Community Policy Initiative No. 1 at Polygon Labs

Polygon Labs

April 11, 2023

For a number of years, the “blockchain for good” or “banking the unbanked” narrative has pervaded Web3 policy discussions. The refrain we’ve heard from policymakers globally, however, is that the ecosystem has not proven the narrative that blockchain-based applications positively impact the way in which we transact and interact on the Internet. In other words, policymakers have said, “show me the money” as it applies to non-financial use cases (pun intended!).

We know the community is building amazing applications that run the gamut of social impact, sustainability, Web3 social & Web3 gaming, education, as well as others that fall into well-known use cases such as payments/remittances and DeFi. But the information is often too widely dispersed and difficult to find for policymakers and regulators, in an industry filled with new design spaces and emergent technology.

So the Polygon Labs Policy Team has started a database collecting various use cases across a number of verticals (and across any and all networks!), and we plan to make it public for anyone to use and consult. We want to ensure that the database is robust and showcases everything the ecosystem has to offer.

And we need your help! Today, we begin our effort to crowdsource the community’s knowledge in order to create an open-source database of novel, innovative applications that highlight the fundamental utility of this new era of the Internet.

Fill out the the Google Form here

We hope that you will fill out this Google Form to tell us about one or more important use cases for blockchain-based applications that are having a positive impact today, or that you expect to have an impact shortly. The form is quick and easy. It only asks for information about an application, but not about you or the DevCo building the application unless you want to provide it. You do not need to disclose anything about yourself to share what you know – just the information about what’s out there in the ecosystem.

Once we have collected an even greater set of use cases with the help of the community, we will publish the database (and update it periodically as more and more use cases are shared) for anyone to view and use. Openness and transparency are core features of our ecosystem, and thus, a core feature of how we approach our policy work.

Most importantly, helping build out this use case database is a way for the community to be actively involved in policy – the more you know and share, the more we reclaim the narrative that there is great use for blockchain-based applications, and the more we can counteract skeptics.

We look forward to working with the community on this. And, as always, feel free to reach out to the Policy Team with any questions at policy@polygon.technology. Tune into the Polygon Labs Blog and our social channels to stay up to date on the latest from the Polygon ecosystem.

Together, we can build an equitable future for all through the mass adoption of Web3!

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