The function of MetaCulture is to build bridges between Cult DAO and value aligned communities such as MOROS NET, DarkFi, LunarDAO, and Gitcoin.
The objective is to accelerate exchange of worldviews and ideas (culture) and capital across divisions within crypto. One path here is synthesizing the strengths of Lunarpunk and Solarpunk protocols in order to maximize attention on the need for privacy while also funding its development.
Yet, many within the broader Ethereum ecosystem view on-chain transparency as a foundational value, and therefore that on-chain privacy contradicts what they believe in. In reality, the cultivation of Ethereum’s cypherpunk values (2) like decentralization, permissionless global participation, and censorship resistance is impossible without adequate privacy solutions.
With help from Kevin Owocki to solve for this while introducing Cult to Gitcoin’s funding system, MetaCulture managed Cult DAO’s first Gitcoin appearance in August, 2023 (1); a second round in November the same year; and has spearheaded a plan to fund development of Lunarpunk communities through Gitcoin OSS and/or community rounds.
People tend to be more likely to talk about things like the need for privacy solutions when those solutions are competing for the same pools of grant funding. As such, DarkFi and LunarDAO engaging with limited pools of funding on Gitcoin is a memetic warfare technique which should yield positive sum value for all involved.
(1)explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/0x2871742b184633f8dc8546c6301cbc209945033e/0x2871742b184633f8dc8546c6301cbc209945033e-227
(2) https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/12/28/cypherpunk.html
(a) Building Access to Capital: MetaCulture bridges Cult, MOROS NET, DarkFi, LunarDAO and future initiatives to Gitcoin while coordinating their ability to support one another.
Gitcoin is Ethereum’s most known and well-capitalized grantmaking hub. It distributes funds through Quadratic Funding (1), an algorithm which assigns funds to projects from a matching pool based on how many donations they received relative to others, rather than the amount any given donor gives.
So, the more donors (which pass the sybil criteria) a project has within a Round relative to others, the higher % of matching funds they receive.
This is the power of coordinating Lunarpunk communities in creating positive sum funding gains, while also leveraging Gitcoin as a platform for why privacy matters.
A few statistics to keep in mind as we head into the remainder of 2024:
-Since launching its Grants Program in 2019, Gitcoin has distributed $56,000,000 in funding to 3,715 projects (2).
-According to Vitalik: “Gitcoin Grants is establishing itself as a significant pillar of the Ethereum ecosystem that more and more projects are relying on for some or all of their support.”
-During Gitcoin Grants 19 this past November, the matching pool for Web3 Open Source Software was $200,000.
The other Round I think DarkFi and LunarDAO would fit is Web3 Community & Education, which also had a $200,000 matching pool last round.
(b) Memetic Warfare (3)
MetaCulture is a path for revitalizing Cult DAO as a perpetual motion funding machine with the memetics to effectively communicate Lunarpunk values at scale.
As communities which share an appreciation for OSS, privacy, and digital sovereignty, our mutual goal should be catalyzing a cultural paradigm shift away from the strangely inverted narrative that, if you are innocent, then you shouldn’t be afraid of being surveilled. For Cult, Moros, DarkFi and LunarDAO, Gitcoin is a hub of passionate, brilliant, and aligned individuals that is open for helping transmit our message that anonymity not only isn’t scary, but should be a normalized default and easily available option for digital communities.
As Phil Zimmerman said in the ’90s, “Privacy is as apple pie as the Constitution.” It takes a massive psyop for generations of people to believe the opposite. MetaCulture activates the value alignment between Solarpunk and Lunarpunk communities, including funding DAOs, in order to create positive sum value for all parties involved.
(1) https://www.wtfisqf.com/
(2) https://www.gitcoin.co/program
(3) https://dark.fi/insights/memetic-warfare.html
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