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This weekās stories sit right at the edge of weird, fascinating, and deeply important. From AI chatbots and welfare protection, to an app that literally pays people for their poop, to Wyoming launching the first state-issued stablecoinā¦ the common thread is the same: new tech keeps testing how far weāre willing to stretch our definitions of rights, incentives, and money.
And thatās really the through-line of Web3forGood: making sense of these shifts without the hype, bias, or spin. For more than three years, weāve been showing up in your inbox every week with that mission, and now weād love to invite you to be part of what comes next.
Weāre opening up an annual subscription, not to wall anything off, but to ask for the support of those of you whoāve been with us the longest. If this newsletter has been valuable to you, would you consider becoming a Founding Supporter?
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Thank you for reading, sharing, and being here. This community exists because of you.
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Whatās Inside
š£ Latest News
š What Weāre Thinking About
š Podcasts & Spaces
š Opportunities & Calls to Act
šŖ Events
š” On Our Radar
š£ Latest News
Filecoin ProPGF Batch 1: $3.6M+ Awarded to Ecosystem Builders
Google drops plan to ban non-custodial crypto wallets from Play Store following backlash
Celo Foundation appoints Elizabeth Peng, prev. Head of Marketing & Comms, as Chief Operating Officer
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Thailand to launch crypto-to-baht conversion for foreign tourists
Indiaās First Bitcoin Think Tank Launches on Independence Day
President Nayib Bukele posts El Salvador's Bitcoin reserve, showing $470 million unrealized profit
Coinbase, DCG, Kraken, Other Crypto Lobbyists Unveil Tax-Exempt 'Education' Nonprofit
Stablecoin News
Wyoming's 'Frontier' Stablecoin Debuts on Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche
Japan FSA Clears JPYC, First Yen-Pegged Stablecoin for Fall Launch
š What Weāre Thinking About
š¤ AI rights?
Anthropic just gave Claude the power to end conversations it finds too distressing, framing it as a step toward protecting the modelās āwelfareā. Are we inching toward treating AI like beings with rights?
Microsoft AIās Mustafa Suleyman argues this is exactly the danger; we risk confusing ourselves if we start talking about AI like people. His position is that AI is for people, not to be a person. The debate cuts right to the core of how society will frame its relationship with increasingly lifelike systems: tools we control, or entities we owe moral obligations to?
Meanwhile, in another essay we canāt stop thinking about, āCyborg Minds and the Right to Think,ā the author (Orestis Palermos is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Ioannina, Greece) argues that, as humans increasingly merge with technology to the point of literally integrating AI into our cognition, the question of who has the right to control thought becomes more urgent. It emphasizes the concept of cognitive liberty, i.e. the fundamental right to think freely and autonomously, for both humans and AI.
As we debate AI rights, the more we must confront our own: How do we protect human autonomy when our own minds are becoming entwined with tech? If AI starts behaving like it has a mind, does it too have a right to mental freedom?
That tension wonāt be resolved anytime soon. Whether or not AIs ever actually ādeserve rights,ā the very act of debating it reshapes how we see ourselves, our ethics, and the boundaries between human and machine.
š© Poop-to-earn
Itās real, itās weird, and itās brilliant. An app called Doop is paying people to share photos of their poop, providing scientists the microbiome data they desperately need and rewarding people for contributions to science that theyād probably never make otherwise.
This is DeSci (decentralized science) at its finest. The microbiome is linked to everything from digestion to immunity to mental health, yet collecting data at scale is a huge challenge. Crypto incentives flip the script: what if everyday people got paid to power breakthroughs in science?
Speaking of DeSci, AthenaDAO just shared its public demo day, showcasing how decentralized communities are reimagining how we fund, organize, and participate in science. At their core, both AthenaDAO and even Doop are answers to the same question we keep circling back to in web3: can new incentive models finally help us fund the things that matter most?
š Wyomingās stablecoin
We shared some links above in the news section, but a little more context feels necessary. So what happened? Wyoming has become the first US state to issue a USD-backed stablecoin, which it's calling the Frontier Stable Token. As Boys Club writes, āWyoming is known for pushing digital asset innovations, being the first to recognize DAOs as LLCs, and that very much seems like the play here as well. I spent a lot of time yesterday wondering why, exactly, a state would need to issue a stablecoin and what, exactly, would be the novel use of said coin. But Iām going to set that aside and appreciate the precedent set for public sector participation in issuing onchain USD. The offshore C-corps shouldnāt get to have all the fun.ā So while the point still remains unclear, take this as yet another sign that stablecoins are a thing you should pay attention to now. (And in case you were worried there werenāt enough stablecoins out there, MetaMask just launched one too).
