The Optimistic Economy
What Africans can do on Optimism L2
Get ready for non stop L2 content! Why?
Because L2s finally offer blockchain accessibility to Africans on a scale previously impossible. So we have commited ourselves to deliberately and continuously creating content that guides every web3 native in Africa to get accustomed to L2s while ensuring that new people that enter the space are onboarded directly to L2s without touching L1s, heck, we want to get to a point where people forget L1s exist. So in this issue, we explore a booming ecosystem offering endless opportunities for it’s participants - the Optimism ecosystem, or as we like to call it in Bankless Africa, the Optimistic Economy😉
In this issue👇🏾💯
🎯 What Africans can do on Optimism L2 🙆🏾♂️
🎯 On Air → Cool podcast episode to listen to🎧
🎯 Newsflash → Curated crypto news across Africa📰
🎯 Events & Meet Ups → Where the events at? 💃🏾🥳
🚨 Action Zone → Action pronto!⚡
What Africans can do on Optimism L2
Almost every essential thing you can do on ETH L1 can now be done on L2s. L2s such as Optimism have made incredible progress and keep evolving at an exponential rate. This rapid development and consistent evolution present a treasure trove of opportunities for those ready to tap into them, especially in the African context. If you are ready to explore, here are various ways to take advantage of L2s such as Optimism.
Defi
At the heart of Optimism lies a robust support for numerous decentralized finance(Defi) platforms. This integration allows anyone, Africans included to deploy capital to generate returns without the barriers of exorbitant gas fees or agonizing wait times for transaction confirmations on ETH L1. some notable ways to engage in Defi activities include:
Lending and Borrowing
You can lend your crypto assets to others and earn interest, or borrow crypto assets by providing collateral. There are various platforms that facilitate this activity, such as Aave, compound and MakerDAO.
Remittance
L2s such as Optimism are great rails for facilitating remittances between parties who are familiar with their use. You can transfer different kinds of tokens including stablecoins such as USDT and USDC to anyone anywhere in the world. Hence this is a great way to move money between parties within and outside Africa at almost no cost!
Investing and Saving
Decentralized finance requires people to set up pools and provide capital for people to be able to engage in most of these Defi activities. As a result Liquidity provision(LP) has been one of the core tenets of Defi. You can invest your assets in various pools, funds, or strategies that generate returns from LP. When done properly, liquidity provision is a sustainable way to generate consistent returns over a sustained period of time. Some platform that makes it easy to LP include Yearn finance and Beefy finance. Defi also offers great savings opportunities.
One of the best ways for Africans to protect their hard earned wealth from short term protracted inflation of their local currencies is to convert and store it in stablecoins. L2s offer cost effective way of doing this!
Trading & Exchanging
You can also trade on various decentralized exchanges and derivative platforms such as Uniswap, GMX, Sushieswap and Velodrome. for those who like trading real assets, Synthetix might be an interesting platform to consider.
Active participation, not passive observation
The Optimism ecosystem is not just about leveraging applications; it's also about being a part of its growth story and incredible community. The Optimism collective is the driving force ensuring the success of Optimism. It’s a band of companies, communities, and citizens working together to reward public goods and build a sustainable future for Ethereum. It’s a large-scale experiment in digital democratic governance, built to drive rapid and sustainable growth of a decentralized ecosystem. In short, there are countless ways Africans can join the collective, provide value and get rewarded for their contribution. Here are some few ways to get involved.
Contribute to governance or become a governance delegate and engage in various governance discussions⚖️
Become Op ambassador🫱🏾🫲🏾🧑🏾🤝🧑
Become Op nerd🤓🤓
Contribute to Public Good in the Op collective to earn Retroactive Public Good funding and retroPGF bounties.
Get Ecosystem Grants for building on the Op stack
⏩check the Action zone below for relevant links to get involved in the Optimism collective💯
Tip of the iceberg
The above are some few ways Africans can accrue value from Optimism L2. We are cooking an article to be published on Blocscribe to go more deep on this topic. No foreshadowing. Stay tuned and check out Blocscribe if you hanvn’t already!
On Air → Cool podcast episode to listen to🎧
🎧 Empowering Web3 Builders in Africa on the Bankless Africa podcast
🎧 Desci in Pidgin on the Pidgin Parlour Crypto Podcast
🎧 How to Run an ETH Validator on a smart Watch on Bankless🙀
🎧 Building and Scaling : A Bitcoin Conversation by Yassine Elmandjra and Catherine Wood on The Bitcoin Brainstorm podcast.
Newsflash → Curated crypto news across Africa📰
🗞️ Blockchain start up decrease to 5.5% across Africa
🗞️ Patricia Crypto Exchange saga continues after converting users deposit to platform native tokens
🗞️ Halt crypto tax, Blockchain Association of Kenya goes to court
🗞️ Premium on crypto surges after some South Africa Banks stop processing payments
Events & Meet Ups → Where the events at?
🕸️ Web3lagos 📅 Aug 31 → Sep 2, 2023 🪧 In progress at the Zone, Gbagada, Lagos State.
Web3lagos is a conference that is bringing together Web3 enthusiast from all over Nigeria and beyond. Bankless Africa is present at the event covering all the action!
Huge s/o to Abidemi, Aishat, Winverse, Annointingthompson for continuous coverage of the event on Bankless Africa X (ex-twitter😹)
🕸️ ETHAccra 📅 Sep 7 → Sep 9, 2023 🪧University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.
ETHAccra aims to bring the Ethereum community to one of the most crypto-friendly cities in the heart of West Africa - Ghana. The goal is to learn, hack, discuss, and celebrate the future of decentralization by leveraging crypto to build tailored made solutions to address local problems. Bankless Africa is a media partner and co-organizer of this event. We can’t wait for this! sign up if you havn’t yet.
🕸️ ETHSafari 📅 Sep 18 → Sep 23, 2023 🪧 Nairobi, Kenya
ETHSafari is a journey through the world of GameFi, ReFi, On-Chain Agriculture, and the ever-expanding NFT universe. Discover how these cutting-edge technologies are transforming our financial landscape, empowering climate action, and bridging the gap to financial inclusion. if you are coming, make sure you are equipped for the Safari. These awesome fellas will demand a treat. 🥳
🕸️ Digital Asset Summit 2023 by SiBAN 📅 Sep 6 - 7 Sep, 2023 🪧 NAF Conference Center, Abuja, Nigeria
SiBAN is a key player in the National Blockchain Policy Steering Community in Nigeria, aiming to foster collaboration in the Web3 ecosystem. This event seeks to enhance engagement between policymakers and industry stakeholders to shape the blockchain industry's future.
Action Zone ⚡
⛏️ Subscribe & mint articles on Blocscribe
🫴🏾 Join the Optimism governance discussion
👍🏾 Join the Optimism discord to become Ambassador and Nerd
🦦 Don’t forget to subscribe if you havn’t yet
🙏🏾 Give us a follow on X (twitter)
And it’s a wrap. have a great weekend
Thank you for reading, until next time, stay relentless🔥
Love the article, very insightful