🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
$1k Bitcoin for your nonprofit
gm gm,
GG23 (Gitcoin Grants) wrapped up this week. NGL, another GG round happens every few months and sometimes it can feel repetitive and clunky, but something about the UX this round just really clicked for me (Sam). For the first time, it took me less than five minutes to donate to my favorite project, which felt great. We love GG, and we especially love public goods funding, so we love to see it 🙌. We can’t wait to support more friends and share updates on future rounds!
Big opportunity for nonprofits this month: sign up for The Giving Block before May 15 and get a $1,000 Bitcoin donation.
And don’t forget to support your favorite nonprofits 💛.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📣 Latest News
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And one more thing
📣 Latest News
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Panama City council greenlights crypto payments for tax, public services
7-Eleven South Korea to accept CBDC payments in national pilot program
Russia Finance Ministry Calls to Create Its Own Crypto Stablecoin
Project Updates
📚 What We’re Thinking About
⛑ Crypto Funds for Earthquake Relief
Amidst the constant onslaught of policy and financial news, sometimes the most practical, hands-on use cases for crypto get buried, but crypto philanthropy is still very much a thing and not just a passing craze. In the last few weeks, there have been devastating earthquakes in both Myanmar and Thailand, and yes, crypto donations have been essential (Forbes). As Givepact explains, “In a setting where traditional banking, infrastructure, and political will are failing, crypto donations are providing a new model for humanitarian response: Borderless & censorship-resistant, On-chain transparency and traceability, Instant, low-fee transactions, and Compatible with decentralized identity (DID) models for direct aid. As roadblocks mount and the humanitarian gap widens, crypto is not just a fast alternative—it’s becoming an essential tool for getting help to where it’s needed most” (Givepact). Scroll to the bottom here for a list of nonprofits accepting crypto via Givepact.
🚀 Ethereum
Don’t write it off. Part of what has always made Ethereum special compared to other blockchains has been founder Vitalik Buterin’s vision of the chain as serving a broad range of applications beyond currency. That, of course, hasn’t stopped people from watching ETH’s price (going down) (CoinTribune). But the Ethereum Foundation isn’t losing focus. After a long emphasis on building Layer 2s (check out our TLDR from last year if you need a refresher on L2s), finally the team seems to be ready to turn its focus back to the Mainnet (The Defiant). Privacy is another key concern, at least for Vitalik. “His outline calls on decentralized networks to secure user autonomy in an increasingly exposed digital space.” (Cryptonews). If you want to be in the room where it happens, book your ticket to Cannes. While the direction is still unclear, we believe in Vitalik.
💐 Consumer Adoption
Two things happened this week that have brought this top of mind: (1) Privy, which builds crypto wallet infrastructure, integrated login with WhatsApp (@privy_io). Boys Club covers this here, we’re just the messengers, but the TLDR is it’s a big deal for mass adoption (Boys Club). And (2) at my (Sam’s) local, suburban farmer’s market this week, my flower guy had a bright new sticker announcing he accepts USDC. He had no idea what USDC was and said someone set it up for him, but still. This must mean something.
🏦 Global Bitcoin Reserves
Ever since Trump crashed the crypto news cycle last month with his EO on a US Strategic Crypto Reserve (which, reminder, was ultimately more hype than substance), it feels like suddenly everyone wants in (Web3forGood). Binance says there is so much interest globally that multiple governments have approached them for advice on what to do next (CryptoSlate). For our part, we’re sourcing several links a week like “XYZ State/Country Proposes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.” This week: Sweden, China, and Florida (Decrypt, CryptoSlate). Meanwhile, Oklahoma, an early advocate, is out of the US race (CryptoSlate).
As we wrote in March:
“There are still big questions at the core of this. Is the Inside Circle profiting, and is that ethical (TheStreet)? And does championing government involvement at this level essentially take crypto away from its founding values, which have traditionally leaned more libertarian? The founder of Solana, which was included on The List, thinks so (Decrypt). Is it hypocritical for the Bitcoin maxis to celebrate this (CoinDesk)? Even if you’ve never touched crypto in your life (bless you for reading our newsletter), this is the kind of financial news that will have global implications (CoinDesk).”🪙 Stablecoins
Last week, we asked you if we should spin out a stablecoin newsletter to cover the sheer amount of stablecoin news we’ve been sharing each week, and of those who voted, a majority said YES. For those of you craving more, we have great news to share, and that is that Celo and Ethereum just announced Stable Mag, “a bi-weekly recap of the most exciting stablecoin news not to be missed.” (@Celo). Talk about perfect timing.
On our side, two stories caught our attention this week: (1) Crypto’s Newest Stablecoin Is Inflation-Linked Bond Alternative, which is just to say, everyone wants in on stablecoins right now, and (2) Russian Finance Ministry eyes domestic stablecoin to bypass Western infrastructure, which shows just how important stablecoins are becoming on a global stage, for better or worse (Bloomberg, CryptoSlate).