Plus:
šŖ Why Brand Coins Are Taking Over the Charts - āA brand coin is a cryptocurrency tied to a real brand, product line, or NFT project. Itās built to align fans, customers, and holders with the brandās growth without granting equity or profit share. Unlike memecoins, brand coins connect to real-world products, IP, and cultural touchpoints, creating a loop where brand success can drive token demand and engaged holders help fuel the brandās reach.ā (Now Media)
š± Meet the Builders| Part 3| Tereza BĆzkovĆ” from ReFi MedellĆn and Funding the Commons āI think a community is never built. Can a garden ever be fully built? Maybe thereās a point you feel happy with where itās at, but itās a living organism. Sometimes itās active and full of energy, sometimes it slows down or needs a reset. People come and go. Priorities shift. But thatās all part of it. What matters is staying honest about why youāre doing it and making space for it to change.ā - (CeLatam)
š 21 Proposed Funding Domains for Gitcoin GG24 - Ethereum Localism x Regen Coordination, Metafunding: Fund PGF Mechanisms & Research, Ethereum For The World, InfoFi, Mechanism Builders Domain, Developer Tooling & Core Infrastructure, The EPIC Awards: Ethereum Peopleās Choice Awards, Open Civic Innovation, Dev tooling, AI Builders Domain, Open Data Standards, Infrastructure & Analytics for Ethereum, Privacy-Preserving KYC, DeFi Transparency and Decentralization Assessment, Outcome Based Funding for Web3 Popups, The case for privacy: GG24 MACI <> Allo Capital, Desci, Builder Development as Ethereumās Most Meaningful Problem, Web3 Startup Acceleration, Ethereum Mass Adoption: User Experience & Consumer Apps, Breaking into Enterprise, Paradox Management for Ethereum Governance, Pre-&-Post-Grant Coordination (@owocki)
š Pilot Launch - Leveraging grain tokenization to Unlock credit for Argentinaās smallholder farmers - āMercy Corps Ventures has partnered with Anzi Finance to test how blockchain-based grain tokenization and credit guarantees can unlock access to affordable credit for smallholder farmers in Argentina.ā (Mercy Corps Ventures)
š Watch & Listen
Crypto Altruists Growing Good on Solana - Episode 1 - Somos Axolotl - How a Solana Validator and Web3-Native Tools are Powering Real-World Conservation
Human Rights Foundation - Launching the Africa Bitcoin Institute (w/ AnaĆÆse Kanimba)
W.K Kellogg Foundation: How Crypto and Blockchain drive inclusion and opportunity
The Blockchain Socialist - Slavoj Zizek on Network States
š Opportunities & Calls to Act
Apply: The Ethereum Foundation is hiring a Developer Tooling Coordinator.
Apply: Base is hiring a Creator Success Manager.Apply: Bridge is hiring a Blockchain Engineer and a Product Manager.
Contribute: AI Pathways Tournament invites individuals to share forecasts about AI to help identify the most likely scenario and discuss with the community for a chance to win part of a $5,000 commenting prize contributed by Foresight Institute. Submit your comments before November 1, 2025, for a chance to win.
Build: The Funding the Commons 2025 Builder Residency is a three-week immersive program designed to support collaboration and experimentation in the public goods and blockchain space.
Build: Celo Proof-of-Ship is a monthly contest that rewards builders for actively building on Celo. Proof of Ship 7 is running now until August 29.
Funding: Octant Epoch 9 will fund Ethereum Stories, āthe journalists, storytellers, content creators, and researchers whoāve helped make Ethereum legible, credible, and engaging to audiences.ā Application deadline is August 27.
Learn: Kernel is a peer-to-peer learning community for technologists, researchers, builders, and artists shaping the future of the web. KB11 will bring together ~50 fellows to go deep on a clear research or product focus. *Applications will be accepted until August 31.*(We are both Kernel fellows and are happy to share our experiences, if you have any questions about applying).
šŖ Events
š= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
The Future of Digital Finance: Emerging opportunities in India, in China and on the African continent is happening September 24-25.
IRL
Crypto Commons Gathering is happening August 24-29 in Reichenau an der Rax, Austria. š
The Gathering is happening August 27-31 at Eco Kemp in Czechia. š
Stellar Development Foundation and Friends with Benefits are hosting a private dinner on August 28th in San Francisco.
ETHAccra is happening September 3-6 in Accra.
ETHSafari 2025 is happening September 7-14 in Nairobi.
Edge City Bhutan is happening September 14-21 in Paro, Gelephu, Thimphu, and other locations in Bhutan.
PGP* for Crypto Briefings and Roundtable Discussion is happening September 17 in DC.
Africa Money & DeFi Summit West Africa is happening September 24-25 in Accra, Ghana.
BTC in D.C. is happening September 30 - October 1 in DC.
The Aptos Experience is happening October 15-16 in NYC.
Progress Conference 2025 is happening October 16-19 in Berkeley.
FIL Dev Summit 7 @ DevConnect is happening November 13 in Argentina.
Devconnect 2025 is happening November 17-22 in Argentina.
ETHBoulder is coming in 2026ā¦
Recurring
Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved TODAY August 22 and šØ check out the movementās brand new website šØ.
š” On Our Radar
AI Pathways from Foresight Instituteās Existential Hope program explores two such visions of what desirable, realistic futures with AI could look like: Tool AI (advanced, controllable systems, often narrow in scope, that speed progress without replacing human judgment) and d/acc (decentralized, democratic, defensive acceleration of technology). Both were developed with input from leading voices including Vitalik Buterin, Glen Weyl, Anton Korinek, Anthony Aguirre, Allison Duettmann, and others.
āØ And One More Thing
The Human Rights Foundation has an CBDC (central bank digital currency) tracker. As they write: āA central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is a digital national currency that is a direct liability of a countryās central bank.
In practice, there can be grey areas around this definition as countries continue to hash out how a CBDC might take shape. For example, a CBDC might be a product of the federal government at large instead of the central bank alone. So, in more general terms, it is best to think of a CBDC as a digital money provided and maintained by a government. With that said, it is a fundamental mistake to think that a CBDC is simply a digital or electronic form of cash. While a CBDC would be a liability of the central bank like cash, it would be unlikely to offer the privacy protections or the finality that cash provides. By opening the door to create a direct connection between the government and a personās financial activity, CBDCs give governments new powers to conduct sweeping surveillance, restrict financial activity, disrupt the economy, and engage in corruption.ā Check it out here.