The 6th edition of Funding the Commons took place on 15-16 July with the beautiful backdrop of Paris, France. The event was hosted at the renowned Sorbonne Université, which has the distinction of being one of the two oldest universities in Europe, with origins dating back to the 12th century. This installation of Funding the Commons was timed as the perfect complement to the Ethereum Community Conference, which took place the following day and just a short walk from the university. Paris was our key in-person event during 2023 and was unique in its incorporation of open space technology and other unconference-style programming, in addition to keynote speakers and panel discussions. This format enabled even more connection amongst participants, and led to the formation of new collaborations and projects. In addition to in-person attendance, the talks happening on the mains stage during the two-day event were live-streamed. If you were unable to attend in-person, you can watch the talks here.
Speakers
Addie Wagenknecht
Arcological Association
Alan Ransil
Filecoin Green
Alidra
Impact Stream
Angelo Kalaw
Celo
Anish Mohammed
Panther Protocol
Anna Stone
Good Dollar
Asad Khan
Centrifuge
Benjamin Reinhardt
Speculative Technologies
Beth McCarthy
Centrifuge
Bhaji Illuminati
Centrifuge
Carl Cervone
Protocol Labs
Caroline Klatt
Flowcarbon
Cassidy Daly
Centrifuge
Charbel-Raphael Segerie
EffiSciences
Christopher Szymczak
UNICEF
Danny O'Brien
Filecoin Foundation
David Casey
Protocol Labs
David Dao
Gain Forest
Eirini Malliaraki
Deep Science Ventures
Ele Diakomichalis
Drips.Network
Evan Miyazono
Protocol Labs
Felix Fritsch
Scuola Normale
Special Guest
Protocol Labs
Guy Wuollet
a16z
Holke Brammer
Protocol Labs
Jahed Momand
Cerulean Ventures
Janine Leger
Gitcoin
Jason Potts
RMIT
Jeanne Bloch
Decentralized Desires
Jeff Pulver
Von
Jesse Pollak
Coinbase
Joel Thorstensson
3Box Labs
Jonas Seiferth
Optimism
Jori Armbruster
EthicHub
Juan Benet
Protocol Labs
Juan Guillen
Maker DAO
Julian Zawistowski
Golem Foundation (Octant)
Katie Evans
Swarm
Kevin Olson
Gitcoin
Kevin Owocki
Supermodular, Gitcoin
Lena Bumke
GreaterThan
Lucas Vogelsang
Centrifuge
Mallika Robinson
Guardians of Earth
Manu Alzuru
DoinGud
Marco Barbosa
ImpactMarket
Marek Olszewski
Celo
Marieke Flament
NEAR Foundation
Matthew Frehlich
Protocol Labs
Matthew Stephenson
Pantera Capital
Meg Lister
Gitcoin
Njambi Ngoroje
Grassroots Economics
Omoju Miller
Fimio, Inc
Ori Applebaum
NEAR
Phil Fogel
Flowcarbon
Philip Stehlik
Crane Earth VC
Pia Mancini
Open Collective
Primavera De Filippi
CERSA
Raphäel Haupt
Toucan Protocol
René Reinsberg
Celo
Scott Moore
Gitcoin
Shaun Musuka
Centrifuge
Silvia Bessa
Protocol Labs
Simeon Campos
SaferAi
Steven Haft
ConsenSys
Will Little
Prota Ventures
Soham Sankaran
XX Company XX
Xochitl Cazador
Celo Foundation
Will Little
Prota Ventures
Zakk Fleischmann
Gitcoin
Schedule
July 15, 2023
July 16, 2023
Amphithéâtre Farabeuf
Main Stage
Speaker Series
9:00 CEST / 7:00 UTC
Doors Open
Coffee will be available
9:45 CEST / 7:45 UTC
Event Open: Funding the Commons, an Incubation Ecosystem for Public Goods Funding Infrastructure
Introduction to Funding the Commons Paris and upcoming 2023 events with David Casey, Evan Miyazono, and Matthew Frehlich
David Casey
Evan Miyazono
David Casey
Evan Miyazono
Matthew Frehlich
10:00 CEST / 8:00 UTC
A case study: Network Goods in Protocol Labs
[description]
Evan Miyazono
Matthew Frehlich
Evan Miyazono
Matthew Frehlich
10:15 CEST / 8:15 UTC
Fireside Chat with Guy Wuollet
Can public goods be revenue positive? Find out during this fireside chat with Addie Wagenknecht and Guy Wuollet.
