Usecase Database

GoodDollar

Finance

Social impact & Sustainability

Regenerative finance

Universal Basic Income (UBI)

Celo

Ethereum

Global

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About

In order to establish a Universal Basic Income (UBI) system supported by social investment, GoodDollar had to tackle two primary goals: ensuring the effective distribution of funds to those in need and guaranteeing a continuous source of funding by distributing only the interest accrued from trust funds that were staked.

Case Study

Empowa

Empowa, a Mercy Corps Ventures (”MCV”) portfolio company, is a property development and NFT digital collectibles platform that aims to enable “affordable home loans for the financially excluded.” Empowa and MCV partnered to launch an affordable housing pilot project that uses retail NFT sales to create liquidity for the provision of affordable housing units.

EthicHub

EthicHub connects buyers and investors with smallholder farmers to provide loans or offer investments to increase productivity of farming operations. To date, EthicHub has intermediated $3M+ in micro loans to 600+ families in 5 countries.

GainForest

GainForest fights deforestation by connecting donors with transparent environmental rehabilitation efforts through indigenous communities that receive financial compensation for choosing to preserve their land. For example, individuals can buy reputable offsets that contribute to conservation efforts. GainForest then monitors these preserved areas by using a combination of on-the-ground input, drone photos, and satellite imagery, and uses self-executing smart contracts to distribute rewards to communities over time. GainForest has two on-going pilots: a partnership with Paraguay's Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES) to address deforestation and the other with Oceanus Conservation in the Philippines to preserve mangrove ecosystems.

Glo Dollar

Glo is a non-profit Stablecoin that invests in government bonds that generates interest which then gets distributed to those in extreme poverty (through the GiveDirectly organization).

Humanity Cash

Humanity Cash is a blockchain company that aims to create a circular economy through “community currencies” and Universal Basic Income (UBI). It partnered with the community in western Massachusetts to create their community currency called “BerkShares,” which is now accepted by ~350 local businesses.

Impact Market

ImpactMarket provides accessible financial solutions, including universal basic income (”UBI”), a non-custodial wallet, microcredit, and learn to earn to empower unbanked and financially underserved people around the world. The UBI product is already supporting over 46,000 people in almost 30 countries.

JIA

Jia connects capital to small businesses in informal economies through decentralized loans.

LiquidStar

LiquidStar describes itself as the “Uber of electricity;” it rents a container-based solar powered battery charging station and portable batteries to users, organizations, or companies to use for mining or staking. The rewards generated are used for (i) bringing affordable and sustainable electricity to rural communities and (ii) generating universal basic income (”UBI”). First deployments took place in the US and Jamaica, where LiquidStar supplied electricity to 1500 students at a school. Additional pilots are coming to Sumba, Indonesia and Djibouti.

Kotani Pay x Moola Market

Cinch Markets (an agriculture company that leases farmland from smallholder farmers to create larger commercial farms) partnered with Mercy Corps Ventures (”MCV”) to use Moola Markets and Kotani Pay for an employer-based lending platform that enables farmers to access credit quickly and affordably. The first pilot launched in Nanyuki, Kenya. Kotani Pay is a platform that allows blockchain fintech companies to integrate with local payment channels in Africa. Moola Markets is a blockchain platform that allows individuals to delegate credit (collateral) to others in their community, who can use it to take on an under-collateralized loans.

ReSource Finance

ReSource’s Mutual Credit network allows individuals, businesses, and communities to extend credit to each other backed by goods and services.

Solid World

Solid World democratizes access to carbon project financing, providing developers of restoration projects with funding and assessing delivery risks with its integrated risk evaluation tool, CRISP. It also addresses buyer and distributor challenges, helping manage their inventory, navigate market volatility, reduce risk, and provide transparent pricing and terms.

Treejer

Treejer is a protocol that connects investors with rural planters. In addition, Treejer and Kotani Pay - both portfolio companies of the UNICEF Innovation Fund - partnered to provide planters in Africa with an offramp for easier access to fiat from digital assets.

Xcapit

A UNICEF Innovation Fund portfolio company, Xcapit, is a self-custodial wallet that provides access to key financial services in informal economies. For example, access to credit. In Argentina, where the initial pilot took place, 91% of applicants are rejected in traditional credit requests. Xcapit is addressing this challenge with its credit processing and lending infrastructure.