In recent years, the world of web3 has erupted into the mainstream and proved to be a lucrative space for daring investors. As more people moved to web3 in search of digital investment opportunities, mainstream media has covered the ups and downs of the web3 ecosystem closely. However, while the hottest financial trends are covered by the media, other exciting and important projects get overlooked and the world changing potential of web3 technology is easily lost. 

Web3 provides a natural intersection between impact investing and blockchain, and provides us with the tooling to more easily align investor incentives with positive contributions to our society. In this article, we’re going to explore 7 web3 projects that are using blockchain, crypto, and NFTs to align long-term impact with short-term financial incentives. Let’s dive in!

Web3 has brought forth a new wave of social impact projects, often taking the shape of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), working to bring about positive change in the world. Perhaps the most well known social impact project in web3, Gitcoin is a software developer platform that disrupts the status quo on how software development problems are normally solved. 

Today, a tremendous amount of value is derived from free, open-source software on the internet. Many developers who work on these software products do so to contribute to the world with no thoughts on financial rewards. They do it for the public good.

Gitcoin was created to help compensate these developers, allowing for more free software to be made available to the public at no cost. The team focuses on funding public goods projects which are designed to benefit the public without necessarily competing with one another. They do this through Gitcoin Grants, which leverages a democratic and mathematically optimal model of funding, also known as Quadratic Funding, to ensure the most impactful projects are funded.  In short, the platform combines open-source software development with a crypto payment system to incentivize the development of more impactful projects that do good in the world. 

As a user, you can explore open grants on the platform and become a contributor to the funding pool, ensuring the projects you value the most get the funding they need. ** **

“The world’s first DAO for coordinating ideas, people, and crypto to solve humanity’s biggest problems”

Next on the list is CitizenDAO, a powerful collective in web3 working to solve the biggest crises humanity faces: Health, Housing, Education, Energy, Finance, Governance. 

No matter what you bring to the table, CitizenDAO enables you to support moonshot projects to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. Are you an entrepreneur? As of this writing, CitizenDAO is accepting pitches for companies tackling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Or perhaps you’re a skilled developer with innovative ideas? Contribute your insights to the Discord community and earn $Citizen tokens. Even if you’re simply looking for great ideas to fund to help make the world a better place, you can get involved in CitizenDAO and fund big ideas in exchange for project tokens. This is impact investing as it was always meant to be, thanks to web3 (excuse the not so accidental rhyme!). ** **

Giveth is a web3 community and platform pioneering their self-titled GIVeconomy. Giveth supports and rewards the funding of public goods projects operating in the Ethereum ecosystem. With an aim to inspire a collective of participants to drive abundance and value creation, Giveth is on a mission to make giving to causes you care about an effortless endeavor. There are more than 1500 projects on the Giveth platform spanning 28 different categories. Categories range from nutrition, clean air, and climate, to housing, technology, and education.  

An example of a great project on Giveth today is “Free The Food”. The funds of this project are used to plant regenerative food systems in Costa Rica and help provide educational content to allow others worldwide to do the same thing. An incredible utilization of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. ** **

Giveth is powered and governed by the people fueling the GIVeconomy. By donating to a project in the Giveth ecosystem, you receive GIV tokens which you can use to contribute to governance proposals. This enables your voice to be heard and you can help direct the future of the giving economy. Stake your GIV tokens or become a liquidity provider to earn rewards. This is an exemplary case of a community leveraging web3 to align short-term financial rewards with long-term positive impact.  

“DeFi for Earth”

The Regen Network is a community of developers building foundational fintech infrastructure for ecological claims and data. Regen Ledger is a Proof of Stake blockchain built using the Cosmos Software Developer Kit with a primary goal of tracking a new class of ecological financial assets. These assets are tied to measurable changes in ecological health. Another way to think about it, the Regen Network is web3’s answer to carbon credits. Climate focused businesses can purchase ecological assets through Regen Network and verify the sustainability credentials of these assets through the Regen Ledger. 

In the presence of sustainability advocates, the mere mention of carbon credits garners immediate skepticism, and this might not be completely unjustified. Traditionally, carbon credits have been “black box” where the actual carbon impact of these credits have not been verified by the buyers. Thanks to the inherent trustlessness of blockchain technology, we can more safely trust in the effectiveness of these ecological assets provided by Regen Network. 

The Regen Network is to climate focused businesses, what Ethereum is to DeFi. The foundational layer. 

