Operation Zimbabwe

[mokimarket]

Doing my part to expand the bitcoin infrastructure, I've been working with a young bright student living in Zimbabwe on getting some sort of system set up there.

As a test I successfully sent him bitcoins; now the question is...what can someone in Zimbabwe currently do with a bunch a bitcoins? Are there any products that he could purchase online with bitcoins that might prove useful? I was thinking maybe cell phone minutes or something but I really would like some ideas from the community as to how we get him to obtain something useful with his coins.

If we can figure this out, I believe I can really get this thing off the ground there.

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[Birdy]

There are lists of Onlineshops accepting Bitcoins

Like these:
http://www.bitcointrading.com/forum/spend-bitcoins/online-stores-accepting-bitcoins/
https://de.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade
https://www.spendbitcoins.com/places/

I don't know how many of them send to Zimbabwe though.

[uMMcQxCWELNzkt]

Doing my part to expand the bitcoin infrastructure, I've been working with a young bright student living in Zimbabwe on getting some sort of system set up there.

As a test I successfully sent him bitcoins; now the question is...what can someone in Zimbabwe currently do with a bunch a bitcoins? Are there any products that he could purchase online with bitcoins that might prove useful? I was thinking maybe cell phone minutes or something but I really would like some ideas from the community as to how we get him to obtain something useful with his coins.

If we can figure this out, I believe I can really get this thing off the ground there.

He can buy some of my T-Shirts, Art prints & CryptoCondoms, I have the designs ready I am just waiting on some deliveries before I start printing. Not sure if these are necessarily useful materials, except maybe the condoms ha. The new store is up and running (without stock) and can be found below, I do not see why I wont be able to deliver to regions such as Zimbabwe, it depends on their delivery services & costs...

www.levitatedink.com

Once I start stocking the items Bitcoin payments will be made available, I will also add a system that allows affiliates to earn Bitcoin's for referral sales. The plan is to create a friendly user base that I share the profits with so I would be offering around 45% for each sale they contribute to.

[Stephen Gornick]

As a test I successfully sent him bitcoins; now the question is...what can someone in Zimbabwe currently do with a bunch a bitcoins? Are there any products that he could purchase online with bitcoins that might prove useful?

Well, offering them for sale is one way to establish a local trading network.  Knowing who will buy and/or sell bitcoins locally is often something that opens doors in the future. There currently aren't any sellers listed.
 - https://localbitcoins.com/country/zw
Though this could be offered through Craigslist as well.

There may be even international trades.  For instance, maybe a person in Zimbabwe has a relative in Kenya and wishes to send money (where a trader in Kenya will distribute schillings in exchange for bitcoins received).  Bitcoins can be used to enable that transaction.  Here's a site to help make the introductions:
 - http://bitcoins.co.ke


Additionally, there might be people that would like to earn bitcoins.  So those coins could be used as the compensation method for performing tasks.  Because of the difficulty in obtaining bitcoins, sometimes you can find very qualified people willing to provide work at below market rates simply because bitcoins are the form of compensation earned.

[jdbtracker]

I've recently started doing the same thing, getting people in the country where I was born to accept bitcoins, Honduras.
got a few people started, but it's a pretty backwards place so, it's tough, they are very fearful of government crack down like everyone else.
guess we keep on keeping on; Faith without works is empty.

basically, your friend in zimbabwe can buy whatever he wants with bitcoins online. now locally, he's going to have to do some searching.

so tell them to go to this site

and if there are no stores that accept them they can always go through an escrow service to take care of their transaction for them.

http://www.bitcointrading.com/forum/spend-bitcoins/online-stores-accepting-bitcoins/

[flix]

As a test I successfully sent him bitcoins; now the question is...what can someone in Zimbabwe currently do with a bunch a bitcoins? Are there any products that he could purchase online with bitcoins that might prove useful?

Well, offering them for sale is one way to establish a local trading network.  Knowing who will buy and/or sell bitcoins locally is often something that opens doors in the future. There currently aren't any sellers listed.
 - https://localbitcoins.com/country/zw

Exactly. Unless there's local liquidity, nobody is going to bother accepting them.

