Decentralized Cypherpunk Speakeasy
So you want to run your own event with a Burner Wallet POS?
Onboarding new users into cryptocurrencies is getting easier every day thanks to technologies like the Burner Wallet. Sending and receiving value is a button push away and it only takes 5 seconds for the block to be mined. Plus, the Burner Wallet is just a website on your phone that generates your key pair automatically. You don’t have to download a wallet to get started.
The Burner runs on the xDai network which uses USD as the native currency so it’s easy to understand amounts and they don’t flutacte like fiat or other cryptocurrencies. All of these features combine to make a straightforward and easy to use pop-up POS system for any event.
To demonstrate how easy the Burner is to use we have been hosting an event called Cypherpunk Speakeasy where it is assumed that cash is hyperinflated and credit card companies have long since past. Your only option to buy a delicious beverage is to slip over to the ad-hoc bar and with your Burner Wallet loaded with xDai and scan a QR code.
Read more about our past events at v0.0.1 v0.0.2 and:
Essentially, it’s a fun way to emulate an environment where the Burner shines and it gives newcomers a chance to play with this burgeoning technology that we all know and love in the space. It also gives us valuable user testing to learn how people use the wallet and where we can do better. If you are planning on hosting a Decentralized Cypherpunk Speakeasy, get in touch with me on Twitter or Telegram @austingriffith so I can make sure you have what you need and perhaps sponsor the first few beers!
To run your own Cypherpunk Speakeasy you will need a phone, an iPad, Amazon Fire, or similar device at the bar to act as the POS. Navigate this device to https://xdai.io to create an account and use the “Request” button to generate your product QR Codes. It’s best to have your POS iPad displaying your transaction history and your request QR codes printed out at the bar.
The best way I’ve found to do this is to use a shared mnemonic phrase to generate an account I can have on multiple devices and on my desktop so it makes it easy to print my request QRs. To create an account from a mnemonic, click the advanced button in the bottom right, type in a nice long phrase that only you will ever know or guess, and hit create wallet. You can repeat this process on your laptop to have the same account on both devices.
The next obstacle to tackle is onboarding. As your guests arrive you will have them visit xdai.io or scan a QR code to create a Burner Wallet, but it will be empty. For our first event we had a few people act as crypto-ATMs. You would visit one of these people, hand them some cash, and they would send you back some xDai. This is a great way to stimulate the ecosystem and people will leave the event with crypto in their pocket. So awesome!
Another idea we had is to generate paper wallets to hand out to participants when they walk in. We print out foldable pieces of paper that contain a private key. The Burner is programmed to scan the private key and import it. This allows you to create a bunch of accounts before your event and seed them with enough value for people to participate. You can check out the paper wallet repo here. If you have any questions HMU!
The final phase of a Burner Wallet event so far is a custom token. We can create and deploy a custom token for your event along with a custom skin and url for the Burner Wallet itself. An example of this is burnerwallet.io which is running with the “Speakeasy” design.
There are a lot of benefits to running the Burner on a token on xDai. You get all the speed and security, but you can also customize the logic around how your token can be used.
For instance, we want to be able to hand out a lot of BURN tokens but only pay what ends up on the bar’s iPad POS. We created a special clause in the withdrawal of BURN where only vendors can exchange our minted tokens for xDai. However, any extra xDai deposited from participates to get BURN can be withdrawn back to xDai at any time.
This let us print wallets for ~$200 dollars, but at the end of the night, we bought the BURN back from the bartender and we paid him $140. So there was $60 in unused BURN tokens on paper wallets and Burners that we didn’t have to cover. This is useful if your token is for a one time use, but if you are trying to onboard the masses, using xDai directly might be better.
Note: If you do use a token, you will need to seed the wallets with xDai too so they have gas to make transactions. (Usually $0.01 xDai is more than enough for a night of transactions and chatting Burner-to-Burner fully encrypted!)
Thanks for trying out the Burner Wallet! Hit me up on Twitter or Telegram @austingriffith if you have questions or need any customization! If you hold an event please take pictures, write an article, and hit me up with any user feedback or problems you had along the way!!!
