Fuse’s technology stack will allow Kolektivo Labs to scale the tools and processes needed to build a “regenerative” economy on the idyllic island of Curaçao.
Curaçao has traditionally benefited from one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean, thanks to the tourism, oil refining, and financial services sectors. However, the events of 2020, and the ongoing impact that we can expect to witness throughout 2021 and beyond, mean that urgent economic change is needed. The unemployment rate on this Dutch island of just 160,000 people is now at 40%, and there is the fear of potential food shortage issues.
Local authorities and business leaders have, for decades, pushed initiatives designed to drive growth for Curaçao’s economy with a particular focus on attracting investment in tech.
But perhaps it’s time for a different approach?
Grassroots Economics
Kolektivo Labs is an innovation hub composed of social impact leaders and entrepreneurs that have, over the past few years, been using blockchain to build the infrastructure and tools needed to create a prosperous future for the people of Curaçao.
This started with the creation of a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) in August 2019. CuraDAO was launched with the idea that if you provide the right incentives and empower people to collaborate in a way that is decentralized and non-hierarchical, you can out-compete more traditional, centralized institutions that are often limited by siloes and other unnecessary friction-causing roadblocks. Over 40 community members have since coordinated in order to raise funds and vote through Ethereum on various different social impact projects including a beach cleanup and the delivery of computer equipment to underserved schools in the town of Barber.
From Collaboration to Micro-Economy.
While going through the process of onboarding community members to the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), CuraDAO’s members realized that educating people on cryptocurrencies and how to use them was important. This led to the creation of a community currency — CuraDAI — a stable coin that is 1:1 backed by the local Antillean Guilder.
When you combine complementary currencies with powerful, decentralized governance and coordination mechanisms, profound changes begin to happen.
As stated by the team at Kolektivo:
“With a community currency attached to it, CuraDAO started to evolve into more than just a coordination hub — it started to become an economy. Fuse’s focus and expertise in the area of building sustainable micro-economies made it the ideal platform to scale the project”.
Luuk Weber, Co-Founder at Kolektivo Labs
As CuraDAI grows its user base and liquidity, new possibilities emerge. These include:
- Incentivizing people to transact in it through rewards and discounts, therefore locking wealth within the local community and increasing economic activity.
- Providing users with exposure to other crypto assets.
- Accessing yield earning DeFi protocols to generate and preserve wealth.
- Providing the foundation for more complementary digital assets to be minted with the intention of stimulating growth and driving sustainability.
Scaling with Fuse
Until recently, CuraDAI was only available on Ethereum making it, in many cases, impossible to use due to long waiting times and impossibly high transaction fees.
However, thanks to the soon to arrive Kolektivo app, users will be able to send and receive CuraDAI in a matter of seconds for under $0.01 regardless of the transaction amount. The wallet will soon be downloadable on iOS and Android.
The Vision
The vision is to bring governance, coordination, and finance into a single solution that can be used by all community members and stakeholders. In the coming months, work will begin on Kolektivo Dapp on top of Fuse Network, incorporating all of these functionalities.
