Highlights of Noteworthy Projects in Gitcoin Round 18 Donations

Author: Leo, BlockBeats

The new round of donations from Gitcoin is here. This donation is called Gitcoin Grant 18, which is divided into four crypto parts: Web3 Open Source Software, Web3 Community and Education, Climate Solutions, Ethereum Infrastructure, and an additional Featured Rounds for project creators. The donation period starts on August 15, 2023, at 12:00 (UTC) and ends on August 29, 2023, at 12:00 (UTC).

It is worth noting that Gitcoin recently announced a one-year partnership with oil giant Shell Global Solutions International BV to support the development of open-source climate solutions. Public goods in the form of open-source software for climate solutions are key to realizing this collaboration. The partnership will include contributions to Gitcoin's matching fund for the next four rounds of climate solutions in the Gitcoin Grants program, as well as a hackathon in Q4 of this year, focusing on blockchain-related energy use cases.

Based on the recent collaboration between Gitcoin and Shell, projects related to climate solutions may shine in this donation round. BlockBeats has compiled a list of projects that can be donated to as follows:

Climate Solutions

In this round of donations, the climate solutions section includes 68 projects, most of which are dedicated to reducing global carbon emissions, increasing clean energy (solar energy), or protecting the Earth's renewable resources for more sustainable and high-quality development of the Earth's climate.

GainForest

GainForest is a non-profit organization focused on protecting forest resources. This project uses existing AI algorithms to detect species and biodiversity, collects forest data through drones based on a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN), and aims to build the world's largest and most valuable forest drone image dataset to change our understanding of Earth's biological resources and enhance conservation. Additionally, the project will provide sustainable income for these forest data collectors.

GoodDollar

GoodDollar is a decentralized UBI protocol that aims to create UBI asset income using blockchain technology. Its funds are stored and held in mainstream DeFi protocols to generate benefits, which are used to support the minting of the project's native token G. This token is distributed to users as basic income through the GoodDollar network and mobile wallet application. Anyone with a mobile phone and internet connection can create an account on the platform and receive G tokens.

Litter Token

Litter Token is an application similar to "earn while collecting trash." The project's token LTK is used to pay users for collecting trash. Users can collect trash and take photos as proof to claim LTK on the project's Discord, which will be sent to their wallets and can be exchanged for USDC. Each time trash is collected, the project provides open-source images of the trash to verify user actions.

M3tering Protocol

M3tering is a token incentive protocol aimed at enabling individuals and institutions to become electricity suppliers through decentralized solar installations, promoting capital investment in solar power projects, and providing electricity to underserved areas. Consumers can pay for electricity using DAI, while suppliers can earn protocol token rewards. The protocol facilitates the growth of electrification services, drives capital expenditure on sustainable infrastructure projects, and promotes access to cleaner energy.

Solar Foundation

Solar Foundation is also a decentralized solar solution aimed at accelerating access to off-grid solar energy for underserved communities in emerging markets. It utilizes decentralized small solar installations to provide reliable and affordable electricity while reducing carbon emissions to protect the climate. The small solar solutions bring tangible benefits to humanity, such as self-sufficiency and climate protection.

Silvi Protocol

The Silvi team is dedicated to building an application that develops a gamified tree planting and management experience similar to Pokemon Go through social media mechanisms and user frameworks, aiming to achieve the vision of planting trillions of trees worldwide. Additionally, Silvi will issue a native governance token in the future, which will be used to generate practical NFT pairs containing all data and contracts for each tree.

Web3 Open Source Software

In this round of donations, the Web3 open source software section includes 105 projects, which are not significantly different from previous rounds of open source software donations.

Chaineye

ChainEye is an open-source, free, full-chain analysis tool used by over 100,000 users. It won the tool category award at the 2023 Ethereum Shanghai Hackathon and received funding from Optimism and The Graph Foundation. It currently features Onchain Map (a dashboard for popular L2 ecosystem data), BridgeEye (a cross-chain bridge comparison tool), on-chain & CEX transfer fee queries, bulk wallet queries (Starknet/zkSync/Linea/Gitcoin Passport), stablecoin dashboards, free testnet faucets, and Ordinals dashboards.

