Monty Merlin Bryant, co-founder of ReFi DAO and environmentalist, discusses the transition of ReFi DAO to a coordination and the potential of using crypto for aligning people and planet. They explore regenerative finance, alternatives to the network state, and the importance of building strong local communities. They also discuss the potential of technology for positive impact and building self-sustainable ReFi solutions within local nodes.
Refi DAO aims to build a non-state force for aligning people and planet using the affordances of crypto.
Refi DAO seeks to coordinate global local communities through shared values and culture to create regenerative solutions.
Refi DAO is evolving towards a coordination of local communities and organizations to collectively address global issues and engage with governments, institutions, and corporations.
Deep dives
The Vision of RefiDow: Building a Regenerative Economy
RefiDow aims to reimagine, redesign, and rebuild financial and economic systems in harmony with people and the planet. They leverage advanced technologies like Web3 and AI to create a regenerative economy. The goal is to coordinate global local communities that implement regenerative solutions on the ground and connect them through shared values and culture. The focus is on building strong interconnected communities that can exert massive change and impact through collective action. The initial emphasis is on the social layer, creating relationships and forming bonds, and then evolving towards more formalized governance structures that ensure effective resource allocation and mitigate the free-rider problem.
The Role of RefiDow: A Collective Voice for Regeneration
RefiDow acts as a collective entity for regenerative communities worldwide. Its purpose is to support and connect local nodes or autonomous communities that share a kinship for regenerative activity. By interweaving these local nodes and fostering connections among them, RefiDow aims to build a collective identity and strengthen the collective voice for change. The focus is on fostering cooperation, sharing resources, and providing mutual support among the interconnected communities. The ultimate vision is to create a thriving network of communities that engage in real-world regenerative practices and positively impact the environment, while also influencing global institutions and policies towards regenerative principles.
Moving Towards Coordination: From Local Communities to Global Impact
RefiDow is evolving towards a coordination of local communities and organizations committed to regenerative finance and values. The goal is to create a collective actor that maximizes the collective benefit of all and effectively addresses the challenges of resource pooling, governance, and coordination. The focus is on interweaving local nodes, exchanging resources, and fostering deeper collaboration. By pooling resources and leveraging Web3 technologies, RefiDow aims to create a network of interconnected communities that can collectively address global issues and engage with other entities such as governments, institutions, and corporations. The aim is to build strong interdependencies among communities and create a collective identity that transcends individual nodes, establishing a voice that cannot be ignored.
Beyond Tokens: Building a Social Layer and Cultural Connection
RefiDow emphasizes the importance of the social layer and cultural connection in building a thriving community. It prioritizes forming strong bonds, relationships, and a sense of community among individuals and local nodes. While tokens and on-chain governance are part of the long-term plan, RefiDow takes a cautious approach, focusing on creating the social foundation first. Mechanisms like sociocracy and consent-based governance are explored to ensure participatory decision-making and inclusiveness. The goal is to foster collaboration, cooperation, and shared values among community members and gradually evolve towards more advanced governance structures. The key is to create a supportive and interconnected network that encourages active participation, interdependence, and collective action.
Pulling Resources Together: Ensuring Cooperation and Collective Impact
RefiDow recognizes the importance of pulling resources together as a crucial step towards collective impact. It acknowledges the challenge of mitigating the free-rider problem and ensuring all community members actively contribute and benefit. The focus is on creating incentives and mechanisms for resource pooling, revenue sharing, and mutualization of resources. Ideas like local impact DAOs and a global token that facilitates economic coordination and interweaving are being explored. RefiDow aims to strike a balance between incentivizing collaboration and addressing the needs and diverse interests of different local nodes. The goal is to create a dynamic and sustainable ecosystem that enables communities to flourish and make a significant positive difference in the world.
In this episode we spoke to Monty Merlin Bryant, a co-founder of ReFi DAO and environmentalist to discuss the movement behind ReFi or Regenerative Finance. ICYMI, ReFi DAO had previously started to declare itself a network state but has since learning more about coordi-nations, have shifted course towards our conceptual framework instead. We discuss what that process has been like and how ReFi DAO hopes to use the affordances of crypto to build a non-state force for aligning people and planet.
Check out a previous episode to learn more about our framework for out network state alternative, coordi-nations.
JOIN THE BLOCKCHAINGOV DISCORD SERVER HERE IF YOU WANT TO TAKE PART IN THE CONTINUED OVERTHROW AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE RISE OF COORDI-NATIONS.
Overthrowing the Network State (OTNS) is a series in collaboration with Blockchaingov where we critique The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a variety of guests. You can find the first episode of OTNS where we give our initial criticisms and alternatives here.
Blockchaingov is a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices. Throughout the series, each discussion will include me and a member of Blockchaingov with either a new guest each episode or a discussion between us to tackle various topics from the book.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) or Mastodon (@theblockchainsocialist@social.coop) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
ICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix Itand is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking.
The book is officially published and you use this linktree to find where you can purchase the book based on your region / country.
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