Over the past decade, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have burst into the mainstream on many levels. Simultaneously, the fields of social entrepreneurship and impact investing have also seen significant growth.
The convergence of these trends is giving rise to a new social impact economy that is set to transform the way we address global challenges.
The Rise of the Social Impact Economy
The social impact economy is real, and its potential is enormous.
But what will power this potential trillion-dollar economy?
The answer lies in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
Currently, only about 0.5 percent of the world’s population uses blockchain technology, compared to over 65 percent who have access to the internet.
This disparity is typical for a disruptive technology in its early stages.
However, history shows that such technologies can experience rapid adoption and mass-scale disruption.
For instance, in December 1995, the internet had only 16 million users (0.4% of the population).
By December 2005, that number had skyrocketed to over one billion users.
If blockchain technology follows a similar trajectory, we could witness a dramatic increase in its adoption over the next decade.
Blockchain in the Developing World
Interestingly, the developing world is ahead of developed nations in implementing blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
Approximately 2 billion working-age adults globally (38%) lack access to formal financial services.
Blockchain technology is providing these populations with a flexible and robust financial system, bypassing traditional banking models altogether.
For more insights into this topic, refer to this comprehensive post from CoinCentral: How Blockchain Can Eradicate Poverty in Third-World Countries.
Blockchain Ventures Leading the Way
Numerous ventures are harnessing blockchain technology to drive social impact and sustainability. Here are some of the pioneering blockchain ventures making a significant difference:
Crypto Climate Accord
Surging demand for cryptocurrencies and accelerating adoption of blockchain-based solutions have highlighted an important issue: the technology’s growing energy consumption and its impact on our climate.
Crypto Climate Accord is working collaboratively with the crypto and blockchain industry to accelerate the development of digital #ProofOfGreen solutions and set a new standard for other industries to follow.
Inspired by the Paris Climate Agreement, the CCA is a private sector-led initiative for the entire crypto community focused on decarbonizing the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in record time.
Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition
Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC) incubates, develops, and implements confederated blockchain products and solutions that can address social and environmental challenges across the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The coalition aims to inspire, federate, and create bridges between NGO’s, and government agencies, foundations, impact investors, philanthropists and technologists.
Everledger
Everledger is a pioneering technology company that leverages blockchain to enhance transparency and traceability across supply chains.
Founded in 2015, Everledger provides a secure and immutable digital ledger that records the provenance and history of valuable assets, such as diamonds, gemstones, and luxury goods.
By offering a digital certification of authenticity, Everledger helps combat fraud and unethical practices, ensuring that consumers and businesses can verify the origins and integrity of their products.
The company’s innovative approach not only protects against counterfeiting but also promotes responsible sourcing and sustainability within various industries.
Regen Network
Regen Network’s infrastructure originates digital carbon assets in the Interchain economy, unlocking web3 regenerative finance. The network creates tools to help reverse climate change with digital carbon and regenerate ecosystems.
Regen Network’s blockchain-based marketplace creates a new contracting platform for farmers to monetize their ecological data while getting rewarded for sustainable practices.
By improving understanding of the state of our land, oceans, and watersheds and enabling rewards for verified positive changes, Regen Network catalyzes the regeneration of our ecosystems.
Brink
Brink exists to strengthen the Bitcoin protocol and network through fundamental research and development, and to support the Bitcoin developer community through funding, education, and mentoring.
Brink supports and mentors new contributors to open source Bitcoin development through its fellowship program and supports the work of established Bitcoin protocol engineers through its grants program.
Founded in 2020 with generous financial support from John Pfeffer and Wences Casares, Brink is 100% funded by donations from individuals and organizations who wish to support the open source Bitcoin network and protocol.
Nano Foundation
The Nano Foundation empowers individuals with the most efficient and accessible digital money possible, connecting them to the global economy in a sustainable way.
To achieve our mission we focus on strengthening, supporting and spreading awareness of the Nano network.
Nano provides open access to anyone in the world wanting to transfer value instantly, without fees and in an eco-friendly way.
Toucan Protocol
The Toucan protocol is a suite of modular tools and products that make it easy for others to integrate climate finance into web3 products.
They are an infrastructure provider built to bring environmental assets on-chain – starting with carbon credits – and making them more easily accessible for markets and builders.
Bridge – Bring your legacy carbon credits on-chain making them composable with almost every DeFi protocol.
Pool – Deposit tokenized carbon offsets into index pools: deeper liquidity, better price discovery, more composability.
Offset – Buy tokenized carbon offsets to make your on- chain activity verifiably planet positive.
Plastic Bank
Using blockchain technology, the Plastic Bank offers a secure and transparent way to monetize ocean-bound plastic with a dual mission of protecting the environment, and banking the unbanked in some of the world’s poorest regions.
