Top 5 crypto initiatives making the world a better place
Cryptocurrency is not just about trading. As the industry continues to boom, more and more practical applications are increasingly being developed. This includes a wide range of initiatives which benefit the greater good. Our own CLN community, whose aim is to make more equitable local financial ecosystems a reality, is a great example.
Meanwhile, plenty of initiatives now exist which utilize cryptocurrency in order to reduce poverty, help the environment and more. This is not an exhaustive list, but here is a selection of the top 5 crypto initiatives, which are helping to make the world a better place:
City of Berkeley using crypto to fund social housing
This is an ICO with a difference. Rather than an “Initial Coin Offering,” this is an “Initial Community Offering” in which the Californian city of Berkeley hopes to raise funds in order to provide affordable housing. There are currently at least 1,000 homeless people in Berkeley and the forward-thinking city council hopes that selling “crypto enabled microbonds” can help provide a new and innovative answer to the problem.
Cryptocurrency for Syrian refugees
For the millions who have fled Syria’s brutal civil war, accessing currency in order to perform ordinary transactions is problematic. Typically, they no longer have access to bank accounts and the everyday structures that existed back home. So, the United Nations’ World Food Program has given cryptocurrency-based vouchers to around 10,000 refugees in Jordan, which can be redeemed for products at local vendors.
Boosting higher education in Brazil
This one was a little bit ahead of its time and was never actually implemented, but the Brazilian government was close to adopting it all the way back in 2003. The idea was to issue educational vouchers in the form of the complementary Saber currency, to children as young as 7 years old, in return for participating in an educational mentoring scheme. Additional Sabers could be accumulated over the years and redeemed aged 17, in return for paying university fees.
UNICEF’s “Hope Page”
Earlier this year, UNICEF Australia launched the “Hope Page.” The idea is a simple one — Visit the page and agree to allow your computer’s processing power to help mine cryptocurrency. All cryptocurrency created by this effort is to be used to support UNICEF’s work helping Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In essence, the public is being given the chance to mine cryptocurrency for people who desperately need it, not profit.
Carbon credits saving the environment
Believe it or not, it is now possible to measure the carbon value of everyday products. Thanks to a blockchain-based system developed by a Swiss non-profit, consumers are able to purchase ‘climate-positive’ products, which can earn carbon credit. This methodology, which can track emissions and reward those choosing to limit them, has attracted the attention of the World Economic Forum.
