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Bitcoin For Communities – Supporting the Front Lines of Bitcoin Adoption

Galoy donated 21 million sats to innovative Bitcoin projects and communities around the world. Bitcoin Beach fully matched the donation — doubling the charitable contribution to a total of 42 millions sats — to help

Galoy donated 21 million sats to innovative Bitcoin projects and communities around the world. 

Bitcoin Beach fully matched the donation — doubling the charitable contribution to a total of 42 millions sats — to help those following the trailblazing path set in El Salvador. 

In December, an anonymous donor enlisted Galoy to help spread sats for the holiday season. Galoy formed a plan to distribute 2.1 million sats to one Bitcoin community per day, for 10 days in a row. On the first day Mike Peterson announced that Bitcoin Beach would match each donation, increasing the total donation to 4.2 million sats for each featured project.

The campaign provided a fun and uplifting countdown to the new year. More importantly it helped distribute sats to worthy initiatives on the front lines of Bitcoin adoption. 

Bitcoinist followed along and helped spread the word through a series of three articles: 

Revisit the 10 days of donations: 

Day 1: Bitcoin Ekasi – South Africa

Based out of a Surf School called The Surfer Kids, Bitcoin Ekasi is working to build a local circular economy in Mossel Bay, South Africa. 

 

Day 2: Kiveclair – Democratic Republic of Congo

Kiveclair initially launched as a Bitcoin fundraiser to support victims of the Nyiragongo volcano eruption. Now, the project is using Bitcoin and Lightning to bring financial inclusion to Goma.

 

Day 3: New Story 

New Story is a nonprofit that pioneers solutions to end global homelessness. The organization is constructing 200 affordable homes for residents of El Zonte. Families who move in will be able to pay their mortgage with bitcoin using the Bitcoin Beach Wallet.

 

Day 4: Human Rights Foundation Bitcoin Development Fund

HRF launched the Bitcoin Development Fund in 2020 to support software developers who are making the Bitcoin network more private, decentralized, and resilient. They provide grants to ensure Bitcoin serves as a financial tool for human rights activists, civil society organizations, and journalists around the world.

 

Day 5: Praia Bitcoin – Jericoacoara, Brazil

Fernando Motolese started Praia Bitcoin (formerly “Bitcoin Beach Brazil”) after hearing about the introduction of La Ley Bitcoin (“The Bitcoin Law”) in El Salvador. He has been developing solutions and resources to onboard merchants and community members in Jericoacoara to Bitcoin. Check out the Praia Bitcoin roadmap – recently published on the project’s crowdfunding page

 

Day 6: Bitcoin Jungle – Costa Rica

A team of developers in Costa Rica recently released the Bitcoin Jungle Wallet – built using the Galoy open source Bitcoin banking platform. The project is gaining momentum quickly across ferias (farmers markets) near Uvita – despite only being live for a month. 

 

Day 7: Satoshi En Venezuela

Satoshi En Venezuela convenes meetups, writes articles, hosts a podcast and shares news to help Venezuelans understand the importance of Bitcoin  – with a focus on differentiating Bitcoin from cryptocurrencies.

 

Day 8 – #LiquidityForTonga

Tonga is the highest remittance-dependent country on earth – remittances make up at least 38% of GDP. Bitcoiners have rallied behind Lord Fusitu’a’s Bitcoin adoption efforts by creating Liquidity For Tonga – a Telegram channel aimed at building Lightning Network liquidity to the island nation.  

 

Day 9 – Bitcoin Lake – Guatemala

Patrick Melder, host of “Mission Bitcoin” podcast, is executing plans to develop a circular Bitcoin economy called Bitcoin Lake near Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. The project is launching in coordination with Centro Educativo Josué – a local school in Panajachel.  

 

Day 10 – Exonumia 

Exonumia is an open source platform for translating and publishing Bitcoin content into Native African languages. The platform recently made “Bitcoin Banking for Communities: Lessons Learned from Bitcoin Beach” available in Zulu and Swahili

 

Stay tuned as Galoy continues to engage and support adoption-building initiatives around the world. Who would you like to see highlighted in future efforts? Mention us on Twitter at @GaloyMoney.

Header photo credit: @LakeBitcoin