Plus:
🤝 Cash-based crypto can enable financial inclusion for billions: “The barriers to crypto adoption go far beyond technology. Government regulations, economic conditions and local financial habits all play a role. Crypto’s biggest flaw isn’t a lack of demand. It’s the assumption that digital wallets and banking apps are the only viable entry points. That thinking ignores billions of people who still operate in cash-driven economies.” (CoinTelegraph)
🎓 Why Educational Institutions Should Embrace Crypto Donations to Modernize Alumni Fundraising. (The Giving Block)
How university students use Claude: Anthropic ran a privacy-preserving analysis of a million education-related conversations with Claude to produce their first Education Report. (Anthropic)
🤖 A Deep Dive into the Economics of ReFi X-to-Earn Projects. (CARBON Copy)
🧫 Optimism ran one of the first real-world experiments with Futarchy, where decisions were made through structured (play money) forecasts of measurable outcomes. Here’s what happened. (@Optimism)
📜 US States Push Forward on Pro-Crypto Legislation. (The Defiant)
🪓 The Trump administration’s deregulation of crypto enforcement. (CryptoSlate)
🔬 Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research. (Magazine by Cointelegraph)
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
Crypto Altruists Podcast - Episode 199 - Real-World Impact with Web3 - 10 Inspiring Blockchain Use Cases Driving Global Change
ReFi Podcast - Season 4 The Regeneration Nexus - Bonus - Reflecting on Regeneration Nexus with Maya Dentzel and Tereza Bízková
The Giving Block - Episode 43 - Busting 10 Myths in Crypto Philanthropy
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
Apply: Octant is hiring a Product Marketer.
Apply: Free Our Feeds is hiring an Interim Director (remote, 3 days/week, ~5 month contract) to lead the organization into the next phase of their work. From DWeb: “Free Our Feeds is looking for a strategic leader and fundraiser who can advance our shared mission of building a more equitable digital ecosystem beyond billionaire-controlled platforms. The ideal candidate will build partnerships, lead fundraising efforts, and coordinate their work with tech partners, civil society, and donors. Experience in stakeholder management, fundraising, and broad coalition-building is essential, and passion for the mission is must-have. If this sounds like you, please submit your resume, cover letter, and compensation requirements to hello@freeourfeeds.com by April 23rd, 2025. Priority will be given to early submissions; this role ideally starts mid-to-late May.”
Apply: Submissions are open for the Haus of Nouns Residency Program in NYC from May 1 - 2.
Build: Friends With Builders from Friends with Benefits offer hands-on programming, peer support, technical mentorship and partner collaboration. Friends With Builders is not a bootcamp, not an accelerator and not a hackathon. It’s an R&D lab for building cultural applications of emerging tech. Applications are open for the Alpha cohort.
Contribute: Breadchain is always looking for contributors to help “make a post-capitalist web3 possible in the Breadchain Network.” In particular they’re especially looking for developers with experience in ZK/Rust/Solidity to help properly build out Gas Killer, their latest tool, which won first prize at a hackathon.
Learn: SheFi Season 14 begins this summer and applications are already open. Scholarships available.
Donate: Support Myanmar and Thailand earthquake relief with crypto via Givepact.
Get $1000: If you’re a nonprofit, sign up with The Giving Block by May 15, 2025 and receive a $1,000 bitcoin donation.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
Blockchain and Sustainability: Where are We Today? Is happening on April 22. 🆕
Funding the Commons’ Public Goods Town Hall #8: PGF Infra Showcase is happening April 22.
FIL Dev Summit 6 Virtual Kickoff Sessions are happening April 23.
Mento’s Global Stablecoin Hackathon is happening now through May 2.
IRL
Earth Day Insights: SF Climate Week 2025 with Celo & Cerulean Ventures is happening on April 22 in San Francisco. 🆕
Crypto Capitol - ETHDC II is happening April 24 in Washington D.C.
AI x Biology Workshop 2025 is happening May 9-10 in Berkeley.
FIL Dev Summit 6 is happening May 12-13 in Toronto.
All Tech Is Human x Consulate General of Finland New York will host a curated gathering on strengthening multistakeholder collaboration in Responsible AI on May 21st in NYC.
Stablecon is happening May 29 in NYC.
Global Blockchain Business Council Blockchain Central DC 2025 is happening June 11-13 in Washington D.C.
Funding the Commons: Berlin Forum 2025 is happening June 10 in Berlin. 🆕
Collaborative Finance Gathering is happening June 16-20 at The Commons Hub in Austria.
2025 Bitcoin Policy Summit is happening June 25 in Washington DC.
Impact Evaluator Research Retreat is happening June 26-July 10 in Iceland.
Ethereum Community Conference is happening June 30 - July 3 in Cannes. 🆕
ETHSafari 2025 is happening September 7-14 in Nairobi.
Progress Conference 2025 is happening October 16-19 in Berkeley. 🆕
Devconnect 2025 is happening November 17-22 in Argentina.
Recurring
Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved on April 22 and share on X to @HighlyArtistic with the hashtag #MonthlyEarthDay.
Hosting an event that you’d like to see listed? Reply here or send us a DM.
📡 On Our Radar
Stable Mag is a bi-weekly recap of the most exciting stablecoin news not to be missed
Optimism’s roundup of builders who have received Retro Funding this month
✨ And One Two More Thing(s)
Everything you need to know to navigate Octant App’s Epoch 7 via @IrthuSuresh: Who are the climate projects? What important functions do they play? How do they accelerate Ethereum Localism?
Gitcoin Grants 23 Stats via @owocki (click to expand each visual):
