Blockchain has the potential to change the world.
By now, most of our users and readers already know that – others are still trying to wrap their heads around it, but we’ll get there soon enough.
As this technology advances, various business sectors start to open their eyes to the possibilities of having decentralized and blockchain-related systems within their projects.
One community that does not stay behind and understands the importance of occupying those spaces is the LGBTQIA+ community.
And as Pride Month comes to an end, let’s review some important points:
- Why web3 needs LGBT projects and why gay-friendly spaces need web3
- How can the decentralized system help those communities
- LGBTQIA+ projects that are using blockchain and crypto
Why does web3 need LGBT and vice-versa?
Throughout our topics in this blog, we have seen that the more people engage with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related projects, the more we have to gain within this community.
Cryptocurrency, for instance, grows with the buzz. It’s a digital asset that works on speculation and groundbreaking technology.
Therefore, the number of people investing, circulating, and creating hype about those projects influence a lot of cryptos’ valuation.
As for blockchain technology in general, as companies and institutions start to adopt it, it becomes clearer to the masses that it is a system that we can rely on.
If big companies like Visa, Amazon, Apple, and others start to say that they use blockchain or that they are researching how to implement it, people start to question ‘What is it with blockchain? How does that work? What changes with it?’ and so on.
So, it’s pretty fair to say that popularity and mass adoption are key to web3 and decentralization’s growth.
While mass adoption is taking place, specific niches reaching specific audiences can still have a huge impact.
The pink economy
The purpose of a specific audience is to gather a group of people who can relate to one another in order to address a particular subject or cause.
Let’s take an example:
If you want to change something in your neighborhood, you’ll probably gather all the residents of the area in order to mobilize and try to change some specific situation that is afflicting your daily lives, right?
However, if you talk to people from other areas you might not get the same result and engagement that you wished for, because the subjects or situations do not apply to their daily lives. They don’t live there, so your cause would be secondary to them.
That’s why groups and social movements of like-minded people are so important.
Within those specific groups, you can better discuss the situations that afflict you, share impactful experiences and make more significant moves towards change.
Today, that’s the case for the LGBTQIA+ community.
According to Statista, around 5% of the world’s community is declared to be attracted by the same sex only, therefore, being part of the LGBTQIA+ group.
A study collected by Gallup in the US in 2022 has stated that an average of 7.1% of adults in the country were identified as LGBT.
The overall number expected if put together with the global community is that: if LGBT was a country, it’d have the third biggest population in the world, only behind China and India.
Those numbers also can drastically change if you consider people who do not feel comfortable sharing their sexual identification status.
And as happens with any group, the LGBTQIA+ audience also has its preferences, habits of consumption, and economical tendencies.
The so-called “pink economy” has the potential to be one of the greatest in the world.
According to an article published on Yahoo Finance by Mairem Del Río, people who identify as LGBT have an “extra buying power”.
“The reason is that a good percentage of them do not have and will not have children, which allows them to have more money to spend on themselves”.
In an interview in the same article, Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck Communications and specialist in analyzing the gay market said that:
“Gay men will travel more often, spend more time away from home, and pay more attention to home design and fashion”.
The numbers get higher if these individuals decide to live as a couple as their combined income will reflect in more economic power to purchase what they want – around 10% to 15% greater than other groups, according to Del Rio’s article.
As a result, it is evident that making more inclusive brands is just as profitable as it is a trend.
Of course, it brings a lot of discussion on whether the companies really care about those minorities or if they are just riding the wave as it brings the dough.
However, genuinely supporting those groups can affect a business in a positive way both monetary and ideologically.
It is also a good idea for web3 projects to include this specific audience in their agendas.
Once more: it’s not just about being profitable, it’s a matter of showing that you care and that this public is more than welcome to be a part of your community as well. After all, we all will be able to differentiate the fake ones from the real ones.
This new technology has a greater power; blockchain and decentralized economies can finally bring independence and democracy to philanthropic causes.
The opposite can also be said: the LGBTQIA+ community can benefit a lot from the web3 solutions.
How decentralization can help the community
As decentralization has shown us with various segments, it can really be a force of help to anyone who wishes to increase awareness and the financial aid of any initiative.
Without borders, intermediaries or expensive fees, blockchain technology can lead those projects into massive growth.
Those groups can also benefit from the DAO’s format of business and have cryptocurrencies directly connected to their cause.
Another great resource is the famous and hyped NFTs: by publishing their art in the nonfungible world, LGBTQIA+ artists can benefit from the fact that no middlemen would be involved in this transaction between them and their audience.
The same can be said about those who wish to purchase these assets and also help their own community.
Let’s take a look at some of those projects that are joining forces to bring the LGBTQIA+ economy to the web3 world.
LGBTQIA+ projects using blockchain and digital assets
1. LGBT.finance
Their goal is bold: to build the first gay-friendly city in the metaverse.
With a system fueled by their token $LGBT and with smart contracts verified by Verichains, the company wishes to build an ecosystem inside the metaverse where the “closet” wouldn’t even be necessary.
A world with “endless opportunities” awaits whoever wishes to get into it.
According to LGBT.Finance’s website their project is based on 8 pillars: “The pillars are the guidelines that move our company towards a greater social cause, which is to promote and support the talents and businesses of the LGBTQIAP+ community”.
2. LGBT Token
The LGBT token is a project by the LGBT Foundation.
Their aim is to:
“Create the LGBT Token cryptocurrency and utilize blockchain technology to achieve equal rights and acceptance for all members of the LGBT+ community worldwide”.
This happens when users purchase the token and consequently redirect their investment to the LGBT Impact branch of the Foundation, which promises to “give back to the community by supporting causes and organizations that aim to advance the rights of the LGBT community around the world”.
The company offers on their website two types of white paper – the standard White Paper, which focuses on the LGBT Foundation’s mission – and the Pink Paper, which explains more of their LGBT token system.
3. Endaoment for Juneteenth Pride
If you are someone who only wishes to help the cause, this one’s for you.
Endaoment is a company that provides on-chain infrastructure and financial services to help charities in general.
Through their Donor-Advised-Funds and Community Field-of-Interest Funds powered by smart contracts, Endaoment brings “a new kind of digital agreement facilitated on the Ethereum blockchain. Together with our easy-to-use donation and grantmaking application, we’re building a new kind of community foundation, with values and functionality aligned for crypto”.
And one of those initiatives supported by Endaoment is the Juneteenth Pride Fund.
Made to support two June holidays – Juneteenth and LBGTQ+ Pride month – this initiative was seeded in 2021 by the company SolaWave and its resources are distributed between organizations that help Black LGBTQIA+ communities such as Black and Pink, Lavender Rights Project, and Transgender District.
4. NFTs
One of the most hyped segments of the blockchain economy is also one of the most explored by the LGBTQIA+ community: the NFTs.
They are the perfect gateway for LGBT artists and art enthusiasts who wish to purchase and promote their art pieces in a democratic, intermediary-free way.
There are plenty of those, so we are going to list some of them in this topic:
Stronger together
Overall, we can easily state that to ignore this part of the population is to ignore the massive potential for growth.
Moreso, to include and invest in LGBTQIA+ projects is to invest in the future of the business itself, once this is not only a strong economic outcome but also a strong and resilient community.
They have learned in their own struggles how to be persistent and courageous, powerful qualities for any kind of investor, we might say.
They have endured a lot of ‘nos’ and ‘don’ts’ and they truly have something to say.
Consequently, all the web3 users might have one thing or two to learn from this community in particular. And to watch those projects grow alongside this new technology is nothing but a privilege.
