21 Feb 2014 / GetToKnowBitcoin.com – I got involved in a cool project on Twitter a few days ago. It not only was an awesome philanthropic experience but it also demonstrates in “real life” the power of bitcoin. This real life example is between three individuals from three different continents using bitcoin.

A previous customer of mine and Twitter friend wanted to buy and donate bitcoin hats to Alakanani of the Bitcoin Botswana Group, from which I sale on my website. My Twitter friend known as @ralphtheninja tweeted the message seen below to Alakanani known as @BITCOINLADY on Twitter.

When I (@knowbitcoin) saw the conversation, I offered to donate 10% of the total sale to Alakanani and her Bitcoin Botswana Group. You can check out Alakanani’s work in Botswana here. She’s spreading the word and educating people about bitcoin in Botswana. It’s a very powerful message for her community.

@ralphtheninga decided to purchase 10 bitcoin hats. We agreed to split the shipping cost, which was $30 to Botswana. This is where you begin to see the power of bitcoin. I gave him my bitcoin address and he sent me .38 bitcoins which was equivalent at that time to $235. It was received by my address almost instantly. It took about 7 minutes to be fully confirmed by the bitcoin network. He sent me $235 from Europe to the United States for only 6 cents.

Here’s the transaction info from blockchain.info. Note: the fee is circled in red and when I screen shot the page, the price of bitcoin went down, thus the difference in the amount in dollars. It’s still .38 btc though.

Once, the confirmation was complete, I contacted Alakanani for her bitcoin address. So I could send her a donation. When I received her address, I sent her .0362 bitcoins equivalent at that time to $23.50. My transaction fee to send $23.50 from the United States to Botswana was a whopping 6 cents as well.

Experiencing a “real life” first hand international transaction was amazing. To think a technology exists that allows strangers (other than Twitter communications) from three different continents to interact in commerce and philanthropy without having to trust one another or relying on a middleman is remarkable. If that isn’t enough to amaze people, the entire transaction to send money from Europe to the United States then to Botswana costs a total of 12 cents!

The Power of Bitcoin

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