Written by Raj A. Kapoor on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)
Today, blockchain is that “red string”
I often speak about the ancient tale of the “red string”. To refresh your memory, let me tell you once again.. According to an ancient East Asian legend, an invisible red string of fate binds us to people we are destined to meet. It says that fate connects us to people around the world we wouldn’t’t otherwise meet. Today, blockchain is that “red string” – a virtual thread, removing anonymity throughout the global supply chain and connecting us all. This inspiring technology can root out corruption and empower more people to participate in an ethics economy.
And what’s more the string is working its way every day of our lives as our lives intertwine technology, in this case blockchain, in our daily lives, gravitating us towards not just trust and efficiencies, but also meaningful social impact.
Blockchain has been heralded by thought leaders of Silicon Valley and PhD mathematicians alike as the greatest confluence of technology since the invention of the internet itself. It allows a multitude of applications, such as peer-to-peer “smart contracts”, the creation of digital assets and data collection. It may also be the missing piece of the puzzle for the “Internet of Things” (IOT).
Let me share how blockchain is unleashing social impact by highlighting some critical use case.
A great initiative is the Meta Bank Defi. They are developing a mixed reality metaverse business district by combining Virtual reality with the decentralization of blockchain technology to provide users with means to monetize their online experiences. They empower all, no matter race, sex, wealth, political views, and religion. Creating a district where individuals can earn, learn, teach, live, buy, sell, educate, play and have the opportunity to build generational wealth. They are creating a platform where individuals can donate time and teach someone a skillset and earn rewards. Metabank Defi is going to impact all by providing opportunities to educate or teach skillsets so individuals can earn in a digital world, to break the cycle of poverty. They have also developed a digital identity in developing countries.
Another innovative use of the technology shines bright with “Digital Arts for Social Impact” (DASI). Many poor families rely heavily on begging to feed their families. It is extremely uncertain and demeaning for a person to live hand-to-mouth on a day- to-day basis. The goal of the DASI initiative is to show them that there’s an alternative. One that will allow them to learn and develop in a way that will enable them to support themselves and their children into the future. The initiative is an innovative collection of NFTs minted on the blockchain collaborating with artists around the world. Proceeds of the sale of these NFT’s go towards the future education of these underprivileged children and improve the living conditions of kids in the rural communities around the world. The mission started in Cambodia is now moving rapidly to India, Thailand, Brazil, Nigeria, and several countries.
A program close to my heart is the SEA project. I do not know if most are aware that we have ONLY 10 years to save our oceans as they get impacted by pollution, warming, overfishing and habitat destruction. Like the oceans, virtually every natural ecosystem on earth is an equally urgent state of crisis. There is still time to save our planet and the time is NOW! To mitigate this impending concern, a climate impact project – SEA – is revolutionising the way data will be collected to monitor environmental variables and stored on the blockchain. The data fragmentation of today does not allow for accuracy of prediction and has resulted in the deterioration of proper modelling for predicting accurate environmental models. SEA is setting up a global network of millions of sensors, monitoring and measuring our environment, and building an open, immutable data resource on the blockchain
The Afoma Project is another project connecting the artisan community globally by leveraging blockchain. The project serves as a driver behind creating a decentralized ecosystem that offers incentives, a crypto wallet, a marketplace, NFTs, and a humanitarian coalition. It leverages a utility token designed and built to drive social impact through an ecosystem that promotes marginalized artists and artisans across the globe and enable artists and artisans to scale beyond their local economy for developing regions such as Africa, India, Bangladesh and more through a social impact ecosystem that includes the world’s first blockchain integrated multi-vendor artisanal marketplace, NFT factory and Metaverse. In addition, contributing towards the sustainable development goals that includes poverty alleviation for people and communities we are engaged with.
There are so many more. But the bottom line ….technologies like blockchain are opening a world of opportunity for positive social impact. We are inspired every day by our collaborations with enterprises, governments and NGOs that make this a more inclusive, fair, and a sustainable world. Because when the world is a stakeholder, how you grow matters.
Metabank Defi: https://metabankdefi.com/
DASI: https://dasiglobal.com/
SEA: https://sea.earth/
Afoma : https://www.afoma.io/