A brief foreword:
Being the new guy is tough. You try your best to make friends while not overstepping your boundaries. The last 4 months in BCH have been truly amazing, and it's hard to express in words how fulfilling its been to get back into Bitcoin.
I bought my first bitcoins a few days after the 1st halvening (late Nov '12), sending a $1,000 from a MoneyGram in Atlanta to Mt. Gox way out in Tokyo. How times have changed. Today, bitcoins can be bought via credit cards, same-day bank transfers, physical ATMs, merchant tellers and of course (and as always) peer-to-peer.
I never saw the 2nd halving (July '16); by then, the Blockstream hijackers had already crippled the whole Bitcoin Legacy network and left me with the funkiest taste in my mouth (something like black licorice). But with the 2020 halvening behind us; I gotta tell you, it's feeling like 2012 all over again.
This fuckin' lockdown has at least one positive outcome; it gave me the time I've long wanted to take a deep dive into the Bitcoin sources; and boy did I swim through code, there was lots of it! Heartfelt thank you to ALL the amazing hardworking developers throughout the community (special thanks to Chris Troutner for having the MOST educational YouTube channel).
Bitcoin Feels FRESH Again!
Bolder Than EVER!
and.. Has Plenty Of TRACTION!
I'm Ready To BU!LD BCH!
So.. after 4 months of exploring the Bitcoin Cash community (IFP aside), it's been a truly remarkable experience and I can comfortably say that I feel like I'm finally back home. I have a bunch of projects that I've been exploring (researching, coding, discussing), especially in the areas of "mobile-first" and "privacy"; but more on that later. Right now, I'd like to call out to all the BUIDLers out there that have projects of their own, are looking for sustainable support, and wish to see their hopes and dreams materialize.
Platform Preview — https://causes.cash
Documentation — https://docs.causes.cash
Open Source — https://gitlab.com/bchplease/causes.cash
Causes Cash is one of the first ideas I started prototyping back in January. I spoke to @emergent_reasons about it after Flipstarter was announced, but I never advanced it, as that team was handling the work remarkably well. However, it's become quite clear to me now that Flipstarter's primary goal was to defeat the IFP by getting multiple node development teams sustainably funded .. and well, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
With no immediate plans for a dedicated funding platform, I'd like to propose a solution for all the other BUIDLers in the community that are looking for discovery and contributions (financial, labor, etc) for their own projects. In short, this would be a discovery platform for more Flipstarters, but I'd like to briefly explain why we NEED more options than all-or-nothing.
If you're familiar with Open Collective, then this is the vision that I have for Causes Cash. Most creators today are using Patreon, which is a wonderful way to attract sustainable revenue. However, it lacks one key feature found on OC, and that's FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY.
In my opinion, that makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.
I'll keep this article short, as it's not an announcement of any kind, but a call for discussion; however, I do want to highlight what I consider to be the 5 KEY BENEFITS of the platform:
1. Fiscal transparency of how money comes in and how it goes back out.
2. 100% open source, with 100% decentralized technologies.
3. YOUR data is managed by YOU (eg. memo protocol), while PLATFORM data is transparently stored in IPFS' OrbitDB.
4. Optimized for on-going project / campaign management, with supporting tools and services.
5. Pay It Forward, a community funding pool, to regularly upvote and sponsor new and noteworthy projects.
and 1 BONUS: NO FEES! FOREVER! GoFundMe-style ;-)
Nito Cash: A Case Study for Causes Cash
https://causes.cash/@BCHPlease/nito-cash-07dd70f04162
I'll wrap-up with my own nascent project, Nito Cash, which is nearing its first Developer Preview (ugh, maybe end-of-month??). It was originally designed to be a web-based burner wallet, with a primary purpose of being the simplest way for on-boarding first-time Bitcoin Cash users. However, after months of trial-and-error, it now has the distinction of being the first "mobile" wallet to natively support CashShuffle.
But why stop there? The NitoJS library and SDK allows any JavaScript-based app/dapp to natively support Bitcoin Cash privacy protocols with a simple plugin. But that was the easy part (mostly done already), the hard part was, the best part is .. wait for it .. last week, I finally got NitoJS to start working with CashFusion. Not a perfect solution yet -- still a WIP which requires the help of a desktop (or browser) gateway (for the TOR stuff). You will soon be able to TRUSTLESSLY use CashFusion while on-the-go from your Android or iOS device(s), and at home using a Chrome or Brave web browser.
Well that's all for now..
Cheers!
and let's chat!
Please leave your comment(s) below.
Causes Cash has a brand new Slack workspace, for those that wish to discuss in real-time about their projects and ideas. I'm also in the BCHN Slack, but NOT on Telegram (so please don't ask).
Photos courtesy of Unsplash
@huckfinne appreciate ur support brother 🥳 has been very encouraging to see the community's response to this initiative .. as the Chinese would say 加油! i'm about to get back work!!