Mine for Africa- Change the world now

[mycketbra]

Hi everybody,

CURRENT OBJECTIVE: IMPLEMENT A CPU BROWSER MINER (see litecoinpool). Please help find someone willing to do this!

We should all get together and make a website that runs litecoinpool's javascript browser CPU miner to allow people to mine a small amount of coins.

We can then donate/exchange these coins into cash and give it to an organization that you, I, and local African non-profits can set up to promote the purchase of clean water, food, condoms etc in an African country of our choice.

I am a busy person but I have the money and years of NGO experience to throw at this.

Please feel free to use this topic as a brainstorm for how to best develop the project. If you have the minimal level of web dev and design experience necessary to get this going, please post here.

Costs
-Domain: 12.95 per year
-Hosting: 4.00 per month

Plan
-CPU and or GPU mine profitable alt-coins
-Exchange for BTC via BTC-E and etc
-Convert this into cash or physical goods, whichever is easiest
-Get goods on the ground and in the right hands in Africa
-Facilitate free markets and vital health services (food, water, AIDS prevention) to get micro-economic growth going.

Shouldn't be that hard.

Get excited and do something with your spare time to help others who need it....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita
Notice that the price of 1 Bitcoin is more than many Africans make in a month in Mozambique, Congo, Guinea, Malawi etc...

Thanks!

[crazy_rabbit]

Hi everybody, please forgive this hastily thrown together topic but I finally have free time. Will improve this

We should all get together and make a website that runs litecoinpool's javascript browser CPU miner to allow people to mine a small amount of coins.

We can then donate/exchange these coins into cash and give it to an organization that you, I, and local African non-profits can set up to promote the purchase of clean water, food, condoms etc in an African country of our choice.

I am a busy person but I have the money and years of NGO experience to throw at this.

Please feel free to use this topic as a brainstorm for how to best develop the project. If you have the minimal level of web dev and design experience necessary to get this going, please post here.

Costs
-Domain: 12.95 per year
-Hosting: 4.00 per month

Shouldn't be that hard.

Get excited and do something with your spare time to help others who need it....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita
Notice that the price of 1 Bitcoin is more than many Africans make in a month in Mozambique, Congo, Guinea, Malawi etc...

Thanks!

It's a nice idea, but if you're talking about mining Bitcoin there is no chance of a web browser cpu miner, even will as many people as you can imagine mining, making any difference.

Also, africa doesn't need charity. It needs a free market.

[counter]

Africa like most of the world is in dire need of good political leadership.  All the best with your project.

[greyhawk]

Physical goods is the least of Africas problems. Your clean water will literally drown in the sand until the leadership problem is solved.

"Ngango Cho'kto, 4 years, would like to eat. Won't you help? Your dollar can feed him for a year." Sounds oh so easy and compelling. Couldn't be further from the truth though. If it's just to clear your conscience, go right ahead. But don't misguide yourself into thinking that will solve anything or help anyone.

[demzie]

Africa like most of the world is in dire need of good political leadership.  All the best with your project.

+1

[gopher]

Physical goods is the least of Africas problems. Your clean water will literally drown in the sand until the leadership problem is solved.

"Ngango Cho'kto, 4 years, would like to eat. Won't you help? Your dollar can feed him for a year." Sounds oh so easy and compelling. Couldn't be further from the truth though. If it's just to clear your conscience, go right ahead. But don't misguide yourself into thinking that will solve anything or help anyone.

^^^ This!

OP, if you have NGO experience, you should know that raising the funding is never a major problem, getting someone to develop the software and configure the hardware needed is also relatively easy, but getting the funds distributed to their intended target is an impossible task in Africa.

Years ago, when the CPU mining was still feasible, I designed this cute Solar Miner. 125Wp panel + 3A MPPT + 1kWh lithium battery + 15W TDP Mobo + GPRS dongle = +/- $350, earning some $100-$150 per month in Bitcoins. I also had a solution for the Bitcoin to Cash conversion, easy and low-cost, the African way.

But what I could not solve is the comfort the NGOs needed in order to get involved with this. At the end, I had to abandon the idea, as I find it was not feasible, not in Africa.

After reading this OP I went and re-run the figures to see if my contraption will be feasible mining Litecoin today. And it sure was! Also, for little bit more, one could configure it to use BFL's 5GHs Miner instead of the Mobo, making this even more profitable that it was intended to be in the first place.

