🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
Stablecoins for Summer
gm gm,
Onchain summer is heating up 🔆. Crypto the Game has already been acquired 👾. GoodDollar and BlockSurvey are partnering up to give us better Web3 data 🔢. Mento Labs, the stablecoin innovation lab spinoff from Celo, is launching a governance token 🪙 (more on how to participate in the airdrop, below).
In honor of the launch of $MENTO, we have a TLDR on stablecoins + why they are such an important use-case for crypto in emerging markets 👇.
Thanks to everyone who’s been voting in our weekly survey on which Web3 topic to cover next as a TLDR. We’ve been using your votes to inform what we write about and will continue to do so.
What else do you want to see in this space? As always, our DMs are open 💛.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📣 Latest News
🔍 TLDR: Stablecoins
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔈 Podcasts
🚀 Opportunities
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And one more thing
📣 Latest News
Optimism Celebrates Stage 1 Decentralization With Permissionless Fault Proofs
Sei Creator Fund on Grants Stack: $250k to Fuel the Sei Ecosystem
Uniswap Labs acquires 'Crypto: The Game' ahead of its third season
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Taiwan forms crypto industry association as major step toward self-regulation
Brazil’s Itau Bank Expands Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading Services
Uncertainty looms for crypto industry and stablecoins ahead of key EU MiCA deadline
🔍TLDR: Stablecoins
New to Web3? Welcome! TLDR is where we offer a simplifed explanation of a term used often in this newsletter. If there's anything you're curious about, reply and let us know.
Imagine having a type of cryptocurrency that doesn't go on a rollercoaster ride every day. That's exactly what stablecoins are. These special digital currencies are designed to keep a stable value, usually tied to something steady like the US dollar or gold. Unlike Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies that can see wild price swings, stablecoins aim to stay consistent, making them super reliable for everyday use.
So, how do stablecoins manage to stay so steady? They’re backed by reserves of the asset they’re tied to. If a stablecoin is pegged to the US dollar, for instance, its issuer keeps a reserve of dollars to back up the stablecoins in circulation. There are a few types of stablecoins: fiat-collateralized (backed by traditional currencies like USD), crypto-collateralized (backed by other cryptocurrencies), and algorithmic stablecoins (which use algorithms to control supply and maintain stability).
As the name suggests, stablecoins provide stability, offering a safe haven from the volatility of other cryptocurrencies. They’re also super easy to use for transactions, just like regular money but with the added perks of cryptocurrency—fast transfers and lower fees.
Stablecoins can be a game-changer for the developing world. They can boost financial inclusion, giving people access to financial services even if they don’t have a bank account. All you need is a smartphone and an internet connection to save, send, and receive money. For many families relying on remittances from abroad, stablecoins can make these transfers quicker and cheaper than traditional methods. Plus, in countries with high inflation, stablecoins can help preserve the value of money, protecting people’s savings from losing value.
Take Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), for example. These are some of the most well-known stablecoins, both pegged to the US dollar. They’re popular because they offer transparency, regular audits, and the promise of stability. There’s also Celo Dollar (cUSD), a digital currency designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to the US dollar. It operates on the Celo blockchain, which focuses on making financial tools accessible to anyone with a mobile phone.
TLDR: stablecoins are a reliable and innovative solution in the world of cryptocurrencies. They offer the stability needed for everyday transactions and can provide significant benefits in the developing world by enhancing financial inclusion, making remittances more efficient, and offering protection against inflation. With stablecoins, people in these regions can gain greater control over their finances and participate more fully in the global economy.
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🌱 ReFi DAO's impact through Gitcoin funding rounds. (Gitcoin)
💡 Blockchains are revolutionizing public goods funding. (CoinDesk)
🌆 Onchain projects by Fortune 100 companies hit a record high in Q1 2024. (Coinbase)
📒 Project Liberty Institute and Blockchaingov's blockchain governance toolkit. (Project Liberty)
🤖 Decentralized AI is gaining steam. (CoinDesk)
🙌 The ReFi Local Node Beta Incubator has empowered a new cohort of local nodes to spearhead regenerative finance efforts in their communities. (ReFi DAO)
🚘 Case Study: Hivemapper decentralizes mapping with better real-time data and community incentives. (Solana Foundation)
🔈 Podcasts
Crypto Altruism Podcast Episode 159 - MesoReef DAO - Web3 Coordination Mechanisms for Coral Reef Restoration and Conservation
Unchained Episode 658 - Why Robinhood, a TradFi Hub, Is Growing Its Crypto Business Globally
🚀 Opportunities
Apply: The Flow Foundation is hiring a Developer Advocate and a Technical Writer.
Sponsor: Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the largest leading industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem, is hosting its 7th Annual Blockchain Central alongside the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as an official partner of the UN Foundation's Global Goals Week.
