USV Founding Visions for Philanthropy and an Altruistic Future for Capitalism and Crypto

By: Suki Somersall

I sat down in Puerto Rico with two of key USV team members, Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez to learn more about the altruistic passion behind their new DeFi project Atlas USV.

Somersall: Can you tell me a little more about USV and it’s future vision for a more logical and fair economic system?

Mehr: The original vision for cryptocurrency and the blockchain was to create a fair and equitable financial system for all. Unfortunately, most of the crypto universe is highly concentrated in the hands of a few.

For example 50% of bitcoin wealth is controlled by only 0.023% of all wallet addresses.

Sadly this is even worse than the legacy fiat system it was built to replace. In fiat, 50.1% of global wealth is controlled by 1%, which crypto is 434% MORE concentered than fiat. A sad statistic which must change if the overarching humanitarian goals of blockchain philosophy are to be achieved.

(Read: https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2019/08/half-of-bitcoin-wealth-held-by-just-1800-wallets/​)

At USV our goal is to move closer to a reality where the poor and needy are raised out of the ashes of misery into financial independence.

Our tokenomics includes a novel approach we coined RACL or Reciprocal Altruism Charity Lockbox.

Somersall: Can you explain RACL and the philosophy of ‘Reciproal Altruism’ in more detail?

Lopez: RACL is based upon one of sciences’ most cited works “The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism” (Robert Trivers, The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1971.).

Known as Harvard’s ‘Father of Evolutionary Biology’, Dr. Trivers’ breakthrough idea explained why species who expend energy in seemingly non-adaptive ways persist in the gene pool.

Trivers’ theory uses “a priori” logic to prove that altruism and charity evolved because they MUST be beneficial and adaptive — even if extended to non-kin.

Somersall: What are the parallels to this biological hypothesis in capitalism and specifically related to DeFi and USV?

Mehr: Humans find themselves in economic situations where their past charity to non kin will be rewarded with a reciprocal degree of saving grace. So both morally and pragmatically, we have built in charity into the USV protocol through the creation of a permanent lockbox which spins off excess rewards.

RACL mechanics function as follows:

• Allocation: 100,000 USVs (10% of the initial supply)
• This original allocation is NEVER sold and permanent locked in the RACL wallet.
• RACL stakes the original allocation in the staking contract and collects rewards.
• ONLY 1–10% of the rewards can be harvested per period and donated to a 501c3 charities or deployed into positive impact projects.
• A Percentage of this will also be devoted to other crypto and DeFi ‘impact projects’ that are benefiting the world, environmentally, socially etc. Atlas will take revenue generated from those projects and reinvest it.
• The rest of rewards are left in RACL wallet as staked and compounded to increase the charitable amount in the next period. The goal here is to become the largest decentralized global benefactor without creating selling pressure.
• Additionally, if RACL deploys in a positive impact for-profits, the proceeds will 100% go to the main treasury — increasing value and backing for all USV token holders.

Somersall: What are some of the initial charities you have selected to donate to and why?

Lopez: Alex and I are both passionate about regenerative solutions and specifically fighting human hunger. Since the week we’ve launched we’ve already donated over $50,000 to Heifer International. Heifer accelerates the path to living incomes with nutritious food, shelter, clean water, decent education, access to health care and a safe and secure environment. All fundamental to living a life free from hunger and poverty. Yet millions of people can’t afford them. Finding effective charities is also tantamount to our altruistic giving model.

Somersall: Beyond the RACL model, how can USV community get involved in this ethos of altruism?

Mehr: We encourage USV holders to contribute to our charities as well and they can do so by contacting us at hello@atlasusv.com. We are building this together.