Can Blockchain, the technology behind crypto and NFTs, be used for more than just making money? Researchers, companies and individuals are using blockchain to address some of the current challenges and create new models for helping social causes and advancing knowledge and change. This article from CBC News reports on two stories that show the socially beneficial potential of Blockchain and Web3 technologies.
400 Drums
400 Drums is a project dedicated to supporting Indigenous artists. They create drums in their studio in Burnaby, BC, but these drums are not sold in their physical form. Instead, these are sold as a minted NFT, a format that generates a unique digital code that can’t be modified or owned by anyone else after being purchased. This is especially appealing to indigenous artists because their art is often replicated and sold without their permission. The profits of this project go to different programs that support indigenous youth and indigenous cultural knowledge.
My Personal Health Wallet
UBC iSchool Professor and Blockchain@UBC Cluster Lead Dr. Victoria Lemieux is one of the main researchers of the My Personal Health Wallet project, a research partnership with Molecular You, Stonepaper, and Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster. The long-term goal of this platform is to create a secure enclave on your phone where users can confidently upload and share their health information with approved parties, without sharing it with anyone else or even having it traceable. This app will allow users to access their health records instantly, control their own data and protect it from hackers.
There are still lots of questions about this technology and its environmental impact. But with more people entering the blockchain world every day, people like Dr. Lemieux and the 400 Drums projects are just beginning to tap into the potential of this technology and its use for social good.