Addie Wagenknecht
Guy Wuollet
10:35 CEST / 8:35 UTC
How ReFi Will Change the World
"Regenerative Finance" (ReFi) has the power to change the world as we know it. As traditional financial systems have long prioritized short-term profits over long-term sustainability, the world is in a state of cascading crises spurred on by environmental degradation, social inequalities, and economic instability. How can we harness the unique talent of people, the strength of communities, and the health and biodiversity of global ecosystems to propose economic solutions for the mutual benefit of all? Through universal basic income (UBI), nature-backed currencies, and the creation of new money without new debt, among other real-world use cases, Web3 tools can lead to greater financial inclusion, redefining money and its impact on the world, with a vision to create prosperity for all.
Xochitl Cazador
10:55 CEST / 8:55 UTC
What's at Stake: ETH & Public Goods Funding
Regenerative funding for public goods requires a sustainable funding and allocation mechanism. Octant provides a regenerative funding source through the staking of 100k ETH, allowing for experimentation with a mechanism to distribute proceeds among GLM token holders and web3 public goods projects. Octant's Epoch Zero, which aims to allocate $1 million worth of ETH to the top web3 public goods projects, is approaching its launch and welcomes active participation in the decision-making process.
Julian Zawistowski
11:25 CEST / 9:25 UTC
Coffee Break
11:35 CEST / 9:35 UTC
An Attractor for Public Goods Funding
In the field of dynamic systems, an attractor is a set of states toward which a system tends to evolve. How might we engineer an attractor towards more public goods funding? Join Gitcoin Founder Kevin Owocki on this cryptoeconomic public goods funding adventure.
Kevin Owocki
11:55 CEST / 9:55 UTC
Priorities for Public Goods Builders in 2023
Join Juan for an insightful discussion as he highlights noteworthy progressions within the realm of Public Goods over the past year and priorities for builders over the next year.
Juan Benet
Watch session
Watch Session
12:25 CEST / 10:25 UTC
The Open Web is NEAR: How BOS, NDC, and DAOs are Creating a Decentralized Web
These are challenging times in the world of crypto and blockchain, as poor ethics has plagued the industry. But right now is also a great opportunity to realize a more free, equitable, and collaborative vision for an open web. In this talk, NEAR Foundation CEO Marieke Flament explores how the Foundation serves the ecosystem by helping build public goods like the BOS, DevHub, NDC, DAOs, and more.
Marieke Flament
12:45 CEST / 10:45 UTC
Copylefting the Patent System with DeSci
This talk will describe how we can combine blockchain-based technology for decentralised collaboration along with and traditional legal tools, such as a defensive patent pools mixed with a copyleft clause, in order to foster an ecosystem of open and decentralised science, while maintaining proper system of economic incentives for innovators and contributors.
Primavera De Filippi
13:05 CEST / 11:05 UTC
Lunch Break
14:20 CEST / 12:20 UTC
Soulbound Reputation Tokens to the Rescue
What if we could use soulbound reputation tokens to perpetually fund open source? This is what I explore in this talk. I start by sharing my aha moment with regards to the challenge of funding the commons, unpack the coordination problems with managing open source projects, and finally introduce the concept of soulbound reputation tokens and all the questions we would need to answer before we can make them a reality.
Omoju Miller
14:40 CEST / 12:40 UTC
The Future is Collective
Building bridges between the legacy and decentralized ecosystems to fund public goods.
Pia Mancini
15:00 CEST / 13:00 UTC
Funding the Commons or Funding the Youth?
Funding the commons is a difficult sell in the world of international development. Many groups that finance the aid agenda participate in the damage that they're trying to fix, by profiting from the global South debt, intellectual-property regime, tax havens, or anti-commons approaches. Is funding the commons-oriented youth a better strategy?
