🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
this tech isn’t fringe
gm gm,
Hello from the beach house I’m temporarily calling home, somewhere between in transition and mildly untethered. Last week, everything I owned was packed up and loaded onto a ship to travel across the world to my new house. I’m moving overseas for my partner’s job, so it’s not exactly against my will, but also not something I’m especially excited about right now either (nothing against where we’re going, I’m just over moving).
Look, I’m very lucky. I stocked up on my favorite things, will have access to a U.S. mailing address, love traveling, and am heading into this next chapter with a lot of stability, so don’t feel bad for me. But still, this kind of change brings a wave of small, frustrating frictions, many of which are tied to money.
Last time we lived overseas, we were in the UK, another western country with a robust banking system, and THAT was a money headache. I never successfully opened a personal local bank account (a mix of bureaucracy and my own failure to navigate the system), so I existed by simply using my US credit and/or debit card literally everywhere and paying the annoying fees. I justified this because I was being paid in USD by a US company, and I would have had to pay fees to transfer it to a UK bank account anyways. Just the cost of living abroad, I figured.
Fast forward to now. I currently don’t make any money (did you think this newsletter was lucrative? lol), but I would like to (if you are reading this and hiring on your comms team, lmk). We’re moving to a place that still largely relies on cash for certain things. Whatever happens, I’ll face the same problem: how to get paid, move money, and avoid losing large chunks in fees.
This is where Web3 comes in.
In the US and other wealthy countries, for the most part, we’re lucky enough to be sheltered from the day to day reality of dealing with a fragmented global financial system, or god forbid, being forced to survive in a less networked economy. Everything just works… seamlessly! Until it doesn’t. Needing to use stablecoins to receive a salary or send money to family across borders doesn’t really register… until you’re in a situation where you need to do these things.
Right now, I find myself thinking things like “I hope I can get a job that pays me in stablecoins.” Not because I’m a stablecoin evangelist (even though I do love a good stablecoin), but because it might genuinely be the most practical option. And that’s coming from me, writing this from a place of safety and privilege. I think a lot about the people all over the world who don’t have that cushion, those who are are forcibly displaced or forced to survive in under-networked economies.
My point? This is technology we actually need.
Big (blockchain) news stories this week include Circle’s successful IPO and Paypal integrating the Stellar blockchain for its stablecoin infrastructure. Stripe purchased more wallet infrastructure and crypto legislation moved forward in the US congress. Even traditional institutions can no longer ignore the obvious use cases. This isn’t fringe tech anymore.
Back to me, personally: It’ll be several weeks before I’m grounded in my new home, but once I am, I’m looking forward to having the chance to be out of my US bubble and see/experience a different side of real world use cases for blockchain tech. And as I do, you can be sure I’ll be sharing what I learn here 💛💛.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
xx Sam (& Abeera, who will be back next week)
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
Circle’s USDC and CCTP V2 (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol) are are now live on World Chain
Ethereum Foundation releases first 1TS outlining roadmap to tackle security challenges
Elon Musk’s X Partners With Polymarket, Bringing Crypto Prediction Markets Mainstream
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Argentina anti-corruption office clears Javier Milei in Libra crypto promotion scandal
Ukrainian Lawmakers Submit Bill for Creation of Crypto Reserve
South Korean lawmaker proposes stablecoin licensing regime in new comprehensive crypto bill
CLARITY Act Clears Two House Committees, Heads to House Floor for Vote
Stablecoin News
PayPal’s PYUSD Stablecoin Surpasses $1 Billion Market Capitalization
French bank Societe Generale to launch US dollar-pegged stablecoin on Ethereum and Solana
Noah raises $22 million in seed funding to build its global stablecoin payment network
Stablecoin Market Cap Tops $250B as Issuers Shape Treasury Market
Reports & Project Updates
Decentralizing AI: Towards a More Equitable, Safe, and Transparent Future - Decentralization Research Center
Trillion Dollar Security Project: Security Challenges Overview - Ethereum Foundation
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🪙 Stablecoins
Look, we talk about stablecoins a lot, but you should know that the Circle IPO this week was a big deal (and a big success so far), signaling the growing legitimacy and potential impact of digital assets like stablecoins. (New York Post). If you read this newsletter you're probably open minded enough to not hate all crypto, but for the people in your circle that maybe haven't caught up yet, now is the time to really get them to understand this is a thing that's happening, fast.
