Crypto: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (to Charity)

Manuel Gonzalez Alzuru, a co-founder of a soon-to-launch non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, says he is “doin’ good,” with a smile and a nod over a video call. “It never gets old saying that.” His platform, boyishly named DoinGud, is what Alzuru calls a “prosocial” experiment – a way to funnel some of the massive profits generated by the emergent NFT economy to worthy causes.

“Ethereum gave me freedom,” Alzuru, 31, said. “And I’m always looking for ways to give back and to get some freedom for others as well.” That’s a message he thinks others in crypto could get behind. DoinGud, set to launch on Nov. 30, distinguishes itself from the increasingly crowded field of NFT markets by automatically directly a percentage (5%-95%) of sales to charities.

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For an industry that prides itself on working on behalf of the “public good,” outright philanthropy isn’t often prioritized. Companies, projects and individuals have made breathtaking profits this year during a bull market that has driven the entire market cap of all cryptos, at times, above $3 trillion. It’s money that’s sometimes literally printed from nowhere and might be put to good use.

“In order for you to give, you need to have something to give,” Alzuru said. NFTs have unlocked untold fortunes for a number of artists across industries – seemingly regardless of experience or, at times, talent. The “creator economy” was well underway in 2018 when the ERC-721 white paper was published, describing the smart contract standard underpinning NFTs. Since then, however, NFTs have extended the playing field of who can get paid for their work online.

That’s at least part of what Alzuru means when he says “freedom:” Crypto has given him more than just financial “independence” (though there is that): It hast also granted him the lowercase-l, liberal freedoms some people in North America or Europe may take for granted. Born in Venezuela, Alzuru said he felt he had no guaranteed right to speech or expression, until he found Ethereum.

“I’m able now to express myself on Ethereum, on the internet, and it stays there,” he said. “No one can take that away from me.” That’s the power of property rights enforced by code, he said. But don’t confuse him with any old capitalist; Alzuru, perhaps like Ethereum itself, is ideologically fluid.

“I also believe in communal property rights, ‘public goods’ or public infrastructure,” he said, invoking the idea that crypto, open and accessible to all in theory, is a new type of digital commons. That’s ultimately what he wants DoinGud to become, to exist at the protocol level, a tool that other NFT or DeFi platforms can integrate to automate charitable giving.