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Using Blockchain for the Greater Good
There is a natural intersection between impact investing and blockchain. Investors, executives, and developers are all known for visionary goals that may result in profit and social benefit. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is one of them. There are a few dApps that actively support cryptocurrency donations to charity, such as Step Finance, the Solana ecosystem's front page dashboard with special features for donating cryptocurrency to NGOs and charities around the world. Even the early success of earn-play Metaverse app Axie Infinity illustrates how the new GameFi economy in emerging markets is giving people new and better ways to generate income—often better than anything they can get locally. Traditional jobs are much higher.
But there are also a range of crypto and blockchain projects created specifically to make a positive social impact.
Hara
This is a blockchain-based food and agricultural data trading platform. Their goal is to use the blockchain to make things that are not noticed visible, and to accelerate agricultural development for Indonesian farmers and become more fair. Hara got data that is often hard to come by, such as farmers, land and weather data for different provinces in Indonesia. This data facilitates data-driven decision-making by organizations across industries. The project has successfully helped some financial institutions digitize loan management and payment processes. Furthermore, Hara's data has been used in market research reports to provide reliable information on Rice Production in Indonesia.
The project helps create jobs in rural areas by rewarding field agents responsible for collecting data and connecting farmers with e=Ethereum-based projects. The company also operates Project Pertahara, a national women's empowerment movement that provides cultivation training and assistance to increase women's role in Indonesian agriculture.
Celo
Celo is a Layer 1 protocol with a mission to create financial prosperity for everyone through a range of social impact payment solutions with a mobile-first approach. The protocol aims to address two fundamental barriers to using cryptocurrencies as a form of payment: ease of use and volatility in purchasing power.
Celo Wallet overcomes these barriers by linking wallet addresses to mobile phone numbers, making crypto transactions as easy as sending a text message. Second, the app provides access to a range of stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar, euro and Brazilian real to address the volatility surrounding crypto payments. Financial inclusion is at the heart of Celo, allowing anyone, anywhere to easily transact across countries, devices and carriers.
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unconditional basic income
The idea of an unconditional basic income is decades old and predates blockchain technology. It was even tested in the US in the 70s and in Finland a few years ago with positive results. But it failed to generate the political will to expand the program further. But the concept has found new life under the aegis of several blockchain projects, including ImpactMarket, a decentralized poverty alleviation protocol that runs on the Celo network, and most recently, WorldCoin.
ImpactMarket organizations provide the ability to create communities, set parameters for unconditional basic income, and add beneficiaries who can then receive basic income from the community. By leveraging Celo's fully transparent blockchain technology, impactMarket can efficiently and quickly track donor deposits and transfer funds directly from the protocol to recipients. The platform accepts contributions in CELO token, BTC, ETH and Celo USD stablecoin.
WorldCoin aims to put cryptocurrency in control of everyone around the world. After proving that they are indeed A) human and B) a unique new user, anyone gets a portion of the tokens for free. To achieve this without violating people's privacy, WorldCoin developed Orb, according to the company. It sounds sinister, and it looks like it. But what the Orb does is capture an image of a person's eye and convert it into a short digital code that can be checked to see if the person is registered. If not, they will receive Worldcoin shares for free. Raw images do not need to be stored or uploaded. Contrary to many of the centralized services we use today, it requires no other personal information. Through modern cryptography, this digital code is also not connected to the user's wallet or transactions, further protecting user privacy.
Bounties Network
Bounties Network empowers humans to inspire and self-organize, from freelancing to grassroots social action. It made headlines in 2019 when it helped clean up the shoreline of Manila Bay Beach, a beach notoriously buried by plastic and other debris that washed ashore. Brooklyn-based Bounties Network collected 3 tons of trash from Manila Bay in two days through a pilot project that pays a small group of people, mostly fishermen, in cryptocurrency for every piece of trash they bring in.
It marks the first interaction with cryptocurrencies for most Filipino fishermen, who often do not have access to bank accounts. The project illustrates how blockchain-based projects can create a digital economy that rewards certain behaviors, even if the target audience is located in an unbanked region. Bounties Network has formed a partnership with local digital payment provider Coins.ph to allow participants to easily exchange cryptocurrencies for fiat currency.
Other companies have undertaken similar projects, such as Plastic Bank, which partnered with IBM to establish a scheme in southern Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. It establishes a permanent collection point where Plastic Bank rewards people with digital payments when they exchange plastic and recyclable materials.
About AAX Academy
About AAX Academy
AAX serves trading users, innovators, NFT artists, high-net-worth investors and users without bank accounts around the world. With the mission of realizing the practical application of digital assets, AAX is committed to making stable currency benefit everyone.
AAX Academy is a user education channel created by AAX, which aims to help more users learn novice tutorials and understand the basics of blockchain.
AAX serves trading users, innovators, NFT artists, high-net-worth investors and users without bank accounts around the world. With the mission of realizing the practical application of digital assets, AAX is committed to making stable currency benefit everyone.