The Future is Non-Fungible I covered future use cases of NFTs. Amongst other things, we explored education and marketing as two sectors that can significantly benefit from NFTs. What we didn’t cover, however, was NFTs funding public goods. ** **

Coral Tribe is a community leveraging art and NFTs to drive marine conservation efforts. Through their Crypto Corals NFTs, Coral Tribe Impact Fund is using 50% of all funds generated in primary and secondary sales to restore coral reefs and marine wildlife. As NFTs become more fundamental to our web3 identities, owning a Crypto Coral could have a tremendous reputational impact by showcasing to the community that you are a sustainability advocate and put your money where your mouth is. This might lead to future airdrops and opportunities to get involved with new and exciting sustainability focused projects. But if nothing else, you can sleep soundly knowing you’ve supported our planets marine ecosystem.

Another exciting area for web3 is the world of scientific research and discovery. The decentralized work of scientific research has become known as DeSci. Still in its infancy, DeSci is making waves across web3 with projects in multiple different fields emerging frequently.

One such project is VitaDAO, a decentralized community that’s collectively funding and advancing research in human longevity. The purpose of VitaDAO is to fund early stage research in human longevity with the aim of turning these into innovative BioTech companies. In a sector traditionally dominated by bureaucracy and profit-hungry 3rd parties, VitaDAO is democratizing R&D funding in an attempt to speed up progress in the field of human longevity. To date, VitaDAO has funded $2.5 million in research and built an active community of over 5000 discord members.** **

When COVID-19 brought the world to its knees, companies had to quickly adapt to ensure they could function with a remote workforce. The silver lining of the global pandemic was that businesses around the world realized they could make use of a remote workforce. This opened up a world of opportunity in talent acquisition since it was no longer constrained to the locality of where the company operates. Similarly, as DeSci projects such as VitaDAO tear down the centralized bureaucracy of scientific research and discovery, funding for new projects will become more easily accessible and solutions to scientific problems may emerge much more rapidly.     

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Ukraine realized that they didn’t have a sufficient warchest to combat the superpower army crashing through their eastern border. As the invasion continued, traditional humanitarian organizations lept into action to support the country and its citizens. Equally, governments rallied to discuss support packages for their eastern ally. However, the Ukrainian government was quick to realize that these efforts weren’t going to be swift enough. Days after the invasion, the government announced their crypto wallet addresses to the world, asking for global support to defend their sovereignty. The result? The global crypto community rallied behind Ukraine and donated over $100 million. Thanks to the decentralized infrastructure of web3, there were no middlemen requiring a cut and there were no delays in the funds arriving. Within moments, people's donated funds were readily available for Ukraine to deploy in the defense of their country. 

Imagine what this could do for other humanitarian crises around the world. Traditional humanitarian organizations are notoriously inefficient with donated funds and severely lack transparency of how their funds are used. The efficiency of the crypto economy allows for organizations to be spun up when needed and receive support at a moment's notice while providing total transparency. Although this isn’t a specific project, this shines a light on the utility web3 can provide in making the world a better place. Efficient, transparent, and democratic. 

If you’re interested in exploring more social impact projects in web3, here’s a list of great projects.

Before we get lost in the wondrous impacts that web3 can have on the world, it’s important to view the challenges and downsides too. One of the great selling points for web3 is decentralization of power and a more democratic approach to governing the world. However, just because web3 provides the capability for decentralization, doesn’t mean it will become that. Most projects in web3 are token based economies. Vitalik Buterin has warned of the impact that token “whales” can have on these economies. Web3 systems will become inherently extractive unless ownership is shared and distributed by a majority. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, recently posted a tweet addressed this very issue saying ** **

“You don’t own web3. The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into.”

Ultimately, misguidance and exploitation of the technology are some of the concerns of web3 and reasons why many people don’t believe that it’s the end-all-be-all solution to our social and environmental challenges. If we don’t ensure that social impact projects across the web3 ecosystem are fairly distributed in terms of governance, we may well end up in the same place we are today. 

It’s important that we view both sides of the argument, however, we mustn’t forget to look at the net-positive effects that these technologies have. Web3 enables us to build powerful communities and transact much more efficiently which will be a powerful tool to combat global challenges and build a more sustainable and equitable world for everyone. The fact that these systems are built on a foundation of shared ownership and democracy leads me to believe that Mr Dorsey might be viewing this from an unjustifiably negative perspective. I believe most people want to live in a better and fairer world. Web3 provides us with a more level playing field and I don’t think there are any VCs or crypto whales that will be large enough to change that.

