🌍 This Week in Web3ForGood
building for the long run
gm gm,
We’re thinking about the future security of Bitcoin (and all crypto) this week thanks to a new report from the Human Rights Foundation. It’s a reminder that even the strongest systems need care, adaptation, and a little humility. Building for good means building for resilience.
Meanwhile, the very first Devcon events are about to kick off in Buenos Aires next week. Builders from across the world are gathering to share ideas, hack solutions, and imagine what comes next. Feels like the perfect moment to look ahead with curiosity and optimism. We won’t be there IRL, so plz send us your hot takes and reflections from on the ground to help with our FOMO.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📚 What We’re Thinking About
📣 Latest News
🔈 Watch & Listen
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And One More Thing
📚 What We’re Thinking About
⚡ The Security and Resilience of Bitcoin
Some things this week brought this into focus for us this week. HRF’s research report on the Quantum Threat to Bitcoin warned that quantum computing could someday crack Bitcoin’s cryptography. This (fascinating) article imagined a global internet blackout where the network fractures into regional versions of Bitcoin that can no longer reconnect. Together they have us thinking about what happens when the assumptions of permanence and trust no longer hold.
The quantum threat sounds like science fiction, but is grounded in real math. Bitcoin’s security depends on elliptic curve cryptography, which could one day be broken by quantum algorithms capable of deriving private keys from public keys. The computers that can do this do not exist yet, and experts estimate it could take years or even decades before they do. Still, the community is not waiting. Developers are working on quantum-resistant upgrades, and researchers are mapping paths to migrate existing wallets to safer systems. The takeaway is that the risk is not immediate, but the clock is ticking. Preparation, rather than panic, will decide how smoothly the transition happens.
The blackout scenario is more physical than mathematical, yet it reveals the same fragility. If large portions of the internet were to go offline, Bitcoin could split into separate, isolated networks. Each would keep running, mining blocks, and maintaining its own version of the truth. When connections return, those chains might never merge again. The result would not be a total collapse, but something stranger: multiple coexisting Bitcoins, each internally consistent yet disconnected from the others. It is an unsettling thought, because it shows that decentralization is not immune to the basic vulnerabilities of infrastructure.
For people working in the impact space, these ideas reach far beyond Bitcoin. They remind us that technology for good depends on continuity, coherence, and the trust of users. Many blockchain projects in social impact rely on the same cryptographic principles and network stability that Bitcoin does. A break in that foundation would ripple across everything from transparent aid tracking to decentralized identity. Building systems for resilience means planning for both technical and social disruptions. That means supporting post-quantum research, diversifying infrastructure, and designing governance that can adapt when the unexpected happens.
Thinking about these risks is not pessimism. It is an act of stewardship. The promise of Web3 is not only in creating new forms of value, but in ensuring that those systems endure long enough to deliver it. Quantum computers and global blackouts may feel far away, yet they both point to the same truth: the future of digital trust depends on how seriously we take the work of preparing for what comes next.
Plus:
🏗️ Liz Kukka, LANE3, on affordable housing development, on mutually beneficial terms, from public schools all the way onchain: “An on-chain endowment fund and tokenized credit fund could ostensibly provide below market-rate loans and fill an important gap.“ (No Signal by Kernel)
🌲 The internet is dying on the outside but growing on the inside: “Everything public feels like an ad. Everything private feels real. The gap widens every day. The dark forest is where decisions are made; public space is where they’re performed. In an age of state dominance, only hidden spaces keep our conversations and ideals off the menu.“ (Yancey Strickler)
💵 Will Bitcoin Strengthen or Weaken US Dollar Dominance?: “On the surface, greater bitcoin adoption would seem to undermine the Treasury Standard. But that only holds if one assumes those adopting bitcoin would have otherwise used the dollar. If, instead, one expects bitcoin to displace other major currencies, then its ascension might bolster the Treasury Standard by functioning as a neutral dollar alternative.“ (Bitcoin Policy Institute)
🤖 What does it mean to decentralize AI?: “Crypto folks talk a ton about decentralization in the technical sense. But decentralization is about power, and distributing the power to the edges—or to the people—often requires more than just technical systems. This is part of what makes the collision between crypto and AI technologies so fascinating.“ (Project Glitch)
📣 Latest News
Blockchain for Good Alliance and UNDP AltFinLab Launch Blockchain Impact Forum
Ripple Powers Aid Delivery and Funding for Global Nonprofits
Introducing the Jello Hardfork: OP Succinct Lite Now Live on Celo Sepolia
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
India’s Amaravati City to Push Land Records on Blockchain with Polygon
Kyrgyzstan launches national stablecoin in partnership with Binance
Reports and Project Updates
🔈 Watch & Listen
Crypto Altruists - Episode 225 - Stellar and Hoops Sagrado - How Basketball and Crypto Are Powering Financial Inclusion in Guatemala
Green Pill Podcast - S.10 Episode 4 - Meaning in the 21st Century with Ellie Hain
Green Pill Podcast - Network States Mini Series Episode 1 - Building Antifragile Network States
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
Learn: Founders Lab is an initiative is designed to support early-stage Ethereum founders with high-signal, 1:1 mentorship from experienced builders. Selected founders will be matched with a mentor for a focused, 45-minute private session during Devconnect Buenos Aires.
Learn: The a16z New Media Fellowship is an 8-week program and community for operators, creators, and storytellers shaping the future of media. As a fellow, you’ll get insider access to the a16z ecosystem and New Media Summit - plus join exclusive workshops, talks, and dinners with ambitious founders & leaders in the space.
Hack: ETHGlobal Buenos Aires hackathon will enable you to experiment with cutting edge web3 technologies and develop an idea you’re passionate about.
Funding: Crypto Cities offers $25k grants for impactful builders connecting real businesses, onchain liquidity, and global communities.
Funding: Localism Fund exists to support credible local networks and place-based groups to nurture political, economic, cultural, and ecological localism, while demonstrating Ethereum as a foundational infrastructure for this purpose.
Contribute: The New_ Public team is exploring “What Will Shape the Next Internet?,” aka how new technologies and behaviors, including AI, are reshaping the social fabric of the internet: how people connect, converse, and build community online. They would love your help taking the temperature of the social internet and understanding what’s alive and worth paying attention to right now.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
How to be the Superintelligence You’ve Been Waiting For: A Conversation with E. Glen Weyl is happening November 19. 🆕
Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Financial Freedom Webinar is happening December 15-17. 🆕
IRL
Democratic Decentralized Resistance is happening November 12 in Berlin. 🆕
FIL Dev Summit 7 @ DevConnect is happening November 13 in Buenos Aires.
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. 🆕
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.
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 2026…
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.
📡 On Our Radar
Use Case is a new print magazine about what crypto enables around the world.
GreenEarth is an open source project to create powerful recommender infrastructure for ATProto applications, including BlueSky.
Explorer is a ranked database system to empower the general public in exploring the privacy levels, security, and reliability of Web3 projects.
✨ And One More Thing
Check out the new Ethereum for Good Impact Hub from Crypto Altruists:
”Ethereum is more than a blockchain, it’s the soil of an infinite garden, where builders, dreamers, and changemakers plant the seeds of public goods, regenerative finance, and open collaboration. This living ecosystem grows through transparency, coordination, and shared values, enabling communities worldwide to fund impact, scale innovation, and reimagine what’s possible.” More here.