MiniPay’s focus on real-world solutions has made it one of the few blockchain-based applications to gain sustainable traction. By addressing everyday financial challenges, it has found a way to connect with real users—something still rare in the Web3 space. In this article, we explore what exactly made MiniPay’s first year successful, and what can other projects learn from its approach.

In episode 151, we’re excited to welcome Garm Lucassen, CTO and Co-Founder of Glo Dollar, a stablecoin dedicated to unlocking $7.4B a year in funding for public goods and charity. We discuss how stablecoins can be leveraged to embed philanthropy into everyday transactions, the concept of Auto Public Goods Funding (or AutoPGF), the roadmap ahead for Glo Dollar, and much more.

In episode 137, we welcome Timothy Asiiwme of Mercy Corps Ventures, which invests in and catalyzes venture-led solutions to increase the resilience of underserved communities. We discuss how Web3 can help alleviate poverty and build resilient communities, the role of impact entrepreneurs in addressing social challenges, some of the Web3 pilots Mercy Corps has supported, and more.

In episode 133, we’re excited to welcome Will Le, CEO of impactMarket, the human empowerment protocol, which provides accessible financial solutions and knowledge to empower underprivileged people worldwide. We discuss how blockchain enables more transparent and effective microcredit programs, their innovative Learn & Earn Program, decentralized UBI for the last mile, and more.

In episode 101, we’re excited to welcome Carl Cevone from hypercerts, a new protocol for funding and rewarding impact. We discuss how they’re using the power of blockchain to help build sustainable models for public goods financing, why blockchain is such a valuable tool for impact monitoring and evaluation, how Web3 will disrupt the impact ecosystem, and much more.

In episode 97, we’re excited to welcome Victor Texeira, Lead Crypto Economist from Canza Finance, “an Open Finance Portal enabling access to unlimited financial services for emerging markets.” We discuss how Web3 and DeFi can bridge the gap to financial services for small businesses in emerging economies, some of the barriers to financial inclusion for the unbanked and financially underserved, why Africa is at the frontier of the Decentralized Finance movement, and much more.

In episode 90, we’re excited to welcome Gabriela Change, Co-Founder and CSO of EthicHub, the First regenerative finance protocol connecting people & unbanked smallholder farmers globally using Web3. We discuss how Web3 can support smallholder farmers, EthicHub’s innovative crowdlending model, blockchain as an important tool for building trust, the regenerative finance movement, and much more.

In episode 89, we’re excited to welcome Nihar Neelakanti, Founder & CEO of Ecosapiens, the world’s first Carbon-backed NFT project. We discuss how Web3 is a perfect tool to incentivize climate action, how blockchain can improve carbon markets, NFTs as a powerful tool for activists and changemakers, advice for seeking out venture capital funding in Web3, and much more.

In episode 86, we welcome John Ellison, Co-Founder of ReFi DAO, a founder-led start-up community on a mission to accelerate impact for people and planet. In this episode we discuss the principles and philosophy behind regenerative finance, the incredible ReFi Spring movement and some of the exciting projects and innovations to emerge from it, some of the most compelling ReFi use cases, the work being done by ReFi DAO to uplift builders, and much more.

For Ep. 64, we have the pleasure of welcoming Xochitl Cazador, Head of Ecosystem Growth at the Celo Foundation. Celo is a proof-of-stake layer-1 protocol that, to date, has had over 150M transactions, and has an amazing ecosystem built around the vision of “Prosperity for All”. In this episode we chat about the Regenerative Finance, or ReFi movement, how blockchain can help alleviate poverty and build prosperity for all, and the future of web3 and the Celo ecosystem.

In this episode, we welcome Jessica Salama, Community Lead at Good Dollar, a global movement to bring economic opportunity to all. We discuss the synergies that exist between crypto and Universal Basic Income, or UBI, how crypto can drive greater financial inclusion and economic empowerment, and why the time for UBI is now.

In the first post in a series highlighting the social impact projects operating on specific blockchains, we highlight three exciting Celo-based social impact projects.

Blockchain and USSD technology are very different technologies, but these three projects are using them in cohesion to deliver accessible financial services to vulnerable populations.

Celo Foundation recently announced the launch of the Celo Climate Collective to compete for XPRIZE’s 100M Carbon Removal Challenge

There are many exciting use cases for crypto and blockchain in supporting refugee populations. One project is using crypto to provide Unconditional Basic Income to refugees.