{"id":245,"date":"2014-05-28T21:23:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T21:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.holytransaction.com\/bitcoin-society-ceo-why-digita\/"},"modified":"2020-09-29T00:14:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T22:14:47","slug":"bitcoin-society-ceo-why-digital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/bitcoin-society-ceo-why-digital.html","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Society CEO: Why digital currency is a tool for global good"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

(CoinDesk<\/a>) The weekend before last week\u2019s Bitcoin2014 conference in Amsterdam, 22-year-old Matthew Kenahan had a choice to make \u2013 one that he said was \u201cprobably one of the most difficult decisions I\u2019ve ever had to make<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Here was his dilemma: attend graduation after slogging for four hard years to get his degree in International Business and Marketing, or skip it to attend the Bitcoin2014<\/a> conference, where he and the organization he heads, the Bitcoin Society, were nominated for a Blockchain Award or \u2018Blockie\u2019.<\/div>\n
\u201cI had my 91-year-old grandmother travelling up from Mississippi<\/em> [to my graduation],\u201d he told CoinDesk. He eventually chose Amsterdam, and was
\nrewarded with not only winning the award<\/a> for \u2018Most Impactful Charity\u2019, but also for \u2018Bitcoin Champion\u2019 after Andreas Antonopoulos\u00a0was unable to accept the prize<\/a>\u00a0due to a conflict of interest.<\/div>\n

My sincere thanks to anyone who voted for me in the blockchain awards. I apologize for not being able to accept due to conflict of interest<\/em>
\n\u2014 AndreasMAntonopoulos (@aantonop) 16 Maggio 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tool for charity<\/h2>\n
Obviously, Kenahan\u2019s \u2018problem\u2019 is a lighthearted tale, and nothing like the hard choices faced by people who are living hand-to-mouth in many regions of the world. In fact, he sees bitcoin<\/a> as a tool for helping the less well-off and, under his leadership, the Bitcoin Society has sought to explore the charitable uses of bitcoin<\/a> and to promote a positive image of bitcoin in contrast to its association with the drugs trade.<\/div>\n
\u201cThe main idea behind this is to show people that you can use cryptocurrency for something other than Silk Road. We\u2019re creating a global community,<\/em>
\nwe\u2019re trying to connect people,<\/em>\u201d\u00a0Kenahan\u00a0explained<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As befits a prize for charitable work, Kenahan pledged to donate his 1BTC winnings to the Women\u2019s Annex Foundation<\/a>, which aims to build women\u2019s digital literacy and increase access to the Internet. He tweeted confirmation<\/a> of the donation that same day. For Kenahan, that transparency in donations is appealing from an accountability point of view:<\/div>\n
\n
\n

\u201c[Bitcoin] allows you to create a unique address, for a very specific cause […]<\/em>
\nwe see both the incoming and outgoing transactions, and we can see that<\/em>
\nit\u2019s used for a very specific cause.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Those charitable uses of bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, are already apparent from a human rights organization that works in Sri Lanka<\/a> to homeless outreach shelter Sean\u2019s Outpost<\/a> in the US. Perhaps more famously, dogecoin has become a veritable charity fundraising machine, including the $50,000 Doge4Water campaign<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Image problem<\/h2>\n
More generally, the Bitcoin Society is devoted to challenging what Kenahan calls \u201cmisinformation\u201d in reporting on bitcoin and to improving perceptions<\/a> of bitcoin.<\/div>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest issues with bitcoin, and one of the things that <\/em>hindering the development of our community, is we have this fundamental <\/em>image problem that oftentimes stems from misinformation or slanderous <\/em>articles,<\/em>\u201d he argued.<\/div>\n

Future plans<\/h2>\n
As part of that challenge, the Bitcoin Society is planning a number of projects over the next year, including a new website called bitcoincourses.org, which will help to educate people about bitcoin, and a textbook buy-back scheme for US students.<\/div>\n
\u201cInstead of selling your textbook back to the bookstore \u2026 and getting grossly underpaid,\u201d he said, \u201cwhat we would do is redeem that textbook for bitcoin. That provides a low-risk \u2013 it\u2019s money you\u2019ve already spent \u2013 way to get involved into a community that has more and more legitimacy every day.<\/em>\u201d Currently, Kenahan has big plans for expanding the Bitcoin Society team and is recruiting representatives from his alma mater Washington University.<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be set up in Shanghai, New York, India, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago,<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
For this self-funded bitcoin champion \u2013 Kenahan said he previously traded in the bitcoin markets \u2013 2014 is proving to be a very exciting year indeed.<\/div>\n

Open your free digital wallet here<\/a> to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(CoinDesk) The weekend before last week\u2019s Bitcoin2014 conference in Amsterdam, 22-year-old Matthew Kenahan had a choice to make \u2013 one that he said was \u201cprobably one of the most difficult decisions I\u2019ve ever had to make\u201d. Here was his dilemma: attend graduation after slogging for four hard years to get his degree in International Business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,76,81,174,468,625,679],"tags":[764,770,857,1126,1279,1332],"yoast_head":"\nBitcoin Society CEO: Why digital currency is a tool for global good -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/bitcoin-society-ceo-why-digital.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitcoin Society CEO: Why digital currency is a tool for global good\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(CoinDesk) The weekend before last week\u2019s Bitcoin2014 conference in Amsterdam, 22-year-old Matthew Kenahan had a choice to make \u2013 one that he said was \u201cprobably one of the most difficult decisions I\u2019ve ever had to make\u201d. 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