Sector Guide

ReFi — Regenerative Finance

Using crypto to fund climate action, protect ecosystems, and finance public goods. Where DeFi meets environmental impact.

What is ReFi?

Regenerative Finance (ReFi) is a crypto sector focused on using blockchain technology to create positive environmental and social outcomes. While most of DeFi optimizes for financial returns, ReFi channels capital toward climate action, biodiversity conservation, and community public goods.

The sector gained traction with the tokenization of carbon credits. Projects like Toucan Protocol bridge verified carbon offsets onto the blockchain, making them tradeable, transparent, and composable with DeFi. KlimaDAO took this further by creating a treasury-backed token designed to drive up the price of carbon and make polluting more expensive.

Beyond carbon, ReFi encompasses platforms like Gitcoin, which has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to open-source developers and public goods through quadratic funding — a mechanism that amplifies small donations to match community preferences rather than just whale wallets.

M2 Money Supply: the foundation of ReFi
M2 Money Supply: the foundation of ReFi

Key Projects

Toucan Protocol BCT / NCT

Bridges real-world carbon credits on-chain. BCT (Base Carbon Tonne) and NCT (Nature Carbon Tonne) are tokenized offset pools.

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KlimaDAO KLIMA

DeFi protocol backed by carbon credits. Designed to absorb carbon supply and increase the cost of pollution through market mechanics.

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Celo CELO

Carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain focused on mobile-first financial inclusion and regenerative economic systems.

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Gitcoin GTC

Platform for funding open-source software and public goods through quadratic funding rounds and grants programs.

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Why This Sector Matters

The voluntary carbon market is expected to grow significantly as companies face increasing pressure to offset their emissions. Tokenized carbon credits make this market more transparent, liquid, and accessible. Instead of opaque OTC deals, anyone can buy verified carbon credits on-chain and retire them permanently.

ReFi also represents a philosophical shift in crypto. While much of the industry focuses on speculation and financialization, ReFi projects are explicitly designed to generate positive externalities. Gitcoin's quadratic funding has proven that decentralized coordination can effectively allocate resources to public goods.

Tracking ReFi tokens by market cap on OmniaChart provides insight into how much capital is flowing into climate and public goods on-chain. You can compare carbon credit token market caps against traditional carbon futures, or track how ReFi sector value correlates with broader ESG trends in traditional markets.

Track Carbon Credits on OmniaChart

OmniaChart tracks tokenized carbon credits (BCT, NCT) alongside other ReFi tokens. Compare on-chain carbon prices against traditional carbon futures and ESG indexes.

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