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Doing Social Good

As the creator of the Avalanche blockchain, Ava Labs has been closely involved with a variety of projects and initiatives designed to grow the Avalanche ecosystem. These efforts include the establishment of the $200 million Blizzard investment fund, launched in collaboration with the Avalanche Foundation and several other organizations.

Blizzard fosters early-stage Avalanche projects that deal with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), culture applications, and enterprise applications.

Operating with the understanding that Avalanche exists as part of a greater global ecosystem, Ava Labs has extended the reach of its pro-innovation initiatives by funding and promoting a variety of projects that bolster the crypto field as a whole.

The Ava Labs team has also put its resources behind several projects that promote the wellbeing of the general public or business world,  even far beyond blockchain.

What follows is a brief overview of the social outreach efforts—some directly related to crypto, some not—that are currently supported by Ava Labs.

The Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition

In March 2022, Ava Labs teamed up with the Lemonade Foundation and several other organizations to form the Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition. This is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that will offer climate insurance, via a dApp on Avalanche, to at-risk farmers across Africa. Other organizations in the coalition include Chainlink and DAOstack.

The Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition has three areas of focus: devising ways to accurately forecast weather risks in Africa, automating the claim assessment process, and creating a capital pool.

The purpose of these efforts is to provide funds to underserved farmers in Africa who cannot access traditional insurance. Blockchain technology, powered by smart contracts and real-time data rather than traditional approval processes offers a decentralized solution.

With technological assistance from the Avalanche blockchain, African farmers enrolled in the program can easily make and receive insurance payments on a smartphone—and without the need for a traditional middleman.

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Start Path Crypto

Ava Labs has also been part of the Start Path Crypto program launched by Mastercard with the goal of giving crypto, blockchain, and digital asset startups resources to grow.

Startups selected for the three-month program have access to Mastercard's entire ecosystem of products, weekly events and workshops with industry authorities, media exposure, and opportunities to integrate Mastercard technology with applicable products and systems. Start Path Crypto is available to blockchain-centric startups (seed, Series A, or Series B) with an inclusive culture.

Ava Labs was selected for this program in late 2021. Participation in the program aids the  Avalanche platform in its ongoing efforts to extend the full range of eco-friendly blockchain resources and benefits to the general public.

Disaster Relief: Close As You Go

In November 2021, Ava Labs formed an alliance with the professional services firm Deloitte to develop the Close As You Go™ (CAYG) platform to provide a streamlined way for state and local governments to send applications for disaster reimbursement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The cloud-based CAYG platform is powered by the Avalanche network.

CAYG provides several key benefits to state and local officials involved in disaster relief: It organizes relevant documentation so agencies can quickly prove eligibility for reimbursement funds, securely stores vital documents via the power of blockchain, minimizes the likelihood of fraud and error, reduces administrative expenses, ensures regulatory compliance, and lowers the risk of negative audit outcomes.

The platform has also attracted interest from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, as the benefits of this technology can easily extend to these sectors.

Thanks to Avalanche, the platform provides a user-friendly interface and a highly secure environment for processing and authenticating data. Notably, Deloitte singled out Ava Labs' commitment to green business practices as an important factor in establishing their partnership.

Eliminating Waste: Bye Bye Plastic Foundation

Ava Labs has formed a partnership with Bye Bye Plastic Foundation to reduce the waste generated by single-use plastics during in-person events. The fruits of this alliance became apparent at the six-day 2022 Avalanche Summit in Barcelona, Spain.

In consultation with the Bye Bye Plastic Foundation, the summit, which drew more than 10,000 crypto pros and enthusiasts from around the globe, sharply reduced the amount of plastic waste usually generated by these kinds of events.

By implementing a no-straw policy in conjunction with non-plastic drinkware, the Avalanche Summit prevented 322 pounds of single-use plastics from being wasted.

Focusing mainly on music events across Western Europe, Bye Bye Plastic Foundation provides a variety of consultancy services intended to put organizations on a sustainable “plastic-free trajectory.” Ava Labs plans to continue its collaboration with Bye Bye Plastic Foundation in organizing future live events that comply with economically sustainable practices.

Building a Better World With Blockchain

Ava Labs’ dedication to promoting socially responsible activities manifests in various ways—through maintaining its Avalanche platform in an eco-friendly manner, through its campaign to popularize energy-efficient blockchain technology across the business sector, through its direct financial support to a number of carefully vetted crypto startups, and through its endorsement of general “green” policies.

At the heart of these efforts is a strong belief in the revolutionary potential of blockchain to improve everyday life by digitizing the world’s assets.

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