🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
Hurricane Relief 💛, Celo Surge 🚀, FIL-RetroPGF 🔎, HBD Glo 🎂
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Celo adoption is surging globally, driven mainly by the growing use of stablecoins. Celo has always positioned itself as a blockchain built for the real world AND has been carbon negative from the start, so we love to see it. 🚀🌕
Filecoin’s second retroactive public goods funding round, FIL-RetroPGF Round 2, kicked off this week. If you’re a long-time reader, no doubt you’ve seen Filecoin mentioned here many times over the last 2.5 years, but what is it exactly? We have the TLDR for you, below. 🔎
Glo Dollar turned ONE (Happy Birthday!) *and* is celebrating a whopping $1million swap from Mento Labs that will unlock $40k per year to fund Celo Public Goods. 🎂
Meanwhile, Hurricane Helene has impacted the Southern US and the communities there need help. The Giving Block has launched an Emergency Relief fund to support these communities and Givepact has compiled a list of organizations accepting crypto donations. Please donate and share these resources with your community 💛.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📣 Latest News
🔍 TLDR: Filecoin
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
🚀 Opportunities
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And one more thing
📣 Latest News
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Brazil's largest crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin partners with Ripple to offer cross-border payments
Ohio Senator Niraj Antani introduces bill to allow state and local taxes to be paid with Bitcoin
IMF says bitcoin remains key element in El Salvador program talks
Project Updates
🔍TLDR: Filecoin
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.
Filecoin is shaking up the world of data storage by offering a decentralized way to store files. Unlike traditional cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox, where your data is stored by a big company, Filecoin spreads your data across a global network of computers. It’s powered by blockchain technology, which helps make it more secure, private, and potentially cheaper. Anyone with extra storage space on their hard drive can rent it out to others in exchange for Filecoin's cryptocurrency, FIL, which powers the network.
So, how does it work? People who need storage can pay in FIL to store their files, while "miners" (those offering up their storage) earn FIL in return. Filecoin's system uses blockchain to ensure the data is kept safe, verifying that files are stored properly and available when needed. It’s all part of a bigger push towards decentralization—basically, putting control back into the hands of individuals instead of relying on big tech companies. And since the network is open to anyone, storage providers can compete on pricing, helping to keep costs low.
Filecoin doesn’t just stop at storage, though—it’s also part of the broader Web3 ecosystem, working alongside IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) to make data storage and retrieval faster and more efficient. Whether you're an individual looking for secure data storage, a developer building decentralized apps, or even an NFT creator needing a way to store digital assets long-term, Filecoin is full of possibilities. Plus, it’s scalable, meaning as more people join, the network has the potential to grow and handle massive amounts of data.
Filecoin brings a fresh perspective to how we store and manage our digital lives. With decentralization, security, and affordability at its core, it’s a greatl option whether you're looking to store data or earn money by renting out space on your hard drive.
TLDR: Filecoin is a decentralized storage network that allows people to securely store and retrieve data using blockchain technology, while earning or paying in its native cryptocurrency, FIL.
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔎 Insights from a reputation based stable-coin credit pilot in Kenya. (Haraka)
⛑ North Carolina Bitcoiners set up a Hurricane search-and-rescue operation. (Cointelegraph)
🪙 Stablecoins now 43% of Sub-Saharan Africa crypto tx volume. (Cointelegraph)
🔮 The Next Stage for Public Good Funding in Crypto. (CoinDesk)
🎨 KnownOrigin’s shutdown presents an urgent challenge to preserve the metadata and media files of NFTs created on the platform, which are at risk due to the potential shutdown of centralized servers. In partnership with Pob Studio, NFT.Storage is working on a scalable, decentralized solution to aim to ensure that these digital assets remain accessible and secure. (NFT.Storage)
💭 Cryptocurrency as the “Progressive’s Dream.” (@dan_pantera)
📜 What would the Federalist Papers say if they were written in the 21st Century? Inspired by the Federalist Papers, The Digitalist Papers series bridges domains and disciplines by assembling experts from multiple fields—including economics, law, technology, management, and political science—alongside industry and civil society leaders. (The Digitalist Papers)
❔ As tensions rise in the Middle East, Crypto Twitter is debating the ethics of war betting markets, with even Vitalik weighing in. (Unchained)
🌱 Expanding the Ecosystem for Non-USD Stablecoins: Highlights from the "Expanding the Ecosystem for Non-USD Stablecoins" panel at the Stable Summit event held during EthCC Brussels. (Mento Labs)
🌐 How to Design a User-friendly Web3 Experience from Wallet to dApp: a summary of the ETHSafari panel featuring Markus Franke, Isha Varshney and Tosin Onikosi, moderated by Angelo Kalaw. (Mento Labs)
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
ReFi Podcast - Season 4 The Regeneration Nexus - Episode 3 - Democracy, Technology, and Plurality with Glen Weyl
Crypto Altruism Podcast - Episode 173 - The Pipe gDAO - Bringing University Innovations from Lab to Market with Blockchain and IP Tokenization
Green Pill - Season 6 - Episode 4- Downstream Grant Programs - Expanding the Superchain W/ Katie & PaperImperium
The Giving Block - Episode 19- This Week in Crypto Philanthropy Podcast.
