🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
Real world impact with MCV
gm gm,
This week has been buzzing in the Web3 world. From the premiere of Vitalik: An Ethereum Story in 23 cities simultaneously to our very own Abeera's conversation on the latest Crypto Altruism podcast, to the Fed’s 50 basis point interest rate cut, and more—there’s been a lot going on!
If you haven’t already, we highly recommend catching Vitalik: An Ethereum Story. It offers a unique glimpse into the life of Vitalik, truly humanizing him while delving into the origins of Ethereum. You can watch it online and explore the fascinating short stories of projects like ConstitutionDAO and Gitcoin too. The movie is especially groundbreaking in its decentralized distribution model, and we’re eager to see the reception. (Abeera was lucky enough to see the premier IRL in NYC. Sam has FOMO, but will be minting a ticket).
Don’t miss the latest Crypto Altruism podcast episode, Piloting Change: Exploring Web3 Innovations for Real-World Impact, ft. Mercy Corps Ventures, Empowa, and Atlantis, which highlights two incredible pilots from Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV)’s Crypto for Good Fund. Atlantis DAO focuses on improving clean water access in India, and Empowa is scaling climate-resilient housing in Mozambique. MCV pilots showcase real-world Web3 applications in local contexts, and Drew from Crypto Altruism does an amazing job of bringing these impactful stories to life.
Speaking of podcasts… Season 4 of the ReFi Podcast dropped this week, featuring an incredible interview with Samantha Power of The BioFi Project. Tereza and Maya are phenomenal hosts, and we can’t wait to hear what else they’ve created for this season, which “focuses on The Regeneration Nexus—a theme centered on how we can integrate systems thinking, real-world impact, and emerging technologies to address global challenges like climate change and social inequality.”
A reminder — our DMs are always open. We love to share your news.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📣 Latest News
🔍 TLDR: Tokenized Real World Assets
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
🚀 Opportunities
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And one more thing
📣 Latest News
Circle Expands USDC Stablecoin to Brazil and Mexico via PIX and SPEI
OpenSea, a16z, and Stand With Crypto Launch Creator Legal Defense Fund
Decentralized AI society launched to fight tech giants who 'Own the Regulators'
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
MoneyGram and Stellar join CEX.io for global crypto cash conversions
Louisiana Leads the Way: Bitcoin Now Accepted for Utility Bills
Project Updates
🔍TLDR: Tokenized Real World Assets
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.
Tokenized real-world assets are a way to turn physical things, like real estate, art, or stocks, into digital tokens on a blockchain. This means you can buy, sell, or trade pieces of these assets, just like cryptocurrency.
Here’s how it works: imagine owning a small share of a house or a valuable painting, without needing to buy the whole thing. By using tokens, the value of that asset is split into smaller, more affordable pieces. Each token represents a small part of the real-world item, and you can buy or sell your tokens easily on the blockchain, making investing more accessible to everyone.
The big benefit of tokenization is that it makes it easier for people to invest in assets that were once out of reach and creates more ways for people to trade these assets online quickly and securely. So, instead of needing a huge amount of money to invest in something like property or art, you can just buy tokens representing a fraction of the value.
TLDR: Tokenized real-world assets turn physical items like real estate or art into digital tokens on a blockchain, making it easier for people to buy, sell, or invest in small shares of those assets.
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔎 Exploring the Octant Ecosystem Part 3: Octant Governance: A Guide to Engaging with Intention. (Crypto Altruism)
🌕 Women Rise Heads to the Moon with Monika Ali Khan. (Women Rise)
🚧 Bhutan Has Even More Bitcoin Than El Salvador Thanks to Its Mining Operation. (Decrypt)
🪙 Stablecoin Users in Five Emerging Economies Favor Ethereum: Survey. (Decrypt)
🌱 The Potential Relationship between Biomass, Biorefineries, and Bitcoin. (Sustainability)
🦜 Unlocking Blockchain Solutions to Protect Latin America's Biodiversity. (CARBON Copy)
🏪 Blockchain adoption in Asia Pacific will expand into SMEs. (Cointelegraph)
📜 Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado‘s proposal to include Bitcoin in the country’s national reserves appeals to both Venezuelans and Bitcoin supporters alike. (Cointelegraph)
💨 We need DePIN to get to net-zero emissions. (CoinDesk)
🏭 Moody’s Ratings, one of the “Big 3” credit rating agencies, has published a report labeling blockchain and digital tokens as a potential future of physical infrastructure. (The Defiant)
🔆 Funding What Matters in an Open Source World as shared by Kevin Owocki. (Protocol Labs)
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
ReFi Podcast - Season 4 The Regeneration Nexus - Episode 1 - Bioregional Finance With Samantha Power
Crypto Altruism Podcast - Episode 171 - Piloting Change: Exploring Web3 Innovations for Real-World Impact, ft. Mercy Corps Ventures, Empowa, and Atlantis
Green Pill - Season 6 - Episode 1- Grants As A Service
Upcming spaces to join:
Crypto Altruism - Exploring the Octant Ecosystem + $GLM Giveaway Results!
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
Apply: Vitalia is hiring a Marketing Generalist & Content Producer
Apply: The Giving Block is hiring an Account Manager.
Speak: Funding the Commons Bangkok speaker applications are open.
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
GlobalGlobal Blockchain Business Council’s Blockchain Central at UNGA will have a virtual program for the event on September 23.
Funding the Commons Public Goods Town Hall #4 ft. Gitcoin is happening September 30. 🆕
The Tech We Want Online Summit is happening October 17. 🆕
IRL
Vitalik: An Ethereum Story Watch Party with the Celo Foundation is happening TODAY September 20 in San Francisco. 🆕
Regenerative Network State Social is happening September 21 in Singapore.
The BioFi Revolution is happening September 23 in NYC. 🆕
Global Blockchain Business Council is co-hosting the Sustainability Summit alongside Microsoft and Blockchain x Climate (BxC) as part of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), UN Foundation Global Goals partner and NY Climate Week events on September 24 in NYC.
GBBC's Blockchain Central UNGA 2024 is happening September 24 in NYC.
Launch of The Digitalist Papers: Artificial Intelligence and Democracy in America is happening September 24 in Stanford, CA.
Regens Unite! Ecosystem Building Happy Hour is happening September 25 in NYC. 🆕
NYC Climate Week Mixer and Decompress by Regen Foundation is happening September 26 in NYC. 🆕
ETHMilan is happening September 26-27 in Milan.
Funding the Commons and Earth Commons are hosting a month-long Public Goods x Climate Builder Residency this October in Chiang Mai.
The Global DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) Summit is happening October 1-3 in Cairo, Egypt.
Athena DAO Labs Pop-up is happening October 1-30 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.
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.
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 September 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
The BioFi Project is a collective supporting bioregions to design, build, and implement Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs) that connect financial resources with regenerators.
Regen Data Stream is a feature on the Regen App that allows users to post data in real-time, anchor data to the blockchain, sign data for verification, and create data privacy and permissions.
✨ And one more thing
