Today we’re excited to release the first episode of our new Crypto Altruism mini series – “Impact on Optimism”, where we explore Public Goods Changemakers creating impact in the Optimism ecosystem. There is some really exciting experimentation and innovation in the Optimism Ecosystem centered around a vision of uplifting public goods, so in this series we’re excited to do some deep dives into the changemakers leading this movement, and explore what makes Optimism such a great space for public goods builders to build.

For the first episode in this series, we’re excited to welcome Shady El Damaty, Co-Founder of Holonym, a decentralized protocol providing solutions for identity verification, privacy-preserving verified claims, user-owned identity, and non-custodial account recovery in Web3 applications. We discuss the role Web3 can play in building a more secure and safe digital world, why they decided to build on the OP stack, their recent experience in Optimism’s RetroPGF program, and much more.

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Key Takeaways

• By building cryptographic privacy preserving mechanisms into democratic and governance processes, it can help protect against authoritarianism and government overreach by ensuring privacy, transparency, and accountability in these processes.

• Optimism’s focus on public goods was a huge selling point for Holonym’s team. By contributing to this ecosystem with useful tools and by creating more activity on Optimism Mainnet, it will support the rising tide of Web3 public goods by creating more funding for public goods through sequencer fees, while also laying the foundation for other public goods projects.

• There is a lot of exciting experimentation happening right now around decentralization and governance mechanisms, paving the way for a new digital commons where nation states, movements, and impact organizations can be built and maintained onchain.

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Follow Shady and Holonym

Shady - Twitter

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Shady - LinkedIn

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Holonym - Twitter

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Website

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🎙️ This podcast was recorded on Zencastr! Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr

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Episode Time Stamps

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02:00 - What makes you Optimistic today?

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05:45 - To kick things off, can you please give listeners an intro to Holonym?

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10:20 - In recent years, there have been astounding number of data breaches, compromising sensitive customer data. How does the Zeronym protocol address this?

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18:20 - Web3 and KYC have often been at odds – what are your thoughts on how to address this?

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22:25 - Shifting gears, why did you decide to deploy on Optimism Mainnet?

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23:45 - A core focus of Optimism is public goods. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what makes Web3 & decentralization powerful forces in advancing public goods around the world?

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28:40 - You have previously participated in Optimism’s RetroPGF – can you please give listeners a quick intro to what RetroPGF is and share some thoughts on your experience in the round?

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35:50 - Do you have any alpha or new developments coming up that you’d like to share with listeners?

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38:35 - What’s the best way for listeners to follow and learn more about Holonym and the tools you offer?

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39:40 - To wrap things up on a final note of inspiration, what makes you optimistic about the future of web3?

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DISCLAIMER

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.