The environment was never a basic design parameter for Bitcoin. Today, cryptos have established themselves as a parallel global financial system, and Popcorn is working to make the new, decentralized financial system environmentally friendly.
To be sure, Popcorn is engaging in an issue that has made Proof-of-Work platforms a victim of their own success. In the early days, it is possible that Proof-of-Stake platforms wouldn’t be taken seriously.
Where would the scarcity come from?
Now, we understand that the global financial system is under serious strain, and the events of 2020 demonstrate how far central banks and governments will go to destroy the value of fiat currency.
However, it is vital that decentralization be environmentally responsible, and keep the planet’s health in mind.
Popcorn Takes the Responsible View
Popcorn understands that there are a lot of different kinds of crypto investors out there.
Some smaller investors may be young people who have few assets – and there are also institutional investors who are looking for shelter in the midst of the fiat firestorm.
The carbon cost of cryptocurrency should be mitigated, just as it should be addressed in every nation, and industry. Thankfully, the crypto community has an active, and very aware dev community – and projects like Popcorn are the result.
According to the company – it is “enthusiastically philanthropic.”
The team has, at its core, a two-part business model (info from company):
- Entice as many investors as possible by promoting carbon-neutral transactions (for those that care) and the opportunity for high returns (for those that don’t).
- Use the earnings to fund Popcorn’s decentralized social impact program, where the community can nominate, vote for, and provide grants to worthy causes. These causes focus on key issues important to the community at large, including environmental, open-source, and educational initiatives.
The two part model can be summed up best by Popcorn’s mantra: Do Well, Do Good.
A Green Ahead Road for Decentralization
Popcorn appears to understand that if change is going to be feasible – it has to be attractive. The team behind the platform has come up with a great set of features.
Let’s have a look at some of what Popcorn does:
Smart Contracts
Popcorn smart contracts are versatile and add value through several key functions such as GrantElections – these control how grants are voted on and GrantRegistry – where grants and their recipients’ information is kept.
If organizations desire to be considered for a grant and submit an application, they can use the BeneficiaryRegistry feature – and it is also a place to store their information.
Besides that, BeneficiaryVaults function is where grant recipients can safeguard their funds.
Here is a short list of these features (from the company):
- GrantElections: Governs the grant voting process
- Staking: Allows POP holders to stake their tokens and participate in governance
- GrantRegistry: Grants and their Beneficiary information is kept here
- BeneficiaryRegistry: Organizations wishing to be considered for a grant apply and their information is kept here
- FeeDistribution: Fees that a generated by the various DeFi products are sent to this contract, and the funds are distributed according to the open grants, the treasury, and the token stakers
- BeneficiaryVaults: Grant recipients claim their funds with this contract
Effective Altruism
Popcorn is leading the way in developing a new solution for crypto investors with partners including SBF, Vitalik, and Haseeb from Dragonfly.
While investors have the option of choosing from a variety of prospective projects, the company believes that many will be inspired to participate in initiatives that provide a high rate of return while both contributing to social good and reducing carbon emissions.
Social Impact Grant Program
POP holders with a stake can participate in the social impact program’s governance.
They can identify possible beneficiaries, vote on grant recipients, and strive to ensure that the monies are used to make significant improvements in the environment, education, open-source, and other areas.
This initiative will receive a significant amount of revenue, with 20-50 percent of fees expected to go toward the grant program.
Popcorn’s whitepaper addresses a number of crucial issues in order to guarantee that the nomination, voting, and other vital network processes are all as fair as possible.
Sybil attacks, bribery, and cooperation have all been avoided in order to have an effective system.
It will accomplish this through various means, including on-chain voting through BrightID, as well as by using zero-knowledge cryptographic schemes.
The Story of Popcorn
Popcorn was developed in January 2021 to address critical challenges and possibilities. The fact that almost no DeFi ventures dedicate a percentage of earnings to social impact was one factor that prompted the founders to take action.
Although notable initiatives such as Binance and FTX make gifts, these sums are modest in comparison to the money generated by these exchanges. Instead, the creators concluded that the greatest way to make a difference in the world was to design for it.
They established a non-profit, developed a model to account for and offset carbon emissions, and committed the net profits to social change.
They also built a well-researched and balanced methodology to allow the power of giving to be decentralized and driven by the community, rather than selecting the recipients themselves.
Making Great Progress
To enhance the idea about DeFi for everyone, Popcorn has been through several noticeable milestones to magnify the team’s core objective about social impact within the DeFi world.
The team possessed a total of $1.5 million raised from venture capitalists and strategic angel investors.
Importantly, to receive clearer terms of conscious DeFi from investors, there are major achievements that the team has accomplished such as becoming a signatory to the Crypto-Climate Accord, winning ETH Global’s Optimism and Chainlink Hackathon’s ConsenSys Codefi prize.
For the longer development, Popcorn is in the process of finalizing a deal with Patch.io to become the first carbon-neutral DeFi asset management protocol as well as heading to Switzerland to establish the Popcorn Foundation.
Popcorn’s Value Proposition
Popcorn has created a line of yield-generating DeFi goods to ensure that B2C entities are compelled to invest and participate in the platform.
It has built a very unique and appealing offering that will appeal to investors looking for carbon-neutral solutions or a method to give back to the community.
Smart contracts that automate various yield-generating techniques, including as claiming, staking, re-supplying, leveraging, and trading of cryptocurrencies, are included in Popcorn’s service.
Users can save time, pay lower transaction costs, and earn money without having to grasp crypto strategy.
By holding POP – Popcorn’s governance token, holders will be able to participate in the greater mission of social good.
Holders can vote for and nominate organizations that contribute to important social issues such as the environment, education, open-source, and more.
These individuals are chosen by the POP holder community and may be awarded funding to assist them in their efforts.
A Platform That Works for Everyone
Popcorn can work with these social impact organizations by applying to become a beneficiary, which allows the community to nominate and vote for a group to receive grants.
Anyone who has been interested in cryptocurrency but has yet to take the plunge, could be well served by this platform.
It wants to attract crypto investors of all levels of experience who are passionate about promoting a carbon-neutral footprint and contributing to the greater good with the desire to obtain returns on a responsible investment.
If you want to follow Popcorn – check out its Website, Github, and Linkedin!
More Coming From Popcorn
The Popcorn team will create a Social Impact Index token and an ESG DeFi Token in the future, and enter the Polygon and Solana ecosystems.
It will evolve to become a full DEX, as well as a yield generating and lending protocol.
In addition, the platform will use Wyre or Coinbase as an on/off ramp for fiat users, and plans to establish ties with The Giving Block to aid NGOs in accepting cryptocurrency donations.
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