Cryptocurrency for good 👍
Demystifying how to send charitable transactions on a blockchain at the Manchester Science Festival.
As part of the larger Manchester Science Festival we help Dr Thomas Martin from Manchester Metropolitan University set up a stall to demonstrate and smash the myth that cryptocurrencies are only used for nefarious purposes by shadowy figures on the dark web.
Blockchain Manchester, CryptoBatesGroup, Tanya from Bitcoin Manchester, and several university staff and students all pitched in to help Thomas make this happen.
Charities can and will accept cryptocurrency donations
Cryptocurrency is easily converted to fiat currency that can be used for good so it makes perfect sense for organisations to accept donations in this way.
As part of this process we helped the Manchester Central Foodbank set up a Coinbase Commerce account so they could accept 4 of the main decentralised currencies used today. Why use this easy to set up tool?
- Fast
- Free
- Global
- No Middlemen
You can donate right now via this link: https://bit.ly/2ReAeY1
On the evening we explained to the attendees what cryptocurrency was and how to download a simple wallet to their phone. We sent the equivalent of £1 to the wallet and encouraged them to send the funds to their chosen charity.
We would be lying if we said it all ran smoothly, but with some patience and a little QR code scanning, all the attendees who tried to make their donation and their first ever blockchain transaction succeeded and some amazing charities benefitted.
On the evening we used social media to spread the word and got lots of positive feedback and some extra global donations.
Thanks to all that came to our stand to let us explain how we think cryptocurrencies can be used for good in everyday uses.
Extra credit to all the attendees who downloaded their first ever wallet and made a real confirmed transaction.
Some of the charities (and there are many more) that accept cryptocurrency:
Manchester Foodbank https://manchestercentral.foodbank.org.uk/
Royal National Lifeboat Institution https://rnli.org/support-us/give-money/bitcoin-donations
The Turing Trust https://turingtrust.co.uk/donate/bitcoin-donation/
Woodcraft http://woodcraft.org.uk/bitcoin
Virtual Doctors https://www.virtualdoctors.org/donate/#donate
The Internet Archive https://archive.org/donate/bitcoin.php
Code to Inspire http://codetoinspire.org/
Give Directly https://www.givedirectly.org/give-now
PTSD https://ptsdveteranathletes.com/donate.html
Freedom of the Press Foundation https://freedom.press/donate/cryptocurrency/
Hhugs https://www.hhugs.org.uk/get-involved/donate/donate-with-bitcoin/
