Project Covid-19 : An approach to support the Bitcoin community

[Anonymous]

Visit ANN - List of aids we have sent across the world

This could be the shittiest idea but since it's making me crazy, so I thought to share. May be together we can find a very good idea that will support the cause. Pleas PM me, telegram me (@) or post in here and let's find something to help the community members in this pandemic crisis.

Cause: Support forum member(s) who is in need.

How: Fundraise by sponsoring or joining a poker event or any other event that can be hosted online by the forum members.

Abstract: From over last six months I am living in a foreign country which can be called third world county as Westerners and Europeans like to call it. I have an established business here. I was too late to fly back to the place I live but now I can not until they open the air service. Not a big deal because I am safe here. I have enough food, money and connections to support myself for long time. Guess I am lucky. But I am having such hurting/unfair social experience in here that I could not help myself but to do my best from my position to support these people. If ever I run out of supply then I will seek help from others but for the time being, I am doing well in here, in real life¹.

One thing I noticed, this middle class people who do not have enough savings, never lived in the poverty level or below poverty level, never needed to ask for money because they had/have a decent job but now some of them are in such position that they do not have a job, did not get salary for last two months, their employer is not telling them about the future of their current job and all shit. These people are in deep trouble but these same group of people are too shy to ask financial help from others too. They will not eat for two days but is not going to ask money from you. I discovered it in person.

Case study: Friend of my employee did not get his salary for last two months, and the company is shutting down. The guy do not have any savings, lives in a rented house with his young family, no support from the government, too shy to ask help from others, can not get a job at this situation and all this shit. When I wanted to help him he said he is okay but I knew that he is not. I insisted and then he took the money. I had information that he did not have any food in his house for last few days. Later I found out he spent all the money that I gave him to buy food for his family.

There are thousands of people around us like him. These people will just tell you that they are okay, but they are not. I think these middle class people are suffering the most.

The point: In this forum we are not different too. I believe there are a lot of veteran users, fairly established users, fairly reputed users who are too shy to ask for financial help to random users in the forum or even they know (only forum connection) someone in here.

To help them, can we host a daily or weekly or on demand event (say poker), find sponsor or from the entry fee - raise the fund? A big amount of the pool/raised fund will go to the person in need.

How it works: Say forum member X is in need of some financial support. They will just seek for help in this topic and the desired amount they need. We then host a poker event, find some sponsor for the event, there will be an entry fee to join the event too. Whatever money we will raise from the event 80% will go to that X user and 20% will go to one winner or three/four winners.

Requirements for member X to apply: If we allow this for everyone then for sure this topic will be taken over by the scammers/spammers (although I am making it self-moderated) and these sorts of newbie users who will try to misuse the idea to get some money for them from here. So, here are some thoughts from me that will need to have in a member before applying for the financial support:

1. Full Member or above with good forum activities
2. Positive vouch from at least two other forum members who are at-least Sr. Member and above with very good forum reputation.

How to apply:
1. Write current date and time, bitcointalk username and COVID-19 on a piece of paper.
2. Just tell us how much you need in this topic and if possible then give us a picture of your current situation (optional)
3. Invite the users who will vouch for you and ask them to make a post with their vouch.

Also, before applying please note:
This project has designed for Bitcointalk members in need (or describe your case - maybe you are a trusted or somehow established member and you need supply for your locals, we will help you with fund). We are sorry that unfortunately we can not assist all (like newbie is coming up with a brand-new account or a brand-new/Jr/member or even any ranked account created long ago but no history, no contribution for the forum). If you do not feel that you are not meeting our requirements then please refer to one of your local help organizations.

In case you need fund for local supply and you need us to help then we will prefer you to spend upfront and then:
1. Provide us pictures of the items you bought, have your bitcointalk username + current date and time + COVID-19 on a piece of paper clearly visible.
2. Receipt of the items you bought with your bitcointalk username + current date and time + COVID-19 written on it.


The fundraising: Once we have a donation application then we can host an event and invite the forum users to join and will also ask some sponsors to help us to fundraise for the applicant.