First thing anybody will always want to know on receiving BTC is: what can I do with this?
Answer:   https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade

Second thing is: where can I sell them?
Answer: https://localbitcoins.com/country/zw

[bit777]

In a perfect world any POS terminal in a pharmacy or a deli could be configured to accept bitcoins. Unfortunately that's far from reality.

[mokimarket]

Thanks guys for the great ideas.

If there were away for him to purchase minutes with his cell phone with these bitcoins, this thing would rapidly grow as cell minutes are already an accepted form of currency in most of africa. If someone created such a service that worked gloabally, I believe bitcoin would take off.

[mmeijeri]

Check out Ripple.com. Soon, it could be the best way to exchange BTC for fiat currency. That may be one of the first steps towards wider adoption of BTC.

[ISAWHIM]

I feel for those who are stuck in Zimbabwe... Completely abandoned by the government and by the thieves who destroyed their whole economic system. Such horrible corruption there.

Best thing to do, for them, is find some resource they can offer out-of-country... since there are too few with valuables there, who are not restricted by the government.

I would say, in light of bitcoins, some kind of technology service, using as much recycled tech as possible. Art, data-processing, data-transcription, identity-conformation services, web-hosting... Things that "don't have to be shipped", can be done online, and do not require much training. They have to think like the Chinese...

They are all still trying to produce physical things, without physical supplies, and no way to physically export them, in most situations.

Electronic services are instant, and don't often care about culture or language limitations. They are the grunt-jobs which help form the components of larger systems. Like the "identity-confirmation", which just requires them to be able to "See", and "confirm" or "deny", similarity or exact matches.

But if anything, they should all try to move-out. (Which I know they try, but get stopped and are forced to stay, in many locations.)

Most of those locations need solar-cells, well-pumps, water-filters, bottled water, nutrient bars, salted trail-mixes, breads/grains... But physical goods get squandered at the borders, taken, and re-sold as exports to other places, by the government and officials.

P.S. This is less noticable deep in the "tourist" cities, where only "tourists" are allowed... Try holding up a camera outside the city... you will be "detained" and interrogated, and treated like a criminal, just for "recording" what you see.

[jdbtracker]

So how do we help them? In countries like Zimbabwe?

I mean the only resource they have are phones.... can we make a system somehow where for a small payment they use their phones as networked weather stations?
maybe making it a pay-per-node system? We start up a campaign on Bitcoin Starter and start building programs that are useful to the rest of the world, because I gaurantee you if we start sending them ASICs for mining, or servers to run Tor or, other p2p servers... they are going to get hurt, sooner or later someone will take what they have, so small and hard to decipher is the way to go. the smartest and tech savvy can act as fountains of wealth/Value distributing it as their central nodes.

but what i'm thinking is not just allowing them to buy/sell things, but we need our foot in the door, those smart Zimbabweans can begin to barter for things with their bitcoins between themselves first until the rest of them begin to come to the silly people accepting bitcoins for stuff. That's how it starts, but I prefer to find a way for them to find a solution, we create the programs, the Zimbabweans or people from other repressed countries choose and modify which ones are best for them.

So does anyone have any suggestions? how do we get into these markets, that are repressed, resource scarce & electricity deprived?

When I was a little boy in Honduras, Me my cousins and uncles would huddle around a little TV that was powered by a car battery, My uncle would go to the store every once in a while to charge it up, I can imagine a similar setup is happening in the most remote areas, that is where i would not mind penetrating the Bitcoin market. With improved technology I can imagine that they have cell phone hand cranks and solar ovens that can act as generators or home made wind turbines; anything simple to get them electricity in the remotest areas of Africa would be great then they do the rest since they know they can generate electricity.

[mmeijeri]

I think Ripple.com will be exactly what's needed. If you have a mobile phone with Internet access, you are good to go. You can trade between BTC and fiat currency through your trust graph if necessary, so even if shops don't accept BTC or if the tax man won't, you can still convert to fiat whenever necessary. And since the government of Zimbabwe cannot shut down gateways beyond its borders, you could easily use fiat IOUs issued by reputable international gateways.

[jdbtracker]

I think Ripple.com will be exactly what's needed. If you have a mobile phone with Internet access, you are good to go. You can trade between BTC and fiat currency through your trust graph if necessary, so even if shops don't accept BTC or if the tax man won't, you can still convert to fiat whenever necessary. And since the government of Zimbabwe cannot shut down gateways beyond its borders, you could easily use fiat IOUs issued by reputable international gateways.

