Bounties at Ethereal NY: How the Hive of Ideas Got People Buzzing About Global Action

Asking a simple question opened our eyes to even more applications for blockchain-based bounties.

In case you missed it, Ethereal Summit NY 2018 happened at the Knockdown Center on May 11–12. Builders, creators, students, thought leaders, and artists came together from all reaches of the globe to tap into the Ethereum network and look into the future.

The culture of the Summit is defined by inclusivity, philosophy, and understanding the socio-political and environmental impact of blockchain much more than technology or finance, and that was clear just by looking at the wide range of attendees and the rich atmosphere throughout the event. Many have noted the stark differences between Ethereal and the rest of the events taking place during Blockchain Week in NY.

Perspectives on Blockchain

In the activation area of Ethereal, the Bounties Network featured our traveling installation, the Hive of Ideas — four hive-like, hexagon-clad walls inviting people to add their own answers to one simple, thought-provoking question:

If you could bounty anything in the world, what would it be?

A simple yet powerful blockchain tool, a bounty can be the means to not only incentivize but also organize efforts at a global level. The purpose of the exercise is to get people thinking creatively about what is important to them and what they’d like to achieve — personally, professionally, humanly.

With over 200 answers submitted, ideas ranged from bounties to “install a garbage disposal to a sink in Greenpoint, NY” and “walking a cat” to creating “a decentralized 911/emergency service” and “translations of blockchain news and literature into different languages.” The possibilities seem endless.

During the two days of Ethereal, I spoke to many people and discovered an array of perspectives on the importance of blockchain.

Chatting to Abraham Milano — CTO of DADA.nyc, who is originally from Venezuela — it became apparent that what blockchain could achieve is a levelling of the playing field. Blockchain technology can democratize access to resources even if socio-political frameworks are drastically limiting the freedom of people to work and receive fair compensation. As a concrete example, Abraham told me how, because of persistent censorship of the Internet and economic decline, the people of Venezuela lack access to work opportunities and payments in currencies of value. For context, 1 Venezuelan Bolívar now equals 0.000010 US Dollars. The country is in crisis. One solution for people who choose to stay could be a global pool of work and payments in cryptocurrency.

Global coverage and a low entry point can be the opportunity the Venezuelan people need to get involved in meaningful and potentially life-changing projects.

Why the Hive of Ideas?

Ethereal Summit is the nexus between emerging technologies and the forward-thinking people who are committed to changing the world. The shared driving force behind the people organizing it and the ones attending is a belief that the world can be organized differently, and better — organized in a decentralized, more efficient, and democratic way.

We see the Bounties Network as a way of bringing structure to this mission and creating a system that enables people to collaborate towards a shared purpose. Blockchains can help us reorganize society and shake up the status quo. They can open up opportunity across the world and many of the people submitting their ideas to our Hive had ‘Aha!’ moments whilst doing it.

Memorable Bounties

Some of the best submissions, from over 200 entries:

Produce a mental health focused retreat for the industry. Create free decentralized internet in NYC. Teach Solidity to five-year-olds. Create stories and art for the Cellarius Universe. Bounty feedback on books, music, podcasts, art and more. Create a decentralized 911/emergency service (Uber for 911). Plant trees within communities around the world. Plastic cleanups. Translate blockchain literature into Spanish. Meet new people at events and beyond.

Live Bounties: Creativity in Motion

One of the most rewarding and exciting aspects of having a live decentralized application on Ethereum is being able to offer attendees to events like Ethereal the chance to interact with the blockchain and earn their very first tokens in the process. It goes beyond ideation into concrete expression, which is one of the key struggles audiences have when it comes to wrapping their heads around blockchain.

The Hive of Ideas at Ethereal Summit certainly gave us a chance to get to know amazing people and witness creativity in motion. We’ll be selecting the best ideas and setting them up as real bounties with ETH staked behind them. Subscribe to our newsletter to find out who made the cut!

If you would like to add your idea, just submit the answer to our live bounty. This simple guide will help you get started.

My thanks to everyone who visited the Hive of Ideas as well as Avery Erwin for editing, Adam Fernandez for video duties, the Bounties team, and the Ethereal crew for their support throughout.

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