Conclusion: I want to help the community, I am sure you too but for the lack of initiative may be the person next to us is missing some support that could save his family in this pandemic crisis. I tried to layout my idea in here. Let's talk, let's find a better idea or let's just support this idea and form a team. Let's help the community members who are in need. Only 1 mBTC from 10 users makes 0.01 BTC which could be the money to save someone in need. Let's be generous. When we do pay it forward it eventually comes back to us in the same manner or in different manners. Let's help the Bitcoin community we all love.

To do >> Translation of the topic / design signature code / Talk to established casinos to sponsor and host events

¹ Even though I am okay by myself to look after some people around me in some small scale but still if anyone wants to help a (some) family for a month then feel free to donate to the below address (I will ensure some proofs to be posted each time I use these donations):

Code:

Anonymous
Donation address: notinuseranymore (<< send only here)
Date posted: 24/04/2020

Code:

notinuse

Code:

notinuse

Use Electrum to verify.

(From my estimation in here $50 to $60 per family is sometimes more than enough for a family for their one month's food and other basic needs.)

	Donator	|	Amount	|	Log	|	Status
	akhjob	|	0.00420900 BTC	|	Link	|	Spent
	Anonymous user	|	0.05000000 BTC	|	Link	|	Spent

[Grizman25]

A very good and noble idea. Probably Ukraine where I live can also be attributed to poor countries, although the location is close to the European Union. I will not ask for anything here, I just want to say that you are doing the right thing.

[Mbitr]

I think this is a great idea . It does seem strange , but it’s true. I do believe these middle class are hit very hard . I think you’ve expressed your idea really well and brought up an important issue , that perhaps many users are thinking !
Hope you don’t mind me giving a few ideas
1. How about an avatar ? I’d gladly wear it
2. Personally I’m not a poker player, but over  in collectibles we do a lot of raffles ,perhaps this would be an option? I think members would be really interested in cheap raffles with a chance to win some BTC , with a larger portion going to your fund ? There’s been quite a few dollar raffles recently, these could be expanded to 32 spots or more ?
Anyway hope your idea takes off and stay safe

Edit - thinking a bit more !!
A 100 spot raffle could be run - pick a number 00 - 99 and 1 dollar entry. Once all the slots are taken ,a future block is picked and then the last 2 digits in the hash of that block is the winner ! Maybe 50- 50 split for the winner and the charity ?
Some examples

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240445.20

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5226327.msg53853983#msg53853983

Will probably have to gauge the interest ?

[akhjob]

One thing I noticed, this middle class people who do not have enough savings, never lived in the poverty level or below poverty level, never needed to ask for money because they had/have a decent job but now some of them are in such position that they do not have a job, did not get salary for last two months, their employer is not telling them about the future of their current job and all shit. These people are in deep trouble but these same group of people are too shy to ask financial help from others too. They will not eat for two days but is not going to ask money from you. I discovered it in person.

What you said here is 100% true. A few years back, when I was still in college, we were in the same situation when we had a financial crisis but was too shy to ask for help from friends and family members. We would skip a lunch or dinner for over 3 months until we were able to sell our property and settle the debts.

With the current pandemic situation, many middle and daily workers are suffering without food and other basic needs. While many (including me) gamble away money in gambling sites, there is nothing wrong here, but I think someone who is financially healthy should help those in need at the time of crisis like these.  Personally, I with my the help of my superiors have been helping some of the affected during our field inspection times here in Chennai, India. So, I have sent some sats to you and irfan_pak to help the case.

[Grizman25]

Guys, I am ready to take an active part in your generous offers. The only problem is the lack of generous offers)

[Grizman25]

Guys, I am ready to take an active part in your generous offers. The only problem is the lack of generous offers)

You are welcome. Let the signature to be done then you can wear it and for the time being you can use the personal text I am using. At-least this will spread the word.

Let me do what is necessary when everything is ready.

[aliashraf]

Very good initiative Royse, kudos, I think there is a minor problem tho:

It may be a bit hard for members to show up in public, asking for help because of the same reason you correctly mentioned above. I don't think a full member of this forum with a good reputation is comfortable with this protocol and as of now, we are getting zero requests for help, because of this.

