In short, Lighthouse is a decentralized crowdfunding app that uses bitcoin.
You can create a Kickstarter without Kickstarter. There is no central party, and the pledged funds are not released unless the goal is reached. No Kickstarter fees and no Amazon Payment fees.
Two weeks into the beta release, it seems to be working out alright.
Here's an overview: http://blog.vinumeris.com/2014/05/17/lighthouse/
This is some of the crazy shit that makes me interested in bitcoin. Don't let people convince you it's just a new kind of money.
Until bitcoin becomes more money-like / more currency-like in the US instead of taxed as property ... I just don't see the value for me chasing that bitcoin, playboy.
I love the idea of no-bank-needed global financial transactions *.
But until the fo'c's'le either changes course or is brought to bear the weight of A Mutiny of the Bitcoin ... I'm not gonna deal with making my financial life more complicated and more risky when I have so little in my accounts.
* excepting the huge exception of needing a bank account to exchange one fiat currency for a fraction of a fiat digital property