Happy Wednesday, web3 friends! We are so excited to be here with you on another gorgeous spring morning. Grab your tea, coffee, smoothie or whatever is keeping you awake this morning and let's dive into another week of learning about w3. 

Quip of the Week

The Latest 

Fortnite's Epic Games raises $2B to build kid-Metaverse

Epic and LEGO recently partnered to create the Metaverse for children and now Epic has announced a $2B funding round for this purpose. This is being positioned as a "family-friendly" space for children. The vision of what this will look like is still being formed (and whether or not kids really need more screen time,) but we are talking about two of the biggest players in entertainment coming together, especially LEGO, which has been seen as missing the boat on prior digital innovation. These two will be interesting to follow because, unlike other players, they have more inherent trust associated with their brand and have led the announcement with a set of principles for building the Metaverse, which centres on the child's well-being. 

Coming soon to a wallet near you: The Merge 

If you have been following crypto Twitter over the last couple of weeks, you have likely seen a lot of conversation happening about "the Merge."

If you're asking wtf is that?? We got you covered. The Merge (which sounds like the title of a new Marvel movie) refers to Ethereum aka ETH shifting from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake model. Why? Ethereum wants to be more scalable, sustainable, and secure. If you need a refresher, you might want to go back to last week's newsletter, where we explained the difference between "proof-of-work" and "proof-of-stake." ETH had a test on Monday, April 11th (this week), where they only reported one bug. This moves them one step closer to "the Merge" with estimates that it will take place sometime this summer. 

What this all means and why it matters is that less energy will need to be used to process transactions. Instead of solving complex mathematical problems (which takes up a lot of energy), proof-of-stake allows users to validate transactions. This makes ETH more scalable, meaning they can process more transactions faster and more sustainable because the energy required for each transaction is much lower. Many are bullish on this move by ETH, especially after the coin has lost some of its value. 

Bored Ape Yacht Club: art, social club, and the next James Bond?

Coinbase recently announced via the bird app that they are creating a movie trilogy called "The Degen Trilogy" and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) holders are able to "audition" their apes for a role in the movie. Coinbase is erring on lighter press at this time but their tweet read "definitely something" with a very succinct description of how it might work: "Get Coinbase wallet, Submit your Bored Ape, Hide an easter egg."

April's theme: Climate Change x Crypto

In last week's newsletter, we talked about the undeniable relationship between web3 and climate change and how the incredible amount of energy required to keep web3 running can have a negative impact on the environment. This week, we're going to go over how web3 can intersect with climate change to contribute positively to climate action, focusing on how smart contracts/protocols can be used to incentivize green climate action and an applied case study.

At the end of the month, we're hosting a Speaker Series to dive into all things Climate Change x Crypto with subject matter experts that range in crypto-enthusiasm.

As a reminder, In May and June, we'll be talking about our next most requested topics 1) non-profit, social impact and philanthropy, and 2) business and entrepreneurship.

Deep Dive: How web3 can be used to promote positive climate action

Smart contracts/protocols and how they can be used to incentivize green climate action

To go back to basics, what smart contracts do is that they decentralize control, meaning they take power away from a centralized entity and make impartial, technologically enforced agreements. Smart contracts offer the possibility of setting up globally accessible and automated incentive systems that can reward sustainable practices. So what does this mean? Part of the problem that we have faced with moving climate action forward is that each country has taken their approach. Given that climate change is a global issue, the ability to set up a global structure of rewards and incentives for changing behaviour and consumptions habits from the individual micro-level, i.e. incentivizing recycling, biking, cold water use, to the government and corporation level, i.e. cutting down carbon emissions or increasing their reliance on green energy sources. 

Case Study: Green World Campaign in Leveraging Hybrid Smart Contracts to reward Regenerative Agriculture Practices

First, let's start with a couple of definitions to add some context to this case study. 

Regenerative Agriculture: Regenerative agriculture focuses not only on reducing the carbon footprint but also on reversing the effects of climate change. It does this by deploying holistic land practices that create an agro-ecology system. 

Hybrid Smart Contracts: Hybrid smart contracts are software programs that run on blockchain networks but leverage non-blockchain data connected to the system in a tamper-proof way. Blockchain contracts automate processes. If X happens, then Y happens. Hybrid contracts use non-blockchain data, i.e. databases 

So what's happening? 

Green World Campaign and a collaborative group including Cornell University, IC3, Green World Kenya, and others launched an initiative called AIRS. The project uses satellite remote sensing data as their non-blockchain data and matches it with a hybrid smart contract to reward targeted regenerative agriculture. The rewards are issued automatically and can either take the form of cryptocurrency or be converted into local currency. This incentivizes anyone from individuals to large companies to launch community-based initiatives that contribute to regeneration. It makes the distribution of rewards more transparent and verifiable. 

This case study is one example of how smart contracts can be used to promote positive climate action. And good thing too, because after all the news about a Metaverse for kids, Bored Apes movie franchise and Zuck Bucks, we are in desperate need of some useful use cases for crypto around here. Hopefully there will be more examples to come showing how web3 can be used to impact climate change and the world around us in a positive way. 

Want to dive in more?

Something to read

• Own your attention

• AIRS Green World Campaign

• Reversing Climate Change with Hybrid Smart Contracts

• Blockchain can help us beat climate change

• Energy Consumption Crypto Currency vs. Traditional Banks

• The Role of Smart Contracts in Sustainability

Something to do

• Join our Discord

• Sign up for the Tokenomics 101 workshop hosted by Invisible College 

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Till next time,

w3 the North