May I ask why you're going on this project? Is it for the "beauty of art"?
I don't really understand why you're going through a smart contract rather than the traditional route, like with Willi for example...
Doesn't this potentially add security risks to the funds ? What does this smart contract offer that the traditional way doesn't ? At the end this is always the owner of the contract which distribute the funds if a block is found, so trust is still always needed.
In any case, I think it's very interesting in principle.
and mining status when a round begins.
Nice idea. I think that a lot of people would really like something like this.