📰 Prediction Markets ≠ Journalism
Polymarket’s new partnership with X is a milestone for crypto: real-time betting odds on politics, sports, and more will now show up directly in user feeds, alongside Grok AI and relevant posts (The Defiant). That’s both a huge reach and a major signal that prediction markets are going mainstream. But here’s the thing: while markets are great at assigning probabilities after something is known, they’re not so good at uncovering what’s still hidden. In Monday’s newsletter from The Defiant, founder Cami detailed why prediction markets will not replace news. The TLDR: Corruption, fraud, and abuse of power stories don’t emerge from betting platforms. They come from journalists, doing the slow, unglamorous work of fact-checking, filing FOIAs, cultivating sources, and actual reporting. Prediction markets are powerful, and yes, maybe even part of the future info stack, but they don’t replace media. In fact, they still rely on it.
Plus:
🏛 Stablecoins and the US Treasury Market. (Vanderbilt Law Research Paper)
🌐 Why You Are Thinking About Ethereum All Wrong: Current narratives around Ethereum would suggest the blockchain network is in distress. EY's Paul Brody explains what the critics get wrong. (Decrypt)
🧭 Visa, Chainlink successfully complete CBDC, stablecoin swap between Hong Kong, Australia: Visa pilot demonstrates potential of eliminating intermediaries with blockchain, drastically reducing cross-border transaction times. (CryptoSlate)
💽 Decentralized Data Trusts: A Trust-Minimized and Sustainable Approach to Data Collaboration. (Rocketstar Foundation)
🐣 The first Bitcoin baby: how a fertility doctor encouraged early adoption. (Blockworks)
🪪 How to Enable Age Verification on the Internet Today Using Zero-Knowledge Proofs. (Aztec)
🔈 Podcasts & Other Recordings
Crypto Altruists Podcast - Episode 206 - Helium - Decentralizing Connectivity: Building a Better Internet Through DePIN & Crypto Incentives
Crypto Altruists Podcast - Episode 205 - Web3 Foundation - Governance, Education, and Innovation: Pioneering Decentralized Impact with Polkadot and Kusama
The Giving Block This Week in Crypto Philanthropy - Episode 50 - Season 2 Finale - A look at 2025 so far
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
Participate: All Tech Is Human will be holding its annual Responsible Tech Summit on October 27, 2025. This is a highly-curated gathering for 265 individuals across civil society, government, industry, and academia who are focused on tackling thorny tech & society issues and co-creating a tech future aligned with the public interest. They are currently collecting interest for speakers, attendees, panel ideas, and more.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
Agentic AI: Technical and Policy Considerations is happening June 16. 🆕
The Prezenti showcase (updates from past Celo grantees) is happening June 23. 🆕
IRL
Collaborative Finance Gathering is happening June 16-20 at The Commons Hub in Austria.
SheFi Berlin: Building Beyond the Bubble is happening June 16 in Berlin. 🆕
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.
ETHGlobal Cannes is happening July 4-6 in Cannes, France.
DAO Berkeley 2025 is happening August 3 in Berkeley, California. 🆕
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 June 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
Chorus.Community is a new social app designed for people who operate under surveillance or censorship. Developed on permissionless technologies like Bitcoin and Nostr, Chorus allows users to share updates, send voice notes, organize groups, and raise funds, all without needing an email, phone number, or approval from any central authority.
✨ And One More Thing
All Tech Is Human’s Responsible Tech Summer Reading List.