blockchains could improve the freelance economy by addressing issues with existing freelance platforms like high fees, lack of reputation tracking across platforms, and barriers to international talent. Blockchains could enable cheaper and borderless international payments, improved interoperability across platforms through shared bounties and identities, and better aligned incentives through paying freelancers in native tokens. This new blockchain-enabled freelance model is called "bounties" and could allow demand to better drive talent by enabling clients to post exactly what tasks they want completed. Open protocols are being developed to allow anyone to build bounty networks and create standardization across platforms.

1. The Future of Work
A gig economy empowered by blockchains

2. Dynamic Labour Forces
“Organizing around what needs to get done”
● The gig economy uses short term labour transactions
● Benefits both sides of the transaction
○ Working humans desire variety in their projects
○ Firms waste resources from imperfect utilization

3. Existing Systems

4. The Future

5. Freelancing 1.0

6. Problems With Existing Sites
● High Fees: inhibit the quality of talent you get per dollar spent
● Poor Reputation Tracking: no cross platform reputation
● Lack of Interoperability: walled-garden platforms
● Need for a Bank Account: limits access to truly international
talent pool
● Bad Incentives: no incentive alignment between firm and
freelancer
● Social problems: people assume freelancing = low quality/price

7. Using Blockchains Properly
● People assume blockchains can help solve all
problems
● eliminating necessary trust in transactions
without relying on middlemen
● Lower barriers to entry compared to existing
payment systems (legacy financial institutions)

8. How Blockchains Impact Freelance Economies
● Cheaper Transactions: 98% reduction in tx fee costs
● International Payments: blockchains are borderless
● Improved Interoperability: bounties shared across
platforms
● Immutable Reputation Tracking: clearer cross platform
signalling through unified identity
● Aligned Incentives: pay freelancers in your native token

9. How Bounties Take it One Step Further
● Free markets for services can better respond to price movements
● Flipping the supply and demand side of transactions
● Less time spent sourcing talent- pull strategy vs push
● More bespoke solutions- you dictate exactly what you want
● New problem arises: PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT!

10. Results: what we’ve seen

11. Results: Growth of the Gitcoin Network

12. Results: Current Mesh

13. Building on the Protocol
● Anyone can build their own bounty network using our open source protocol
● Experiments underway for graphics, translations, and social impact bounties

14. A Standard For Bounties
● Standard Bounties used for any task, in any token
● Shared tasks and reputation among market platforms

15. The Future of Work
A gig economy empowered by blockchains