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The Nonprofit Push to Make Giving Tuesday About Giving Bitcoin

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Black Friday’s history is complicated. The U.S. tradition of shopping on the day after Thanksgiving dates back to the early 20th century, though the term wasn’t coined until the 1960s. Since then, the event has unravelled into a multiday scramble for door-busting deals; for some, it now begins on the day of Thanksgiving itself and has extended its influence into such offshoot events like Cyber Monday, a day of digital shopping discounts.

It has also given rise to Giving Tuesday (#GivingTuesday). As its name implies, #GivingTuesday is meant to encourage philanthropy and charity in response to the consumerism that has come to define the days after Thanksgiving. 

And as sats-back programs like Fold and Lolli embrace the post-Thanksgiving traditions with their own deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, one organization wants to put Bitcoin at the forefront of #GivingTuesday.

Turning Giving Tuesday Into Giving #BitcoinTuesday 

The Giving Block, a nonprofit that provides bitcoin payment-processing solutions for charities and other nonprofits, is launching perhaps the widest-reaching bitcoin charity campaign for this year’s Giving Tuesday.

Bitcoin Tuesday (#BitcoinTuesday), as it’s called, is calling all hodlers to fork over some of their sats in the name of goodwill and philanthropy. 

“We have two #BitcoinTuesday goals — one donation goal, one adoption goal,” The Giving Block co-founder Patrick Duffy told Bitcoin Magazine. “The donation goal — raise $1,000,000 in cryptocurrency for nonprofits. The adoption goal — get 1,000,000 people to see positive Bitcoin content. Imagine if campaigns like this happened every day. Think about how much easier it would be to talk about Bitcoin at the dinner table. That’s why we’re doing this.”

The Giving Block team believes that bitcoin donations have not gained as much traction for Giving Tuesday as one might expect (according to a 2019 report by Tech for Good, only 2 percent of global nongovernmental organizations and nonprofits accept bitcoin as a donation option, up by 1 percent from 2018). 

This may be in part because of the learning curve that comes with using bitcoin. That’s why The Giving Block’s first hire was tasked with going from nonprofit to nonprofit to glean where the pain points were in accepting BTC donations and how it could convince board members to adopt a crypto-based donations solution. 

For an oft-malign digital currency sometimes associated in pop culture with the dark underpinnings of the web, bitcoin actually has a rich history of philanthropy. Examples include the 5,057 BTC Pineapple Fund, which Duffy said “[changed his life] and [inspired] the creation of the company,” and projects like BitGive and Helperbit. 

Building Philanthropic Momentum

Duffy finds that bitcoin donations should be a no-brainer given that, like stocks, these donations are exempt from capital gains tax. This could be enough to incentivize donations, he believes, along with what he calls the “high-five” effect: where bitcoiners “still see nonprofits accepting bitcoin as abnormal. So they’ll send some crypto as a ‘high five’ for joining the crypto community.”

The Giving Block features roughly 100 different nonprofits for donating, including The Human Rights Foundation, the Mona Foundation, No Kid Hungry, Save the Children and the Tor Foundation. When you donate through the platform, the organization converts your bitcoin donation into cash for the recipient and provides you with a tax receipt. In addition to bitcoin, it also takes ether, litecoin and zcash, among other altcoins. 

In hopes of boosting donations, The Giving Block wants to make sats-powered philanthropy go viral with the #GivingBitcoin hashtag. It’s already off to a good start; Rainn Wilson (best known for his role as Dwight in The Office) recently tweeted his support for the effort.

With a celebrity like Wilson behind the movement and a history of bitcoin-bolstered altruism, Duffy hopes that campaigns like this will turn hodlers into donors and spread adoption across the globe. 

“It will be nonprofits that bring Bitcoin mainstream,” he said. “Their incentives all align with Bitcoin’s unique properties. Transparency/traceability, cross border payments, micropayments/donations, stabilizing communities under unstable regimes issuing unstable fiat. Nonprofits are about to send Bitcoin adoption parabolic.”



Author: Colin Harper ::: Source link

Ripple’s Philippines corridor indicates spike in ODL transactions

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Crypto King
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Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity [ODL] platform has been reporting heightened transactions on the Bitso platform while facilitating XRP/MXN trades. However, according to new data curated by Mourad Toumi, XrPeace, and Labo-a-crypto-3.0. on Utility Scan, an increased USD-PHP on-demand XRP volume was noted.

