Gm to the Boys Club S1 Grantees!
A Boys Club DAO Initiative (V1)
Today, we are thrilled to announce the first Season of Grants awarded by the Boys Club Grants Program.
- Author: Parker Jay-Pachirat (DAO-Ops Guild Lead, Treasury Committee)
- Editor(s): Taylor Dunstan (Grants Program Manager, Treasury Committee)
- Grants Program Manager: Taylor Dunstan
In September, we announced the launch of our first-ever grants program: A new initiative enabling Boys Club community members to actualize our mission in the wild.
We believe that by providing resources to BC members with good ideas — and by amplifying their talent, passion, and intrinsic motivation — we can create more value for the ecosystem as a whole.
The Grants Program (GP) aims to achieve deep and strategic impact using a portion of the finances in our DAO Treasury. This first Season of grants totals ~$1.5K, awarded across one (1) grant, made in three installments across a six-month duration (S1).
You can read more on the fine print of our Grants Program here.
Today, we’re thrilled to announce our S1 Grantee winner: The Law Layer.
The Law Layer is one of the first media brands sitting at the nexus of crypto law & policy, providing bite-size legal stories in non-legalese.
Check out their first piece, “Peeling Back the Law Layer: The Crypto Legal Landscape in 2023”, here.
The Law Layer is creating the go-to legal content and briefing for every thought leader & CEO in the space. You could think of it as a crossover between ‘Not Boring’ and ‘The Politico’, covering all your crypto law and policy needs in one place.
Reshini & Inesha see The Law Layer as the actionable policy & law email that every crypto GC and CEO reads every week — it’s short, educational, insightful, and useful. The Law Layer will explain, for instance, what the DCCPA should mean for your risk calculus, or what you should be gleaning from the Ooki DAO CFTC complaint if you’re a DAO.
What’s the project?
The Law Layer is a crypto law & policy newsletter creating the go-to legal rundown for crypto lawyers, crypto experts, and crypto newbies alike. With a background in law and consulting, Inesha and Reshini couldn’t be better equipped to tackle the gap they see in the market: building brand-driven D2C-style content that sits specifically at the intersection of law, policy, and crypto.
Who’s building it?
Co-Founders (and sisters): Inesha & Reshini
Inesha is a lawyer and recent Stanford Law grad. She currently works in the space as a legal consultant for the crypto-native gaming company Chromaway AB. Inesha also does legal work with Valora, a DeFi wallet startup.
Reshini is a management consultant at BCG. Prior to joining BCG, Reshini worked at the US Treasury Department for a year (gasp)! She’s also an avid crypto law & policy tweeter.
Why this? What’s the inspiration & vision behind the project?
Reshini & Inesha are both extremely passionate about crypto law and policy and — given their backgrounds — want to help educate people on the crucial issues Web3 faces. (Is the U.S. really trying to ban DeFi? How will the MICA stablecoin cap work in practice?) Realizing that not everyone has the time or energy to do intensive research, Reshini & Inesha are taking a new approach. The Law Layer will use storytelling to deliver actionable and insightful takeaways, conveyed in a unique and refreshing way.
As two WOC, Inesha and Reshini also believe their unique backgrounds can help carve space for new types of representation in the space, especially within their niche of crypto law x policy. Long-term, they see their content and thought leadership as something that could inspire others to get involved, especially those coming from marginalized backgrounds, who may be more hesitant to break into the industry. Inesha and Reshini are also hopeful that by creating a dedicated, intersectional place for all things legal x crypto, they’ll have the opportunity to contribute in creating an environment that encourages more women to get involved in the sector long-term.
“We are strong believers that web3 is the next iteration of the internet — and it will permeate through all functions of our society, from social media to art to finances and far beyond. To do so in the most informed and conscientious way, we need women of color (and all other minorities) represented at the table building the laws and regulations to underpin web3. This is largely what inspired this project — we are WOC ourselves, who have the background in law and policy to understand web3 from a unique perspective, and we want to bring along more WOC for the ride. We don’t want to just contribute to the conversation; we want to have more WOC driving it.” — Reshini & Inisha
Why is this a good fit for the BC Grants Program?
In the words of Reshini & Inesha: “Understanding the law and policy of this space will be prerequisite to power and access in this space — this we believe and know from other generations of the internet. We want to create this content & home for understanding crypto law and policy for the women, the non-binary, the nerds — and the lawmakers, policy staffers, and judges + justices trying to navigate this world. Increased information creates upside for everyone, because everyone can then play from the same playbook. Making sure different voices (like two WOCs like us) have a share in this conversation fundamentally changes this conversation — as one not applying to or thought of only from the perspective of traditional bearers of power, but two new entrants who want to see a fairer, more decentralized, and equal internet.”
What’re the next steps on your roadmap? How do you plan to use the grant?
Reshini & Inesha will be producing content on a weekly/bi-weekly basis, starting with their newsletter here. For more content, you can check out their Twitter here.
In the upcoming weeks, Reshini and Inesha plan to cover the legal relevance to crypto of securities vs. commodities, NFTs, stablecoins, DAOs, DeFi & more. They plan to use the grant primarily for media production and expansion, as well as for the creation of educational content and community events down the line.
Closing notes:
- Over the past several months, we reviewed over 34 grant applications. We were blown away by the level of thoughtfulness, time, and attention each applicant put into their application, and appreciate all the innovative and exciting ideas you shared with us. For those who applied but were ultimately not awarded, we’ve shared your project(s) and application(s) with the Guild Leaders in our DAO. They’ll reach out if they think there could be a good fit to onboard and develop your project within their working guild.
- S1 of The Boys Club Grant Program will run for six months, starting today (Jan 2023) through June 2023. After the conclusion of S1 in June, we will open applications again in preparation for S2.
- This is a pathfinder round that will be re-evaluated quarterly to help us shape future grant rounds. We’re starting small, with the potential to grow this into a significant initiative (with more significant grant sums) over time. As we progress, we’d love to hear any ideas and feedback you may have.
XOXO,
— Boys Club
