Adam Neumann, Co-founder of WeWork, Has a New Crypto Project

Adam Neumann, co-founder of the startup WeWork, is behind a new cryptocurrency initiative called Flowcarbon. On Tuesday, the crypto venture said it secured $70 million from a group of investors headed by Andreessen Horowitz. Dana Gibber, the chief executive officer of Flowcarbon, describes the project’s efforts as a great financial mechanism that offers an incentive to reforest, revive, and conserve nature.

Neumann is a contentious figure due to his participation in WeWork in 2019, as it was revealed that the business was losing money. In September of 2019, WeWork filed Form S-1 for an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares, and Neumann resigned as CEO. He founded Flowcarbon alongside his wife Rebekah, Dana Gibber, Ilan Stern, and Carolina Klatt.

Neumann wants to place carbon credits on the blockchain. However, making carbon credits simpler to acquire and trade does little to address the fundamental flaw with carbon credits and offsets. The ability to trade a defective product more readily does not make it less defective.

It is unclear precisely how Flowcarbon would render carbon offsets more effective or reliable. The startup also claims that the carbon credits underlying its token have been validated, although it does not specify how or whether its verification mechanism differs from that of the present carbon credit supply.

Trying to take advantage of the post-Great Recession real estate collapse, Neumann founded a firm called WeWork in 2010 and began renting out modest office spaces to small businesses and contractors. In the end, many people argued that this strategy was a gamble that wouldn’t pay off.

Neumann’s new venture fits neatly within the category of speculative investments. A blockchain-based tool for monitoring carbon credits isn’t completely useless. It seems fair to believe that additional nations will install or extend carbon credit schemes within the next decade or longer, and this is the type of international situation where a permissionless blockchain may be beneficial, at least on the surface.

Allegory Labs, RSE Ventures, Sam and Ashley Levinson, RSE Ventures, Kevin Turen, and Invesco Private Capital all participated in Flowcarbon’s investment round. Box Group, Celo Foundation, and Fifth Wall made stakes in the token auction. According to the Flowcarbon website’s overview, the purpose is to make the carbon credit optional while simultaneously increasing transparency, liquidity, and accessibility.