I'd suggest having a board of 2-3 members, trusted members, putting them in charge of:
1- Receiving private requests made by qualified members (full+ members),
2- Prioritizing them continuously,
3- Overseeing all other aspects of the project including sources of donations and income
4- Reporting periodically and occasionally in this thread.

Obviously you are one of the board members, I'm not active in crowded subforums (just the technical sub) so,I don't have a clue about popular figures and celebs here  

P.S.
Although I'm not a signature campaign fan, hereby, I proudly announce that wearing your shirt for this project will be an honor for me.

[Grizman25]

Response from Zwei: He will come up with something in 48 hours for us.
aliashraf: Sent PM to some selected hightly trusted members who are also in my trust list to team up here so that users can request aid privately. I am waiting for their response. Based on their response we will move forward. In the meantime anyone is welcome to ask in here if they are in need of aid.
Mbitr: I missed your update.

Edit - thinking a bit more !!
A 100 spot raffle could be run - pick a number 00 - 99 and 1 dollar entry. Once all the slots are taken ,a future block is picked and then the last 2 digits in the hash of that block is the winner ! Maybe 50- 50 split for the winner and the charity ?
Some examples

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240445.20

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5226327.msg53853983#msg53853983

Will probably have to gauge the interest ?

Very good idea. Once we will have an application then we will do this as well with the event and stuffs. We will give every possible idea a go once there will be anyone in need of aid. There are no need for us to raise any fund unless anyone asks for it.

akhjob: Tomorrow will be the day I will giveaway the items that I have ordered from your donation. Your fund will be moved today or tomorrow to cash up.

Hi, I need some help. Although it is not convenient for me to ask strangers about it, but rather a stranger will show generosity and help than  me own government of the country

[Grizman25]

Hi, I need some help. Although it is not convenient for me to ask strangers about it, but rather a stranger will show generosity and help than  me own government of the country

What are you asking is not very clearly explained. Can you specify please. Also, please keep this in mind that to prevent exploiting this aid initiative, one has to fill up the following conditions:

1. Full Member or above with good forum activities
2. Positive vouch from at least two other forum members who are at-least Sr. Member and above with very good forum reputation.

It's not something final since I am still waiting for other few reputed members to response me in here or in PM to team up for this cause.

everything is normal buddy, if help does not work out, I understand that, in any case, you are not obliged to help me personally. Good luck.

[Grizman25]

everything is normal buddy, if help does not work out, I understand that, in any case, you are not obliged to help me personally. Good luck.

PM me with a convincing story, evidences and other things that can be verified if possible too. I will see what I can do personally. I am here to support the community even if I need to do it alone.

Please make sure whatever you provide is acceptable and verifiable, this will make my life easier to know that my efforts are not going to waste.

Cheers,

I live in eastern Ukraine, where active hostilities are currently underway, this can be checked on google. Plus quarantine all over the country, it turns out I'm in a blockade, I don’t go anywhere, I don’t leave, not to mention the presence of any kind of work, even a low paid one.

[Grizman25]

I live in eastern Ukraine, where active hostilities are currently underway, this can be checked on google. Plus quarantine all over the country, it turns out I'm in a blockade, I don’t go anywhere, I don’t leave, not to mention the presence of any kind of work, even a low paid one.

Send me some images in my PM of the house you live and around it. If possible you are in the image but you can just cover your face with pen, have a card in handwritten:

Code:

Grizman25
Date: 27/04/2020
Project Covid-19 on Bitcointalk.org

Yeah, I know how things are in eastern Ukraine. I can offer you a small job for me in here and for that I will pay you $10 a week for the next 4 weeks if you do the job.

I do not have much time to do stuffs in the Russian section. Your job will be to translate this topic and maintain the thread for me in the Russian section. Can you do that? Bottom line is, you will handle everything in the Russian side for this project and in return I will pay you $10 a week out of my own pocket.

Ok, I can try to do this. I have a lot of free time, so I can actively support the Russian branch.

[Grizman25]

Ok, I can try to do this. I have a lot of free time, so I can actively support the Russian branch.

