This Week in Web3ForGood
A weekly roundup of the ways Web3 tech can used to make the world a better place.
Hi Readers and Welcome to *Week 6* in Web3forGood.
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us - we have learned so much already and are excited to share that we are implementing feedback and more good things are coming.
This week, we created a blog to house all of our long form content. We hope this will be an easier way for you to read, bookmark, and share. Also new this week: our Twitter account. Please tag us @w3b3forgood if there’s anything you think we should see. As we explore the best way and right amount to share, we’ll be experimenting interchangeably with newsletter, blog, and social formats. Which medium do you prefer?
And finally, we have a logo! It’s simple for now, but we hope it helps you start to identify us across the web.
This week’s longform content looks at three Web3 projects with a big vision for universal basic income.
As always, we are grateful for your feedback and support!
Xx Abeera & Sam
[Comms theory humor from Sam’s Philosophical Fox NFT.]
What’s Inside
📣 Latest News
📚 What We’re Reading
🚀 Opportunities
📡 On Our Radar
📣 Latest News
Tesla, Blockstream and Block Break Ground on All-Solar Bitcoin Mining Facility in Texas
Official Ukraine NFTs Are Still Unsold One Week After Release
📚 What We’re Reading & Watching
3 ways that crypto could fix public goods.
5 of the top web3 social impact developments of Q1.
To bring crypto education to those who need it the most, grassroots initiatives are launching throughout the U.S. that target disenfranchised communities.
A new token standard makes it possible to offer refunds for NFTs. Could this help build trust and get more people involved?
Crypto could transform how humanitarian aid is disbursed across the world, as seen in Ukraine.
NFTs, economic development, and tourism: Cannes turns landmarks into NFTs.
If Blockchain is only used for replicating the current system, how can it be also used to build new socioeconomic structures?
🚀 Opportunities
Apply: Mercy Corps Ventures Crypto for Good Fund is looking for startups, SMEs, and social enterprises in frontier markets, who innovatively apply DeFi and blockchain technology to build financial inclusion solutions for un/underbanked and low-income users.
Funding: Gitcoin grants fund open source projects via community support and Quadratic matching. The more people support your project, the more matching funds you receive.
📡 On Our Radar
Eco Labs DAO makes carbon negative NFTs & helps others do the same. They invest research and action, both inside and outside the ReFi network, and then their members vote every few months on how their green investments get spent.
“ISLND x WIDE AWAKES: Together We Are Awake” is an exhibition that unites artists from both the Caribbean and the international Wide Awakes movement who use their work to focus attention on, and spark dialogue about, the need for Equality in all forms, worldwide. It is part of the #DoinGud17SDGs Project.
The Future Foundation is a social impact collective that supports web3 x social impact organisations, causes, and the broader ecosystem. They are focused on three program areas: reimagining social impact funding, supporting web3 x social impact causes and organisations, and building, connecting, and amplifying the web3 x social impact ecosystem.
🌊 Universal Business Income: 3 Projects Causing a Stir
Universal basic income (UBI) is a utopian idea first proposed by the social philosopher Thomas More in the 16th century. UBI aims to make the government provide consistent, basic income to the rich and poor regardless of their work status - it is the idea that citizens receive a regular, unconditional stipend that helps them cover their cost of living. Previous UBI experiments have shown to reduce hospitalisation, crime, and poverty rates. Richard Nixon, Thomas Paine, Martin Luther King Jr., and Milton Friedman were all vocal proponents of UBI.
UBI has traditionally been imagined as a government subsidy that would put money back into the economy by giving it directly to people (as opposed to quantitative easing where the Federal Reserve puts money back into the economy through banks). The idea behind “universal,” as opposed to means-tested, basic income, is to eliminate poverty traps (also known as “implicit marginal tax rates”) that hinder advancement into the working class. UBI is often sold as the cornerstone of a simpler and better welfare state. As straightforward cash, it entails less overhead and fewer perverse incentives than services or in-kind benefits. Here is a video explaining the concept of UBI and how it can impact lives.
UBI as an income redistribution measure has recently garnered more mainstream attention in the US as a result of the campaign of former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Yang promised that, if elected, he would implement a “Freedom Dividend,” that is a universal basic income of $1,000/month, or $12,000 a year, for every American adult over the age of 18 independent work status or any other factor. Yang has spoken publicly about crypto regulations and how crypto could facilitate UBI. Even Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has shared that he believes Bitcoin based UBI could solve income inequality. Dorsey has contributed funding via his #startsmall public fund to run UBI experiments both in the US and globally.
The development of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies could potentially facilitate the implementation of UBI in a global, efficient, transparent, and decentralised manner.. As blockchain removes the need for intermediaries, this saves time and cost and also speeds up the process. Smart contracts could also enable automation, meaning that a certain amount of money could be disbursed at any chosen interval - ensuring that each individual gets their allotted amount, while maintaining an immutable paper trail resulting in greater public accountability.
Here are three UBI x Web3 projects that pave a way for the future in this space.