I love this idea. My take is that anything that promotes 'real' use, even if the use only lasts for the handful of minutes that it takes to cash out using Strike or Cash app, is super high leverage, way higher than somebody just buying $100 of btc in case it 10x again someday. The ripples that it sends through the universe, the lines of force that unfold in the ecosystem.

My main thing is not the money but the mental load. Decisions are expensive! I don't have the expertise to evaluate someone's worthiness of a contribution; and it also seems futile, much like some people feel about voting -- does giving $5 to some random dude really matter? And should I allocate to a known star, or to some unknown?

I think this is highly relevant to SN, actually. That's one of the really ripe opportunities for economic analysis.

I think what Chaincode, Brink, Spiral grants, etc., do is really really valuable for this reason. Assess, curate, encourage. But probably not a solution for the broader problem.