Introduction
In this video, we will explore two projects that are contributing to the development of an open financial system: Impact Market and Corsali. Impact Market is a decentralized poverty system aimed at addressing poverty and enabling mechanisms like unconditional basic income (UBI). Corsali, on the other hand, is a full-stack machine learning platform that utilizes cryptocurrency to empower workers to earn while performing various tasks. Both projects leverage the Celo blockchain to achieve their goals.
Impact Market: Ending Poverty with Decentralized UBI
Overview of Impact Market
Impact Market is a decentralized poverty system built on top of the Celo network. It focuses on addressing poverty as a limiting factor for human potential and aims to end poverty by 2030. The project has already made significant progress, with approximately 700 million people, or 0.0023% of the world’s population living in extreme poverty, already benefiting from Impact Market.
Setting up a Community
To establish a community in Impact Market, the process is relatively simple. Local charities that support specific groups of people, such as refugee camps, favelas, or farmers, can submit a form to create a community. The community’s parameters, including the amount each beneficiary can claim and the time increment between claims, are specified during this process. Once approved by Impact Governance, a new contract is deployed for the community.
Supporting Communities and Transparency
Anyone can contribute to a community by sending Celo Dollars (cUSD) directly to the community’s contract. This direct support eliminates intermediaries and ensures full transparency. Impact Market provides various indicators to track community interactions and progress. Currently, there are nearly 16,000 beneficiaries across 68 communities, including refugee camps, favelas, and neighborhoods in different countries.
Impact and Future Steps
Impact Market has already made a significant impact, with beneficiaries claiming almost $700,000 worth of cUSD. On average, beneficiaries are claiming approximately $0.50 per day, and the impact of this income is lasting for around four years. Impact Market’s future steps include launching their own governance and incentive tokens, exploring additional initiatives like plastic collection and collective savings and lending mechanisms, and implementing an impact measurement framework.
Corsali: Empowering Workers with Machine Learning
Introduction to Corsali
Corsali is a machine learning platform that simplifies the process of building and deploying machine learning models at scale. It eliminates the need for specialized engineers and allows companies to leverage the expertise of workers through tasks performed on their phones. Workers earn cryptocurrency (cusd) while completing various tasks, ranging from knowledge work to data collection.
Benefits of Celo Blockchain for Corsali
Corsali utilizes the Celo blockchain for several reasons. The fast block times enable real-time transfers, ensuring workers receive their earnings promptly. The low fees associated with Celo transactions make it cost-effective, even for small transactions. Additionally, the stability of cusd eliminates concerns about price volatility.
Worker Experience and Financial Inclusion
For many Corsali workers, it is their first experience with cryptocurrency. Initially, workers would quickly convert their cusd earnings to local currency. However, they have realized the benefits of holding cusd, such as earning interest through platforms like Valora. Workers have started to view cusd as an investment opportunity and a means to build savings.
Transforming Lives and Building Trust
Corsali’s use of cryptocurrency has positively impacted workers’ financial situations, particularly in regions with high inflation rates. As workers gain confidence in the value of cusd, more local merchants begin accepting it as a form of payment. The availability of fast and free transactions further contributes to increased usage of cusd. The adoption of cusd as a widely accepted currency has also led to interest from individuals and businesses outside of the Corsali ecosystem. This has sparked a broader movement towards financial inclusion and the adoption of digital currencies in the region.
Building Machine Learning Models with Corsali
Corsali simplifies the process of building machine learning models by breaking it down into smaller tasks that can be performed by workers on their smartphones. These tasks include data labeling, image classification, text annotation, and more. Workers are provided with clear instructions and guidelines to ensure accurate and consistent results.
To get started with Corsali, you can follow these steps:
Create an Account: Visit the Corsali website and create an account. You will need to provide basic information and set up a wallet to receive your earnings in cusd.
Explore Available Tasks: Once your account is set up, you can browse through the available tasks. Corsali offers a variety of tasks across different domains and industries.
Choose a Task: Select a task that matches your skills and interests. Each task will have specific requirements and instructions for completion.
Complete the Task: Follow the provided instructions and complete the task to the best of your abilities. Take your time to ensure accuracy and quality.
Submit the Task: Once you have completed the task, submit your work for review. Corsali employs a quality control process to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the results.
Earn cusd: Upon successful completion and approval of your task, you will be rewarded with cusd. The earnings will be deposited into your Corsali wallet.
Manage Your Earnings: You can manage your cusd earnings directly in your Corsali wallet. You have the option to convert cusd to local currency or hold it as an investment.
Impact and Future Development
Corsali has had a significant impact on workers’ lives by providing them with opportunities to earn income through their smartphones. The use of cryptocurrency, specifically cusd, has enabled workers to overcome barriers related to traditional financial systems, such as limited access to banking services or high remittance fees.
Looking ahead, Corsali plans to expand its platform and offer more diverse and complex tasks to workers. They are also exploring partnerships with other projects and platforms to further enhance the earning potential for workers and expand the adoption of cusd in various industries.
Conclusion
The projects of Impact Market and Corsali showcase the potential of blockchain technology, particularly the Celo blockchain, in building an open financial system that addresses poverty and empowers workers. Impact Market focuses on providing unconditional basic income to communities in need, while Corsali leverages machine learning and cryptocurrency to enable workers to earn income through tasks performed on their smartphones.