The Plastic Bank helps build recycling infrastructure in the world’s poorest countries, such as Haiti, and addresses the inefficiencies of existing informal systems in highly urbanized areas such as Sao Paulo in Brazil or Manila in the Philippines.
Collection centers are built in close consultation with local communities, and are run by local entrepreneurs to ensure that the operations are self-sufficient and sustainable on the long run – people living below the poverty line are offered a stable source of employment, often earning twice their regular income as a result.
Global Income Coin(Glo)
Glo is a nonprofit that thinks and operates like a startup. Glo has raised a $2 million seed donation from a personal donation by Sid Sijbrandij (co-founder and CEO of GitLab Inc.). Their operational costs and employee salaries run on philanthropic donations.
Glo is a US dollar-pegged stablecoin that not only gives back to those in need, but also allows you to put your money where it matters most: directly into the hands of impoverished people around the world.
Simply by owning money in the form of Glo, you generate new money which then goes to people living in extreme poverty.
Sovereign Nature Initiative
The initiative strives to reconfigure the intersection between ecology, economy, and emerging technologies in order to open our minds to radical approaches toward sustainability.
Sovereign Nature is designed to be a platform which enables the development of technologies that allow natural resources to become self-governing and self-sustaining.
They want to open pathways that reconsider and reinvent the intersection between economy, ecology and technology toward a sustainable future.
Veritree
Built using blockchain technology, veritree is the world’s first, fully integrated platform designed to transform the restoration space through technology.
Veritree provides a comprehensive toolkit to restoration partners allowing them to collect and manage ground-level data and deliver it directly to all stakeholders.
Veritree makes it simple to incorporate Nature-Based Solutions into any business model.
Veritree provides the tools and technology to offer access to verified and transparent restoration projects.
On-the-ground data collect, aggregate, and management securely tracks and helps efficiently manage Nature-Based Solutions projects.
Data is stored using blockchain technology and offline encryption making veritree one of the most secure data storage platforms.
Veritree’s system gives partners, their customers, and project funders the transparency needed to have confidence in their impact and, through interactive portals, bring this impact to life.
Cherr.io
Cherr.io harnesses the power of charitable blockchain technology to supplement the ones in need. Cherr.io’s main focus is to bring the product with full support of smart contracts and attract new charity organizations with live campaigns.
Cherr.io is partaking in the future of charity by offering blockchain technology solutions for charitable donations. They aggregate these resources towards the Global Goals in a cohesive and systematic way.
Cherr.io’s goal is to make this technology available to all charitable organizations by creating an universal platform that will improve and expand the existing fundraising processes, increase transparency and reinforce the trust that the people have in charitable organizations.
The Sustainable Bitcoin Standard
The Sustainable Bitcoin Standard aims to create a market mechanism that will propel the Bitcoin network to reach carbon neutrality by 2025, without disrupting the fungibility of bitcoin.
The Sustainable Bitcoin Standard (SBS) is organized as an open global organization, leveraging the blockchain for public participation in governance.
We are designing a multi stakeholder ecosystem composed of miners, institutional asset managers, NGOs, climate scientists, and other stakeholders in the digital asset ecosystem.
BitGive
BitGive is a pioneering nonprofit organization leveraging blockchain technology to revolutionize charitable giving and enhance transparency. Established in 2013, BitGive aims to improve the efficiency and accountability of donations by providing real-time tracking of funds and their impact through its innovative platform, GiveTrack.
By offering a secure and transparent way to follow donations from inception to implementation, BitGive ensures that donors can see the tangible outcomes of their contributions.
The organization partners with a wide range of charitable projects worldwide, making a significant difference in areas such as disaster relief, public health, and environmental conservation.
Through its groundbreaking use of blockchain, BitGive is setting new standards for trust and transparency in the nonprofit sector.
Agriledger
Agriledger is an innovative platform utilizing blockchain technology to enhance the agricultural supply chain by ensuring transparency and fairness.
By providing transparent and immutable records of transactions, Agriledger guarantees that every step from farm to market is accurately documented and easily traceable.
This transparency helps to ensure that farmers receive fair prices for their produce, as it eliminates the discrepancies and manipulations often found in traditional supply chain systems.
Additionally, the immutable nature of blockchain records significantly reduces the risk of fraud, as each transaction is securely logged and cannot be altered.
Interledger Foundation
The Interledger Foundation is a forward-thinking organization dedicated to fostering financial inclusion and interoperability across diverse payment systems.
By developing and promoting the Interledger Protocol (ILP), the foundation aims to create a more inclusive global economy where individuals and businesses can seamlessly transfer value across different ledgers and payment networks.
The foundation supports a range of initiatives that leverage ILP to connect traditional financial institutions with emerging digital economies, thereby reducing barriers to financial access and enabling more efficient, cost-effective transactions.
Through collaboration with stakeholders in the financial technology sector, the Interledger Foundation is at the forefront of creating an interconnected financial ecosystem that empowers individuals and promotes economic growth on a global scale.