Christopher Szymczak
15:20 CEST / 13:20 UTC
Coffee Break
15:30 CEST / 13:30 UTC
Contribution Theory of Value: On the Evolution of Markets and Commons
Many attempts to rebuild digital economies and theorize environmentally sustainable futures rely on reinventing markets and overturning capitalism. In this talk we develop a different path that unifies markets and commons as complementary institutional mechanisms for computing value and property rights and furnishing liquidity. We build this on a new contribution theory of value.
Jason Potts
15:50 CEST / 13:50 UTC
Dependency Funding with Drips v2
[description]
Eleftherios Diakomichalis
16:20 CEST / 14:20 UTC
Zuzalu: A First-of-its-kind IRL Pop-up Community Experiment
Zuzalu was a 2 month long IRL pop-up community experiment in Montenegro inspired by Vitalik Buterin. There were 200 full-time residents and over 700 visitors. The community that gathered was from a variety of interest areas including Ethereum Infrastructure, public goods, ZK tech, Longevity and Philosophy from across the world. Zuzalu wants to help foster a global decentralized community at the intersection of free and open technology, health, and social innovation, supporting personal growth, mutual respect, and authentic kindness.
Janine Leger
16:40 CEST / 14:40 UTC
Orchestrating New Attractor Points of Scientific Utility
This talk will explore the transformation of the scientific economy through new "attractor points" that coordinate talent, knowledge, and capital to bolster scientific utility. By delving into novel funding mechanisms and organisation structures, it will address the practical infrastructure needed for compound learning, outcome coordination, and AI-powered collective intelligence to shape the future of applied science.
Eirini Malliaraki
17:00 CEST / 15:00 UTC
Eight Myths About Technology Research
Many people would agree with the fact that better technology research has the potential to improve humanity. But below that consensus there is significant divergence over the nature of that work and how to improve it! This talk will present some of Speculative Technologies’ core theses by framing them in terms of some persistent misconceptions about technology research — from what kind of work creates public goods to the value of technology roadmapping. Warning: spicy.
Ben Reinhardt
17:20 CEST / 15:30 UTC
Roadmapping for Impact Funding
Panel discussion with Ben Reinhardt, Eirini Malliaraki, Joël Thorstensson, and Silvia Bessa
Ben Reinhardt
Eirini Malliaraki
Joël Thorstensson
Silvia Bessa
18:05 CEST / 16:10 UTC
End of Day 1
[description]
Omoju Miller
Salle Club
Workshops
Speakers & Workshops
Co-hosted by Fifty Years
9:00 CEST / 7:00 UTC
Doors Open
Coffee will be available
10:00 CEST / 8:00 UTC
Crypto UBI In the Wild - Onboarding the Next Billion DeFi Users
This workshop will focus on sharing the key hard-learned lessons in creating a Web3-based universal basic income (UBI) product and ecosystems that are useful and valuable for the 1.7 billion unbanked around the world. We will explore the question of the role of UBI as a public good, and the role of emerging technologies in enabling its success. Drawing from the experiences of GoodDollar and impactMarket, two of the biggest UBI projects in the world, we will share insights on the role UBI protocols play in an individual’s financial education and empowerment journey onboarding into crypto, and what that means for decentralized financial services that meet mass adoption. More importantly, we will discuss how the tech is facilitating new models of community organizing and empowerment. Attendees will take away a holistic idea of the role crypto UBI protocols can play in responsibly onboarding the next billion users and communities to Web3 especially in emerging markets, and our practical takeaways on product, community and advocacy from years of experience in the wild.
Angelo Kalaw
Anna Stone
Marco Barbosa
10:45 CEST / 8:45 UTC
Quadratic Funding in Togo, West Africa
In this fireside chat, Njambi of Grassroots Economics will share the vision of supporting more communities to lean into their ancient and traditional practices using Web3 tools, eventually fostering social economies as a viable and potent alternative to market economies. One key message is that we do not need to reinvent the wheel in creating a more inclusive future, if we only look into cultures and wisdom from our ancestors, and use it to guide product design. The conversation can cover the experience and challenges of building this tech solution, as well as the decision to use a decentralized blockchain to scale and expand its reach. The chat will also explore how we can draw from ancient and indigenous practices in designing global public goods - drawing from Grassroots’ experience of listening to elders and local communities.
