Can we all just “hodl” for a better future, or is there more to changing the world around us than passively collecting more Bitcoin? We at Foundation saw that we could do more than just “hodl,” so we started this company out of a desire to help empower more people to reclaim their digital sovereignty. What else can each of us do to help drive Bitcoin and the world around us towards a better future?
While simply “hodling” is a unique approach that is only possible because of Bitcoin, we who understand the impact Bitcoin brings, the need for financial sovereignty, and the weight of issues in society have a responsibility to find ways to help others along the path as well. Once we’ve learned about Bitcoin for ourselves and benefited from it, we have powerful knowledge and experience that we can use to bring about a better world far more quickly.
In this blog post we wanted to lay out some actionable steps that the average Bitcoiner can take to find how they can best impact those around them, improve Bitcoin, bring widespread adoption, and empower others to become sovereign individuals as well. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, we think this is a great place to start.
Join a local Bitcoin meetup
It may seem incredibly simple, but one of the most profound ways each of us can help to spread adoption and help others (and ourselves!) is to get plugged into our local community of Bitcoiners. Meetups allow us to build relationships with other Bitcoiners while contributing thoughts, ideas, and time to educating others. Joining a meetup also helps grow the circular and parallel economies forming around Bitcoin and gives us a local lifeline in case things quickly go downhill. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of having a strong community around you, and a local Bitcoin meetup is the best place to find that.
“Meetups are one of the most high-signal places to learn about Bitcoin and self-sovereignty. I’ve met so many great friends from our local meetup – if you don’t have one in your area, consider starting one!”
Mitch, Co-organizer of KC Bitcoiners meetup
Finding a meetup can be as simple as asking around on Twitter, searching Meetup.com, browsing Bitcoin-Only.com’s list, or if there aren’t any around you – kicking one off yourself! These meetups don’t have to be highly organized and technical, they can be as simple as meeting at a bar or restaurant once a month to chat about all things Bitcoin. Don’t overthink the details, just start gathering Bitcoiners together and watch amazing things happen.
Educate others around you
You may not consider yourself an educator, but even someone relatively new to Bitcoin has a wealth of knowledge that the vast majority of people in the world simply do not. Even the “simple” things like setting up a mobile wallet, storing a seed phrase, or using a hardware wallet like Passport can be immensely helpful to newcomers in the space. Not only that, but having a friendly face or nym that new Bitcoiners can go to with questions or concerns eases the incredibly daunting early days in the Bitcoin rabbit hole. We can help more Bitcoiners stay the path towards self-custody without losing sats along the way by easing the barrier of entry through education and community.
“We all stand on the shoulders of giants. As Bitcoiners we have an obligation to pass on learned knowledge to those around us. This is how we continue to spread the mind virus. This is how we win.”
BitcoinQnA, Head of Customer Experience at Foundation
Educating others also has a powerful personal benefit – when you learn something well enough to teach others, you ingrain a deep and lasting knowledge for yourself that further empowers you towards digital sovereignty.
You know best what communities could benefit from your experience and expertise, but some potential places to contribute could be Twitter (even if you have a small account, it makes a difference!), the Telegram group for your favorite Bitcoin wallet or project, a local Bitcoin meetup, your friends or family, etc.
Contribute and donate to Bitcoin FOSS projects
Want a way to benefit Bitcoin as a project along with a burgeoning free and open-source (FOSS) ecosystem? There are many projects in the broader Bitcoin and sovereignty space that could use your help, starting with simple contributions that don’t even require technical expertise. Taking the time to give back to one of your favorite projects by helping out newcomers in their Telegram or chat rooms, opening issues on Github when you find bugs or want to recommend features, writing or translating documentation, or simply promoting the project on social media can be a huge boost as well.
One of the easiest ways to give back to these projects is to actually use Bitcoin as money and press send. The FOSS space has notorious issues with invaluable projects not getting enough funding to be sustainable, causing us to lose amazing contributors, important apps and tools, and for the spread of Bitcoin and freedom to be slowed.
Bitcoin has uniquely enabled FOSS projects to get funding directly to their wallets without any custodian, middle-man fees, or payment processor. Let’s find ways to leverage this new-found wealth and electronic cash to help fund the next generation of FOSS projects and bring digital sovereignty to more individuals around the world.
“Seeing a donation (especially in the beginning) means the world to a FOSS team like us [RoninDojo], it’s validation that what we are doing matters and keeps us moving forward.”
BTCxZelko, Co-founder of RoninDojo
We don’t want to play favorites, but some excellent FOSS projects in the space that can be funded by Bitcoiners like you and me can be found below (with links directly to their donations pages):
- Sparrow Wallet
- Zeus Lightning wallet
- BTCPay Server
- RoninDojo
- Tor Project
- Nitter, a privacy-preserving Twitter front-end
- Tails, a Tor-centric amnesic operating system
And if none of the above projects strike your fancy or you aren’t sure how to pick one, an easy way is to donate to OpenSats general fund (more on that next).
Donate to OpenSats
Do you find it too difficult to select a contributor, FOSS project, wallet, or educator in the space to donate to? Then OpenSats has you covered. OpenSats is a registered charity in the US, allowing US citizens to count donations as tax-deductible, allowing you to grow the ecosystem while saving some fiat from the tax man. OpenSats allows you to contribute to individual vetted projects and contributors, or to simply donate to the General Fund and trust OpenSats to distribute the funds in a way that aligns with your ethos.
“Thousands of open source contributors make this movement possible. We created Open Sats to support them without relying on corporate sponsors. No strings attached, 100% pass through, tax deductible or anonymous.”
Matt Odell, Co-founder of OpenSats
OpenSats even allows you to donate fiat if you can’t bear to part with your Bitcoin, an invaluable on-ramp for fiat-to-FOSS. If you want to learn more about OpenSats, be sure to check out their website or follow them on Twitter.
Find your niche
If we haven’t hit on a particular passion or area of interest for you in this post, don’t worry! We all have unique talents, passions, and expertise that enable us to be Bitcoiner’s of action. There is a place for each and every one of us to take actionable steps towards bringing digital sovereignty to more people around us, and you know best what that role could be for you.
Take a few minutes today to pause and think on how you could give back to the projects and communities that have impacted you in your journey down the Bitcoin and sovereignty rabbit holes.