Community is at the very heart of the crypto movement.
Strong communities have quickly built up around the most successful cryptocurrencies, blockchains and products, with passionate followers extolling their virtues.
This has generally been an organic process, motivated by the excitement many feel towards these projects. The resulting communities can be credited, at least in part, with driving growth as they spread the word.
The challenge for all of us now is to expand these communities beyond the traditional borders of blockchain enthusiasts and early adopters, and into the real world.
Those of us who have been involved with this technology for several years already understand the transformative impact it can have on people’s lives.
But as a community, we have not always done the best job of communicating this far and wide.
To do so, we need to focus more on real-world use cases which can have a positive impact on every day interactions.
Starting local
To continue blockchain’s growth as a truly global revolution, it is time to consider how we can better put to use the technology within local communities.
One simple, real-world use case involves our Easy5050 product.
Easy5050 is a modern, blockchain-based take on the classic 50/50 draw, which has been a staple of community fundraising for decades.
The concept is simple. Participants purchase a ticket for a draw, with half the money going into a prize pool for the eventual winner, and the other half going towards the fundraising effort.
These draws are often used to raise money for local sports clubs, but are often riddled with inefficiencies.
Draws are not certifiably fair; tickets can get lost; purchasing can only be done in person; there is no convenient channel through which to broadcast the result and distribute the winnings.
But with Easy5050, this all changes.
The platform enables participants to purchase and track the draw instantly. They cannot lose their ticket because it is immutably stored upon the platform. And best of all, they know that the draw is 100 percent provably fair.
This is achieved via a blockchain-based platform which takes much of the heavy lifting out of running a 50/50 draw. Processes are automated, payments are seamless and results are tracked in a completely fair manner.
It is finally bringing the 50/50 draw into the modern age, and we see a huge opportunity to scale fundraising efforts through it for small and medium-sized sports clubs which have been built around strong communities.
Community building
Of course, hosting a 50/50 draw on the blockchain is really just the start of what is possible with this technology.
We want to leverage the power of blockchain to build stronger communities and with the stronger sports clubs.
These clubs face a range of challenges in the modern age, and they aren’t all related to money.
With increased competition from other forms of entertainment and an increasingly globalized sporting economy which channels a vast share of total revenues to a small elite, getting people involved and passionate about local sports has never been tougher.
Embracing blockchain technology is one area local sports clubs can modernize and engage a younger demographic.
At their core, blockchains facilitate trust, and this is absolutely critical when it comes to community building.
This in turn encourages wider participation. A blockchain-based platform, for instance, can allow for a greater degree of automation over something as simple as tracking and distributing the results of a sports league to all members and interested onlookers.
With the results being totally immutable and verifiable on the blockchain, sports clubs can encourage greater buy-in to the entire process.
Fundraising for the future
Which brings us back to Easy5050, and the way the product can change the way communities interact with their local sports clubs.
As we recently discussed, this technology is having an impact on a range of fundraising sectors, with nonprofits and charities already benefiting.
The crypto community loves to talk about the road to mass adoption, but the simple reality is that this will not happen until we create products that focus on solving real-world problems, not only abstractly discussing the benefits of blockchain.
Ultimately, any platform which can encourage greater engagement and more participation by creating a simple user journey that empowers ordinary people will help us on this journey.
And that is the thinking with Easy5050, a product we believe can transform fundraising for local sports teams, build stronger communities, and secure a brighter future for all involved.
