We are launching a new distribution method. It’s very simple: you let your computer do some computational work, and receive some Bytes. Sounds like mining, but it is not. Because the work itself, not just its proof, is useful in the outside world.

The useful computational work is organized by World Community Grid, an IBM sponsored philanthropic initiative running since 2004. WCG allows you to use idle time of you computer to help scientists solve the world’s biggest problems in health and sustainability. Current projects include:

Microbiome Immunity Project

Smash Childhood Cancer

OpenZika

Help Stop TB

FightAIDS@Home — Phase 2

Outsmart Ebola Together

Mapping Cancer Markers

FightAIDS@Home

Over 700,000 volunteers are already contributing their computing resources to solving these problems. Now you can do it too, and receive some Bytes that reflect your contribution. The Bytes will be paid out of undistributed funds.

To enroll into this distribution method, you need to register in WCG (if not already registered) and chat with “World Community Grid linking bot” which you find in the Bot Store in your wallet.

The bot allows you to link your WCG account with your BB address where you are going to receive the rewards. The rewards will be paid daily and are based on points that you generate in WCG, these points reflect your contribution.

The payout rate is set at $1.00 (in Bytes) for every 150,000 points (update: now it is $1.00 per 1,000,000 points). It is not much, and you are not supposed to make a profit by participating in WCG. It is just a recognition of your contribution to WCG projects that doesn’t cover even electricity costs. For new users, it is also a way to get some initial amount of Bytes, at least to be able to pay the fees, without having to register at exchanges and buy anything.

Along with Bytes, you also receive a honorific token in the amount exactly equal to the number of points you contributed. The token is not transferable, therefore, it cannot be sold and the balance reflects your lifetime contribution to WCG. Some services might choose to offer a privilege to users with large balance of this token.

If you are already a WCG member and earned some points before enrolling into the distribution, you also receive a one-time reward that depends on the amount of WCG points you generated (updated rates shown):

100,000 to 1,000,000 points: $0.02;

1,000,000 to 10,000,000 points: $0.30;

10,000,000 to 100,000,000 points: $4.00;

over 100,000,000 points: $15.00.

The reward rates (both for new points and for old points generated before joining) can be changed in the future, for example, if we notice that points generation is getting industrialized. We want the distribution to be as wide as possible.

We are not the first to use WCG for distribution. Ripple did it in 2013–2014 and it helped many WCG members learn about Ripple and many Ripple users learn about WCG. The Ripple team is still the largest on WCG. Ripple named their program “Computing for good”.

Community at work

This distribution method was almost entirely a community effort. It began with a well thought-out idea by ptrk on bitcointalk. The idea was well received, @neversaynever volunteered to develop the distribution bot and applied for a grant, the grant was accepted, the community helped to test the bot, and @Punctured organized translation of the bot into 10 languages. Now we have the first multi-lingual bot and the first finished grant in our grants program.

We also have Byteball.org team at WCG, joining the team is not required to receive the rewards but highly recommended to see our aggregate contribution to World Community Grid.