+1

ripple can get the word out.

great idea Mr.No, their currency right now is sitting at 355/1 USD pretty damn bad, at one point you could get a million zimbabwe dollars for a 1 US dollar!

alright I'll look up some things on the software side of things, I'll look up software that can run on Android phones and program anything I can that can generate some bitcoins for a service.

[jdbtracker]

http://coinworker.com/  

This site pays you bitcoins for doing small works like surveys, search items and submitting reports, etc. You make points from doing work and once you’ve reached 200 points, your points get converted to bitcoins and are paid to your bitcoin address. If you ask me, I won’t recommend this site as it will take a lot of time and effort in earning 200 points.

http://www.rugatu.com/

This site is a question and answer forum. This site rewards you small amount of bitcoins for answering to questions asked by other members.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.brothas.mtgoxwidget&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInN0LmJyb3RoYXMubXRnb3h3aWRnZXQiXQ..

Bitcoin widget for checking bitcoin exchange.

 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ragmondo&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5yYWdtb25kbyJd

an Android app that lets you see local businesses that accept bitcoins.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wFreeBitcoins&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS53RnJlZUJpdGNvaW5zIl0.

app for finding websites that give free bitcoins  to visitors.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.maxdoman.miningBitcoinMonitor&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInBsLm1heGRvbWFuLm1pbmluZ0JpdGNvaW5Nb25pdG9yIl0.

Android app for remote monitoring a mining rig.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitcoinstudent&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5iaXRjb2luc3R1ZGVudCJd

app for getting educated on Bitcoin.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cryptcoins.btcare&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm9yZy5jcnlwdGNvaW5zLmJ0Y2FyZSJd

All in one app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitcoin.bitpay&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5iaXRjb2luLmJpdHBheSJd

Bitpay: give and take coins as payment

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.docmanna.crypticmessage&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5kb2NtYW5uYS5jcnlwdGljbWVzc2FnZSJd

encrypted messaging

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.fluidnexus.FluidNexusAndroid&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm5ldC5mbHVpZG5leHVzLkZsdWlkTmV4dXNBbmRyb2lkIl0.

Decentralized messaging app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.e6bapps.android.currencycalculator&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5lNmJhcHBzLmFuZHJvaWQuY3VycmVuY3ljYWxjdWxhdG9yIl0.

Currency converter app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=inesoft.cash_organizer&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImluZXNvZnQuY2FzaF9vcmdhbml6ZXIiXQ..

Cash management program,



http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/sensors/sensors_overview.html

and this is the basis for my idea, the current sensors in the Android phones, allow for distributed weather monitoring, and also quite incredibly Gravitational measurements for Mineral exploration, or measurements of the Earths Geoid(Gravity Map), as well as magnetosphere.

Other things that can be done, your friend can be a mobile store for locals, they roam around the communities, ordering up supplies in bitcoin and delivering them, give the locals that deliver the products the option to get paid in bitcoins or cash(zimbabwe dollars), using ripple they could even start a viable business model.
track down world wide and local merchants willing to accept bitcoins for payment to further strengthen the Bitcoin Community, specially the ones that are willing to ship to Zimbabwe.

maybe even a mobile university, where locals offer classes in exchange for bitcoins, how about this: Community member wants to be trained in something they offer cash or bitcoins, for someone who is an expert to be brought in who is qualified to teach, when the right amount of people or right amount of bitcoins is reached the expert sets a time convenient for everyone and begins training them all, with performance statistics and feed back from the community education can take a great leap forward in Zimbabwe. Distributed education system that is based on an on-demand model.

Distributed rental system, where a local community member can rent out their idle and unused equipment for bitcoins or cash, for a small fee a local can go and pick up the equipment and deliver it to the person who needs it and come back when their rental is up... risky but if everyone knows everyone else and it is all in writing, the system becomes legally binding, since both parties know each other and the intermediary has setup the proper legal documentation with records of both parties agreement to the contract.

