đ This Week in Web3ForGood
signals of hope
Web3forGood is a weekly publication that celebrates and critically analyzes how emerging web3 technology could be used to make the world a better place.
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Safe travels to all on their way to Buenos Aires for Devcon. Moments like this always bring a certain kind of optimism into the room. People who still believe the internet can be better, gathering. Conversations stretching the imagination a little wider. Progress, being built by builders who are choosing to create it.
This week, Web3ForGood couldnât help but to lean into that spirit. The stories were there, waiting for us to share them with you. Open data efforts that treat intelligence as a shared resource. A rare moment when the wider tech world pushed back in favor of moral responsibility. Signals that the future is still open to anyone willing to shape it with care.
Now is the time to step forward with clarity and courage. The world is ready for what comes next.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
Whatâs Inside
đ What Weâre Thinking About
đŁ Latest News
đ Watch & Listen
đ Opportunities & Calls to Act
đȘ Events
đĄ On Our Radar
âš And One More Thing
đ What Weâre Thinking About
đ The Better Internet We Can Still Have
Ideas sometimes appear that widen the frame and reveal how much of the internetâs current shape was never inevitable. This week, for us, that came from a Blockworks deep-dive into Ted Nelsonâs decades-old vision for a totally different kind of internet. Nelsonâs ideas (new to us) centered around a network that worked more like a human brain than a machine. He didnât want humans to adapt to machines; he wanted machines to meet humans where we are. For Nelson, the dream web looked more like a living brain than a stack of rigid files and folders: fluid, interconnected, powered by tiny micropayments that would reward creativity and give every user real agency. When he was writing, the tech wasnât there yet. Today, with blockchain, it is.
Meanwhile, at another corner of the internet, we came across this beautifully optimistic essay about the internet we could still build. It reminds us that nothing about the web is finished. The defaults we inherited arenât destiny. Small choices like better incentives, healthier architectures, more humane design can tilt the entire system toward a more empowering future. Reading both pieces together felt like an invitation to reopen the possibility space. The internet didnât have to turn out the way it did, and it doesnât have to stay this way. Nothing is inevitable.
Together these ideas act as a reminder that the digital world is still young and full of unclaimed possibilities. The internet could have taken many different paths. A better version is still available if imagination and design converge in the right ways. (Pro Tip: Pair this with the article below about hope.)
đ DPGAâs Open Data for Public Interest AI
The Digital Public Goods Allianceâs latest update on building open, high-quality datasets points to a shift in how societies might choose to structure intelligence.
Open datasets create shared foundations that reduce duplication, increase accountability, and support innovation in places that rarely have the resources to build from scratch. However, creating public datasets is slow work. It requires licensing clarity, governance that respects communities, and coordination across institutions that rarely move in sync. Yet this is precisely what makes it powerful. Open data could be a commons that any builder can draw from without permission or gatekeeping. In a world where AI is increasingly defined by private advantage, the idea of a public foundation feels exciting and necessary.
Projects like this one invite us to ask, âWhat if AI development could align with social benefit by design?â
đ„ The Pope vs Silicon Valley
The Renovator substack already did a great job summarizing what happened here, so please take the time to read this if this topic speaks to you. The TLDR is essentially that THE Pope tweeted about how tech builders should think about âmoral considerationsâ when building the tech that will shape the future (hey, that sounds like what weâre all about!). Seems harmless enough, but apparently a16zâs Marc Andreessen, one of Silicon Valleyâs most powerful investors, thought that was an insane ask. âIn one impulsive tweet, Andreessen revealed Silicon Valleyâs deep disdain for Pope Leoâs gospel of tech responsibility.â Well⊠thatâs depressing. You can read the whole exchange in either of the linked articles, but it involves Andreessen quote tweeting THE Pope with a meme, and itâs not very nice. What we want you to know though is that, in the midst of this seemingly dark moment, THE INTERNET CAME THROUGH. The people Andreessen seemed to be winking at did NOT agree. The backlash was beautiful. As the Renovator writes, âThis is a hopeful sign that a majority of influential minds in the tech world still do agree with the Pope that technology ought to be developed by people with a basic sense of moral responsibility and vision of human goodness. Beneficence is still popular.â Amen.
đ§ Vitalikâs Call to Recenter
Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation published âThe Trustless Manifestoâ this week, a clear and timely reminder that cryptoâs strongest ideas are still worth defending. The piece lays out, in very concrete terms, how the ecosystem has drifted toward convenience and centralized shortcuts, adopting patterns were never part of the original vision.
There is optimism here though, and it comes from the fact that the drift is not irreversible. Vitalik and the EF team make the case that trustlessness remains both achievable and essential. The tools for decentralization exist. The failures of trust are visible. Builders have a real chance to course-correct before the habits of centralization harden into the new normal. The manifesto argues for a future where crypto stays aligned with the values that gave it purpose in the first place: resilience, openness, and systems that work for people who need them most.