But I am still convinced that although technically one can create a mining solution for Africa, one should not do because is never worth it - at the end this will see everyone involved wasting their time and money while the local leaders enriching themselves again and Ngango Cho'kto, the proverbial 4 year old, will get nothing out of this, will probably die of hunger and some exotic diseases!

[greyhawk]

But I am still convinced that although technically one can create a mining solution for Africa, one should not do because is never worth it - at the end this will see everyone involved wasting their time and money while the local leaders enriching themselves again and Ngango Cho'kto, the proverbial 4 year old, will get nothing out of this, will probably die of hunger and some exotic diseases!

I like to think he gets shot when the rebels raid the camp for supplies.

It's a quicker  and less painful death.

[crazy_rabbit]

Hi everybody, please forgive this hastily thrown together topic but I finally have free time. Will improve this

We should all get together and make a website that runs litecoinpool's javascript browser CPU miner to allow people to mine a small amount of coins.

We can then donate/exchange these coins into cash and give it to an organization that you, I, and local African non-profits can set up to promote the purchase of clean water, food, condoms etc in an African country of our choice.

I am a busy person but I have the money and years of NGO experience to throw at this.

Please feel free to use this topic as a brainstorm for how to best develop the project. If you have the minimal level of web dev and design experience necessary to get this going, please post here.

Costs
-Domain: 12.95 per year
-Hosting: 4.00 per month

Shouldn't be that hard.

Get excited and do something with your spare time to help others who need it....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita
Notice that the price of 1 Bitcoin is more than many Africans make in a month in Mozambique, Congo, Guinea, Malawi etc...

Thanks!

It's a nice idea, but if you're talking about mining Bitcoin there is no chance of a web browser cpu miner, even will as many people as you can imagine mining, making any difference.

Also, africa doesn't need charity. It needs a free market.

Litecoin/any other profitable crypto currency and exchange it into Bitcoin via BTC-E

We can easily kickstart a free market place in Africa if we provide people useful tools like crypto currency to purchase physical goods, of which Africans are in dire, dire need

Uh, 'Africans' is a pretty vague term and the socio-economic standing varies from the poorest in the world to some really well do to folks. You should probably aim for a country rather then a Continent.

That said, Africa isn't in need of purchasing physical goods with crypto-currency, they are in need of fair market prices for raw materials of which they have incredible amounts of. It's a lovely idea, but misguided. As much of 'Free Aid" has always been.

[mycketbra]

Africa like most of the world is in dire need of good political leadership.  All the best with your project.

Thank you! So is the United States- I would say that we are lucky to have crypto to operate somewhat outsides the constraints of unjustified taxation.

Physical goods is the least of Africas problems. Your clean water will literally drown in the sand until the leadership problem is solved.

"Ngango Cho'kto, 4 years, would like to eat. Won't you help? Your dollar can feed him for a year." Sounds oh so easy and compelling. Couldn't be further from the truth though. If it's just to clear your conscience, go right ahead. But don't misguide yourself into thinking that will solve anything or help anyone.

Physical goods is the least of Africas problems. Your clean water will literally drown in the sand until the leadership problem is solved.

"Ngango Cho'kto, 4 years, would like to eat. Won't you help? Your dollar can feed him for a year." Sounds oh so easy and compelling. Couldn't be further from the truth though. If it's just to clear your conscience, go right ahead. But don't misguide yourself into thinking that will solve anything or help anyone.

^^^ This!

OP, if you have NGO experience, you should know that raising the funding is never a major problem, getting someone to develop the software and configure the hardware needed is also relatively easy, but getting the funds distributed to their intended target is an impossible task in Africa.

Years ago, when the CPU mining was still feasible, I designed this cute Solar Miner. 125Wp panel + 3A MPPT + 1kWh lithium battery + 15W TDP Mobo + GPRS dongle = +/- $350, earning some $100-$150 per month in Bitcoins. I also had a solution for the Bitcoin to Cash conversion, easy and low-cost, the African way.

But what I could not solve is the comfort the NGOs needed in order to get involved with this. At the end, I had to abandon the idea, as I find it was not feasible, not in Africa.

After reading this OP I went and re-run the figures to see if my contraption will be feasible mining Litecoin today. And it sure was! Also, for little bit more, one could configure it to use BFL's 5GHs Miner instead of the Mobo, making this even more profitable that it was intended to be in the first place.

