In Episode 49 of Chain Reactions, we sit down with Mashal Waqar, Head of Marketing at Octant, and get a surprise drop-in from Griff Green, Founder of Giveth, to dig into how public goods funding actually works on Ethereum and why it matters more now than ever.

We cover:– How Octant's model works: lock GLM, earn ETH, and choose to fund public goods or keep the yield– The surprisingly heated debate over what counts as a "public good" (yes, Pizza DAO came up)– Why blockchain unlocks speed, transparency, and community-driven capital allocation that traditional grants can't match– Griff's wild story of The DAO hack, how edge case funds turned into $200M+, and the launch of the new DAO Security Fund– The case for an Ethereum security coalition and why L2s need to fund shared infrastructure

Mashal shares her journey from running a media company with tens of millions of readers to burning out, discovering crypto through NFTs and Gitcoin, and co-authoring the first State of Web3 Grants report.

We also get into real-world impact stories, from funding water filters in Gaza to helping doctors in Syria get paid through crypto, and why sustainable funding through DeFi yield beats depleting treasuries. Plus, a great riff on AI in public goods, the Zakat use case for crypto, and why execution beats everything.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro and what's on everyone's timeline right now02:08 – Welcome to Chain Reactions and introducing Mashal from Octant03:54 – Mashal's journey from media founder to crypto marketer06:28 – How NFTs and Crypto Covens pulled her back into Web308:53 – Co-authoring the first State of Web3 Grants report and discovering Octant10:25 – What Octant is and how the GLM staking model works13:15 – What actually counts as a public good (and the Pizza DAO debate)16:49 – The $1M Ethereum creator round and lessons from vetting 1,000+ applications18:30 – DeFi vaults, sustainable funding, and the new StreamVote experiment23:30 – Why blockchain unlocks faster, more transparent funding than traditional grants26:34 – Remittances, financial access, and the personal case for crypto in emerging markets33:24 – Griff joins: founding Giveth, The DAO hack, and rescuing $200M+ in edge case funds39:21 – The multiplier effect and why matching makes it hard not to donate44:18 – Launching the DAO Security Fund inspired by Octant's model48:45 – AI experiments at Octant, building with AI, and the case for AI in public goods56:29 – Vitalik's L2 tax tweet, Ethereum sustainability, and the need for a security coalition1:00:00 – Rapid fire: execution beats everything and don't count your chickens

Show Notes & Mentions

• 🧠 Octant – Public goods funding platform on Ethereum
• 🎁 Giveth – Donation platform and public goods movement since 2016
• 🧵 Mashal on X
• 🧵 Griff on X
• 🧵 Octant on X
• 🧵 Giveth on X
• 🏗️ DAO Security Fund – Griff's new project to secure DAO funds and fund Ethereum security
• 🪙 Golem / GLM – Token powering Octant's staking and funding model
• 🌱 Gitcoin – Grants platform for open source and public goods
• 🍕 Pizza DAO – Community funding pizza parties worldwide (public good or not?)
• 🤖 Virtuals / 60days.ai – AI agent launchpad mentioned by Griff
• ⭐ Stellar – Referenced for crypto-powered aid to doctors in Syria
• 📊 [Blockchain for Good Report](https://docsend.com/v/9dm2p/myosin-blockchainsforgood](https://docsend.com/v/9dm2p/myosin-blockchainsforgood)) – Myosin's collaborative research report on blockchain impact