We’re launching a new deep dive episode with the founder of Democracy Earth, Santi Siri! Santi comes from Argentina and began building Democracy Earth in a YC cohort. This project continues to evolve, and at the time of the podcast he had just launched an experiment in Universal Basic Income called Proof of Humanity. If you’d like to take a first step into the crypto ecosystem, this would be a very interesting experiment and community to participate in (and you get streamed money for doing so!).
The Square 1 podcast focuses on gathering information from inspired humans and technologists building valuable products and systems. Blockchain technology attracts optimistic thinkers to come together and invent digital-native economics that have never before been possible. While you get a view of those building with best intentions through our conversations, there are also many who use cryptocurrency in ways that do not resonate with anything of great value.
For instance, this past week there was a wild hype cycle in Dogecoin, and other related meme-y dog coins. Doge and Shib Coins show the way Memes can influence people, culture, and capital. While these examples do not come from a place of malice, their rise in popularity and market cap does not reflect the value created within the cryptocurrency space at large. Vitalik clearly agrees with this, as he liquidated the value given to him in Shib to support a variety of charities around the world. Meme coins serve a purpose, but they are not providing fundamental value to the world in the way many of the most dedicated builders hope for.
Square 1 bought our first NFT! We participated in an auction to support the essay written by Sari Azout and Jad Esber, both of whom are techno-humanists building ideas and products to serve a more collaborative and healthy digital future. If you are unfamiliar with their work, please take a moment to read the essay. This was a great experiment to participate in, and a very worthy cause to support with the grant we received from the Bloom token network.
As always, reach out if you have any questions or feedback!
Sincerely,
JD
Duncan
