Next update from Fellow of the Ethereum Foundation Marcus AM.
Hola 👋, my name is Marcos and I am a researcher and builder from Guatemala, and Fellow EF. I’m an optimist at heart, and I’m driven to take advantage of social, cultural and technological innovation to build better societies – a conviction I’ve held since I was young.
Guatemala: A Country of Challenging Opportunities
As a child, I would spend my weekends accompanying my parents to visit many of the most isolated towns in Guatemala. At the time, he was running a nonprofit whose mission was to provide last-mile health care and create educational programs. The most frequently visited community was Puntarenas.
To get to Puntarenas, we used to travel up to three hours by boat through thick mangrove forests to reach a village deep in the jungle. When we first started visiting, the community in Puntarenas had limited access to clean water, no healthcare or educational infrastructure, and little economic activity.
Founded during the civil war, the people of Puntarenas sought refuge from the violence and massacres that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 innocent civilians across the country. For now, I’ll spare you the harsh reality of US involvement in Latin America (and beyond) during the Cold War, but if you’re interested in learning more about the subject, I highly recommend Schlesinger and Kinzer’s book. Bitter fruit.
Over the years, we have worked with the community of Puntarenas to deliver medical and dental campaigns, establish a healthcare clinic, build housing, and raise money for infrastructure investments, including a community-run school.
Fast forward two decades, and Puntarenas is now a self-sufficient village, where families have access to education, healthcare, water, and energy (provided by solar panels that even power a few computers at school)! What is happening in Puntarenas is a reminder that access to basic, respectable services can have a huge impact on society, even in the most difficult situations.
The Story of Puntarenas depicts the reality of Guatemala – a beautiful country full of culture, rich heritage and stunning landscapes. On first impressions, Guatemala appears to be a relatively rich country; Indeed, we have The highest GDP in Central America And at one point, The largest number of helicopters per capita worldwide.
Unfortunately, the social and economic fabric of Guatemala paints a very different picture. We are a country facing extreme inequality, which began with a violent 36-year civil war and a history of exploitation and corruption. Throughout rural and primarily indigenous Guatemala, it is not uncommon to encounter communities that, like Puntarena once, have been cut off from basic services such as running water, power, shelter, health care, education, and food. Despite these difficult conditions, people in these areas are striving to create better livelihoods for themselves and those around them.
The effect starts at home
One of the biggest challenges facing development is the fact that More than 19.6 million people in Guatemala live in miserable living conditions. In extreme cases, multiple generations have to share a room, where hearths pollute the air, and where sanitation is an afterthought (if any).
We believe that providing adequate housing is the foundation for building a better future for all. After all, our homes are where we spend most of our time, where we learn, where our families meet, and where dreams are born.
This is why me and a group of lifelong friends are working on an initiative called Lamina Pop. Lamina POP is a patented building technology that uses common building materials in innovative ways to build homes that are cheap, lightweight, and architecturally sound. The technology is simple and can be deployed even in the most remote parts of Guatemala.
Working with our partners, including Habitat for Humanity, the University of Cambridge, and Stanford, the Lamina POP system significantly improves the well-being of those for whom we build homes. Collectively, we believe a home is more than four walls – it’s an opportunity to offer a renewed sense of optimism and growth.
The results of decent housing are being felt. From enhancing educational outcomes, reducing the environmental impact of housing, to improving psychological well-being, we’ve seen the incredible engine of development that a Lamina POP system can provide. As we continue to develop, we’re excited about the potential to deliver more innovation-driven solutions throughout Guatemala and beyond.
Despite our efforts, we have found that one of the major barriers to mass adoption of innovative solutions such as Lamina POP is the lack of financial infrastructure and education in underserved communities. Even though the Lamina POP solution is 30% cheaper than any other leading low cost housing alternatives, the people we aim to build homes for are not able to get loans at low interest rates to invest in a house for their family.
Many of the financial transactions that take place throughout these communities take place in the “informal” economy. Payment is made in cash, debts are not recorded, and goods and services remain outside the purview of financial institutions. Sending payments, obtaining low-interest loans, building a credit history, and tracking trade have become nearly impossible with Guatemala’s current financial infrastructure. Working in the “informal” economy keeps the door closed to ordinary people to take advantage of personal loans and business investments, not to mention a mortgage.
As a result, many of these individuals depend on rapacious lenders (traditional financial institutions among them), who often exploit vulnerable populations for their own benefit. It is not uncommon throughout Latin America to find Loan borrowers who will lend at a monthly interest rate of 20%. crippling debt It leaves many in precarious situations Forcing them to lose deeds, fall into delinquency, or even worse, commit suicide.
Can Crypto Help?
Among many things, the promise of cryptocurrency is to create new, more equitable economic models that can benefit everyone, not just the rich and powerful. Some see DeFi’s promise as the ability to provide financial services to those who may not have access to traditional financial tools in emerging economies around the world, including some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably optimistic about the potential of technology to address some of these issues. Maybe that means decentralized networks fundamental revolution The way we interact with ourselves, each other, and systems of power. Or perhaps it simply means apps that use new, more accurate types of digital information to assess someone’s creditworthiness so they can get a favorable interest rate on a small loan. I think the reality will be somewhere in between.
In its current form, it is an overstatement to say that DeFi is poised to provide viable new paths to financial inclusion at scale. We face huge barriers to digital and financial literacy, institutional trust, and significant user experience challenges. But despite the current state of the industry, I believe we have everything on hand in order to build tailored solutions for communities like Puntarenas.
My Billion Fellowship
I have spent the past few months exploring ways to break this financial empowerment barrier by harnessing the power of Ethereum. My goal is to investigate a number of viable solutions powered by crypto technologies for financial inclusion and access to credit to ultimately enable human prosperity across Guatemala and beyond.
I’ve been looking for coins that might be useful in a place like Puntarenas and all over Guatemala. In particular, I have been exploring barriers to adoption and potential solutions that can be used to unlock peer-to-peer lending for those who do not have access to more equitable financial mechanisms.
So far, as part of my research, I’ve spoken with members of hundreds of crypto projects including leading DeFi protocols, DAOs, identity and scaling solutions, and other core developers, designers, and wallet builders. In addition, I conducted talks and interviews with leading local projects, government offices, and international NGOs across Guatemala and other emerging economies to understand where they might see cryptocurrency acting as a catalyst for new modes of coordination and fair financial services.
This research was incredibly insightful and has allowed me to gain a better understanding of the current state of DeFi and the potential of the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem in emerging economies.
next steps
Currently, I am preparing an open source report that will provide a detailed understanding of the current crypto landscape and provide recommendations on how best to use crypto to unlock more financial inclusion, particularly for emerging economies. I’ll be publishing the final report by the first week of March (just in time for ETHDenver), so stay tuned!
In addition to the written report, I will publish an audio and video series featuring a variety of stakeholders. This includes thought leaders and original builders in the cryptocurrency space, those deploying solutions in emerging economies that benefit from crypto, and of course the last mile communities and organizations that will eventually benefit from this technology.
The report and video series I’m creating is primarily aimed at cryptocurrency builders who want to better understand the landscape of technical, educational, and social challenges and opportunities to consider; In addition to impact-led organizations across emerging countries seeking to understand specifically how cryptocurrency can benefit their efforts and initiatives.
To stay up to date with the latest results from your email search and contribute to the report, you can Subscribe and mint Free NFT on the mirror. Let’s communicate too Twitter!