Geo Web

Geo Web is a public goods AR geolocation network, similar to the concept of the "metaverse." In this geolocation network, publishers use open protocols to bind digital content (images, videos, audio, or 3D objects) to physical locations, while users discover this content on devices like smartphones, smartwatches, and smart glasses based on their geographical location. The geolocation network combined with AR provides a 3D, persistent, and shared experience that enhances the physical world through digital content. Geo Web utilizes a property rights system to enable augmented reality use cases to exist in reality, creating discoverability and incentive mechanisms for user consensus.

Otterscan

Otterscan is an Ethereum-based open-source privacy block explorer created by Ethereum developer Willian Mitsuda. Its basic functionality is similar to Etherscan, and it has previously received donations from teams like Gitcoin and Optimism RPGF.

Horiza

Horiza is a DEX on the Base chain that combines the advantages of Uniswap V3's concentrated liquidity algorithm, automatic position management, and the ve(3,3) mechanism proposed by Solidity to provide users with a more efficient trading experience and better incentive mechanisms.

OPML

OPML refers to the machine learning of the OP rollup mechanism, also known as FPML (Fraud Proof Machine Learning). Unlike zkML, OPML can provide ML services at low cost and high efficiency while ensuring the decentralization and verifiable consensus of ML services.

Revoke.cash

Revoke.cash is a tool familiar to many, designed to prevent wallet theft by disconnecting wallets from malicious websites, managing wallet tokens, and keeping wallets secure. Revoke.cash was created by Rosco Kalis in 2019 and has since developed into an important tool for Web3 security.

Via Protocol

Via Protocol is a cross-chain DEX aggregator that aggregates bridges from over 25 chains. Currently, Via Protocol also offers one-click login and provides liquidity for any protocol within the same application. Users can conduct multiple transactions across different chains and trade through decentralized bridges integrated with DEX.

PrivX

PrivX is the first DEX powered by the Aleo network. Through Aleo's privacy features, PrivX offers more private and secure crypto trading, enhances liquidity, and attracts privacy-focused users, positioning itself as the leading DEX for privacy and secure trading on Aleo.

Ethereum Infrastructure

This round of Ethereum infrastructure donations includes 26 projects, covering node development, Web3 indexing, and underlying protocol creation and development.

Sigma Prime

Sigma Prime is the development team behind the Ethereum 2.0 client Lighthouse. In July, they updated to Lighthouse v4.3.0. Starting from v4.3.0, Lighthouse and the Ethereum network now support IPv6, upgraded the Lighthouse launch nodes, and added more IPv6-supported nodes, allowing IPv6 users to access the entire Ethereum network. In the future, the Lighthouse team will make changes based on some research and proposals for the underlying protocol, potentially bringing better performance before the Deneb hard fork.

EthStaker

EthStaker is a knowledge community dedicated to helping Ethereum users stake ETH securely and reliably by creating guides, tutorial videos, educational content, and technical support materials.

Web3 Community and Education

This round of donations for the Web3 community and education section includes 187 projects, focusing on developing new communities, providing educational resources, creating content (YouTube tutorials, newsletters, blog posts, podcasts, etc.), protecting users from fraudsters through surveys, social-focused DAOs, training new users, and working on inclusivity/diversity/advocacy.

EtherScore

EtherScore is a decentralized on-chain reputation system that can prove Ethereum users' on-chain reputation based on their previous trading behavior (transaction history). Users' activities are represented by NFTs reflecting the concept of collectible badges. Anyone can issue badges to identify and locate specific users based on one or more minting conditions (e.g., having made 10 swaps on Uniswap) without coding.

Upgrading Ethereum Book

Upgrading Ethereum Book is a technical manual written by Ben Edgington about Ethereum's transition to PoS and other aspects. It includes references to the Ethereum consensus layer, records of Ethereum upgrades, and explanations of current designs, history, and decisions surrounding our PoS protocol. So far, Ben has written over 135,000 words, accompanied by 126 illustrations, totaling 367 pages in PDF format. This content is highly valuable for those in the cryptocurrency industry to understand Ethereum-related knowledge.

Lastly, it is important to note that projects from the previous Gitcoin Beta Round are included in this GG18 donation list. "Related Reading: What projects in the Gitcoin Beta Round are worth paying attention to?".