The August Edition of the Crypto Altruists Newsletter

👋 Hello, Crypto Altruists!

On July 30, Ethereum marked its 10th birthday with an official livestream led by Austin Griffith & Songyi (you can rewatch it here), as well as tens of community-led events around the world. Our Founder Drew attended one on the events in Waterloo, Canada, where he connected with builders and celebrated the local Ethereum movement. It was both a celebration and a moment to look back on what the network and its community have built over the past decade. 🔟🎉

The story of Ethereum began in 2014 when Vitalik Buterin shared a whitepaper outlining a “world computer” for decentralized applications, an idea that quickly drew interest from developers around the world.

In 2014, a community presale raised roughly 31,591 BTC (≈$18 million) to bring Ethereum to life. Less than a year later, on July 30, 2015, the network launched with its genesis block distributing ETH to participants from the presale in a milestone that marked the start of Ethereum’s journey.

With the anniversary, there’s been a lot of reflecting on Crypto Twitter too, with threads like these from Aya Miyaguchi, President of the Ethereum Foundation, sharing personal perspectives on Ethereum’s journey so far.

An interesting piece of content also came out to mark the occasion: Built on Ethereum: The Documentary (2025), created by peth.eth. It looks at some of the most notable use cases and milestones from the network’s first decade, told through the voices of the people who’ve built on it.

In that time, Ethereum has grown from a bold experiment into infrastructure that millions of people interact with, whether through DeFi, NFTs, identity tools, governance platforms, or funding models for public goods. It’s navigated technical upgrades, market swings, and plenty of spirited debate, and it continues to evolve. And we’re excited to keep exploring the ideas, people, and projects that will shape its next ten years.

Let's dive into some of the updates for August... 👇

🌱 Featured: Wrapping up the Glo Dollar Series

Over the past five episodes, our AutoPGF: Funding Impact with Glo Dollar series has looked at how one stablecoin is rethinking philanthropy.

Instead of relying on traditional, donation-driven fundraising, Glo Dollar channels the yield from its fiat-backed reserves directly into nonprofits and public goods, an approach called Automatic Public Goods Funding (AutoPGF). The result is a steady, scalable stream of support for causes ranging from humanitarian aid to climate action.

We spoke with the people running some of the initiatives funded through AutoPGF to see how this model works in practice. From rewarding everyday sustainable actions, to delivering aid within hours in crisis zones, to backing climate projects without long grant cycles, each story showed a different way onchain tools can make giving faster, simpler, and more transparent. 👏

Catch up on all five episodes:

• 🌐 Ep. 1 – Funding the Future: Optimism, AutoPGF, & the Rise of Deep Funding – LauNaMu of Metrics Garden on how Optimism is advancing public goods funding, from AutoPGF to deep funding and pluralistic approaches.
• 💚 Ep. 2 – Can Stablecoins End Extreme Poverty? – GiveDirectly and Glo on using direct cash transfers and stablecoin yield to fight poverty with dignity and transparency.
• 🌱 Ep. 3 – Funding Climate Action with Crypto – Climate Coordination Network and Glo on breaking the grant cycle and scaling climate finance through automated, onchain flows.
• 💸 Ep. 4 – Decentralizing Humanitarian Aid – Stellar, Coala Pay, and Glo on getting funds directly to people in crisis zones quickly, transparently, and at scale.
• 🌳 Ep. 5 – Turning Everyday Impact into Crypto Rewards – VeChain’s VeBetterDAO on rewarding sustainable actions, from green commuting to community cleanups, verified and incentivized on-chain.

💡 July Impact Spotlight

Ecosystem Developments 🚀

• CeloPG launches Prosperity Pass Beta: A new smart account wallet for the Celo ecosystem that unifies onchain activity, tracks contributions, awards impact badges, and unlocks rewards to strengthen coordination and regenerative outcomes.
• Google Cloud partners with Self Protocol for ZKP-powered identity in AI and Web3: The partnership will integrate Self Protocol’s proof-of-humanity zero-knowledge proofs into Google Cloud’s Web3 tools to boost privacy, sybil resistance, and AI adoption, with onchain attestations recorded on Celo.
• Binance sends $1.2M in crypto to Taiwan flood victims: Binance Charity is distributing BNB directly to residents in Taiwan’s most affected provinces, using proof-of-address verification to ensure aid reaches legitimate recipients. Eligible users can receive up to $110 in BNB, with most transfers completed within 48 hours.
• Africa Leads in Crypto Payments for Education – Bitget Wallet July 2025 Onchain Report: Surveying 4,599 users worldwide, the report finds 38% of African respondents use crypto for tuition and courses, well above global averages, underscoring the continent’s utility-driven adoption for education, remittances, and everyday needs.
• Funding The Commons announces Builder Residency in Buenos Aires: Applications are now open for the 2025 Builder Residency, a three-week immersive program running from October 24th to November 14th 2025. It is designed to support collaboration and experimentation in the public goods and blockchain space.
• GENIUS Act signed into U.S. law, boosting trust in stablecoins: The first federal law for dollar-backed stablecoins requires full cash or T-bill reserves, regular audits, and user protections, giving USDC a green light for wider use in payments, business, and everyday transactions.
• World Economic Forum on the GENIUS Act’s global impact: WEF sees the new US stablecoin law as a major step for regulatory clarity but warns that global standards, stronger consumer protections, and public-private coordination are still needed to manage its cross-border & monetary policy implications.
• Metagov hosts 2025 Grant Summit: A two-day virtual gathering on August 20–21, bringing together grant operators, grantees, and researchers to tackle sustainable funding, program design, and measuring real-world impact in Web3 public goods.
• Ann Brody publishes “Tending the Infinite Garden” on Ethereum’s organizational culture: Ann explores the social and cultural dynamics shaping the ecosystem, expanding the “infinite garden” metaphor she shared at DappCon 2025.
• Trinity Morphy shares interview with authors of The Green Crypto Handbook: Louise Borreani & Pat Rawson discuss bridging green finance and blockchain, introducing their “Environmental Finance Stack” framework, and how ReFi can evolve to deliver more transparent, direct, and regenerative environmental asset markets.
• Greenpill Dev Guild Hosted a Vibe Coding Session with Austin Griffith: The Ethereum icon walked regenerative builders through the basics of vibe coding a blockchain app; check out the recording.

