For episode 233, for our third annual Year in Review episode, I’m excited to once again welcome Sam Flanagan and Abeera Akhtar from Web3ForGood, two of the most thoughtful voices at the intersection of Web3, social impact, and systems change.
Together, we reflect on the biggest wins, moments, and lessons from 2025, the year where a lot of Web3’s promise finally started to look practical, less speculative, more grounded, and more human. We talk about what worked, what matured, and what quietly scaled, and then we look ahead to 2026, a year that could be defining for how technologies like AI, blockchain, and zero-knowledge tools shape society for the better.
This is a celebration episode. A moment to pause, zoom out, and recognize just how much progress has already been made, and how much opportunity still lies ahead. We discuss:
Crypto Altruists is proud to be one of 24 projects participating in Octant Epoch 10, a pioneering experiment in sustainable public goods funding on Ethereum.
Octant enables community members who have GLM staked to delegate their rewards to projects they believe create meaningful impact. These signals help guide how matching funds from the Octant treasury are distributed, aligning funding with community values.
We’re honored to be included alongside so many incredible Ethereum builders. If you have GLM staked and are planning on allocating for Epoch 10, we’d be grateful for your support in helping us continue our work spotlighting real-world Web3 impact.
👉 Learn more & support our project here.
💸 Stablecoins are becoming core impact infrastructure - Stablecoins were a major theme in the 2024 review, an even bigger focus in 2025, and are clearly on track to be one of the defining narratives of 2026. As they mature, stablecoins are increasingly finding their place as global financial rails, powering humanitarian cash transfers, remittances, and new models for funding impact at scale.
🚧 UX remains Web3’s biggest challenge, but interoperability is catching up - Layer-2 fatigue highlights a broader usability problem in Web3: too much complexity still finds its way to the user. That said, 2025 marked real progress, with better interoperability, modular tooling, and cross-ecosystem collaboration helping abstract away friction and move the stack closer to seamless, user-friendly experiences.
🌐 Decentralized media, identity, and privacy are becoming human rights infrastructure - As democratic institutions face increasing strain worldwide, decentralized media, privacy-preserving systems, and identity and verification tools are emerging as essential safeguards. These technologies will play a critical role in protecting free expression, access to information, and human rights in an increasingly contested digital future.
PIPE gDAO is leveraging blockchain for their University Real World Asset IP Launchpad that helps bring groundbreaking ideas from lab to market. By joining the Pipe Associate Network (aka PAN), associates can create a profile highlighting their skills, be notified of opportunities, and then contribute fractional work to pre-IPO companies in return for equity and tokens.
Check out their Linktree for links to all of their socials so you can get involved and join this growing community!
04:45 - Introduction to Abeera, Sam, and Web3ForGood
08:15 - Updates and milestones from Web3ForGood
15:30 - Updates and milestones from Crypto Altruists
21:10 - Top web3 social and environmental impact trends of 2025
50:50 - Feel good stories from 2025
1:06:20 - Funny & interesting stories from the year
1:09:05 - Key trends to watch in 2026
1:22:45 - Calls to action from Web3ForGood
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While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, please do not take any of this as investment advice, and please make sure to do your own research on potential investment opportunities, or any opportunity. We host a variety of guests on this podcast with the sole purpose of highlighting the social impact use cases of this technology. That being said, Crypto Altruism does not endorse any of these projects, and we recognize that, since this is an emerging sector, some may be operating in regulatory grey areas, and as such, we cannot confirm their legality in the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially as it pertains to decentralized finance protocols. So, before getting involved with any project, it’s important that you do your own research and confirm the legality of the project. More available HERE.
