đ Web3 for Climate #17 â what decentralization enables for society
Your 5-minute deep-dive into regenerative web3 startups
Good morning, #ReFi-curious investors!
Starting off, itâs my (Alexâs) pleasure to introduce you to Juan Assad, a new contributor to your news section. He is an Argentinean computer science student researching venture capital and web3 startups.
Now letâs dive into the curated readings. This week, we discuss how decentralization could enable more effective markets over the coming years, as
Local producers become able to compete with big businessâs efficiency
Community coordination (through DAOs) and emerging city/community currencies allow for Jane Jacobsâ unorthodox-economic dreams
Decentralized âcompaniesâ continue to serve their users even after saturating growth
All of these decentralized projects will enable markets that resemble natural (#regenerative) patterns more.
Letâs invest in a flourishing, regenerative future together:
Global Ecosystem News đ
Fundraises
đ Cerulean Ventures launched a fund to invest in web3 companies that are building the âtools necessary to scale climate impact in this decade.â
đ° Gitcoin Grants Round 14 closed with $4.9M of funding for public goods. The communityâs top four funded projects were climate-related.
⥠KYVE Network, an infrastructure approach which enables blockchain startups to store records of climate data, raised $9M at a $100M valuation from investors Cerulean Ventures, Distributed Global, IOSG Ventures, Volt Capital, Solana, Avalanche, and NEAR Protocol.Â
Ecosystem News
đ A Japanese chemicals corporation announced a pilot of SAPâs GreenToken to improve the transparency in its ârecycled plasticâ supply chain.
đThe ReFi DAO is launching an accelerator to help entrepreneurs tackle MRV solutions (measuring, reporting, and verification) for nature-focused credits.Â
đ± Â Earthbanc, a startup leveraging Regen Network to offer carbon credits, signed a partnership with the United Nations to finance âland restoration and carbon removal at scale.â
đ« Two major Brazilian airlines announced that corporates can offset flights by purchasing tokenized carbon offsets from Moss on the Ethereum blockchain.
⥠White Rock Management, a Switzerland-based bitcoin mining company, announced that it is expanding operations to Texas using power from natural gas.
Newly Launched Projects đ
đż Sustainable Impact Token is launching Algaecoin, a token representing shares of algae biomass farms.
đŒ Plastiks.io, a marketplace for NFTs that fund plastic-collection projects, launched after winning the Celo Camp Gold Prize (10,000 cUSD and 2,000 CELO worth ~$11,500 USD).
đ· CuvĂ©e Collective, a wine NFT club, is selling a âutilityâ NFT that grants holders access to experiences in Napa Valley.Â
(Juanâs note: while the news is not climate, the article describes that the NFTâs energy consumption is negligible. By using the Flow blockchain, minting each NFT uses less energy than a Google search.)
đ 1World Fund announced the launch of its âThe1â token, which plants a tree for every token purchase.
(Writerâs note: in particular, this token release looks scam-like. We welcome any responses from their team about the substance of their climate claims â and we will provide you an update if we hear differently.)
Founders, feel free to submit your project here.
Weekend Reading đ
1 - Jane Jacobs â what does a city planner have to do with blockchain?
What does a 1960s urban-planning activist have to do with blockchain? A surprising amount. Especially with #ReFi.Â
In an era of centralized city planning, Jane Jacobs became famous for pointing out its idiocy. She argued that âattempting to create utopiasâ wastes resources and instead creates communities that lack soul. Rather, she felt local, decentralized control improved resource allocation.Â
Trends in web3 startups may enable many of Jacobsâs economic dreams. Improving voting and resource management could allow better-managed local communities, while crypto startups may enable a shift to community and city-scale currencies. This specific article discusses Jane Jacobsâs theory for why ânational currenciesâ reduce economic efficiency.
âOver the last 80 years, the big have been eating the small, but the tide is now turning.âÂ
Economies of scale enabled mass improvements in livelihoods. Big business concentrated capital and talent to far improve the efficiency of food production and manufacturing, and that amazing efficiency enabled our modern-day quality of life.Â
However, centralized efficiency also comes with some trade-offs. Quantity often usurps quality, and local producers struggle to compete. This article beautifully articulates how blockchain-enabled markets could offer small-scale producers a similar efficiency. The piece is a well-written description of the general trend, and the author is currently building a similar startup.
3 - Why Decentralization Matters
Some people believe crypto advocates favor decentralization to reduce government censorship. A16Zâs Chris Dixon argues in this article that decentralization is actually best at improving long-term innovation. Why? At scale, centralized tech giants gradually stop serving customers; they must grow through extraction and stifling zero-sum competition. In contrast, Dixon shows how decentralized platforms more efficiently focus on their stakeholders and allow competition long-term.
A graph Chris Dixon created to show how tech companies move to extraction and competition as they saturate the market.Â
Fun extras
The DeSci Guide: Is Decentralized Science the New Web 3.0 Trend?
If youâre looking to build a startup in ReFi, subscribe to the ReFi Roundup.
If youâd like a regular analysis of on-chain carbon markets, Toucan Protocol runs the amazing deCarbonized newsletter.
In the next edition, we plan to discuss #ReFiâs potential to enable localized currencies. đ© Reply if you have any startup or article suggestions!
With love,
Alex Filotimo and Juan Assad from the Aera Force DAO
Researching web3 venture investments for a flourishing future
P.S. If you want to contribute research into web3-climate investing, feel free to contribute to this open-source insights repository.
This newsletter is for educational purposes only. While we strive for accurate and unbiased information, none of it is verified or intended to help as investment advice.