In this episode, we are joined by Marco Barbosa, Founder of impactMarket, a decentralized poverty alleviation protocol that enables vulnerable communities to implement poverty alleviation mechanisms, such as Unconditional Basic Income (UBI). We discuss how crypto and blockchain can enable greater financial inclusion, the synergy between crypto and UBI, and impactMarket’s unique decentralized approach to poverty alleviation.

About Marco

Marco Barbosa, has a master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro and attended Draper University for entrepreneurs in California. After completing his studies, he flew to Silicon Valley, San Francisco, where he attended the Plug and Play Tech Center accelerator and an entrepreneurship course at MIT. In Portugal, Marco co-founded eSolidar, a marketplace that allows anyone to buy, sell and donate to social causes. In 2020, he created impactMarket, a platform that aims to end extreme poverty through blockchain technology. He is also a shareholder in Sustainable Accelerator Investment Fund, a British accelerator, and investor for social impact businesses. He is a tech entrepreneur working for the social impact, distinguished in 2016 by "Forbes 30 under 30" in the category of Social Entrepreneurship.

About Impact Market

impactMarket is an open, free, censorship-resistant, and borderless impact-driven crowdfinance marketplace to fight poverty. It operates as a DAO, on top of the Celo network, uses $cUSD (Celo Dollar) as the main digital currency and $PACT as its governance token, while running autonomously through smart contracts

Follow Marco and impactMarket and learn more:

Twitter - Marco

Twitter - impactMarket

Episode Time Stamps

02:15 - What was your “Ah hah” moment that originally got you interested in cryptocurrency and web3?

09:10 - What is the mission of impactMarket, and how did it all get started?

19:40 - What is UBI, and why is cryptocurrency and blockchain a good fit for UBI projects?

27:50 - Tell me about the $PACT Token, and how it changes the impactMarket protocol?

35:20 - What have been the impacts of impactMarket so far? (i.e. stats on individuals served, total $ in UBI dispersed, etc.)

40:42 - Please tell me about your long-term vision and roadmap for impactMarket

43:55 - I understand that you recently joined the Celo Foundation’s #DeFiforthePeople initiative. Can you tell me more about this?

47:40 - What’s the best way for listeners to learn more and get involved with impactMarket?

For more exciting content exploring the intersections of web3 and social impact, check us out at cryptoaltruism.org.

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--DISCLAIMER --
While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, please do not take any of this as investment advice, and please make sure to do your own research on potential investment opportunities, or any opportunity, before making an investment. We host a variety of guests on this podcast with the sole purpose of highlighting the social impact use cases of this technology. That being said, Crypto Altruism does not endorse any of these projects, and we recognize that,

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