In recent years, the world of web3 has erupted into the mainstream and proved to be a lucrative space for daring investors. As more people moved to web3 in search of digital investment opportunities, mainstream media has covered the ups and downs of the web3 ecosystem closely. However, while the hottest financial trends are covered by the media, other exciting and important projects get overlooked and the world changing potential of web3 technology is easily lost. 

Web3 provides a natural intersection between impact investing and blockchain, and provides us with the tooling to more easily align investor incentives with positive contributions to our society. In this article, we’re going to explore 7 web3 projects that are using blockchain, crypto, and NFTs to align long-term impact with short-term financial incentives. Let’s dive in!

Web3 has brought forth a new wave of social impact projects, often taking the shape of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), working to bring about positive change in the world. Perhaps the most well known social impact project in web3, Gitcoin is a software developer platform that disrupts the status quo on how software development problems are normally solved. 

Today, a tremendous amount of value is derived from free, open-source software on the internet. Many developers who work on these software products do so to contribute to the world with no thoughts on financial rewards. They do it for the public good.

Gitcoin was created to help compensate these developers, allowing for more free software to be made available to the public at no cost. The team focuses on funding public goods projects which are designed to benefit the public without necessarily competing with one another. They do this through Gitcoin Grants, which leverages a democratic and mathematically optimal model of funding, also known as Quadratic Funding, to ensure the most impactful projects are funded.  In short, the platform combines open-source software development with a crypto payment system to incentivize the development of more impactful projects that do good in the world. 

As a user, you can explore open grants on the platform and become a contributor to the funding pool, ensuring the projects you value the most get the funding they need. ** **

“The world’s first DAO for coordinating ideas, people, and crypto to solve humanity’s biggest problems”

Next on the list is CitizenDAO, a powerful collective in web3 working to solve the biggest crises humanity faces: Health, Housing, Education, Energy, Finance, Governance. 

No matter what you bring to the table, CitizenDAO enables you to support moonshot projects to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. Are you an entrepreneur? As of this writing, CitizenDAO is accepting pitches for companies tackling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Or perhaps you’re a skilled developer with innovative ideas? Contribute your insights to the Discord community and earn $Citizen tokens. Even if you’re simply looking for great ideas to fund to help make the world a better place, you can get involved in CitizenDAO and fund big ideas in exchange for project tokens. This is impact investing as it was always meant to be, thanks to web3 (excuse the not so accidental rhyme!). ** **

Giveth is a web3 community and platform pioneering their self-titled GIVeconomy. Giveth supports and rewards the funding of public goods projects operating in the Ethereum ecosystem. With an aim to inspire a collective of participants to drive abundance and value creation, Giveth is on a mission to make giving to causes you care about an effortless endeavor. There are more than 1500 projects on the Giveth platform spanning 28 different categories. Categories range from nutrition, clean air, and climate, to housing, technology, and education.  

An example of a great project on Giveth today is “Free The Food”. The funds of this project are used to plant regenerative food systems in Costa Rica and help provide educational content to allow others worldwide to do the same thing. An incredible utilization of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. ** **

Giveth is powered and governed by the people fueling the GIVeconomy. By donating to a project in the Giveth ecosystem, you receive GIV tokens which you can use to contribute to governance proposals. This enables your voice to be heard and you can help direct the future of the giving economy. Stake your GIV tokens or become a liquidity provider to earn rewards. This is an exemplary case of a community leveraging web3 to align short-term financial rewards with long-term positive impact.  

“DeFi for Earth”

The Regen Network is a community of developers building foundational fintech infrastructure for ecological claims and data. Regen Ledger is a Proof of Stake blockchain built using the Cosmos Software Developer Kit with a primary goal of tracking a new class of ecological financial assets. These assets are tied to measurable changes in ecological health. Another way to think about it, the Regen Network is web3’s answer to carbon credits. Climate focused businesses can purchase ecological assets through Regen Network and verify the sustainability credentials of these assets through the Regen Ledger. 

In the presence of sustainability advocates, the mere mention of carbon credits garners immediate skepticism, and this might not be completely unjustified. Traditionally, carbon credits have been “black box” where the actual carbon impact of these credits have not been verified by the buyers. Thanks to the inherent trustlessness of blockchain technology, we can more safely trust in the effectiveness of these ecological assets provided by Regen Network. 

The Regen Network is to climate focused businesses, what Ethereum is to DeFi. The foundational layer. 