Alidra
Will Little
11:15 CEST / 9:15 UTC
Designing and Building Allocation and Distribution Strategies for Allo v2
[description]
Zakk Fleischmann
Watch session
12:00 CEST / 10:00 UTC
The Goods We Have in Common
It is not so much the Goods as the Social Structures which are created around it that produces economical value. While acknowledging the central value of interdependance, how do we align our Commons Goods approaches and Regenerative Economy?
Jeanne Bloch
12:30 CEST / 10:30 UTC
Decentralized Impact Attestation
[description]
Carl Cervone
Jonas Seiferth
Carl Cervone
Jonas Seiferth
Kevin Olson
13:00 CEST / 11:00 UTC
Lunch Break
14:00 CEST / 12:00 UTC
Crypto Commons in theory and practice
Starting from a PhD research project on the political economy of Crypto Commons, this session covers the Crypto Commons Association as a digital movement accelerator and the Commons Hub as an experimental playground for sociotechnical systems innovation.
Felix Fritsch
15:00 CEST / 13:00 UTC
A Discussion: Redistribution and Governance of MEV
[description]
Leo Arias & Sarah Allen
16:00 CEST / 14:00 UTC
The Money Game: An Interactive Workshop
Playing The Money Game is a playful yet powerful experience that reveals our unconscious patterns and beliefs connected to money. Originally developed in the intentional community Findhorn, it's been adapted into other contexts and is played by groups worldwide. At Funding the Commons, we will play the game with a specific focus on how our money dynamics manifest on a personal level and in relation to the collective and the commons. Disclaimer: This workshop works with REAL MONEY. Each participant is asked to bring an amount in CASH. Choose a meaningful amount of money (whatever that means to you) - one you feel comfortable letting go of but that is enough to “trigger” your learning.
Lena Bumke
Philip Stehlik
18:00 CEST / 16:00 UTC
End of Day 1
[description]
Omoju Miller
Amphithéâtre Farabeuf
Main Stage
Speaker Series
9:00 CEST / 7:00 UTC
Doors Open
Coffee will be available
10:00 CEST / 8:00 UTC
Event Open: Day 2
[description]
Evan Miyazono
Matthew Frehlich
10:10 CEST / 8:10 UTC
FWD (Free World Dialup) or The History of the Future
I started FWD in 1995 and there was a time we had about a million subs. These days with just WebRTC in browsers we could have tens of millions of people talking. The platform was the reason “The Pulver Order” was granted in 2004 by the FCC and this in turn helped change the way the world communicates. There is a lot of social good that can happen and we would be a great platform to create / test / innovate both AI and Blockchain services.
Jeff Pulver
10:30 CEST / 8:30 UTC
Why DePIN Matters
[description]
Guy Wuollet
10:50 CEST / 8:50 UTC
Perpetual Archives as a Public Good
This session will explore how Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web thinks of engineering for 5-, 100-, and 1000-year preservations of public datasets.
Danny O'Brien
11:20 CEST / 9:20 UTC
10 Years in Funding Open Source Protocols
[description]
Special Guest Speaker - To Be Announced
11:40 CEST / 9:40 UTC
Coffee Break
11:50 CEST / 9:50 UTC
What Money Can't Buy: The Limits of Ecosystem Funding
NEAR Developer Hub implements all the best practices of OSS communities to grow a decentralized ecosystem. However, it also leverages funding and other incentives to facilitate its growth. Come to the talk to learn when the financial incentives should and should not be used.
Ori Applebaum
12:10 CEST / 10:10 UTC
Grants for (Public) Good: Establishing Resilient, Democratic Funding Mechanisms
Web3 grants programs are a vital source of funding for public goods and ecosystem growth, but they haven't yet figured out how to operate efficiently at scale. This talk examines popular funding mechanisms and the right mechanisms to use to drive outcomes as your ecosystem grows.
Meg Lister
12:40 CEST / 10:40 UTC
Retro Public Harms and Behavioral Game Theory Solutions
[description]
Matthew Stephenson
13:00 CEST / 11:00 UTC
Lunch Break
14:00 CEST / 12:00 UTC
Is Capitalism Really the Problem?