Great but first you need to PM the images and the things I have asked in the last post. PM me those once you have taken the pictures.

I’m ready to lead the branch for free, I don’t need to help, I can handle it somehow.

[akhjob]

Update 27/04/2020 (13:15)
Fund spent: b3aa2748d9ef6c48ef65533713c7fef08022c823293595b5a334005397dd3bff

²
I did not ask his name only asked about his family. He said it him and his wife with 5 children. 4 girls and one boy. He is a manual labor worker. Not having much work to do to feed his family from the last two months since the crisis started in here at its worse. No one given him anything until I asked him. This is first time he is receiving something to feed his family. He thanked all of us and wished us to be able to help more people like him.

Thanks, Royse. I’m very happy that we were able to help a deserving person. But, I don’t really need these pics to trust you  If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have sent the funds to you in the first place. I’ll help the cause whenever I can 

[aliashraf]

Royse,
Buddy, I've been working (well, part-time to be honest) on a lottery drawing for your project in the last couple of days and it is almost ready to be published. The idea is something like this:
People send few satoshis to a wallet address announced by you/project-board in each round and the drawing will take place using the bitcoin blockchain as a source of random number generator (the last 4 bytes of the hash of a predetermined block number) the blockchain is also used as the source for the ticket numbers assigned to each payment(essentially it is what a blockchain is about, sorting transactions). A fraction of the total income of each round is allocated for donation to the Corona Aid Project, a fraction is awarded to the tickets relatively matched against the key (proportionally) and a third fraction is accumulated in a jackpot for a full match, in case.

I'm almost done formally defining this game and if you feel good about it I'd release it tomorrow. I'm also thinking of a piece of code for supporting this idea. For a small number of tickets, it can be done manually but for a few hundreds and more it'd need software to help with sorting and assigning ticket numbers and calculating awards, etc.

How do you feel about it?

BTW, what happened to the idea of getting 2 other forum members involved as the project board members besides you?

[aliashraf]

Please let me know what are the things it will need from my part for such thing. I will happily provide it.

Thanks for everything Royse, honestly nothing on your part, just one point:
I hope you understand that running a lottery for good faith is not something one could do on his own right. It needs a sort of legitimacy to be provided. I think as the initiator it is on your part to organize a trusted buddy with a very good reputation. I can provide technical support free of charge but I'm not eligible to handle financial stuff like receiving people money and distributing it among members. It is your job to establish the appropriate mechanism for this.

One more point: You should run the campaign asap all over the forum, it is not my expertise too. I can simply offer my signature for free.

Good luck and thanks for the merits, BTW.

[aliashraf]

I did it! 

A follow-up for this thread is posted in this subforum for a Lottery With Good Faith as a source of funds for this project.

[so98nn]

@Royse777 Astounding initiative you have taken by yourself. I'm glad to see how an help is going out from all over through a forum and best part is the helper and the delivery guy both are unknown to each other. Just amazing.

God bless you guys. Keep up the great project.

[DarkStar_]

Royse777 has asked me to escrow funds for the project, so here is the escrow address:

Code:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
The escrow address for Project COIVD-19 is 3Covid19s5zLNzQHGGLBeqkizwApUb19bj

Note that Royse777 is primarily running the project, and I'm just holding funds.
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
1DarkStrRagcDjWtsPGxkav4WG3poLXzDS
G2EJ9ygp2qr6q74A8VFyFYbApTi8URSBAfGod1gSzc5KNB8FoioTBL4edF6AT3/KZGQry0Lq1Sf45hrM6KDSgpk=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

[aliashraf]

Good news, thank you, DarkStar_ 

Royse, I think it is time to go public. I mean this project needs to be advertised in the forum somehow.

[ChuckBuck]

Hi, I received Royse777's message about this topic, like what he said, I really missed it, it's good that I can be here. Currently, I have a few works and temporarily I do not have time to help you with the translation of this topic. But I will do it as soon as I can. I hope my contribution will help you with something in the future  The only difficulty is that the Vietnamese section is no longer available on this forum, so I will post it on another replacement forum (soon).