Plus:
đ± USDKG: A stablecoin to break the global economic order?: âUSDKG is a fascinating experiment: both leveraging and challenging U.S. dollar dominance. USD-stablecoin issuers are now among the largest buyers of U.S. debt; Kyrgyzstanâs dollar-denominated stablecoin will hold none. USDKG will not displace USDC or USDT, but you can be sure Moscow and Beijing are watching closely.â (Defiant Real World)
đ± Why Hope Matters and How to Broaden and Spread It: âWe also need hopeful stories. Stories broaden and spread hope when they challenge pessimistic narratives by highlighting human potential and possibility, show agency and pathway thinking in action, feature people of all backgrounds successfully overcoming challenges, and remind us of the remarkable progress previous hopeful generations made possible. We live in an era dominated by doom and gloom. We need more stories that inspire people to believe in what they and others can accomplish.â (Flourishing Friday)
đĄïž Five Steps to Enable Digital Sovereignty Using Digital Public Goods: âWhile itâs out of reach, impractical, and counterproductive for every country to own every layer of its technology stack, national and regional digital sovereignty movements should focus on developing critical capacities and being strategic about their technology dependencies. They should also embrace like-minded digital cooperation if they choose to engage in such conscious decoupling.â (Digital Public Goods Alliance)
âĄBitcoin Transcends the Left-Right Political Divide â Itâs a Tool for Human Rights: âif youâre not intentionally searching for stories about how Bitcoin facilitates financial inclusion, the freedom to transact, and protection from inflation/currency debasement, then you arenât likely to find them, which means that the average person hardly â if ever â gets exposure to the human rights side of the Bitcoin story.â (Bitcoin Magazine)
đŁ Latest News
Celebrating Mento Labsâ Third Anniversary: A Year of Accelerating Onchain FX
Bybitâs Lazarus Security Lab Reveals Hidden Fund-Freezing Functions Across 16 Major Blockchains
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Kyrgyzstan Launches First Government-Backed Stablecoin USDKG
Bank of England Proposes ÂŁ20,000 Cap on Retail Stablecoin Holdings
Philippines blockchain bill to battle corruption, crypto KOLs charged: Asia Express
Brazilâs Central Bank Sets Crypto Rules, Establishes up to $7M Capital Bar for Firms
The Government of Nigeria has joined the Digital Public Goods Alliance
Reports and Project Updates
Why Open Source Lags Behind: Lessons for DPI Adoption in Latin America and the Caribbean - Digital Impact Alliance Report
đ Watch & Listen
Crypto Altruists - Episode 226 - Azos - Better Money for a Better Planet: How Stablecoins Can Fund Climate Action
Green Pill Podcast - Network Nations Episode 3 - Commons, Mutualism & Entanglement: Building the Foundation of Network Nations
What Bitcoin Did - How Bitcoin Is Rebuilding the Worldâs Financial System | Obi Nwosu
đ Opportunities & Calls to Act
Apply: Every is hiring a Head of Storytelling.
Volunteer: Devconnect Argentina wouldnât be possible without an incredible group of dedicated, passionate volunteers. Join the team alongside 200+ committed members of the Ethereum community to help create the most impactful Devconnect yet.
Earn: The pre-registration page for the Espresso airdrop for Celo users is now live!
Map your Celo wallet to an Ethereum one ahead of the main Espresso registration step.
đȘ Events
đ= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
How to be the Superintelligence Youâve Been Waiting For: A Conversation with E. Glen Weyl is happening November 19.
Webinar: The Nonprofit Playbook for Dominating AI Search is happening November 19. đ
Human Rights Foundationâs Bitcoin Financial Freedom Webinar is happening December 15-17.
IRL
LabWeek Web3 by Protocol Labs is happening November 13-19 in Buenos Aires.
The Uniswap Cup is happening November 16 in Buenos Aires.
Devconnect 2025 is happening November 17-22 in Buenos Aires.
The Regen Hub at Devconnect ARG is happening November 17-22 in Buenos Aires.
Octantâs Devconnect Enterprise Hub is happening November 17 in Buenos Aires. đ
DePIN Day Buenos Aires is happening November 18 in Buenos Aires.
Funding the Commons: Buenos Aires 2025 is happening November 19 in Buenos Aires.
Schelling Point is happening November 20 in Buenos Aires.
Brunch - Dev3pack x Celo & GoodDollar is happening November 21 in Buenos Aires. đ
The DeFi Report Dublin: Inaugural Meetup is happening November 26 in Dublin. đ
Vision Weekend USA 2025 is happening December 5-7 in San Francisco.
The Oslo Freedom Forum is happening June 1-3 in Oslo, Norway.
ETHBoulder is coming in 2026âŠ
Recurring
Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved next on November 22.
đĄ On Our Radar
GibberLink lets AI agents call each other in robo-language.
The DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) Use Cases Explorer brings together DPI implementation examples from health, education, agriculture, social protection, financial inclusion, climate, and other sectors where DPI is enabling governments to serve citizens more effectively.
The Networked Firm: Capital Allocation in the Age of Blockchain and AI is a field guide to how blockchain and AI are dissolving traditional firms and creating new networked organizations. By Kevin Owocki, Daniel Stringer & Daniel Ospina â a blueprint for how capital, coordination, and work evolve when technology collapses the cost of trust. Digital editions deliver on release day. Print editions ship two days before. Available for preorder.
âš And One More Thing