Reimagining how we can use crypto systems to make finance, and capitalism, work more effectively and equitably. This session will examine the roots of the modern financial system, where it went wrong, and what is being done to fix it.
Cassidy Daly
Jesse Pollak
Lucas Vogelsang
14:40 CEST / 12:40 UTC
Nature Realms: Unleashing Community Power for Biodiversity Conservation
We explore the revolutionary Nature Realms platform —where users create Nature Realms, digital twins of land areas, and actively contribute to biodiversity reporting. Emphasizing community engagement, gamified experiences, and the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, BioSpheres empowers individuals to connect with nature, champion biodiversity, and shape a sustainable future.
Mallika Robinson
15:00 CEST / 13:00 UTC
Announcement: Ethereum Climate Platform
Over 20 companies and NGOs have formed a consortium to address the Ethereum Climate Debt - an FTC update
Steven Haft
15:15 CEST / 13:15 UTC
Coffee Break
15:25 CEST / 13:25 UTC
Data Provenance and the Climate Crisis
[description]
Alan Ransil
15:40 CEST / 13:40 UTC
Public Goods That Will Onboard the Next Billion
[description]
Marek Olszewski
René Reinsberg
Marek Olszewski
René Reinsberg
16:00 CEST / 18:00 UTC
GainForest (AI x climate x web3)
We cannot value what we cannot measure. And we are failing to capture nature’s full contributions to society. In this talk, we argue that machine learning (ML) can play a significant role in responding to this critical call for action – but only when we develop ML algorithms in co-design with local and Indigenous communities – by empowering digital monitoring, reporting and verification and conservation projects. We will present our work at Gainforest, a global science-based non-profit and currently a semi-finalist of the $10M XPRIZE Rainforest, and how Gainforest is deploying affordable top-down and bottom-up monitoring solutions on the ground in partnership with local communities and conservation partners in the Global South. Lastly, we will discuss how increased transparency and decentralized science for nature can enable novel financial schemes to tackle global deforestation.
David Dao
16:20 CEST / 14:20 UTC
Hypercerts: How to Build Modern Impact Funding Systems
[description]
Holke Brammer
16:40 CEST / 14:40 UTC
AI Extinction Risks: Challenges and Opportunities in Funding AI Safety
Funding work which is useful to mitigate AI extinction risks is uniquely hard: 1) we don't know what we should aim for and 2) we have one single feedback loop. In this talk, Simeon will discuss the challenges that funding AI safety presents. He will also discuss what are the current existing opportunities in the space and propose a roadmap for AI safety funding and how to allocate various amounts of money.
Simeon Campos
17:00 CEST / 15:00 UTC
Controllable AI for a Safer, More Ethical Future
AI Safety Panel with Charbel Raphael, Evan Miyazono, and Simeon Campos
Charbel Raphael
Evan Miyazono
Simeon Campos
17:30 CEST / 15:30 UTC
Artizen Fund x Funding the Commons: A Mechanism Design Experiment in Participatory Capital Allocation for Public Goods
[description]
To Be Announced
17:45 CEST / 15:45 UTC
Closing Remarks
[description]
To Be Announced
18:00 CEST / 20:00 UTC
End of Day 2
[description]
Omoju Miller
Salle Club
Workshops
Speakers & Workshops
Co-hosted by Fifty Years
9:00 CEST / 7:00 UTC
Doors Open
Coffee will be available
10:00 CEST / 8:00 UTC
Fireside Chat with Grassroots Economics: Revitalizing Traditional Practices and Social Economies through Web3
[description]
Angelo Kalaw
Njambi Ngoroje
10:30 CEST / 8:30 UTC
Random Thoughts at the Edge of Cynicism on Use of Cryptoeconomic Arguments for Common Good
[description]
Anish Mohammed
11:30 CEST / 9:30 UTC
All In: Betting on DAO with High-stakes Strategies
Workshop: Get ready to go "All In" with DAOcraft's 90-minute DAO Design workshop. This immersive session uses the thrill of a high-stakes game as a metaphor to illuminate the strategic workings of DAOs. Learn how to turn complex DAO tasks into actionable and unblocked work, just as a player turns a challenging hand into a winning game. Don't miss this opportunity to master the art of DAO strategy and elevate your game theory to the next level.
