The Root Project ICO: Modern Philanthropy Taking Root
Root Project ICO Monday July 10th 2017
Many of us have benefited from the rise of cryptocurrency. Those of us that have invested and traded over the past several years have seen our accounts rise quickly and steadily. With the looming August 1, deadline approaching, I have reflected on my gains. I am by no means a millionaire from cypto, but my return on investment has far exceeded almost anything I can hope to accomplish in the stock market. Now that I look to convert some of my crypto to FIAT I am forced to answer several questions. How do I take it out and not give a rather large portion to the tax man, and conversely how can I best help others with my gains? Do not get me wrong, I’m not about to give it all away, but at the same time I want to do something to physically help my community while spending time in the digital world. As I began researching, I came across the Root Project.
Co-creators Chris Place and Dr. Nicholas Adams Judge propose to combine crowdfunding, a cryptocurrency (ROOT) and community level projects to both elevate the impoverished and provide a vehicle for rapid and long-term sustainable growth for the currency. We have all been privy to new coins that work to establish immediate returns to the investor, and we have seen coins that are charitable in nature. The unique thing about the Root Project is that it looks to deliver on both by having profit and charity work for each other rather than cross-purposes.
Root works to achieve these goals by creating a dual-facing app. This app serves several purposes for the project. Firstly, it allows someone to purpose a project in their area with several photos a short description and a proposed budget. If the user could not afford to complete the project themselves a crowdfunding campaign would begin. Here individuals using a simple and easy to understand interface would donate to the project. If the minimum funding goal is not achieved all money would be returned. However, in the event that the funding goals are met, the project would be reviewed permission granted (pending any necessary permits). Of all donations 87% go directly to the project, 10% is used to buy back Root tokens, and 3% is used to cover any credit card or financial fees. I challenge anyone to investigate popular charities, although they do amazing work, it is not uncommon for mere fractions of your donation to actually go to the people that need them the most. The blockchain protocol invites scrutiny and established trust in charitable organizations and I believe it will used successfully by Roots and other charities in the future.
The final step in the process is for the Root Project to assign a foreman whom is responsible for buying any necessary materials and hiring a team that can complete the project in an economical timeframe (1 day if possible). Once the work is completed, photographs are shot and the project initiator can release the funds. Workers are compensated via their phone and will receive this payment within 1 hour.
Roughly, 2/3 of this compensation will be in day’s wages while 50% are placed in token form into a medium term pension fun. Workers can release these pensions by reaching certain milestones, rewarding them for consistent and meaningful work. This method both educates workers about the benefit of saving and allows incremental releasing of funds which is recommended by anti-poverty experts. The side benefit is it creates a liquid market for traders and investors.
The Root Project will register as a non-profit and some projects will be tax deductible. Not many cryptocurrencies allow you to both make money and reduce taxes on your gains at the same time. Roots aims to be flexible enough to handle large projects and crowdfunding campaigns with even bigger goals in the future as well.
No one charity or individual can end poverty. Roots will not be able to accomplish this task on its own either, for the challenges are many: a lack of education, few job opportunities, and rising housing costs in urban areas. However, Roots is a step in the right direction. Improve the lives of others by investing, donating, participating and deducting. I have provided useful links both throughout the blog and below. Feel free to stop by the Slack at any time to become part of the community. You can even earn some bounty rewards as well.
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