Trailblazers of Octant Episode 1 - Building a Sustainable Web3 Public Goods Funding Ecosystem with Octant
How is Octant revolutionizing Web3 public goods funding through decentralization, community governance, and innovative funding mechanisms? 🤔
For today’s episode, we’re excited to kick off a brand-new mini-series called Trailblazers of Octant, where we focus on the exciting, and rapidly growing public goods funding movement around the Octant Ecosystem. This is part of our broader series – Exploring the Octant Ecosystem – which was generously supported by the Octant team, through their Community Development Fund. It started with a three part article series exploring the different facets of Octant, and building off that, in each episode of this series, we’ll highlight a different project creating impact in the Octant Ecosystem and how Octant’s innovative approach to public goods funding has empowered these projects to amplify their impact.
For episode one, I’m honored to welcome James Kiernan and Benjamin Siegel of Octant. We explore the evolution of Web3 public goods funding, Octant’s vision of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem, and their innovative experiments in governance and engagement. From their Public Goods Sweepstakes to the first Octant Accelerator Cohort, James and Benjamin share some great insights into what makes Octant’s model so unique and impactful, along with some spicy takes on the space, and some fun stories.
Key Takeaways
“Public Goods” has become a popular term in Web3, but it is also a loaded term that can be challenging to define. This has caused some disagreements in the space around which types of projects are public goods and should receive funding as such. There needs to be a moment or redefining public goods where we can bring more clarity to what defines a public good.
The current public goods funding ecosystem in Web3 is fragmented and complex. Users will often have to engage with a variety of tools, blockchains/L2s, and apps just to fund the projects they’re passionate about. It’s important that we, as a community, focus on building simple and accessible user interfaces that are both easy to use and fun!
It is important to make the funding of public goods exciting and fun, as this will help drive long-term engagement and sustainability for the ecosystem. This includes engaging “degens” and moving away from the idea of “degens vs regens”.
One of Octant’s most exciting innovations is funding public goods from yield, not principle. This helps ensure long-term sustainability for funding programs, and in the case of Octant, results in millions of dollars of yield being generated annually for public goods.
Follow James, Ben, and Octant
Thank you to Octant for their support in bringing this series to life! We are honored to have received a 2.5 ETH grant through the Octant Community Fund.
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Episode Time Stamps
03:40 - To kick things off, what would you say is the single biggest inspiration behind your Web3 public goods journey?
11:15 - This whole series is going to revolve around public goods. So, to help lay the groundwork for the series, how would you define a public good?
15:00 - Can you please give a high-level overview of the mission of Octant, and the story behind its Founding?
20:40 - Octant recently underwent a big update to it’s UI. Tell me more about the update and some of the key features that come with it.
25:20 - There has been a lot of experimentation into making public goods funding fun and finding creative ways to engage the community. To that end, you recently ran the Public Goods Sweepstakes! Tell me more about that.
30:05 - You also recently ran the first Octant Accelerator Cohort! Tell me more about this, and any key learnings or stories you’d like to share.
39:35 - What are some of the value adds that Web3 brings to public goods funding when compared to traditional funding mechanisms?
46:25 - Octant has experienced incredible success building an engaged community around their project. What has been the spark that has led to this success?
48:10 - What’s the best way for listeners to learn more? What’s the first step they should take if they are interested in joining the community by locking GLM?
49:50 - To wrap up the conversation, I was hoping you could each highlight a Web3 public goods project that you love and has had an impact in your life personally.
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DISCLAIMER
While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, please do not take any of this as investment advice, and please make sure to do your own research on potential investment opportunities, or any opportunity. We host a variety of guests on this podcast with the sole purpose of highlighting the social impact use cases of this technology. That being said, Crypto Altruism does not endorse any of these projects, and we recognize that, since this is an emerging sector, some may be operating in regulatory grey areas, and as such, we cannot confirm their legality in the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially as it pertains to decentralized finance protocols. So, before getting involved with any project, it’s important that you do your own research and confirm the legality of the project. More available HERE.