Eliza
Juan Guillen
Retro
Watch session
13:00 CEST / 11:00 UTC
Lunch Break
14:00 CEST / 12:00 UTC
The Ethics of Public Goods Funding in the Web3 Space
Permissionlessness is a fundamental technical attribute of all public blockchains. Should it also be seen as an ideology and cultural value of the web3 space? Should entities funding public goods in the blockchain ecosystem steer it towards certain shared goals? Is there a way to underscore certain use cases over others without hampering freedom or inhibiting the creative potential of the web3 frontier? What is the relationship between the web3 commons and traditional states? Are we building parallel polities in cypherspace to complement or replace traditional institutions?
Julian Zawistowski
Manu Alzuru
Julian Zawistowski
Manu Alzuru
14:45 CEST / 12:45 UTC
Real-World Assets: Realizing the Actual Crypto Vision
What are real-world assets and how are they working to create the original vision of crypto by finding the balance between crypto systems, traditional finance, and the real world. Introduction to Centrifuge as the first RWA protocol and discussion on what they’ve learned and where they’re going.
Lucas Vogelsang
Philip Stehlik
15:15 CEST / 13:15 UTC
The Role of DeFi and Blockchain in Regenerative Financing Efforts
Flowcarbon and Toucan Protocol real-world asset use case deep dive into how decentralizing the carbon credit market opens the market up to a new set of participants who would’ve never had access to it in the traditional system.
Bhaji Illuminati
Caroline Klatt
Raphäel Haupt
15:45 CEST / 13:45 UTC
Coffee Break
16:00 CEST / 14:00 UTC
How DAOs Can Create Real Impact with Real-World Assets
The number 1 reason crypto startups fail is because they run out of money before they become self-sustaining. Strong treasury management is critical to a DeFi org's success, and that’s why many are looking to RWAs to generate predictable, sustainable returns. Looking beyond yields, the panel will also explore how RWAs create stronger bridges with the real world to make finance more equitable.
Asad Khan
Bhaji Illuminati
Philipp Peiper
Shaun Musuka
16:45 CEST / 14:45 UTC
Worldbuilding for Impact
How funding allocation, and the creation of novel asset classes and the communities that form around them, bridges between web3 and "the real world" for creating climate and social impact.
Beth McCarthy
Jahed Momand
Jori Armbruster
Phil Fogel
Scott Moore
17:30 CEST / 15:30 UTC
Quadratic Funding in Togo, West Africa
How funding allocation, and the creation of novel asset classes and the communities that form around them, bridges between web3 and "the real world" for creating climate and social impact.
Alidra
Will Little
To Be Announced
[description]
To Be Announced
14:40 CEST / 16:40 UTC
18:00 CEST / 15:30 UTC
End of Day 2
[description]
Omoju Miller
Map
Partners
TO BE ANNOUNCED. Check back for updates.
Sponsors
STILL ACCEPTING AND PROCESSING EVENT AND MEDIA SPONSORSHIP APPLICATIONS. Check back for updates.

Tokyo 2024

Join us for our 10th Funding the Commons conference in Tokyo Summer 2024! In a program curated by our partners from DeSci Tokyo and Plurality Tokyo, we’ll explore organizations and research projects revitalizing communities and civic infrastructures by defining new forms of support for public goods. In the midst of complex interdependent global challenges, and regional issues like declining population, defining needs, mechanisms, and coordination pathways around shared common resources can provide hope and tangible solutions. Amidst Japan's environmental and demographic shifts, this conference emerges as a crucial platform for inspiring new strategies in public goods support and presenting a regenerative vision from the cosmopolitan city of Tokyo. Over two days, engage, share, and collaborate to forge paths toward effectively funding and sustaining public goods in our dynamic world. Funding the Commons Tokyo 2024 brings together presentations, panel discussions, and collaborative sessions, welcoming both in-person and virtual participants. It's a chance for builders, protocol developers, academics, and funders to talk, create, and share new ways to fund public goods. Whether you're looking to add your knowledge, learn from the experts, or meet others in the field, this event is where you can help shape the future of public goods funding. Register now to secure your spot at Funding the Commons Tokyo 2024!
[description]
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