The Future is Non-Fungible I covered future use cases of NFTs. Amongst other things, we explored education and marketing as two sectors that can significantly benefit from NFTs. What we didn’t cover, however, was NFTs funding public goods. ** **

Coral Tribe is a community leveraging art and NFTs to drive marine conservation efforts. Through their Crypto Corals NFTs, Coral Tribe Impact Fund is using 50% of all funds generated in primary and secondary sales to restore coral reefs and marine wildlife. As NFTs become more fundamental to our web3 identities, owning a Crypto Coral could have a tremendous reputational impact by showcasing to the community that you are a sustainability advocate and put your money where your mouth is. This might lead to future airdrops and opportunities to get involved with new and exciting sustainability focused projects. But if nothing else, you can sleep soundly knowing you’ve supported our planets marine ecosystem.

Another exciting area for web3 is the world of scientific research and discovery. The decentralized work of scientific research has become known as DeSci. Still in its infancy, DeSci is making waves across web3 with projects in multiple different fields emerging frequently.

One such project is VitaDAO, a decentralized community that’s collectively funding and advancing research in human longevity. The purpose of VitaDAO is to fund early stage research in human longevity with the aim of turning these into innovative BioTech companies. In a sector traditionally dominated by bureaucracy and profit-hungry 3rd parties, VitaDAO is democratizing R&D funding in an attempt to speed up progress in the field of human longevity. To date, VitaDAO has funded $2.5 million in research and built an active community of over 5000 discord members.** **

When COVID-19 brought the world to its knees, companies had to quickly adapt to ensure they could function with a remote workforce. The silver lining of the global pandemic was that businesses around the world realized they could make use of a remote workforce. This opened up a world of opportunity in talent acquisition since it was no longer constrained to the locality of where the company operates. Similarly, as DeSci projects such as VitaDAO tear down the centralized bureaucracy of scientific research and discovery, funding for new projects will become more easily accessible and solutions to scientific problems may emerge much more rapidly.     

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Ukraine realized that they didn’t have a sufficient warchest to combat the superpower army crashing through their eastern border. As the invasion continued, traditional humanitarian organizations lept into action to support the country and its citizens. Equally, governments rallied to discuss support packages for their eastern ally. However, the Ukrainian government was quick to realize that these efforts weren’t going to be swift enough. Days after the invasion, the government announced their crypto wallet addresses to the world, asking for global support to defend their sovereignty. The result? The global crypto community rallied behind Ukraine and donated over $100 million. Thanks to the decentralized infrastructure of web3, there were no middlemen requiring a cut and there were no delays in the funds arriving. Within moments, people's donated funds were readily available for Ukraine to deploy in the defense of their country. 

Imagine what this could do for other humanitarian crises around the world. Traditional humanitarian organizations are notoriously inefficient with donated funds and severely lack transparency of how their funds are used. The efficiency of the crypto economy allows for organizations to be spun up when needed and receive support at a moment's notice while providing total transparency. Although this isn’t a specific project, this shines a light on the utility web3 can provide in making the world a better place. Efficient, transparent, and democratic. 

If you’re interested in exploring more social impact projects in web3, here’s a list of great projects.

Before we get lost in the wondrous impacts that web3 can have on the world, it’s important to view the challenges and downsides too. One of the great selling points for web3 is decentralization of power and a more democratic approach to governing the world. However, just because web3 provides the capability for decentralization, doesn’t mean it will become that. Most projects in web3 are token based economies. Vitalik Buterin has warned of the impact that token “whales” can have on these economies. Web3 systems will become inherently extractive unless ownership is shared and distributed by a majority. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, recently posted a tweet addressed this very issue saying ** **

“You don’t own web3. The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into.”

Ultimately, misguidance and exploitation of the technology are some of the concerns of web3 and reasons why many people don’t believe that it’s the end-all-be-all solution to our social and environmental challenges. If we don’t ensure that social impact projects across the web3 ecosystem are fairly distributed in terms of governance, we may well end up in the same place we are today. 

It’s important that we view both sides of the argument, however, we mustn’t forget to look at the net-positive effects that these technologies have. Web3 enables us to build powerful communities and transact much more efficiently which will be a powerful tool to combat global challenges and build a more sustainable and equitable world for everyone. The fact that these systems are built on a foundation of shared ownership and democracy leads me to believe that Mr Dorsey might be viewing this from an unjustifiably negative perspective. I believe most people want to live in a better and fairer world. Web3 provides us with a more level playing field and I don’t think there are any VCs or crypto whales that will be large enough to change that.