Mask Network’s Non-profit Achieves $1.5 Million Milestone in Donations Supporting Web3 Initiatives and World’s Leading Universities

Leading decentralized social protocol Mask Network’s non-profit arm Mask Network Academy, has reached a milestone in philanthropies to major institutes of higher education around the world. Having made major strategic donations so far this year, Mask’s non-profit initiatives stand ahead of the curve in supporting Web3 educational programs and entrepreneurs globally with its combined US$1.5 million donations worldwide.

Since its establishment in 2023, the Mask Network Academy has been dedicated to providing funding and donations to the world’s top universities and journalism programs, as well as going further to participate in technological collaborations with these institutions. Its aim has been to drive forward innovation in Web3 and promote deeper story-telling around this emerging technology.

“It will take a journey to achieve the free and open internet. Decentralized social networks play a vital role in the process. We are excited to back like-minded scholars and institutions to build a bright future together,” said Suji Yan, founder of Mask Network and its non-profit arm.

In early April, the Academy made a donation of US$50,000 to the Digital Finance Laboratory of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST Crypto Fintech Lab), the first cryptocurrency donation to ever be accepted by the institution. This donation will be used to support blockchain research and education, as well as promote research of topics that are more closely aligned with scenarios where blockchain technology can be applied.

In July, the Academy made a donation to the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C. Berkeley of US$100,000 to help create a new journalism class teaching students about emerging trends in tech, from blockchain to peer-to-peer networks. The course will be known as “Future Technologies and Decentralized Social”, and will be offered in the Berkeley Journalism School (J-school) starting fall 2025.

Nancy Wu, who runs the Mask Network Academy, is also an alumna of Berkeley J-school. Keenly aware of the need for courses like the one funded by this donation, Wu explains,

“Berkeley really is the perfect place to build something to introduce to journalism students and introduce to the public about Decentralized Social, and to show them how it has changed the media landscape.”

In July, the Academy established another significant 3-year Mask Network Fund to Yale-China in support of its Education and Artist Residency programs, as well bilateral education exchanges. Another first-of-its-kind crypto donation, it has provided much needed funding for Yale-China’s educational work in classrooms across both China and the United States that builds mutual understanding and supports the development of emerging leaders.

“It’s so exciting for Yale-China to be supported in a new way that meaningfully advances our work,” said John Frisbie, president of Yale-China. “With Mask Network Academy’s funding, Yale-China is able to showcase important work by accomplished Chinese artists and sustain life-changing education programs that deeply touch students in China and the United States. We are deeply grateful to Mask Network Academy for its generous support.”

Most recently, Mask Network Academy teamed up with The Media Economies Design Lab (MEDLab) at CU Boulder to launch the “Open Social Incubator”. Made possible through a digital token donation from the Academy, the incubator will be housed within CU Boulder’s College of Media, Communication, and Information (CMCI). Its goal is to support the next generation of decentralized social media communities and fuel innovation in the digital economy.

The Mask Grants Program

As early as 2022, Mask Network has been consistently concentrating its efforts toward building a more advanced Web3 social ecosystem, and supporting public goods through The Mask Grants Program.

The Program supports projects by providing funding to enhance their value within Web3 and Mask’s ecosystem. Leveraging its robust experience in product-building and its ambitious grand vision for the future, Mask strives to share resources and facilitate collaborations to accelerate the growth of its ecosystem.

Our Impact So Far

The Grants nonprofit initiative has funded 89 projects and distributed US$100,000 in grants to fuel their growth. These grants have supported some of the most promising applications in trending sectors of the industry including; Scam Sniffer, a widely popular anti-scam tool Mask supported from an early stage; Eth.limo, the most used Web3 resolver in the ENS Ecosystem; Kudasai, the most engaged with Web3 Community in Japan; and Ethereum Follow Protocol, an on-chain social graph protocol for Ethereum accounts. （See the photo above with some key projects)

What’s next for our Nonprofit

Mask Network’s non-profit work has only just begun. The donations made in 2024 play a vital role in advancing our mission to support Web3 education and storytelling. . Both the Academy and Grants programs will continue to be driving forces in shaping the future of decentralized social media and driving innovation in Web3.

About Mask Network

Mask Network is a leader in the growing decentralized social network ecosystem. In 2019, the Mask browser extension began supporting social media users with secure, decentralized social messaging, payment networks, file storage and sharing on the current mainstream social media networks such as Twitter (now X). With its venture arm, Mask strategically invests in decentralized social networks, infrastructure, and creative contents with the goal of making Web3 more accessible to all. Learn more at Mask.io

Mask Network Academy

Established in 2023, Mask Network Academy as the non-profit entity of Mask Network, provides funding and donations as well as technological collaborations to the world’s top universities and journalism programs, with the goal of promoting Web3 research and story-telling.