🌍 Web3 for Climate #18
Your 5-minute deep-dive into regenerative web3 startups
Gooood morning, climate & #ReFi-curious investors,
You can find our global news, some exciting fundraises, and your curated articles today. The readings cover:
🧑🔬 what is emerging in “decentralized science.”
❓Jack Dorsey’s announcement of his “web5” platform
⚙️An important new crypto feature (“soulbound” tokens)
Did you enjoy our last edition’s focus on decentralization? Are there specific topics you want to learn about? Do you have any other feedback?
We love to hear from you. Hit reply 📩
Let’s dive in.
Global Ecosystem News 🌊
Fundraises
💰 FlexiDAO, a startup facilitating electricity and carbon tracking with blockchain, raised a $6.5 million round backed by Google and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.
⚡ Topl, a blockchain platform allowing businesses to build sustainable supply-chain applications, raised a $15M Series A round led by Mercury and Cryptology Asset Group.
💝 Change, a blockchain donations platform, raised $5M in seed funding led by Freestyle Ventures and NEA.
🎨 Realm.art, an open-source project to create personalized metaverses, raised $10M to develop a play2own sustainable metaverse.
Ecosystem News
📈 Filecoin Green, an initiative to decarbonize the Filecoin Network, announced their renewable energy partnership with DCENT to enable reporting of clean energy consumption of DCENT’s hardware.
🌐 Filecoin, a decentralized data management protocol, partnered with Holon, an investor in data storage, to publish a web3 ESG report for their industry.
🚀 Prime DAO hosted a two-week event where open-source contributors rated ReFi carbon projects on their traction, team, and impact. 🏆 The Regen Network took the first spot with a rating of 97%.
(Writer’s note: the drop-off in quality for other projects shows how much carbon credits need to improve in quality before selling as ‘offsets.’)
🎮 Playmint, an on-chain game development studio, partnered with Klima DAO, an algorithmic carbon-backed cryptocurrency, to make their most recent game carbon neutral.
Newly Launched Projects 🚀
🔋 Shell’s VP of Digital Innovation announced that Shell built a blockchain tool to create energy certificates at the energy generation source to improve the electricity market’s transparency.
💸 Socialstack, a Web3 platform focused on building impact-driven communities, announced a $350,000 grant fund to encourage the launch of environmental tokens.
Founders, feel free to submit your project here.
Weekend Reading 📚
1 - The DeSci Guide: Is Decentralized Science the New Web 3.0 Trend?
Want to learn how crypto may influence science? Dive into this article for an overview of the emerging startups, science sub-industry DAOs, new models for sharing IP, and general trends in the space. Alternatively, Aera Force is creating this open-sourced sector dive for investors. And, if you prefer visual learning, this Youtube presentation is solid.
“Web5” - what is Block’s new venture?
Jack Dorsey, the ex-CEO of Twitter and Square, announced he plans to launch his “most important contribution to the internet.” Web3 promises an internet where consumers control their data — improving privacy and allowing users to own digital objects. Dorsey believes he can offer those features without web3. Instead, he is building a “decentralized internet” that provides users a mix of the internet’s ease of use and ownership of their data (using only Bitcoin).
The article above comically describes the project’s press release. However, here is a more technical description if you’re interested.
What “Soulbound” tokens may unlock for crypto
Crypto-curious investors — this article is not climate-related but usefully describes a new research area in crypto (“soulbound” tokens). Simply, a soulbound token is an NFT that a person cannot transfer to someone else. Non-transferrable tokens allow online resumes, improve voting in communities/DAOs, and unlock products like uncollateralized lending.
Reading about this basic feature reminds me that crypto infrastructure is so early (a16z claims it’s akin to the 1995 internet). Infrastructure like this enables the long-term potential of crypto. The Aera Force team is excited to watch as soulbound tokens start to underpin future waves of regenerative startups.
Web3 founders — you may enjoy the full whitepaper (Decentralized Society: Finding Web3’s Soul) from Glen Weyl, Vitalik Buterin, and Puja Ohlhaver. It’s long but outlines the technical challenges and opportunities.
Fun extras
What is underpinning today’s wave in regenerative startups? (Aera Force DAO’s research page on past failures)
If you’re looking to build a startup in ReFi, the ReFi Roundup supports our industry’s founders.
If you’d like a regular analysis of on-chain carbon markets, Toucan Protocol runs the excellent deCarbonized newsletter.
With love,
Alex and Juan 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 contact us or 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.