Cities are living organisms, shaped by the people who walk their streets, fix problems, and care for their neighbors. As Jane Jacobs insightfully wrote, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because they are created by everybody.”
During the Devconnect Scholars Program, when the question was asked “How to onboard billions to Ethereum?“, I along with other Devconnect scholars embarked on a journey to build CityRewards.fun, a civic operating system that rewards everyday civic actions like riding bikes, sorting waste, volunteering, supporting local businesses with digital loyalty points that evolve into CityRewards tokens. These tokens fuel a circular, regenerative local economy, rooted in the principles of community governance, street-level vitality, and care.
What Devconnect brought to this journey was more than a platform, it was a vibrant ecosystem of thinkers, coders, and builders who share a vision for using Ethereum to power real-world positive impact. Through conversations and collaborative sessions, I connected with other developers who helped me think deeply about tokenomics, modular governance, and user onboarding strategies.
One of the biggest lessons from Devconnect was the emphasis on modularity and collaboration (here is the slide) i.e. how CityRewards.fun can be built as an open platform where anyone can create new action types, integrate local projects, or spin up neighborhood coops or DAOs. This idea of composability opened new design pathways, making the system extensible and adaptable for diverse communities.
The program showed me the importance of hiding blockchain complexity behind seamless user experiences, enabling onboarding of billions without overwhelming them. With embedded smart wallets, email-passkey login, and proof-of-action attestations, CityRewards.fun can weave Ethereum’s trust into everyday life invisibly.
Devconnect also illuminated the critical role of community and governance. We discussed how quadratic voting, reputation badges, and transparent treasury management can turn citizens from mere users into empowered stakeholders stewarding their neighborhoods.
This shared learning and network have galvanized CityRewards.fun’s development, inspiring new pilots, more robust security designs, and I am going to present in local civic tech organization. The project is more than an idea and is creating regenerative finance and civic technology, built with the help of Ethereum’s global developer community.
If we align incentives toward positive action and let Ethereum handle transparency and coordination, cities can regenerate themselves from the bottom up digitally intertwined, socially rooted, and economically vibrant.
Explore the prototype and join the movement at cityrewards.fun. I thank the Devconnect experience for igniting the connections and insights that make this vision possible. My biggest take away is if we align incentives toward positive action and let Ethereum handle transparency and coordination, cities can regenerate themselves from the bottom up.