Get to Know: impactMarket
A Decentralized Poverty Alleviation Protocol
Let’s finish 2021 supporting a great cause! Mark your calendars: December 22 - impactMarket IDO, the first Polkastarter IDO happening on Celo Network.
impactMarket is an application-layer protocol designed to fight extreme poverty quickly and effectively while empowering local & social change, bottom-up economic development, and prosperity.
We’re thrilled to have the first launch of a social impact project on our platform, so we got together with Marco Barbosa (Co-founder & CEO) and Afonso Barbosa (Co-founder & Product Designer) to learn more about impactMarket’s vision, mission and roadmap.
Read the entire AMA here.
Vision
ImpactMarket team has worked more than 10 years on charitable giving, realizing that there were several issues like lack of transparency and efficiency, mainly when trying to support vulnerable communities in developing countries. Besides that, most of the people that need support are unbanked and live in countries where there are a lot of blockers such as governments blocking transfers, banks charging very high fees, and hyperinflation.
With all these blockers in mind, impactMarket was built to enable anyone in the world to access finance and be able to get a basic income in US dollars, regardless of where they live.
Donors just need to send cUSD (Celo Dollar) to the UBI community contracts they want to support, in a transparent way without intermediaries
ImpactMarket aims to become one of the main contributors to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, while driving DeFi adoption to those who need it the most.
Team
In 2021, impactMarket team grew from 6 to 15 members in 6 different countries, following our strong growth over the world.
impactMarket was founded in 2020 by Marco Barbosa (CEO), Bernardo Vieira (CTO) and Afonso Barbosa (Product Designer).
The team has a strong background in philanthropy and social entrepreneurship, web3, and a highly design-oriented vision, essential to building an inclusive protocol considering the challenges we face related to users' tech accessibility and literacy.
$PACT
$PACT is a governance token that works through a DAO, and also is distributed among participants as an incentive to get more donations (aka farming).
Token holders will be granted the ability to influence the future health, direction, growth, and impact of the protocol.
- Voting power delegation
Any token holder can delegate voting power to themselves, someone they trust, or key protocol participants. Those with the most delegated voting power can be considered impactMarket ambassadors. - Communities’ verification and validation
Each new UBI community will be submitted as a proposal and reviewed by token holders, who can vote for its approval. Verified communities are able to request funding directly from the DAO. - Manage key parameters, calculation formulas, treasury allocation, and incentives
Community Questions
Rojib Mia
We see many projects that claim to be fully decentralized but they have done their work in a centralized way. How can we be sure that Impact Market is fully decentralized? Can you please tell us about Impact Market work methods?
Afonso (impactMarket)
Everything is on-chain. We work fully remotely on different continents.
Tele Bolero
What is the procedure behind donations? How will Impact Market ensure that the donated funds actually reach the targeted group of people?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
We never "touch" the donations as they go directly to the UBI smart contract of the community the donor wants to support. Then beneficiaries claim their basic income from it. You can see all contracts on explorer on Celo. Also, take a look at https://www.impactmarket.com/global-dashboard
EneryQ IG
Hi sir! how does IMPACT MARKET follow GDPR rules, you ask for email or/and phone number to be able to use Impact Market. How can the users be sure that they won't ever be victims of a hack as in other platforms that we enter in the same way?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
We don't required personal informations from beneficiaries
Cris Moris
Hi @OxAf0n5o @mbarbosa1
Since NFT is popular nowadays, is there a plan for NFT integration? Will you add another option for the NFT section?
Afonso (impactMarket)
Yes, we have been thinking about it. Every community could have their own "marketplace" for NFTs... That would help them raise more funds.
Green Pear
You have a very generous idea behind Impact Market but how does it actually function? You gather X amount of funds and then what happens? What does poverty get to do with them?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
People send cUSD directly to the UBI smart contract of the community they want to support. Then beneficiaries can claim cUSD from it
John Deeves
🔥🔥 Hey, How is Impact Market going to be beneficial for businesses? How can merchants, businesses or corporations partake in this greatness?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
Businesses (through their corporate giving) can back communities they care about, ensuring transparency and impact measurement, while being able to get $PACT tokens in return so they can also help govern the protocol. In most of the communities, local merchants already accept cUSD through their Celo mobile wallet.
Afonso (impactMarket)
Given the Celo network design and its current DeFi solutions, impactMarket is uniquely positioned to integrate & offer those DeFi solutions directly on mobile to those who need them the most. Hence, our work will emphasize but will not be limited to:
- Deposit assets and redirect the earned interest (or yield) to support vulnerable communities while claiming IMPACT rewards. No donation? No problem;
- Micro Credit: Beneficiaries will be able to use their own IMPACT or CELO as collateral for instant access to credit in cUSD;
- Collective Savings + prize, incentivizing beneficiaries to save together within their own communities. Higher the savings, higher the prizes;
- Crowd Lending, where anyone can allocate assets as collateral and delegate credit in cUSD to specific beneficiaries, causes, or communities;
Monextrum
As current technology is old in a moment, changing every second, isn't Impact Market afraid that in the future its ideas of helping the poor will be lagging behind new projects with newer technology? What is the plan to keep developing and researching?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
That is one of the reasons why we're using Celo, a fast, mobile friendly and very cheap network. We plan to keep improving for the next few years. Also, we're chain agnostic, so it can be deployed in other networks if needed
Ben Stock
Can you introduce your team to us? What are their qualifications and experience?
Afonso (impactMarket)
ImpactMarket was founded in 2020 by Marco Barbosa (CEO), Bernardo Vieira (CTO) and Afonso Barbosa (Product Designer). Our team members have worked in organizations like Facebook, Microsoft, Uphold, Disney, eSolidar, WEF, Unicef, Human Rights Watch and WHO.
