Bitcoin mining USBs on a large USB hub. Image: Shutterstock
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“We had a contact who was living in the Philippines and we sent the Bitcoin to him,” she said. He was then able to trade the Bitcoin for local currency with the help of Local Bitcoins, a site listing people around the world willing to exchange Bitcoins for cash or vice versa.And for some charitable recipients, doing business in Bitcoin can mean more than simply saving on transaction costs, she said. The Women’s Annex, which began providing Internet access and a blogging platform to women in Afghanistan and now operates around the world, pays women based on their posts’ traffic."It was founded by two women in Afghanistan, and they've recruited a lot of women to blog for the website," said Murphy.But paying the bloggers is a challenge, since not only can fees to wire money to Afghanistan come to as much as 20 percent, but many of the women blogging on the site can’t easily hold on to cash or open bank accounts without their families finding out, said Murphy."If they were to make some money, their family would probably take it,” she said. “They can't really have access to cash."But as of this year, the bloggers are paid in Bitcoin, which they can receive more discreetly."A lot of those people who got in early to Bitcoin are of a sort of libertarian bent, and I know that sometimes libertarians have a reputation for being selfish and heartless. But actually, a lot of them do care a lot about charities and sort of alternatives to government means of solving problems."
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Evans initially donated thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin to MAPS and to support the privacy-optimized Linux distribution Tails. He had initially hoped to start a movement to contribute Bitcoin to a new charity each month, but that hasn’t taken off yet, with many early adopters holding on to their Bitcoin and hoping for another price spike, he said."I think it's difficult for people to donate psychologically because the price is so volatile,” he said, though he argues it still makes sense for Bitcoin holders to donate, since charities can often do a lot with even a smaller amount of funds.Taking and transfering small donations without losing too much to PayPal or credit card transaction fees is a big potential benefit of Bitcoin donations, said Chasse. He can envision a time when, with Bitcoin more widely used, The Water Project will be able to economically send smaller amounts to more organizations overseas for smaller-scale pilot projects, he said."The promise of Bitcoin, the promise of cryptocurrency, is you can begin to remove some of those fees,” he said. "It's exciting to think about lowering some of the barriers.""I think it's difficult for people to donate psychologically because the price is so volatile.”