ConsenSys Initiative addresses social and environmental challenges with blockchain solutions

Copying our press release below:

New York — RootProject, which harnesses crowdfunding and cryptocurrency for the social good, announced today the nonprofit has been invited to join the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC). BSIC is an initiative of ConsenSys, a global formation of technologists and entrepreneurs building the infrastructure, applications and practices to enable a decentralized world. The coalition incubates, develops and implements confederated blockchain products and solutions that can address social and environmental challenges across the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.



“Leveraging the combined powers of blockchain, crowdfunding and the political economic, RootProject is aiming to solve the most pressing social and environmental issues” said Ben Siegel Impact Policy Manager at ConsenSys. “We look forward to working closely with RootProject as a new member and its nonprofit partners to help implement and scale blockchain solutions to drive lasting positive social impact.”



“Being invited to join the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition — ConsenSys’ truly remarkable initiative that solves social and environmental challenges through blockchain solutions — is a true testament to RootProject’s incredible team and the progress we have made since launch just a few short months ago,” said Dr. Nicholas Adams Judge, RootProject co-founder. “We look forward to playing an active role in BSIC along with the 30 other member organizations to help build a better world through blockchain.”

RootProject harnesses crowdfunding and cryptocurrency for social good, while offering investors a cryptocurrency with built-in growth and social capital. Through its new type of crowdfunding platform, anyone can start a social impact project and organize a campaign to fund it. But unlike traditional crowdfunding, the projects are completed either by RootProject itself or one of its partner nonprofits while sourcing the labor from those below the poverty line. By marrying the power of blockchain, a crowdfunding platform with on-the-ground organization, RootProject opens up a whole new world of crowdfunding helping nonprofit and community organizations scale impact.



BSIC aims to inspire, federate and create bridges between NGOs and government agencies, foundations, impact investors, philanthropists and technologists by focusing on the following sectors:



• Financial Inclusion

• Supply Chain

• Identity and Vulnerable Populations

• Energy and Environment



Currently, the coalition consists of 30 organizations ranging from enterprise to social impact investor and a significant number of social entrepreneurs around the world in Geneva, Glasgow and London to New York, San Francisco and DC solving the world’s most challenging problems that affect the bottom of the pyramid populations in Nigeria, Syria and Moldova.



BSIC hosts numerous community gathering events per year which include two conferences, one in the US and one in an international city, as well as hackathon that precedes each conference. In 2017, BSI hosted one of the largest global social impact hackathons. Each month BSIC hosts meet-ups in many metropolitan hubs including New York, San Francisco, London, Washington DC, Denver, Philadelphia, Paris, Toronto, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Manila, Mexico City, Oslo, Sao Paolo and Belgrade.



Current BSIC Members:



216 ABN AMRO ACTIAM Alice App Alpha Source Advisors Blockchain Development Company Blockchain for Change BOMA Investments Chemonics International Disberse EduDAO Everex High Tech Humanitarians IXO Foundation Katapult Accelerator

Kora Network Logos Global Advisors Maiden Microsoft Miracle Messages MIT Solve New America: Future Property Rights Nordic Impact Opolis Origin Trails PinkCoin RootProject SlaveFreeTrade Sustainability International Tata Consultancy