Twitter user, @TeholBeddictXRP, took to Twitter to inform the community about this latest development in the Phillippines corridor. The Twitter user said,

“Big increase on Utility-Scan in USD-PHP on-demand XRP volume.”

The Twitter user also attached a screenshot to highlight the data for the USD volume per corridor over the past 24 hours.

Source: Twitter

Source: Twitter

According to data provided by Utility Scan, USD-PHP noted a USD volume of $267,703.72, while USD-MXN remained to lead with $1,362,657.88 in 24 hours. The application also highlighted the latest XRPL transactions as ODL.

Source: Utility Scan

Source: Utility Scan

According to the data provided by the application, multiple ODL transactions to Coin_PH were reported. However, the same wasn’t reflected on Coins.PH, with Twitter user @tenitoshi asking the exchange,

“U.S. dollar → Reported that bridge remittances (ODL) to the Philippine Peso are increasing. Philippines Exchange @coinsph
Did your liquidity index (XRP / PHP pair) finally increase?”

While some other Liquidity Index noted a spike in the liquidity for PHP/XRP corridor.

Source: Twitter

Source: Twitter

Previously, @tenitoshi had highlighted a spike in volume noted between September and October on Coin.PH. However, this inflated volume was not due to ODL transactions, but onboarding of traders. The Twitter user said,

“So-called calculation, I had the impression that many traders other than ODL have entered. If so, the board should be thicker accordingly, making it easier to run ODL. (^ ^)”

The Twitter user, on the issue of the low volume of ODL transactions, had noted that it was still at an early stage and that Ripple has been planning to start with a small volume of payments. However, a few days ago, Coin.Ph was reported making payments through the XRP Ledger.





Author: Namrata Shukla ::: Source link

British Virgin Islands Launch Own Digital Currency

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Crypto King
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The government of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is about to announce the details of its own digital currency. The project is developed in partnership with blockchain-oriented startup LIFElabs.io.

BVI’s Digital Currency to Replace USD

More governments are turning to proprietary digital currencies over the last year than ever before. China and the Marshall Islands are some good examples. Now it’s time for BVI to join the trend. The British territory, which is a popular offshore destination, is hosting the BVI Digital Economy symposium today. The event gathers over 100 stakeholders that will help the archipelago move to become a digital hub.

At the symposium, BVI and LIFElabs.io will present relevant details of the government-backed digital currency called BVI~LIFE.

For about 60 years, BVI has used the US dollar as its national currency. Now the government is working on a stablecoin powered by LIFEtoken. The currency will be pegged to the USD with a ratio of 1:1. When it goes live, the digital currency system will cut transaction fees, increase transaction speed, and ensure liquidity for both residents and tourists.

LIFElabs.io CEO Sanjay Jadhav commented:

This partnership puts us in a unique position to make a massive impact in a place that really stands to benefit. The foundation of a digital currency is necessary groundwork for the British Virgin Islands to continue to serve the global economy as it has in the past with the onset of the blockchain revolution.

LIFElabs Develops Emergency Fund and Blockchain Platform

Besides the national currency, BVI will have an emergency fund and a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that relies on blockchain.

LIFElabs is working on a Rapid Cash Response (RCR) fund that will provide aid in the case of a national emergency. For example, two years ago, Hurricane Irma hit BVI, causing $3 billion in damages.

LIFElabs CMO David Pugh-Jones explained:

LIFElabs was conceived with an emphasis on philanthropy, and our work with the British Virgin Islands exemplifies this perfectly. With the Rapid Cash Response fund, we’re creating necessary tools for the government to defend against disaster and protect its citizens from the aftermath.

BVI’s PaaS will merge blockchain solutions, including peer-to-peer transactions, merchant services, and cross-border payments, into a single platform available to all businesses operating in BVI.

What do you think about BVI’s national digital currency? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Image via Shutterstock



Author: Anatol Antonovici ::: Source link

Bitcoin Analyst Whose Indicator Who Called $3,150 Bottom Predicts 30% Drop Possible

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Crypto King
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If you’ve followed the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technical analysis space, you likely know of the TD Sequential.

The indicator, created by Point 72 consultant and well-known investor Tom DeMark (hence TD Sequential), has long been a staple of the trading suites of many investors, giving these traders a way through which they can determine where assets have found local tops and bottoms. Specifically, it has become popular with Bitcoin traders, with Wall Street veteran turned BTC proponent Tone Vays and other popular analysts actively promoting the time-centric indicator.

Related Reading: Under 6.8m Bitcoin Changed Hands in the Past Year: Does it Indicate Positive Sentiment?

