Last month, twenty people from the Greater Toronto Area descended upon the VirgoCX headquarters, where the Toronto BCH meet-up was taking place.
This was our first time hosting our meetup in a 'corporate' or 'office environment', which actually worked out nicely given the focus on presentations this time around.
Summary of the night:
Attendees were greeted and received some free Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Bitcoin Cash Toronto (BCT) SLP tokens for attending (see a video by clicking here)
We sold swag for BCH and BCT tokens.
We raffled some bitcoin.com swag (raffle entries using SLP tokens or BCH).
One of our sponsors, VirgoCX hosted a $50 guess the BCH price event.
I gave a brief presentation covering some basics:
What is Bitcoin
What is Bitcoin Cash
How do I get some
Where can I spend it?
New for January
I gave a live purse.io demo where I explained how each and every person in that room can start saving 30%+ on their Amazon purchases.
We experienced the 25-tx-limit of the BCH protocol (more on this later).
Purse.io
Purse.io is a service that allows people to order their favourite items from Amazon, and pay with BTC or BCH.
It matches people who have cryptocurrency and want to spend it on Amazon (shoppers), with people who have Amazon credit and want to trade it for crytpocurrency (earners).
Live Purse.io Demo
After briefly explaining how purse worked, I demo'd the three ways you can shop for items on purse.io
Shop directly on the purse.io website.
Import a wishlist into purse.io
Shop using the purse.io Chrome extension.
I gave a brief mock demonstration for the first two methods,than jumped into a full live demonstration using the Purse Chrome Extension.
I opened up chrome and went over to Amazon.ca (purse also supports .com , co.uk and .co.jp). I needed a USB charging cable for my phone, and USB car adapter to plug the cable into.
Then I simply clicked on the "Save up to $4.62 with Bitcoin" to add this item to my cart. Without ever having to leave Amazon. I did the same for the charging cables.
After adding the items to my cart, I clicked 'check-out' on my chrome extension button, and voila! I'm ready to set a discount:
The final step was to set my discount, and then pay with Bitcoin Cash by scanning a QR code with my mobile wallet.
Measuring Engagement
We raised .0395 BCH ($20 CAD) for our meet-up, which was paid out to holders of the BCT (Bitcoin Cash Toronto) token using the bitcoin.com dividend calculator. 14 people received tokens this time around, some choosing to spend their tokens on raffle entries and Bitcoin swag, while others decided to HODL it for future dividend payments.
Running into the 25 tx- chain limit
While handing out BCH and BCT tokens, I eventually hit a current bottle-neck in the Bitcoin Cash protocol, which limits the number of chained transactions to 25 per block. And given the current gaming of the BCH DAA (Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm) by large mining pools, a block had not be found in over 2 hours.
It was an awkward exchange between myself and a brand new attendee. Luckily he was very understanding and shared his SLP address with me so I could send him the funds once the block cleared.
This highlights the need for developers, miners, and interested businesses to co-operate in order to solve this tx-limit. What it really boils down to is the need to fund developers to work on this problem, which has become a point of contention in the BCH space.
I for one am looking forward to projects like flipstarter.cash (headed by im_uname) to address the funding problem.
In the meantime, if you plan on making many consecutive transactions, I encourage you to split your funds/tokens between two or more wallets a few hours before you need to spend them. This way you can increase the 25 tx limit to be 50, 75, etc, depending on how many wallets you create.
Preview of the February meet-up (SLP Edition!)
I'm beyond excited about our upcoming February meet-up. This will be an opportunity to focus on all the innovative things happening in the Bitcoin Cash SLP token scene. Some topics will include:
What SLP tokens are.
How to send and receive tokens (live!)
What the major tokens are (including stable-coins), and what each offers.
How to airdrop tokens, how to pay and earn Bitcoin Cash dividends using SLP tokens.
How to create your OWN SLP token in seconds!
Fun ways to use SLP tokens, including projects such as SPICE gambling bots and websites.
I plan on airdropping SPICE, USDH and other tokens to all members at the meet-up!
If you would like to support our work, you can either tip this article or donate to the addresses below. All proceeds will be distributed to our attendees!
bitcoincash:qrh3hzmg9plnc964lw7l062mhzj8txrfayrakxn74a
simpleledger:qpj6l8xltdlzyq8hzfefu4wjflyg5qw7cqr8ggjhqq