Upcming spaces to join:
ReFi Podcast- S4 Ep3 Community Discussion – Democracy, Technology, and Plurality is happening TODAY Septmber 27. Episode discussions will happen every week on Fridays at the same time.
Climate Coordination Network X Spaces happen weekly, every Thursday. Learn more and join.
@civilmonkey’s Curated X Spaces focus on using Web3 for positive impact in the real world (+ recordings). Learn more and join.
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
Apply: Asylumventures is hiring an Analyst.
Apply: BeInCrypto is hiring a Managing Editor.
Speak: JokeRace is hosting a contest Rejected by DevCon. Submit your rejected talk for a chance to be selected to speak.
Donate: Givepact has curated a list of ways you can donate crypto to support those affected by Hurricane Helene
Share & Win: The GoodDollar moderators are celebrating GoodDollar’s 4th Anniversary with a hashtag contest. Share your stories or videos with #HappyBirthDayGoodDollar and win from a 100,000 G$ prize pool.
Volunteer: SheFi graduates, SheFi is expanding its community support team. Apply here to join the SheFi Mod Pod.
Volunteer: Optimism is looking for volunteers to participate in guest voting for Retro Funding 6.
Funding: Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro Funding) 6 will reward contributions to Optimism Governance, including governance infrastructure & tooling, governance analytics, and governance leadership.
Funding: FIL-RetroPGF-2 is a grants initiative aimed at recognizing and rewarding impactful contributions to the Filecoin ecosystem.
Hack: The Blockchain for Good Association’s Hackathon Initiative unites tech enthusiasts from around the globe to tackle real-world problems.
Hack: Funding the Commons & Earth Commons Hackathon is a hybrid hackathon, running from October 7 to November 7 that offers a collaborative environment where participants can ideate, prototype, and refine their projects, primarily online, with opportunities for in-person collaboration in Bangkok on November 6 and 7.
Hack and Learn: H.E.R. DAO’s Road to Devcon includes several events leading up to DC7 SEA.
Learn: Super Contributor Cohort 0, a six-week co-learning track to become an Optimism Collective contributor and shape the new internet.
Learn: SheFi empowers professional women to master Web3 in 8 weeks. Each session is a combination of live instruction, hands-on tech demos, and career support, all aimed at accelerating careers in Web3.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
Funding the Commons & Earth Commons Hackathon Kick-off Session is happening October 7. 🆕
Funding the Commons & Earth Commons Hackathon Ideation and Teambuilding Session is happening on October 9. 🆕
The Tech We Want Online Summit is happening October 17.
IRL
Athena DAO Labs Pop-up is happening October 4 in San Francisco.
Responsible Tech Mixer SF is happening October 9 in San Francisco.
AI for Good: #SFTechWeek Edition is happening October 9 in San Francisco.
Network Society Camp is happening October 11-14 in Austin, Texas.
Public Interest Tech Summit & Career Fair is happening October 11 at Stanford.
REGEN MSTRMND at TDF — A Regenerative Content Creator Mastermind Intensive is happening October 12-19 in Alentejo, Portugal. 🆕
The Token for Good Summit is happening on October 15 in Geneva. 🆕
The SolarPunk Summit is happening October 17-21 in Kingsbury, Texas.
ETHGlobal San Francisco is happening October 18-20 in San Francisco.
Escaping the Memory Hole: Internet Archive’s annual celebration is happening October 23 in San Francisco.
DC Privacy Summit is happening October 24 in DC.
IMPACT FESTIVAL, Europe’s biggest B2B event for sustainable innovation, is happening October 30-31 in Frankfurt, Germany. 🆕
FIL Dev Summit 5 is happening November 6-8 in Bangkok.
LabWeek Web3 is happening November 7-13 in Bangkok.
Earth Commons: Bangkok 2024 is happening November 9 in Bangkok.
Settlement Day is hosted by Celo Foundtion happening November 11 in Bangkok.
FIL Bangkok: DePIN Meets AI is happening November 11 in Bangkok.
Boston Institutional Digital Assets Forum 2024 is happening December 3 in Boston.
Oasis Oncahin is happening January 30 - February 2 in Nassau, Bahamas.
ETHDenver is happening February 23 - March 2 in Denver.
Recurring
Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved on October 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
ProductShare is a community-governed e-commerce platform leveraging Regenerative Finance (ReFi) and Web3 to create a sustainable marketplace that shares profits with stakeholders, empowers communities, and drives social impact globally.
GenoBank.io empowers individuals to own and control their genomic data securely using blockchain.
Paychant opens up new ways for self-custodial wallets and dApps to on and off-ramp African users through an extensive network of localized payment methods in Africa.
The Good Token Society is a non-profit association based in Geneva dedicated to promote, federate and represent web3 companies building token-based innovations that have positive and real-world applications
✨ And One More Thing
There are 2,631 people signed up for SheFi Season 12!