Demark, who has been largely quiet on cryptocurrencies due to his lack of online presence, recently broke his silence on Bitcoin, taking to Bloomberg to explain his indicator and talk about his expectations for the future price of BTC.

Where Will Bitcoin Go Next According to Top Analyst?

Tom DeMark recently made an appearance on Bloomberg to talk markets. While the segment involved discussions around other subject matters, like a potential topping pattern put in by the S&P 500 and American equities as a whole, the host of the segment asked DeMark about Bitcoin due to his indicator’s popularity in the space.

In his monologue about the matter, DeMark quipped that Bitcoin remains in an “eight countdown,” which he claims shows that the “risk for downside” in the Bitcoin market remains “quite a bit, even from here.”

On the matter of exact targets, he noted that his firm, DeMark Analytics, is currently charting a move in the BTC price to $6,308 — some 15% lower than current prices — with a current max downside of $5,294 in a crash-like scenario.

A move to $5,300 from current prices would be a near-30% drop from the $7,400 level, which Bitcoin sits today. This would line up with a prediction from popular trader Mac, who, as noted by NewsBTC in a previous report, believes the final bottom of this bear move will be close to $5,100. Mac argued that this will be the “ultimate bottom” due to a confluence of key supports: the double-month volume-weighted average price, a “price inefficiency fill” level, and the 200-week moving average.

So why should DeMark’s calls be given heed?

Well, the investor also took some time to explain the historical accuracy of his indicator: he revealed that a 13 candle, which signifies a strong trend reversal, was registered by the TD Sequential when Bitcoin hit $20,000 in December 2017, and that another 13 candle, was seen when BTC cratered to $3,150 on December 14th. What’s more, a 13 candle was printed at the $14,000 top seen in June of this year.

In other words, his indicator managed to call the two most important macro levels of Bitcoin’s entire history thus far, giving him a great track record, especially by this market’s standards.

Related Reading: Strong NYSE Composite, Dow Jones May Give Bitcoin a Boost Into 2020
Featured Image from Shutterstock



Author: Nick Chong ::: Source link

Juventus Soccer Club Releases Blockchain Token for Fan Voting

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Crypto King
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Italian professional soccer club Juventus has released its own token to enable fans to participate in voting and polling.

Following a year-long development, Juventus’ branded token is now available on Socios.com, a tokenized fan-voting platform for sports, according to a Dec. 2 announcement. 

The token’s initial price is 2 euros ($2.22) per token, while a limited amount of free tokens will be available through the augmented reality feature of the Socios.com app, “Token Hunt.”

Fans who hold the token will be able to vote in a range of club-related decisions, the first of which will determine the club’s song for when it scores a goal. 

Sports embracing the crypto world

Initially, the club planned to release the token in the first quarter of 2019. The decision to develop a branded token followed a similar initiative by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). PSG’s partnership with Socios.com also allows fans to vote and also confers VIP status and/or rewards to holders.

Sport teams around the world have actively embraced branded tokens to improve interaction with their fans. In mid-October, the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team partnered with CryptoKaiju to launch crypto-collectibles backed by non-fungible tokens.

Germany’s FC Bayern Munich is the latest soccer club to announce blockchain-based merchandise for fans through a partnership with Stryking Entertainment to produce digital collectibles of its players. As reported, more clubs are expected to join Stryking as licensing partners for the system.





Author: Ana Alexandre ::: Source link

Bitcoin Price Suffered 31% November Slump But a Hostile China Boosts Outlook

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The bitcoin price dropped by 31% since October 26, in just over a month. Yet, Blockchain Capital partner Spencer Bogart sees strengthening fundamentals pushing BTC up in the medium-term.

The cryptocurrency market showed signs of stagnation throughout November following China’s crackdown on small exchanges and the sell-off of bitcoin on spot exchanges like Huobi and Binance.

Why Prominent Investors are Confident in Medium to Long-Term Bitcoin Price Trend

As said by Adaptive Fund partner Willy Woo, short-term price movements in the bitcoin market are often led by margin trading platforms like BitMEX.

Consecutive liquidations of either short or long contracts tend to fuel minor rallies or corrections, causing intense volatility. As such, short-term price trends of bitcoin are difficult to predict and are almost always conditional.

But, the medium to long-term trend of bitcoin can be identified with fundamental data and indicators.

When evaluating cryptocurrencies, analysts explore three major areas: transaction volume, developer activity, and hash rate.

