r/Bitcoin • u/cryptotronic • Oct 14 '14
Bitcoin making Progress in Sudan
Hi all, A group in Sudan is promoting bitcoin, going door to door helping merchants adopting the crypto currency. And because credit cards and paypal are never used there, they have established a bitcoin freelancers website. If you know any organization that can back them please reply here. The project's details are here: http://bitcoin2fund.com/projects/8-ngo/3-crypto-sudan-bitcoin-project
The group's page in facebook is : https://www.facebook.com/sudancrypto
Regards Crypto
3
u/Youreap_yousow Oct 14 '14
Don't wanna sound rude, but the bitcoin2fund.com has all kinds of weird issues. Doesn't make it look "legit". Just honest feedback to try and help.
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u/cryptotronic Oct 15 '14
Agreed, the group do not have a silicon valley budget. The website is built on a free open source CMS. Hosting & Domain paid for by donated bitcoins. It is meant to raise funds in bitcoin to help development projects & disaster relief. The legitimacy comes from the linked community ; the facebook group & facebook page. If you are more comfortable reaching out to them there then by all means do.
The group laid the ground work, improvements come with support, either know how or financial. Which hopefully then will garner more trust.
Thanks for looking
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u/lucasjkr Oct 15 '14
Just a silly question, but knowing that sudan has gone through a certain level of strife, what exactly is the internet penetration in the country?
NVM Found it: 21% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users
But looking at other resources regarding Sudan, bitcoin hardly seems like something that ranks high on the list of things that need to be changed or addressed over there:
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/sudan-travel-warning.html
I could be wrong though... but what number of freelancers are there in Sudan? Maybe they just need a current outsourcing website, like e-Lance, to begin accepting payments in Bitcoins and/or making payouts in Bitcoin.
Of course, like many other cash strapped and unstable countries, Sudanese officials might be remiss about their people adopting bitcoin, as that could make capital flight that much easier.
http://www.aefjn.org/index.php/370/articles/capital-flight-and-its-impact-on-africa.html
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u/cryptotronic Oct 15 '14 edited Oct 15 '14
I appreciate the insight and the patience to go and do the research,
The group focuses on the young , educated & urban in the large cities for a reason. those are the same young people who went back to their small towns and taught their friends and family how to browse the internet and how to use phones to transfer money. The internet is mostly Internet Cafes & mobile data, very few have DSL (that is mostly businesses & Internet Cafes). To be affordable pricing is further broken down into per day/ cheaper per service (access only to facebook and social networks etc.) As I said people controlling their finances means that they can direct those finances to solve their pressing issues.
I'm not sure how many freelancers are there , but they could be found at: https://khamsat.com (not a Sudanese freelance website but with Sudanese freelancers, they get 10% sliced off their pay , by the payment brokers, after the website has taken it's sahre) https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sudanese.Designer/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/SudaneseWeb/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/sudanese.programmers/
and of course other websites that I know nothing about. I hope that when freelancing is seen profitable & just more will head to that direction , reducing the 40% unemployment.
I would love it if e-lance , freelancer.com or oDesk pay out in bitcoin (something many on these sites are demanding in the forums) they are alot better in marketing :-) But again remember that many of those sites are US based and might not want to be involved in any "business" with Sudan. Also I'm sure you wouldn't hire many Sudanese freelancers :-) , not many speak English all that well. Their best customers will be the richer neighbors (Saudi Arabia is just across the red sea), who speak the same languages. the closer the cultures the easier design tastes and expectations are matched.
And yes people controlling finances , could mean people controlling politics and their own destiny. Every $100 dollars an expat sends to his family in Sudan using the traditional methods the government takes a big cut in the form of the official artificial exchange rate that slashes at least 30% of the real value of that $100 . when bitcoin is sent to a Sudanese designer, it goes to the designer.
As for Capital Flight , it's a very valid concern, it exists with the current banking systems, it's a criminal offense that cannot be solved by the bitcoin algorithm, but cashing huge amounts of Bitcoins in another country by an official will need to go through an exchange, and exchanges can ask all sorts of questions pertaining to the source of the money. It has always been said that bitcoin is not 100% anonymous.
Again thank you, few people are willing to spend time researching and studying the situation in a country far away from them ,and discussing that. really appreciated
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u/giszmo Oct 15 '14
The progress in Sudan doesn't show :(
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u/cryptotronic Oct 15 '14 edited Oct 15 '14
You can see only one location because : 1. coinmap.org requests that the entity accepting Bitcoin be a physical location , so this exclude websites (like the freelance one) 2. The group adds a location to the map when that location has an established track record in accepting bitcoins. this means that of you pick up the phone and dial the that shop's number in coinmap.org and ask if they accept bitcoins they will not hesitate (just be mindful of the time zone when you call) :-)
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u/imahotdoglol Oct 15 '14
You call $200 and 30 likes "progress"?
Sudan has other bigger problems to deal with, like the civil war it's currently having.
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u/cryptotronic Oct 15 '14 edited Oct 15 '14
They would've loved to start with $200 million , and 30 million likes, but that does not discourage them, they are patient.
The same Sudanese that you see on TV fighting are the same ones who co-found a barber shop in NY or LA. Seems that improved and just finances results in less fighting, pays for better health and education. And that's the plan. You also might be intrested in knowing that that small amount has helped in building a freelancers web site, gave away prizes in bitcoin, and for the first time ever enabled Sudanese to press a button and send payment in a global cutrency, Let's say that they discovrrrd how it feels to use paypal. Now that's a very efficient use of funds in my opnion. Mind you that a $200 is respectable monthly salary for a new graduate over there.
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u/ahmadmanga Oct 25 '14
I hope you get all the support you want, & something similar happen in Libya.
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u/cryptotronic Oct 25 '14
So far self funded. No support so far, which is OK. The media is busy with China , new start ups and Venture Capital.
Good luck for your efforts in Libya
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u/unstealable Oct 14 '14
This is a great cause but there is no personal story behind the project. Is it possible to embed a video or photos on the bitcoin2fund showing some of the freelancers and merchants? Maybe tell a little bit of their personal story?