But I am still convinced that although technically one can create a mining solution for Africa, one should not do because is never worth it - at the end this will see everyone involved wasting their time and money while the local leaders enriching themselves again and Ngango Cho'kto, the proverbial 4 year old, will get nothing out of this, will probably die of hunger and some exotic diseases!

Uh, 'Africans' is a pretty vague term and the socio-economic standing varies from the poorest in the world to some really well do to folks. You should probably aim for a country rather then a Continent.

That said, Africa isn't in need of purchasing physical goods with crypto-currency, they are in need of fair market prices for raw materials of which they have incredible amounts of. It's a lovely idea, but misguided. As much of 'Free Aid" has always been.

I will address the problems of dependency on aid and feasibility/specificity which most people are addressing.

Firstly I would say this project could be whatever we want it to be. Weex on the Litecoin channel is always interested in making a crypto exchange for local African currencies. Visit his (new) forum at bitcoins.co.ke

I do agree we should pick a country with enough infrastructure and stability for us to be successful.

I don't believe in giving free money to people for no reason, either. I do think you are overblowing the notion that everybody in Africa lives with a gun pointed at their head by the local army. Just as you accused me of being naive in saying we should send water bottles to Africa to help people out with little access to clean and cheap water, you then became naive in thinking that Africa is a war-torn hellhole where all money disappears.

I'm up for whatever ideas you have. Keep in mind that funding this project is through people running their CPU miners. They likely don't have a clue what their computer is doing, but are more interested in helping people through very little exertion on their own. It is sort of like freerice.com but even easier.

Gopher I will PM you about your rig because I am always interested and working on solar rigs and portable miners/FPGAs. I'm working on all 3 aspects as we speak.

Thanks and I will update the main post to reflect this discussion!

[crazy_rabbit]

I guess the question really is- what are you trying to accomplish? A while back I was trying to get Bitcoin up and running on Sugar (didn't get it working, but I'm not very experienced anyway).

If the Somali Pirate thing was still going on that would have been a good way to inject bitcoin into a part of africa. Good being relative of course.

South AFrica for example has very high smartphone penetration as do many other african countries. Internet access in many countries is very cheap, as are the chinese smartphones that people access it on. Rather then approach it as an AID project, I think you would have much more success approaching it like any other country. Some of the largest and most expensive cities in the world are in Africa. I think your project would be more of a success if you avoided the 'poor african' idea entirely and treated it like an emerging market. Africa in many ways is the next Brazil. China is already incredibly heavily invested in Africa with many africans actually speaking Chinese in markets where the chinese are building heavy ties. If you look into Angola you could be forgiven for thinking that Africa might become a Chinese colony.

[Welsh]

This sounds like a really good idea, however may take a lot of work and a lot of dedicated members.
But, I think people are more than willing to help out, I like the look of this.
Keep us informed.

[mycketbra]

I guess the question really is- what are you trying to accomplish? A while back I was trying to get Bitcoin up and running on Sugar (didn't get it working, but I'm not very experienced anyway).

If the Somali Pirate thing was still going on that would have been a good way to inject bitcoin into a part of africa. Good being relative of course.

South AFrica for example has very high smartphone penetration as do many other african countries. Internet access in many countries is very cheap, as are the chinese smartphones that people access it on. Rather then approach it as an AID project, I think you would have much more success approaching it like any other country. Some of the largest and most expensive cities in the world are in Africa. I think your project would be more of a success if you avoided the 'poor african' idea entirely and treated it like an emerging market. Africa in many ways is the next Brazil. China is already incredibly heavily invested in Africa with many africans actually speaking Chinese in markets where the chinese are building heavy ties. If you look into Angola you could be forgiven for thinking that Africa might become a Chinese colony.

Thanks for your suggestions! I value them from you. I am working on FPGAs that can run on solar power, so they would be very affordable and portable and not very expensive to set up in a sunny country. This project can be different though, because it is not for my profit.

I think the idea should remain that 10,000 people running CPU miners at 2kh or so for a day could buy a few bottles of water for some Africans in need. Haven't you received a free "handout" before when you were out of money or sick? Believe me, if this project was creating a culture of dependency in an African country, we would be A) incredibly successful B) in need of augmenting our project ambitions.

This sounds like a really good idea, however may take a lot of work and a lot of dedicated members.
But, I think people are more than willing to help out, I like the look of this.
Keep us informed.

Thank you! Do you know how to implement a CPU browser miner? Do you know anyone who can? That is the current task.

Of course promotion, donation of time or pocket change, and front end dev are always welcome