Crypto Altruists content & updates 💚

• 🎧 Crypto Altruists Ep. 211 – MoviePass & Mogul: How Web3 and AI Are Reshaping Film: Stacy Spikes, CEO of MoviePass and Mogul, shares how onchain ownership, DAOs, and decentralized film finance could transform how movies are made, funded, and experienced, giving fans real influence in Hollywood’s future.
• 🎧 Crypto Altruists Ep. 212 – Elliptic: From Myanmar to Ukraine, How Crypto Powers Humanitarian Relief: Arda Akartuna of Elliptic explains how blockchain is delivering aid in crisis zones, bypassing censorship, enabling transparent onchain flows, and helping opposition groups and NGOs get funds directly to those in need.
• 📖 How Nonprofits Can Leverage Generative AI to Optimize Fundraising in 2025: Practical ways mission-driven organizations can use tools like ChatGPT, Grantable, and Fundraising KIT to boost campaigns, streamline grant writing, unlock donor insights, and navigate key ethical considerations.
• 📖 15 Quotes About the Positive Impact of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: A curated collection of insights from pioneers like Vitalik Buterin, Kevin Owocki, and Jeremy Allaire.
• 🎧 Crypto Altruists Ep. 213 – CARBON Copy: The State of ReFi in 2025: Kent Babin unpacks CARBON Copy’s 2025 State of ReFi Report, exploring key wins like native onchain regenerative credits and Octant’s climate funding, the rise of Ethereum Localism and Bioregional Finance, and what it will take for Regenerative Finance to move from hype to real-world adoption.
• 🎧 Crypto Altruists Ep. 214 – PIPE gDAO: From Lab to Market: Batsirai Muguti and Wayne Daniels share how PIPE gDAO’s DeSci launchpad uses blockchain, tokenized governance, and community review to fund and scale university innovations, bringing deep tech from academic IP to real-world impact.

Recommended resources 📖

• How Stablecoins Could Offer New Opportunities for U.S. Foreign Assistance: An opinion piece from the Better World Campaign explores how the GENIUS Act could modernize humanitarian aid with blockchain-backed stablecoins while also noting the geopolitical implications of expanding U.S. dollar influence in fragile regions.
• Ethereum Localism x Regen Coordination: Gitcoin 3.0 Sensemaking Report: Explores how embedding Ethereum tools in local economies can drive mass adoption, and proposes a Gitcoin Grants 24 Dedicated Domain with local pilots, blended funding models, and stronger bridges between Web3 and institutional partners.
• Case Study: How Octant Tackled the Crypto Grants Sustainability Problem: A look at Octant’s pilot combining a revenue-focused accelerator with Streaming Quadratic Funding to address the “grants-to-graveyard” problem. The four-week program generated $371K in revenue, 90K+ new users, and tested a funding model that ties ongoing support to project performance.

🌟 Project Highlight: Solana

Every blockchain cultivates its own narrative around impact, and on Solana, that narrative is built on scale, speed, and cost-efficiency. With over 2,100 active dApps, a 54% increase year over year, Solana’s ecosystem continues expanding rapidly, driven by its ability to handle high-volume applications at just $0.00025 per transaction, with confirmation times under two seconds.

These technical strengths are being harnessed for real-world, positive‑impact models. Solana’s infrastructure supports use cases ranging from regenerative finance tools (check out the ReFi on Solana community) to transparent micro-donations and community-based governance; forms of experimentation that leverage its low‑fee, high‑throughput design. 🌱

We’ll be exploring this ecosystem more closely in Growing Good on Solana, our new 3-part mini-series that shines a light on impact-driven projects on the chain. The first episode features Somos Axolotl, a project that channels a portion of staking rewards into habitat restoration for the endangered axolotl, while innovating with gamified and transparent funding models.

In upcoming installments, we’ll continue to surface stories of how Solana’s architectural advantages are being applied to ecological, social, and community-minded initiatives, revealing what this fast-moving ecosystem can offer for building regenerative, scalable solutions.

A huge thank you to our friends at Superteam Canada and their sponsors for their support in bringing this project to life! Superteam Canada is dedicated to empowering builders in Canada creating high impact innovations on the Solana blockchain, through grants, bounties, partnerships, and more!

💡 Bring Web3 Into Your Nonprofit's Mission With Confidence

At Crypto Altruists, we help nonprofits, foundations, and impact organizations cut through the noise and explore blockchain in a way that’s practical, mission-aligned, and grounded in real-world use cases. Whether you’re curious about crypto donations, transparency tools, or how Web3 can strengthen your programs and services, our tailored consulting services and interactive workshops meet you where you are, no jargon, no hype. Let’s work together to unlock the opportunities that make sense for your cause.

Book a call with us today to start the conversation.

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See you in the next edition! 💚