Goodbye Middlemen: How I Built an Open-Source, Bankless Donation Widget for the Dev Community

This is a submission for Weekend Challenge: Generosity Edition

What I Built

DonateX — an open-source, 3KB donation button that accepts USDC on Base Network. Zero platform fees. Zero KYC. Zero bank accounts required. One line of HTML.

The problem: open-source maintainers rely on Stripe/PayPal for donations, but both require identity verification, bank accounts, and charge 2.9-3.49% fees. For developers in emerging markets (like Venezuela, where I'm from), these platforms are inaccessible.

DonateX solves this with crypto-native donations. A maintainer adds one script tag, and a beautiful donation widget appears on their site. Supporters pay with MetaMask or any Base wallet. Gas costs ~$0.001. Settlement is instant. The maintainer receives USDC directly to their wallet.

Goodbye Middlemen: How I Built an Open-Source, Bankless Donation Widget for the Dev Community

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