Andrew Yang project to reward volunteers with crypto

Failed presidential candidate and New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang has wrapped himself in the sometimes comforting but increasingly suffocating confines of Web3 and crypto. After years of trying to get people on board with the idea of ​​universal basic income, Yang has since turned to talk about how digital currencies are the best incentive to get ordinary people’s voices heard in politics. Now it seems that Yang is also betting that more people will volunteer for beneficial projects if they are incentivized with a crypto carrot on a digital string.

As first noticed by CoinDesknew filings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission point to Yang’s involvement in the yet another crypto-based organization. Apparently, Yang is the director and head of a project called Samarity. That business is allegedly is led by former Yang campaign manager Zach Graumann, who is listed as CEO. Graumann is also listed as the founder of Decorate yourselfa nonprofit company that connects companies with schools for voluntary learning and work explanation seminars.

According to Samaritans trademark registration (just click on basic search and type “Samarity”), the project focuses on promoting other charity projects by offering cryptocurrencies for people who participate in charitable services. Apparently, Samarity wants to offer incentives to engage in volunteering via incentive reward programs while also providing an “online marketplace” for volunteers. Of course, charity and volunteering are often their own rewards, but why not also be paid in ever-fluctuating digital currencies as well?

The Samarity trademark was filed last year, though the project doesn’t have many details other than those offered by these scant details in US filings. The filing shows Samarity offered a total of $1.5 million in equity offerings as of Aug. 25, and so far an unnamed individual has taken up the $1 million pool of that stake.

Although this is well in line with his previous efforts to stay in the limelight following his failed 2020 presidential bid and his crushing defeat in the 2021 New York mayoral race. Earlier this year, Yang announced its new company Lobby3 intended to use blockchain technology for political lobbying. Lobby3 is technically a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which promises those who buy in can get a seat at the voting table to decide how they try to influence Washington policy. Of course, buying even more of a stake in the DAO gives you even more “perks” like the ability to enter inner YangGang chat circles and vote on which events the titular Yang attends each year.

Yang did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

Yang is fair one of several people who has been trying to get back into the limelight with Web3-based projects in the last year or so, but the man who once ran a very successful online-based campaign to promote UBI has long been in crypto.

Although we’re only now seeing how far down the Web3 rabbit hole he’s gone. When Yang was asked in a April CNBC interview if all this talk about crypto was just a promotional tool, Yang said “if you can take people who have never heard of cryptocurrencies and actually put them in a position to benefit from it, then that would be good for people, but also help expand people’s perception of what this technology can do.”

All this talk of Web3 seems to distract from Yang’s support for UBI or ranked choice voting, which whether you agree or disagree with the principles of either position is still meant to offer more people more freedom to participate in democracy. But forcing crypto into everything – from political advocacy to volunteering – instead stimulates demand for digital goods that have little value other than being sold to the next person,”bigger fool.” Instead of emphasizing doing good for For the sake of society, it instead takes a much more cynical capitalist view of humanity, that people will only do what needs to be done if there is a gross profit to be made.