Just and Joyful - 002 - It's toasty out there.
Hey Friends,
Phew! It is toasty out here in the PNW! With temperature expected to be over 105 degrees fahrenheit, we've escaped to a hotel in downtown Seattle to cool down with some AC and enjoy dim sum from Din Tai Fung (the Vashon food scene is... emerging). Here's to hoping that this heat dome will break soon.
And a big thank you to those of who you subscribed to the newsletter and for sending me notes back on what was interesting and what wasn't!
Yes, this is definitely an eclectic email (thanks, Ben! :)), and we're still sorting out the kinks (thanks to Robert for pointing out a bug and to Justin for fixing it so quickly!). Thanks for sticking with me.
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Ok, let's jump in!
1/ Some of you have mastered the art of the DAO and others are just hearing about it for the first time. I found this article to be super helpful in understanding the current DAO landscape.
2/ On some days, I daydream about what it might be like to get a PhD in anthropology. And if I were to pursue one today, I'd love to apply an anthropological lens to crypto. What an incredible opportunity to see new forms of organization, exchanges, and symbolic systems being created and remixed at an exponential pace.
3/ a16z raised a whopping $2.2 billion fund to continue investing in crypto. Woah.
4/ $3.6 billion of crypto has disappeared from a crypto exchange in South Africa, and the two brothers running the platform can't be found.
5/ Every adult citizen in El Salvador will receive $30 of bitcoin. International experience with G2P payments would suggest that people will most likely withdraw their money pretty quickly. I'm not making the case that bitcoin --> financial inclusion (according to the latest Global Findex, 30% of adults in El Salvador had a financial account), but it'll be interesting to see what happens to the broader ecosystem, especially when it comes to merchant acceptance as well as digital and physical exchanges with fiat currency.
6/ Warren Buffet steps down as trustee from the Gates Foundation. His note / NYT article / Mark Suzman's (BMGF CEO) note
7/ The Better Giving Studio ran an IDEO CoLab style sprint this week, and I gave a "rah rah" talk to the teams on Thursday. This was a good excuse to dive deeper into the world of individual donors, and I love the set of resources and concepts that they've shared. I also went down a rabbit hole, and I'm now very curious about the world of giving circles.
8/ And donor advised funds. If anyone has experience with donor advised funds, please give me a shout! I have a few questions for you.
9/ Americans gave $450 billion to charity in 2019. Individuals gave $310 billion of that. The rest came from foundations, bequests, and corporations.
10/ As you know, I believe that design, technology, and community can play a magical role in creating a more just and joyful world. This article on how political campaigns raise funds from older Americans is terrible and shows the dark side of how people can use design, technology, and community. Shame on the people who were behind this and used dark patterns to take advantage of our elders.
For those of you in the PNW, I hope you guys are staying cool and hydrated. It's crazy out there.
Dave