The whole point is taking what is scarce and difficult to come by and distributing it to the masses for a fee that will make the Expert in a subject, the owner of rare expensive equipment, or the community members with construction/plumbing/surveying skills be rewarded according to their worth.

by worth I mean that for example: lets say I explain further about the distributed construction system: A skilled labourer helps at a site, if the site is inspected by a Verified Expert Engineer and the house owner approves of the work, the skilled labourer gets points for being on a good construction site that delivered what was promised... if not they receive a bad report. the higher ranking a person becomes the more they can set the price for their work since it is known that they are a good worker who delivers.

this can be implemented in a distributed manner by a supply and demand marketplace. Owner wants house repaired/built pulls out their Android phone goes to the Construction app, marks down their construction needs puts down what they can afford, If they are cheap the High ranking Engineer doing the dispatch will send qualified but unproven workers to do the job, they inspect the work afterwards if they approve the labourers get a recommendation to a higher rank of pay, same can be done for the engineers and foremen,  even other professions scientists, accountants, economists, civil engineers, etc.  can be made available on demand to the community for a fee worthy to attract their attention and high ranking merit based experts to inspect their work.


My models are based on my belief that the people should decide what they need, I cannot choose for them, I am not a mind reader, they have to choose what they want and someone out there will have it, but of course they have to live as well so they must be compensated for their efforts.

[mornaner]

However something should be done for those without internet, like by sms, I believe that is the majority. Even bluetooth or qr codes when possible would be useful too. I hope I'm wrong, but I think android and internet access on phones are not so common in Zimbawe for now.

Seems like this would be a good option for those without an internet connection: http://paywithbits.com/

[Spendulus]

Doing my part to expand the bitcoin infrastructure, I've been working with a young bright student living in Zimbabwe on getting some sort of system set up there.

As a test I successfully sent him bitcoins; now the question is...what can someone in Zimbabwe currently do with a bunch a bitcoins? Are there any products that he could purchase online with bitcoins that might prove useful? I was thinking maybe cell phone minutes or something but I really would like some ideas from the community as to how we get him to obtain something useful with his coins.

If we can figure this out, I believe I can really get this thing off the ground there.

One proven business model is micro loans, where he would evaluate and loan to people trying to get a small business going.  These would typically be 100-500 USD.  He could present the business plans on the internet on a website, then people could fund directly those they thought were deserving.  Your guy would take a percentage either on the making of the loan or on it's payoff. 

Lot of details, but most have been worked out in micro finance operations previously.  Where this is different than previous models is that with those, you sent your money to "an organization" which then purports to feed its end clients.  Here it would just be crowd sourcing.

[Luckybit]

Thanks guys for the great ideas.

If there were away for him to purchase minutes with his cell phone with these bitcoins, this thing would rapidly grow as cell minutes are already an accepted form of currency in most of africa. If someone created such a service that worked gloabally, I believe bitcoin would take off.

http://www.billpayforcoins.com/

Something like this has to be made.

[Luckybit]

I think Ripple.com will be exactly what's needed. If you have a mobile phone with Internet access, you are good to go. You can trade between BTC and fiat currency through your trust graph if necessary, so even if shops don't accept BTC or if the tax man won't, you can still convert to fiat whenever necessary. And since the government of Zimbabwe cannot shut down gateways beyond its borders, you could easily use fiat IOUs issued by reputable international gateways.

+1

ripple can get the word out.

great idea Mr.No, their currency right now is sitting at 355/1 USD pretty damn bad, at one point you could get a million zimbabwe dollars for a 1 US dollar!

alright I'll look up some things on the software side of things, I'll look up software that can run on Android phones and program anything I can that can generate some bitcoins for a service.

Ripple is centralized. If you support Ripple then your'e supporting the government of whatever country it's CEO lives in.

[mmeijeri]

Ripple is centralized. If you support Ripple then your'e supporting the government of whatever country it's CEO lives in.

Ripple will be decentralised soon. And regardless you won't be supporting the USG.

[Spendulus]

Ripple is centralized. If you support Ripple then your'e supporting the government of whatever country it's CEO lives in.

Ripple will be decentralised soon. And regardless you won't be supporting the USG.

The problem with ripple is the fundamental concept of trusted relationships.  Reference, the abbreviated phrase "con man" is short for "confidence man", which means that he is someone who gains your confidence, eg your trust, before you gladly hand your money over to him.

Trust is fundamental to cheating people,  and although after a number of people are cheated, that trust would go negative.  But by design in the startup to the con, trust goes highly positive.