ReFi Generation

Today we dive into different economic models with Guilio Quarta from Crypto Commons association. Guilio, having a background in sociology, has been studying alternative practices of organizing and assigning value. This has caused Guilio to lean into the “Blockchain for good” space. What I especially resonated with was Guilio’s narrative agnostic approach, where his work seeks to be the narrative bridge that shows people they are doing things that are actually quite similar to each other, rather than strikingly different.

Guilio discusses the concept of how a system is what it does practically, not what it says it does. One warning Guilio gives is of venture capital funding taking away from the good of all stakeholders, and how alternative forms of funding can ensure that all stakeholders such as the broader ReFi community, regen farms, everyday people etc have their needs met, rather than the needs of Venture Capital.

Guilio could see a dystopian future of making the whole world a data ledger and then plugging in all the financial market activities and ecological values. Thus, he cautions the ReFi ecosystem, similar to Douglas Gayton’s from ReFi Generation Ep. 6, to ensure that what we are putting on the blockchain is further democratizing society and increasing inclusivity.

We finished the conversation with a teaser on CoFi - aka Collaborative Finance. The meme of CoFi originated after ReFi - but is a method of accounting that traditional financial systems have historically been using. CoFi focuses more on using credit & trust based systems to improve the local & global economy and looks at Ways to optimize existing financial systems without using tokenomics. One thing to note: Post capitalism does NOT mean communism or socialism, but rather other ways of assigning value, Conscious capitalism, for example, can be thought of a post capitalist modality.
Commons Economy
ReFi Barcelona
Co-Fi

In today’s episode I have the pleasure of interviewing TMO of BASIN Protocol for a third time. TMO, AKA Thomas Morgan, having spent the majority of his career in commercial real estate, is the bridge we need for real world assets coming on chain.
TMO discusses the nuances of nature being on the balance sheet, versus nature having its own balance sheet. The former is the old extractive mentality, whereas the latter allows ecosystems to hold their own assets of value.
BASIN as a protocol is aimed to preserve, conserve, and restore more land by building a network of agents that are stewarding & flowing value into ecosystems. The protocol uses financial models that take real value, and then apply a monetary value to ecosystem services, such as pollination, biodiversity, soil health etc.
TMO explains how Basin’s 14 different ecosystems & 18 real values of natural capital fits into the broader Ecological Benefits Framework.
Corporations have personhood in the United States - so why not ecosystems, why not rivers & why not mountains? BASIN is creating structures so that ecosystems can fund themselves, in perpetuity. BASIN is giving land back to nature, where nature owns itself. BASIN is creating mechanisms to perpetually protect ecosystems and land against future lease and sell pressure. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, I hope you do as well.
BASIN's Twitter
TMO's Twitter
BASIN.Global
BASIN Field Manual
Confluence.BASIN

Join us as Will Masters from Ogallala Life discusses how regenerative finance can breathe life back into landscapes. Will doesn't just talk theory, he and his team are actively building methods of landscape hydrologic restoration on the ground at the Wildcat Bluff Nature Center in the Texas panhandle.
Ogallala Life is at the intersection of nature, technology, and finance, navigating the rollercoaster of fundraising through cryptocurrency markets. Will discusses the nuances of landscape restoration, from the implementation of leaky weirs that rejuvenate creeks, to adaptive multi-paddock grazing that mimics the grazing patterns of the once prevelant bison that were the original stewards of our prairies.
Our conversation uncovers the challenges of carbon contracts and the much-needed narrative shift toward water stewardship that resonates with local landowners. With Will's insights, we explore the frontier of ecological monitoring, where blockchain technology can provide a new era of trustworthy environmental data.
Ogallala Life Twitter
Wild Cat Bluff Rehydration Campaign (Donation Link)

Join us live at the Ethereum Denver conference! The pulse of the conference is vibrant, and there is a resounding narrative of regerneration. We are joined with Alan Ransil of Filecoin Green & William Skinner of Helios. A thing to note, the ETH Denver podcast studio had software to mute the background noise, which at times makes the audio not 100%, please excuse that for this episode, as the content the guests cover is not to be missed!
Yes, there is still degens abounding at the conference, but there were two entire days dedicated to regenerative finance and blockchain tools that can help solve climate change. Our discussion peels back the layers of how Filecoin Green builds tools using decentralized data to monitor and verifiably reduce the environmental impacts of networks and businesses. Alan also shares with us his new project launch, Liquid Cert, which is addressing the rampant greenwashing issues around trust. Liqua Cert fosters trust and transparency by making verifiable claims in the world of regenerative finance, ensuring that eco-projects are both well-intentioned and impactful.
William Skinner's passion & commitment to sustainability and renewable energy is seen as he shares Helios with us. Helios is allowing liquidity to more easily drive capital to the imparative need for investing in solar, while giving retail investors a stable return.
We wrap up with a look at decentralized ownership models and their transformative impact on land ownership and ecological preservation. This discussion shines a spotlight on companies like Jasmine Energy who are on the cutting edge of innovation with the tokenization of renewable energy credits, propelling us towards a more sustainable blockchain industry.
***Disclaimer: Helios brought me on to advise on solar projects***
Alan's Twitter
Filecoin Green
Liquacert
Helios
William's Twitter

Welcome back from our summer break! Marcus Aurelius from Klima DAO joins us to discuss how blockchain technology can revolutionize the carbon offset market. Marcus has a background in data science and data engineering and is passionate about leveraging data to solve problems and make better decisions. Marcus sets the stage for us by sharing how nearly 2 trillion tons of CO2 have been emitted since the industrial revolution, yet the carbon markets to date have yielded only 2 billion CO2 credits, with only about half being retired. This is a huge mismatch, especially with an estimated 40 billions tons of CO2 being emitted yearly.

Klima is an exciting protocol for bridging carbon offsets onto the blockchain. You might ask why this is necessary? By bridging carbon offsets on-chain, Klima brings an unprecedented level of transparency and auditability to the carbon offset market. Klima is mostly focussed on the demand side of the carbon market, but we also learn about some of the carbon projects that Klima is supporting on the supply side who are using dMRV, digital measure report verification. This drastically reduces the cost of verifying ecological data claims, thus further democratizing the ability for smaller scale regenerative actors to enter the market.

Marcus is skeptical of the top-down approach, especially in the time frame needed to solve the environmental crisis. We discuss the key players in the carbon offset markets. From buyers to suppliers, Marcus shares nuanced insights on how this traditionally opaque carbon market is in dire need of improvement. In comes Regenerative Finance - bringing greater access to carbon markets with lower barriers to entry, allowing for greater liquidity, better on ramping rails for purchasing offsets, along with reducing green washing because the authenticity of impact claims can be verified and trusted.

We learn how AMM’s (Automated market makers) or decentralized exchanges, are the key innovation in decentralized finance because they allow for the creation of an asset with complex underlying behavior, unlocking the ability to create liquid assets out of previously illiquid assets.

Klima is looking to address the “Carbon tunnel vision problem” to move beyond just the carbon market and we learn of some of the exciting forward financing projects Klima is taking on. The beauty of ReFi is that some of these projects are cutting edge and would be traditionally hard to fund with the more conventional due diligence process of a philanthropy, but because KLIMA is a DAO, the public who holds the KLIMA token is able to vote and make decisions on where climate financing is invested.
Klima Twitter
Marcus' Twitter
Klima's Carbon Dashboard
Klima App
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