The rise of social impact DAOs [46]
A look at how DAOs can change the world
Good afternoon, friends!
Normally we shy away from political topics in this newsletter but given recent news and its impact on the nation and members of the crypto community we’re not taking this sitting down.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that ends the constitutional protections for abortion in the country.
In the wake of this ruling, ChoiceDAO emerged to focus efforts on reproductive access, especially within underserved communities.
The DAO is still in its formative stages and it has only just chosen its core team. Currently, the membership is seeking people for numerous roles and has a Discord where people can collaborate.
Once the DAO is fully launched, the intention is to begin by raising $1 million in 26 days in reference to the 26 states where abortion already has or will become illegal due to laws already set in motion by the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations such as ChoiceDAO are taking Web3 technology and using it in a way that they can achieve social impact. The promise of blockchain tech and Web3 is that it can be viewed by outside parties and see what’s happening through analysis of the actions of the collaborators’ tokens, and ChoiceDAO wants to use this in regard to donations.
If you’re looking to help out with an emerging social impact need in the wake of the SCOTUS decision and have skills regarding Web3, legal, technology, activism efforts, or anything that could fit in there is a signup form available via ChoiceDAO’s Twitter and on the organization’s Discord. Soon it will be accepting donations as well.
Another example of a social impact DAO is FreeRossDAO, an organization that works to help free Ross Ulbricht from prison and advance prison reform. Ross was convicted and imprisoned for developing the Silk Road, a dark web marketplace built on top of Tor that used cryptocurrency.
FreeRossDAO uses its treasury to support efforts in prison reform as well as buys artwork that Ross produces in order to build his legal fund. FreeRossDAO itself is governed by owners of $FREE, a token that represents the fractional ownership of Ross’s artistic works.
Recently, FreeRossDAO went to NFT NYC in order to advocate for prison reform and advertise its most recent NFT mintpass which involves stills from an animation drawn by Ross. Advocating for prison reform is a slow process, it takes lobbying efforts and turning hearts and minds — at NFT NYC, FreeRossDAO gave people a small taste of the experience of being in prison through a glimpse of Ross’s cell in virtual reality.
The Genesis Mintpass NFT consists of “Grow in the Dark,” a 1/1 black and white stills from an animation Ross drew in prison, launched on the Ethereum blockchain. It also comes with a number of other goodies for a price of 0.3 Ether.
These are only two examples of how DAOs can use the collective efforts of blockchain tech and decentralized governance to bring about social good but there are more use cases emerging every day.
As usual, keep reading for the news below and the long-form reporting is in the paid section of the newsletter. Also: well wishes to our friends who went to NFT NYC to check out the galleries, speakers, and other fun but came back with COVID — sorry about that — we know that it put things a little off-kilter last week. Feel better!
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Blockchain Bulletin
eBay gets into the NFT market with KnownOrigin acquisition. Online auction house eBay is getting further into NFTs with the acquisition of the KnownOrigin NFT marketplace, reported The Verge.
OpenSea migrates to the Seaport protocol to reduce NFT transaction fees. OpenSea is looking to save users transaction fees on NFTs by migrating to the Seaport protocol, which will reduce fees by 35% or more, reported CoinTelegraph.
Blankos Block Party has aspirations to bring NFTs to the Epic Games Store. Blockchain-based action-shooter platforming game Blankos Block Party is coming to the Epic Games Store in a partnership, bringing its NFTs to the platform according to an announcement at NYC NFT, reported Decrypt.
Immutable announces $500M fund focused on Web3 games and NFT projects. Immutable is joining with multiple VC funds to accelerate the adoption of its Layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution for Web3 games and NFT projects by doling out IMX and cash to startups, reported CoinDesk.
Web3 analytics platform Nansen announces crypto community messaging app. Seeking to dethrone Discord, the crypto analytics platform Nansen is launching a messaging app that makes crypto holdings transparent to users to help reduce scams and increase transparency, reported Decrypt.
Blockchain Behind the Scenes
Shopify adds NFT-gated options for online merchants. Ecommerce platform Shopify added options for merchants to NFT-gate merchandise, which permits them to allow users who hold NFTs to access discounts, exclusive unlocks or other experiences.
Three Arrows Capital on the rocks after lenders liquidate the VC fund for $400M. New reports about Three Arrows Capital show that its co-founders have been seeking ways to save the company after lenders have sought to recoup losses after taking it for $400M, reports say, after a week of insolvency rumors swirled.
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