Vote: Gitcoin x Sei Creator Fund is now open for voting. The first of many rounds, this $10M initiative supports projects building in the Sei Ecosystem.
Airdrop: Anyone who used cUSD, cEUR or locked Celo before February 15th, 2024 can now claim $MENTO.
PG Funding: NEAR Foundation is contributing $70,000+ towards funding AI public goods via quadratic funding on the Potlock Platform.
PG Funding: The Summer Blockchain Club funding round on Potlock is open.
Funding: The NaturaTech LAC initiative aims to discover and support organizations (NGOs, Start Ups, SMEs, Innovation Agencies, IPLCs-led organizations, and more) working in biodiversity conservation and regeneration that would benefit from technology adoption to help strengthen or scale their work. We are specifically looking to support the development of inclusive, technology-based proof of concepts.
Scholarship: FWB FEST24 Scholarship recipients will receive a complimentary pass to FEST (valued at $400).
Participate: Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved on June 22 and share on X to @HighlyArtistic with the hashtag #MonthlyEarthDay.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
Climate Coordination Network X Spaces happen weekly, every Thursday. 🆕
Launch Event - Outcomes Report on "Ethical Principles for Responsible Technology Innovation is happening June 19.
SC07: Consumer Crypto | Demo Day by Seed Club is happening June 20.
Digital Finance in Africa is happening June 20 and 21 (online AND in person in Mauritius)
Build with Celo: Web3 for Small Businesses hackathon is happening June 28 - July 15.
Veiovia Mindshare Series 2 is happening August 2. 🆕
IRL
The Future of Finance Conference is happening June 20 in London. 🆕
Digital Finance in Africa is happening June 20 and 21 in Mauritius.
Women in Digital Assets Forum 2024 is happening June 25 in Stamford, CT.
Decipher 2024, a retreat for teams actively building on Algorand, is happening June 26-27 in Barcelona.
Responsible Tech London: A Better Tech Future for Youth is happening June 27 in London. Application required.
Point Zero Forum 2024 is happening July 1-3 in Zurich.
SheFi Summit is happening on July 7 in Brussels.
The Regen Village at EthCC is happening July 8-12 in Brussels.
EthCC[7] is happening July 8-11 in Brussels.
Superchain Space is happening July 8 in Brussels.
Optimistic Gathering is happening July 9 in Brussels. 🆕
FIL Dev Summit @ EthCC is happening July 9 in Brussels.
Group Income Launch Party at the Internet Archive is happening July 21 in San Francisco.
Funding the Commons is happening July 24-25 in Tokyo.
Our Networks 2024 is happening July 27 in Vancouver. 🆕
BaseCamp is happening July 31 - August 4 in Idyllwild-Pine Cove, CA.
DWeb Camp is happening August 7-11 in Camp Navarro, CA.
REBOOT: THE NEW REALITY is happening September 4-5 in San Francisco.
Hosting an event that you’d like to see listed? Reply here or send us a DM.
📡 On Our Radar
FilOz is an independent public good Filecoin protocol design and development team in the Filecoin Network working on protocol improvements and security.
KOI Pond is an initiative that unites the complementary expertise of BlockScience—a complex systems engineering, research and development, and analytics firm with a history of architecting information infrastructures—and Metagov’s range of self-governance research and experiments developed in its laboratory for digital governance.
Film.io aims to bring filmmakers and fans closer to the creative process by forming blockchain-based communities.
Gelephu Mindfulness City is a Special Administrative Region in southern Bhutan, with a focus on mindfulness, sustainability, and harmony.
✨ And one more thing
Mento is a decentralized and transparent EVM compatible platform that aims to host a wide range of stable value digital assets of different designs. Currently, Mento supports 5 fully decentralized stable assets on the Celo blockchain: cUSD, cEUR, cREAL, eXOF and cKES .
Mento Labs was founded in 2022 as a stablecoin and digital asset innovation lab through a spinoff from cLabs (Celo).
They are a team of economists, engineers, and product experts dedicated to innovating and developing stablecoin and digital asset solutions for our partners in the Web3 economy to enable the real-world adoption of digital assets.
The 1st $MENTO token airdrop is happening soon for early adopters. Check your eligibility to claim.
Missed out on Episode 1? Episode 2 for the Mento community is coming soon, and everyone has a chance to participate.
To qualify for a $MENTO Episode 2 airdrop:
Retweet, like, & comment “MENTO” on the pinned tweet to register with the Mento Labs bot: https://x.com/MentoLabs/status/1800183623435669585
Receive a secret code in your DM to enter the Mento Discord
Join Mento’s Discord and open up a ticket
Refer to this week’s TLDR on stablecoins, above, to learn how stablecoins like those operated by Mento Labs could make financial tools accessible to anyone in the world with a mobile phone 🎉🎉