As we look at the world around us, it seems that individuals are increasingly on the margins of the big stories that play out on our screens. The stories that captivate and resonate with ordinary people seem to exist on a scale beyond the reach of any of us. These big stories about economies, countries, and companies weave a narrative that can sometimes seem dire, or too big for any individual to meaningfully change. But this is not the true narrative of the world, nor is it the right way to understand our own potential as human beings.
Many of you reading this blog are inclined to believe that the Ethereum protocol will play a role (perhaps even a major one) in this great story unfolding in the sky. If that is the case, then we should ask ourselves: who are the characters in our story?
We seek to understand Ethereum through the lens of the individuals who use it as a coordination protocol. By seeking out the context and nuances of human stories, we can better orient ourselves toward a collective vision of the future and better prepare to implement it.
Today we would like to introduce you to five humans with stories to tell, who will be starting their Next Billion Fellowship at the Ethereum Foundation. These individuals are highly skilled, but they represent only a small fraction of the talented people working to solve some of humanity’s deepest coordination problems. We hope their stories can serve as both a reflection of the true character of the Ethereum community as a whole and as inspiration for how this open protocol could still positively impact the lives of billions of people.
Scholarship Cohort No. 3
Brian
Brian Limiardi works for financial inclusion in Indonesia as co-founder of Financing copra. While access to personal loans is possible through banks, there are many contexts in which the only way to get a loan for a business is through informal lenders (read: loan sharks). For individuals who choose to work and invoice in cryptocurrency, access to even simple traditional financial tools like personal or small business loans can be a barrier. For his fellowship, Brian will focus on researching the needs and realities of the growing population of workers and small businesses that use cryptocurrency as their primary means of invoicing and accounting.
Devansh
Devansh Mehtaco-founder of VoiceDeckis interested in mapping the public good impact space. Impact methodologies and markets for environmental use cases are well-documented mechanisms, but sometimes “impact” ventures into more subjective territory: investigative journalism, for example, is arguably a public good. How can the actual work of journalists be documented and valued in a way that fits into the right funding mechanism? Devansh will work with citizen journalism newsrooms to explore impact documentation methodologies using the hypercerts standardwith the aim of finding a good retroactive financing mechanism for positive social outcomes.
Mass
Masahiro “Masa” Fukuhara wants to spread the spirit of ONGAESHI (恩返し, “to render service”) in the world of education. ONGAESHI DAO studies solidarity retroactive payment mechanisms in education and employment. For his fellowship, Masa and other members of the ONGAESHI DAO team will draw lessons from pilot programs in which contributors to the public good of education, such as donors and teachers, are rewarded when companies hire their students.
Mulenga
Mulenga Kapwepwe is co-founder of the Zambia Women’s History Museum. There are many African artifacts in museums around the world, but these objects rarely have a tangible connection to the people and communities who created them. For her fellowship, Mulenga is working with the Zambian web3 community to create a tokenized artifact registry, experimenting with sharing museum revenue for community documentation of the art, customs, and crafts still practiced by the descendants of these objects on display in museums around the world. While the objects won’t be returning to their original locations anytime soon, it’s a small step toward bridging an ownership gap that spans centuries.
Valeria
Valeria “Ria” Panina Ria is a user experience specialist and advisor to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has shown that ingenuity and tenacity in human coordination are essential. To understand the potential of protocols like Ethereum to be useful in such times, pragmatism is required. During her fellowship, Ria will study the real drivers and barriers to the adoption of cryptocurrencies and other decentralized applications for ordinary users in order to map emerging use cases and behaviors in Ukraine.
(dev)Connect with Fellows
Over the next six months, each fellow will complete a small project that will aim to achieve larger goals in their story. The fellows’ stories will be published throughout 2023 on this blog, but there are other opportunities to meet them and learn more about their projects. If you, dear reader, would like to learn more about the fellows and their projects, consider attending devconnect in Istanbul and especially the conference The World’s Next Billion Coffees event and connect with us in person!
To the many Next Billion Fellowship Cohort 3 applicants who were not selected, we thank you for sharing your story with us and are happy to know that you are out there tinkering, building, researching, and creating the future of human coordination.
Sign up to receive updates on the Next Billion Scholarship here!
