DeFi for Baby JJ and the Crypto Godfather DAO

I’ve been stranded in the Philippines for a few months — but life doesn’t just stop. I made a friend who asked me to be the godfather for her 4-month old baby, JJ. I was touched.

The baptism and two-pig slaughter & roast party was this weekend.

I want to create a savings account for him that will be entirely crypto, to be cashed out when he’s 18.

The way I imagine this working:

1. I will create a wallet I will share with his family and online.
2. I will share the Zerion link because it is pretty.
3. I will seed it with funds, probably a stablecoin earning interest
4. I will add money to it over the next decade and a half, especially in the case that my earnings continue to climb.
5. I will solicit matching funds from the co-founder of my company for the seed amount
6. I will also solicit funds from the wider community

For some context, daily wages are around $5/day. With compounding, as well as regular deposits from myself, I think this could turn into a seriously impactful amount of money.

JJ and Mama

What I hope happens even before cashing it out:

1. I hope mom is touched. I think if I showed her the wallet and explained to her what it was, and also that strangers had even contributed, she would experience it as a miracle. If we were able to show her that we’re planning for his future like this, well, I can’t really imagine a nicer thing to give to a mom, particularly if she worries about her ability to do it on her own.
2. I hope JJ feels blessed. He’ll know that he has this opportunity fund waiting for him, and hopefully that will stir some imagination in him as he grows up. Local narratives about life probably won’t be as big as the world has to offer, perhaps this will give him a way to think bigger.

What I hope happens with the money:

1. I have found that the real issue in the Philippines is a lack of opportunities. I meet many people who have competence, just not access to opportunity.
2. In 18 years this will hopefully shift, nevertheless,
3. The purpose of this fund is to increase JJ’s opportunities to grow and earn capital.
4. This could be a mix of cultural, intellectual, and economic capital — All of which are important for maximizing the potential for a good life.

I’m unqualified to be a catholic godfather, so I’ll be a crypto godfather instead. ❤

How I intend to make sure that’s what happens with the money:

1. It will start with conversations with JJ and his family when he’s 16 around what he’d like to do.
2. I have a strong preference not to be biased towards a particular use other than that it be to increase opportunities. This means that calling it a “college fund” is not what I’m after. For example, working abroad is a popular option for people here, so supporting that could be a possibility. Or maybe he wants to become a crypto influencer, we’ll find a way to support that.
3. To the people who contribute, I’d also want to share his story and get their ideas — and to the extent that is relevant, their network.

You could think of this as an “off-protocol DAO”* for helping a particular human transition from adolescence into a happy adulthood

*This is not really a thing

I intend this to be useful to me because I love this particular human but also of course to inspire others, specifically people who might want to build money legos that support this kind of intention.

How to Participate

I’d be equally thrilled for you to participate by contributing OR by doing the same for someone in your life that you think could use it.

ETH: 0x6a0ce3CFEBfebaFBEe77861c084BE3055e2FAFB8

BTC: 12VjzGa1Cxx2rPpzKaBNK3hb2iYHMVYoQL and I will put wBTC in ☝

USD: paypal.me/claytonroche and I will contribute crypto on your behalf.

I will seed with $500 plus I will cover all of the gas fees of any transactions, in perpetuity.

If you contribute a volatile asset and think it needs to be stabilized in the future, you can tell me and I will. However, I will not change funds from stable → volatile. Send any ERC20 you want — Whatever you want Baby JJ to have a piece of when he is 18:

• Please send me an email: claytonroche@gmail.com.
• Initial coms for this will be via a group e-mail
• You can send money without giving me your email of course
• If you have any message to go along with your contribution, any god-parently-wisdom, please do share it! They speak English.

On a yearly basis I will rebalance for lending efficiency, diversify, and analyze stablecoin or other portfolio risks.

This is an experiment. Things could go wrong:

1. I’ll have to hold the keys for now. I hope some people get involved and help me be me smart about them.
2. I could die. Ideally I’ll find a way to have a multi-sig (right?)
3. The family may ask for the money for other uses or early. I will have to say no.
4. The family may not save money for JJ because they know they have this coming. This actually does not concern me.
5. Crypto could die.
6. The family could plan on this money and borrow against it — The Crypto Godfather DAO will have to make sure the funds go towards their stated purpose, and I will make sure the family has clarity on that. Never to repay a loan.
7. Funds in excess of $10,000 measured in today’s value may be a bit much for this context. In that event, I encourage the DAO to discuss possibly locking funds for disbursement at a future purpose. However, no funds should be allocated outside the original stated purpose: increasing opportunities for this particular human.
8. I’m worried about being public about this human and his mother. It makes me uneasy for a few reasons, but I have decided that it is OK with permission.
9. I’m worried this could make the family a target in the future. For this reason, I will scrub this article of pictures in a week or two after posting.
10. Similarly, I’m worried that if the neighborhood found out they might not understand the money isn’t on-site and beg, coerce, or worse. I trust the mom knows the 🦈 threat well and I’ll remind her to be cautious.
11. I’m worried about the longevity of any given crypto. I will do some amount of reworking over the years — Always with an eye to stable value with steady returns vs. high risk/high reward.

Giving Labs

This is a continuation of my Giving Labs experiments. Sometimes I earn over $1,000 without trying (like, YFI) — I’m not rich, but that never happens to the people who make $5 a day here.

Yet, giving is hard.

Giving labs is just a series of experiments I’ll do over my lifetime to find ways to make it better. Here’s the last one.