Some time ago I heard of
https://www.gittip.com/. I really like the idea and concept behind it compared to existing crowdfunding or one-time tip systems. and naturally think that this would be even more awesome when bitcoins are used.
Right now you need to put a credit card on file for tipping anyone, and you need a bank account for getting your money out of the system with all known limitations and attached fees.
The devs are actively discussing bitcoin integration (
https://github.com/whit537/www.gittip.com/issues/14), but have no consensus found so far. But the discussion there seems to indicate that they are only willing to partner with a bitcoin payment system like bitpay.com on the frontend, and basically stick to USD for everything else.
I am tempted to start an open-source clone of this with full focus on bitcoin (and only bitcoin), without depending on external services like bitpay and the related direct and indirect fees. So you only can tip in bitcoins and you only can cash out in bitcoins, no interface to banks etc.
What is your opinion? Would efforts be better spent trying to get bitcoin integtated into gittip.com? Or would you prefer a bitcoin-only clone of the project, made by "us", the bitcoin community?