Decentralized Outcome Funding for Investigative Reporters
11-13, 09:45–10:15 (Asia/Bangkok), Stage 1

Drawing upon the idea of impact certificates, this talk demonstrates how blockspace can be leveraged to solve double selling of impact (create change once and sell to many funders) and donating on brand rather than outcomes created. The session will go through a demo built by VoiceDeck in collaboration with the EF to help traditional newsrooms port their private database of impact as Hypercerts on Optimism, so they can receive funding based on recorded impact arising from their past stories.

Devansh Mehta has broad experience in the journalism and social sector, including as an investigative reporter and consultant to community media outlets in India. His company VoiceDeck has piloted new technologies with low-resource communities, including blockchain based impact certificates.

Devansh has completed a dual Master’s Degree in International Affairs and Investigative Journalism at Columbia University. He was selected for the 2023 Next Billion Fellowship by Ethereum Foundation.