Growth in all three areas indicate that that the user activity of a cryptocurrency is rising as developers and miners continue to strengthen network security.

According to Blockchain.com, total daily BTC transaction volume denominated by the U.S. dollar has increased from around $315 million in January 2017 to over $1 billion in December 2019.

bitcoin volume
Estimated Transaction Value in USD of Bitcoin Up 3-Fold in 2 Years | Source: Blockchain.com

Hash rate, which represents the total amount of computing power securing the Bitcoin network, rose from 0.3 exahash to over 100 exahash in the same period.

bitcoin hash rate
Bitcoin Hash Rate is up by 500-fold Since January 2017 | Source: Blockchain.com

Based on the fundamentals, Bogart said during an interview with Bloomberg that the bitcoin price will move higher over the next several years.

He said:

 I don’t think that bitcoin’s future is anyway dependent on what China does. So I think it is helpful to zoom out, get away from some of the near-term headlines because I think in general, any kind of short-term trading strategy around bitcoin is the wrong one.

I think the question people need to be asking is, is bitcoin going to be more successful in the next five years than today? I think if we look at all the underlying trends here, they are all very constructive. Bitcoin’s gone from being a joke just a few years ago to processing $1 to $3 billion worth of transactions daily.

How About 2019?

The bitcoin price is struggling to recover beyond key resistance levels in the mid-$7,000 region as the year’s end approaches.

The lack of momentum in the short-term price trend of BTC may leave it vulnerable to declining sentiment heading into 2020.

As seen in 2018, when negative sentiment is carried over from the fourth quarter to the first quarter of the subsequent year, a bear trend gets extended.

Whether bitcoin is currently in a bear market is arguable, given its two-fold increase from January 2019.

This article was edited by Samburaj Das.





Author: Joseph Young ::: Source link

Institutions Are Showing Interest in ETP Tied to Binance Coin, Amun Says

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Swiss crypto finance firm Amun says it’s received significant institutional interest in its exchange-traded product tied to Binance Coin (BNB).



Author: Paddy Baker ::: Source link

How to start a footwear business in Nigeria

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Crypto King
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Footwear business is a lucrative business that anyone can do and make sustainable income. Everybody wears shoe. Selling shoes is a great way to make money, especially in Nigeria.  You can start with a small investment and grow it. With the advent of social media, you can leverage on your online presence to expand and make more sales.

 

Follow these steps to start a footwear business in Nigeria:

 

Your will need to create a name for your footwear business which stands as an identity to your business or product. You can use your name e.g Femi Shoes or any other name of your choice.

 

2. Carry out market research

You will need to do some market research, this is so that you are able to identify your potential customers and target market. Also you need to note that your findings would also help you determine whether you want to have a shoe brand for only men, only women, and both, or children as well as other types of shoes. There are loads of books that can be found on this. One other way to get quickly informed about shoes is through the internet.

Write your business plan describing what types of shoes and handbags you will sell, your sales venue, how you will market your business, how you will fulfill orders and the legal form of your business, such as partnership, sole proprietorship or corporation. Include a list of costs of merchandise, projected revenues, marketing costs and operating costs. Take your business plan to banks and potential investors to gather enough funds to get your business started comfortably. You can also source for funds from family and friends.

Your brand has to stand for something that projects your vision and objectives as well as identifying with the customer’s as well. Your brand has to be consistent is communicating your own Unique Selling Point (USP).

Also, choose a competitive advantage. You can do this in three key areas, such as in quality, pricing and service. Ensure that in these three key areas, you have an edge over your competition. Another competitive strategy is to ensure that your customers stay excited by making every new feature or product you introduce innovative. This gives your customers something to talk about, whilst shutting out the competitors.

 

3. Find a shoe designer

If you can’t make shoes, this means that you may need to find a shoe designer and work with him or her at the factory or wherever, to design a line of shoes for your brand. Do bear in mind that the products you decide to churn out must have certain common features like; easy fit, trendy, and a high-fashion look, amongst others. These characteristics should become the standard operating features of your brand that will make it easily recognizable by buyers.

 

A logo identifies your footwear to your customers. You can easily design a logo using Canva or hire a graphics designer to create a logo for you.

 

You can manufacture your footwear in small quantities and sell them. Then, repeat the cycle again.

 

6. Choose your prices

Choose prices that resonate with your brand. Do you want to sell budget friendly or expensive shoes? Factor in the cost of production and advertising.

 

7. Create social media accounts for your business

Create a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account where you can post photos of your footwear and sell to customers.

