Crypto startups, check out this US$1 million fund

Mercy Corps is launching a new Crypto for Good Fund of $1 million to test and support blockchain-based solutions for people who are currently low-income and/or unbanked. Up to 10 social enterprises will receive up to $100,000 in grant funding to test their pilot projects applying decentralized finance and blockchain technology to build financial inclusion solutions for users in emerging markets.

The objective of the Fund is to drive global financial inclusion through a series of pilots, building an evidence base to prove the scalability of blockchain-enabled solutions in making a positive impact on the 1.7 billion people in the world who are currently unbanked.

Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV) is looking for startups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and social enterprises in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Pacific Islands, and Western Balkans, who innovatively apply decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain technology to build financial inclusion solutions for un/underbanked and low-income users.

Solutions can include, but are not limited to:

• Coins / Tokens
• NFTs
• Digital wallets
• Lending protocols
• Digital ID
• DAOs
• Smart contracts

The Fund will provide an equity-free grant of between $25,000 and $100,000 to ten eligible startups, to run their pilot over a six month period in 2022. Alongside capital MCV will provide mentorship, impact measurement advisory, access to partnership opportunities, knowledge exchange, and visibility via their communications channels.

Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps Ventures invests in and fuels high-impact enterprises working in frontier markets, from seed to scale. As part of our focus on financial resilience, MCV works with partners to responsibly pilot new financial products and services tailored to un/underbanked and low-income populations. Find out more in the 2021 Annual Impact Report.

The deadline is the 15th of April 2022 and you can find the form with the link here

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We held a Twitter Space last year breaking down a study that was done by The Zimbabwe Blockchain Technology Think Tank called “Towards Virtual Asset Regulation and Adoption of Blockchain Technology in Zimbabwe’s Context”. You can listen to or download that recording with the player below. Alternatively, you can access it with the link here

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