Retrotyrang ddz
Impact Market surely is a great way to shrink the gap between the developing and developed countries. Anyone can help easier. What about the fees for your platform, can you tell me more about them?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
almost 0. Each transaction on Celo is below ~$0.001
12345
What are the future goals your project seeks to have in the next 5years?
Afonso (impactMarket)
Our goal is to end extreme poverty until 2030. Everyday we get closer to that goal.
Ben Stock
Can you sum up the project and list some of the best key features you implemented and developed in your project?
Afonso (impactMarket)
Our killer feature is the UBI distribution. But many others are in the pipeline to be developed in the next few years.
Las Deva Mokacho
@mbarbosa1 There are cases where donations to the poor may actually cause bad results. For example what if it's misguided and doesn't solve any problem? How will Impact Market ensure the sustainability of the assets and funds?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
Well, we try to ensure and validate the communities and their beneficiaries, but not how the money is spent because it's unconditional basic income. But we're working to measure the impact on each community, so funds can be allocated to those with better results/impact
Ben Stock
How exactly do you think you can raise the awareness of the people into your project? Do you have local communities for this purpose?
Afonso (impactMarket)
We have an incredible group of ambassadors helping share the word. But we count on all of you to do the same! https://docs.impactmarket.com/ambassador-program
Makro Schz
What are the ways of actually earning $UBI tokens? Can they be used anywhere besides donations? Also, one side you didn't catch on during the AMA was that which countries are you planning to target the most with your donation campaigns? @mbarbosa1
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
In our case it's $PACT tokens, not $UBI. There will be an impact farming mechanism where tokens are available to be claimed when people make donations in cUSD, as an incentive
Supxro
Is the wallet 100% non-custodial? From a security point or technical point of view what are the advantages of impactMarket project from other similar projects or wallets such as Trust wallet?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
We don't have a wallet, we're a dapp that connects with any Celo compatible wallet (like Valora).
Afonso (impactMarket)
That is an easy one... by contributing to impactMarket you are helping other human beings. 23.7k are receiving their UBI every single day, in 136 communities on 25 countries. Check our YouTube channel and watch some incredible stories.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUE5DVvRjmsOK_27s2byT1A
Rojib Mia
We see many projects that claim to be fully decentralized but they have done their work in a centralized way. How can we be sure that Impact Market is fully decentralized? Can you please tell us about Impact Market work methods?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
Some of the work we do is centralized (like development, marketing, etc).. but when we say it's decentralized, it means that the protocol does not need us (or anyone) to operate and keep working. We're becoming more decentralized by giving decision power to token holders
Afonso (impactMarket)
as @mbarbosa1 has said already,we have extensive experience through eSolidar (www.esolidar.com). Also the rest of the team also have worked on Unicef, Human Rights Watch and WHO.
Aston Rowi
You said that the max supply of the token is 10B which will be distributed over the next 10 years and most of the token will be available for protocol participants. Can you tell us exactly what % of the token will be available for protocol participants? And who are those protocol participants? Who hold the tokens or participate in the governance or stake the token within the ecosystem.
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
40% of total supply will be available to donnors, and eventually also to community managers and beneficiaries.
We started this during covid. For now, we don't have any revenue stream and have been backed by mission-aligned investors that fund our development and operations. some extra info here https://docs.impactmarket.com/
Mésut ÖZIL
Holaa!!!
What is your advantage over other projects? Is it from a security point of view or the technology you are using? Or are there other advantages? What makes you believe that your project is worth choosing?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
There are not so many projects about UBI. As main advantages, we use a USD stable coin, focus our priority on reaching those living in vulnerable communities in developing countries, and we use a mobile-friendly, fast and cheap network, so anyone with a smartphone can access our solution
Nabab
Where is your token going to be listed? Does it support Trust Wallet and is it listed on CMC and Coingecko?
Marco Barbosa (impactMarket)
After the IDo, it will be available on Ubeswap. Then we'll look for having it on CMC and coingecko, as well as other exchanges
Ben Stock
What are your marketing plans? What are your plans to raise your awareness, especially in non-English speaking places? Do you have an ambassador program? What is the main purpose for which your project was created? What are your aspirations for the remainder of 2021 and what are your goals for 2022?
What is the main purpose for which your project was created? What are your aspirations for the remainder of 2021 and what are your goals for 2022?
Afonso (impactMarket)
This year we launched the first UBI SUMMIT 2021 which was a success! Beside all the work promoting on social media, managing our communities, we are already working on planning our UBI SUMMIT 2022.
Everyone will be invited!
I invite everyone to take a look at our highlighted stories https://docs.impactmarket.com/communities/highlighted-stories
Follow impactMarket
🖱 Website: https://www.impactmarket.com/
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/IPCTmarket
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impactmarket_/
👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPCTmarket
💼 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/impactmarket
💬 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/V6JWbM4ZQ3
▶️ Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUE5DVvRjmsOK_27s2byT1A
About Polkastarter
Polkastarter is the fully decentralized launchpad to launch new ideas in the blockchain and digital assets space. With an industry-leading curation process and market access, we select the most innovative projects in the space and offer them long-term support after their IDOs.
With Polkastarter, crypto projects can increase their reach, grow their communities and receive support from crypto's most well-versed experts. IDO participants, on the other hand, are offered an opportunity to invest in a secure and compliant environment, as well as participate in IDOs not solely on Ethereum, but also on Binance Smart Chain, Polygon and Celo.
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