 

8. Advertise on social media

Run paid ads on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to promote your business to potential customers.

 

9. Use influencers

Work with fashion bloggers, influencers and celebrities to promote your footwear, and see a spike in sales.

 

10. Post photos of your customers on social media

This will help drive sales because people will believe in the authenticity of your brand. Your customers will also talk about your business.

With ₦50,000 or more, you can start your own footwear business in Nigeria.





Author: Blessing Eji ::: Source link

Vertcoin Network Sabotaged by Another 51% Attack

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Crypto King
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Vertcoin Network Sabotaged by Another 51% Attack

The Vertcoin (VTC) blockchain was 51% attacked on Sunday, December 1, which saw 603 VTC blocks replaced by 553 blocks from the attacker. This is the second time the ASIC resistant Vertcoin chain was ambushed, as the network suffered a 300-block reorg a year ago.

Also read: Cryptocurrency Projects Aiming to be ‘ASIC Resistant’ Have Little Success

Vertcoin 51% Attacked Again

Vertcoin, a fork of the Bitcoin protocol, is an alternative cryptocurrency that’s been around since January 2014. The community and developers behind the project believe VTC is different because it claims to be ASIC resistant. However, throughout October and December 2018, the Vertcoin network dealt with a series of 51% attacks and a number of blockchain reorganizations (reorg).

Vertcoin Network Sabotaged by Another 51% Attack
Vertcoin dealt with 51% attacks and reorgs in October and December.

A 51% attack is when a single entity (miner) takes more than 50% of the network’s hashpower, allowing them to reorg blocks and double spend coins. The 300-block reorg on Vertcoin last year cost more than $100,000 from double spends. The situation invoked VTC developers to change its proof-of-work algorithm to another algorithm called Lyra2rev3. Less than a year later on December 1, 2019, the Vertcoin chain suffered another 51% attack. James Lovejoy, Vertcoin’s lead developer, explained the situation:

On Sunday, 1 December 2019 15:19:47 GMT 603 blocks were removed from the VTC main chain and replaced by 553 attacker blocks. We note that 600 blocks is the current confirmation requirement for VTC on Bittrex. There were 5 double-spent outputs in which ~ 125 VTC (~$29) was redirected. Each of the double-spent outputs are coinbase outputs owned by the attacker and it is unknown to whom the coins were originally sent before being swept to an attacker address after the reorg.

Vertcoin Network Sabotaged by Another 51% Attack

Cloud-Mining Service Nicehash Blamed Again

Similarly to last year’s attack, the captured hashrate was blamed on Nicehash. The company sells hashpower to individuals and acts as a hashpower broker marketplace that connects sellers and miners. Lovejoy remarked that he noticed on November 30 “a large upswing in hashrate rental prices for Lyra2rev3 on Nicehash.” “This was combined with workers connected to Nicehash’s stratum server being sent work for unknown (non-public) Vertcoin blocks,” Lovejoy added. Last year’s attack was blamed on Nicehash too when observers said “there’s too much hashrate for rent at too low a price, resulting in zero capex and low opex to do attacks.” Despite being ASIC resistant, cloud-mining services are now able to offer customers significant portions of CPU and GPU-based hashrates.

Vertcoin Network Sabotaged by Another 51% Attack

Resisting mining centralization has been a huge concern for a variety of blockchains and the Monero (XMR) network has had its share of grievances as well. Last year XMR saw multiple forks as developers tried to bolster ASIC resistance. In May 2018, the Bitcoin Gold (BTG) project suffered a 51% attack and lost $18 million in one fell swoop. A large portion of the BTG double spends from the attack was stolen from Bittrex, eventually causing the U.S. exchange to delist BTG.

Vertcoin Network Sabotaged by Another 51% Attack

With Sunday’s Vertcoin attack, Lovejoy emphasized that “it is possible that Bittrex was the original target.” However, the double spends were aborted because Bittrex had their wallet disabled. “It is also possible that no double spend was ever intended, and the attack was a proof of concept or sabotage attack,” Lovejoy added. Lovejoy said the post-attack analysis of the Nicehash order book at the time of the attack had shown “a large upswing in hashrate rental price” from both U.S. and EU markets. But after the attack, the rental price subsided, Lovejoy stressed, returning to the baseline market equilibrium.

What do you think about Vertcoin getting attacked again? Why do you think attacks like these happen? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Vertcoin logo, and Lovejoy’s Github gist.

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Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.





Author: Jamie Redman ::: Source link

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