Episode 225 - Stellar and Hoops Sagrado - How Basketball and Crypto Are Powering Financial Inclusion in Guatemala

For episode 225 of the Crypto Altruists podcast, we’re excited to welcome Lindsay Poss, former Hoops Sagrado player and current Campaign Architect behind their groundbreaking new initiative powered by the Stellar network.

Through this campaign, Hoops Sagrado is paying basketball camp employees, vendors, and local partners in Guatemala using the Stellar Disbursement Platform and Beans App, enabling fast, transparent, and secure digital payments where traditional banking access is limited.

In today’s conversation, we’ll explore how basketball is breaking barriers for blockchain, how Stellar’s ecosystem is helping bridge financial divides, and the importance of local community engagement in driving meaningful change in Web3.

You’ll learn:

• 🏀 How Hoops Sagrado is leveraging Stellar’s Disbursement Platform to power their youth basketball program, enabling safe, instant crypto payments to local coaches, vendors, and workers.
• 🌍 Why blockchain can be a game-changer for financial inclusion; reducing risk, cutting costs, and empowering communities in cash-based economies.
• 💚 And how sports, culture, and technology together can redefine what “crypto adoption” really looks like on the ground.

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--Key Takeaways--

🏀 Meeting People Where They Are: True financial inclusion starts with accessibility. The Stellar Disbursement Platform makes crypto simple by offering easy on/off ramps and intuitive tools that work for those without deep tech knowledge.

💸 Solving Real Problems, Simply: In rural Guatemala, staff once carried wads of cash to pay workers. Stellar and Hoops Sagrado replaced that risky system with fast, secure digital payments, proving that where there’s a clear need, the right tech can deliver lasting impact.

🌱 Community Is the Gateway: By starting with culture and connection through basketball, shared spaces, and local collaboration, this project built trust from the ground up, showing how community-first design can make blockchain adoption truly stick.

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--Full shownotes with links available at--
www.cryptoaltruists.com/blog/crypto-altruists-episode-225-stellar-and-hoops-sagrado-how-basketball-and-crypto-are-powering-financial-inclusion-in-guatemala

Thank you to PIPE gDAO for sponsoring the Crypto Altruism podcast!

PIPE gDAO is leveraging blockchain for their University Real World Asset IP Launchpad that helps bring groundbreaking ideas from lab to market. 

--Support us with a Fiat or Crypto contribution--
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--DISCLAIMER--
While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, do not take any of this as investment advice and 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, since this is an emerging sector, some may be operating in regulatory grey areas, and as such, we cannot confirm their legality in the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially as it pertains to decentralized finance protocols. So, before getting involved with any project, it’s important that you do your own research and confirm the legality of the project. More info at cryptoaltruists.com/disclaimer