With its Quadratic funding, Gitcoin supports open-source software development by promoting financing, development, and protection initiatives, as a platform that supports open-source software development.
The aim of this innovative mechanism is to concentrate on the number of unique donations rather than their size. Gitcoin Grants 18 are still in progress, consisting of four primary rounds with $1 million in matching funds available.
With over $50 million in grants, Gitcoin has created a substantial worldwide financial impact of more than $29 billion. Gitcoin, a major player in the global oil and gas industry, has announced a year-long collaboration with Shell PLC.
Azeem Khan, a successful entrepreneur, cryptocurrency investor and the head of impact at Gitcoin, chatted with Benzinga about these developments and more. What is Gitcoin's current market position and expected market trends in the near future?
The biggest goal for us now is to get our products into users' hands and achieve a traditional version of product-market fit. We have a variety of offerings, such as the Gitcoin Grants Program, Gitcoin Passport, Public Goods Network, Grants Stack, and Allo Protocol. We're in a position where we're talking to all the communities who need or want to use each of these products for their communities and slowly working towards that version of PMF that every tech company aspires to. If I had to sit down and decide what success meant, it would be along those lines.
Gitcoin has said it has agreed to work with Shell PLC, the oil and gas giant. What are your views on this collaboration and its reception within the crypto community?
Yes, absolutely. Shell has a deep Web3 team and has had one since 2016, and the deal came to us, saying they were interested in using R&D dollars to an experiment in quadratic funding using the Gitcoin Grants Program, specifically with a focus on the climate rounds we've successfully been running for some time now. Our community was not too happy, he said. It's essential to step outside the bubble of a specific crypto niche Twitter was discussing. The media around it was ample compared to what we usually get during our grants rounds, and it was generally positive, outside of talking about the negative sentiment of people on Twitter. Things could have been better communicated from our end as Gitcoin, being stewards of such an essential brand in this space. I won't say it wasn't a complicated and nuanced issue that could have been handled better. Then, at the end of the day, an obscure crypto company to the outside world reportedly did a six-figure cash deal with a Fortune 10 company.
What is your view about Gitcoin Passport and its potential advantages and disadvantages for users?
I'm a big fan of Gitcoin Passport, even taking my biased opinion out of the equation. There are many of the most intelligent people in space, who have been working on how identity is one of the most easily used and applicable usecases of a product in crypto out for the general population. We first created the product in response to wanting to make sure people didn't gaming our grants rounds because the way quadratic funding works is that people who get more votes get more money from the matching pool, so we wanted to make sure that one person wasn't voting from multiple accounts. Then, over time, that led us to conversations where this tool was helpful for airdrop farming, Gamefi, NFT drops, crypto gambling, potential Tradfi/Defi scenarios and more.
What is the current state of the cryptocurrency market, and where do Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies stand in terms of their prospects and challenges?
Even though we're in a bear market, things are looking up for the first time in a long time. The trend is that we're starting to see what amounts to win across the board in this space, he said. without getting too far into the weeds, it seems the CPI is leveling off, and we're not going to see any more interest rate hikes. There appears to be a trend towards regulatory clarification in the United States, with the SEC taking loss after loss. As Bitcoin spot ETF is approved, it will be a game changing moment for liquidity as it enters the market. It's always interesting to see the Bitcoin halving, whether people believe in it or not. And finally, there's just global adoption starting to occur little by little globally.
What will be the impact of global regulations on the future of the crypto industry in the next five years?
It's always difficult to make such projects, as people who are as deeply involved in the industry as myself tend to be a bit more on the rose-colored glasses end of things. And because of that, I will give a more level-headed answer. The technology is still not there compared to how we discuss the opportunities across various verticals, such as finance, gaming, entertainment, etc. The people building the technology, on top of that, are not doing so with the user in mind. The idea of consumer crypto that goes beyond just speculative assets needs to arrive faster than later, he said. With those two main things in mind, my honest belief for where we are at five years from now is what the early 2000s looked like for companies like Facebook and Google. Many companies will appear to be building exceptional things with growing revenue, userbases, and potential. But that is the extent of what I see for where I'm at five years from now.
Crypto analyst: Bitcoin On The Cusp Of The Market, says Bitcoin On The Cusp Of Bitcoin.