Holo OP 6 mo ago

- MangaDex traffic is at an all-time high. Our monthly costs are upwards of 700 USD.

- We must currently pay for these costs using cryptocurrency, so as to avoid having to rely on ads, we're now asking for Bitcoin donations.

- Support via PayPal, Patreon etc. is unfortunately not an option.

- In this post we provide general information about Bitcoin as well as suggest ways to acquire some, either online or offline, and how to donate it.

- Donations in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin are not yet supported, but may be added depending on the demand.



The full post below:



Just a quick update from us regarding the recent intermittent access - as you might have guessed, with the world in quarantine due to COVID-19, this has increased traffic to the site to unprecedented levels. To give you an idea, we are seeing peak numbers of users during off-peak times. And at peak times, the volume of users inevitably crash the servers.



We are addressing this issue very shortly, by upgrading servers to cope with the increased demand for the coming months ahead. However, in order to do that, we need to resume accepting donations. We have been surviving off our contingency funds left over from last year, before we had to close support due to some unfortunate events occurring.



Paypal, Patreon, etc are not available options for us, so we switched server hosts at the start of the year and now we pay all our bills using cryptocurrency.



We had a vote on the most preferred way of supporting the site, and even though "using non-intrusive ads" won the poll, it will remain a last resort (as we promised a long time ago). If the number of people who voted to support us with cryptocurrency actually go through with it, we will do fine.



As promised, here is a guide on cryptocurrency, focusing on Bitcoin, including what it is, how you acquire it, and how you would send it to us. The spoilered paragraphs are non-essential, but you can read those if you're interested in the finer detail of the workings of Bitcoin.



For now, we intend to accept Bitcoin only, but if there is demand, we will also expand to accepting other cryptocurrencies.



Bitcoin - General information

What is it?

Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by a mysterious figure using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Like traditional currencies, it can be used to pay for services and products from people and companies that accept Bitcoin as payment. However, there are 3 main differences.



It doesn't physically exist - there are no notes or coins. It exists only online.

It has no central bank, isn't linked to or regulated by any country.

The value of a single Bitcoin is several thousand dollars, but because it's a virtual currency, you can purchase however small of a fraction (up to 8 decimal places!) of a bitcoin that you'd like.



How does it work?



"Real world" currencies, like USD/EUR/GBP, are managed by a central bank (US Federal Reserve/European Central Bank/Bank of England). This means that they can manipulate the volume of currency in circulation and/or its value (by printing more notes, for example).



The supply of Bitcoin is decentralised - it can only be increased by a process known as “mining”. For each bitcoin transaction, a computer owned by a bitcoin “miner” must solve a difficult mathematical problem. The miner then receives a fraction of a bitcoin as a reward.



A record of each transaction, using anonymised strings of numbers to identify it, is stored on a huge public ledger known as a "blockchain". This acts to ensure the integrity of the currency.



The system can act as a payment network that has no down time, it’s operating 24/7, it doesn’t care where and to whom you send money, which makes it suitable for use as an anonymous method of transferring "money" to each other.



Spoiler



For further information, please read Bitcoin’s official “you need to know” page here: As said above, more Bitcoins enter circulation as the result of "mining". However, the bitcoin protocol specifies that the more coins in existence, the more difficult it becomes to mine more coins, up to a limit of 21 million Bitcoins. The difficulty halves approximately once every 4 years, and at the current rate of mining, the next "halving" is predicted to occur at some point this year. As there is a finite amount of Bitcoins to be mined, this is another reason why people attribute value to it.For further information, please read Bitcoin’s official “you need to know” page here: https://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know



Do I need to worry about taxes?



If you are simply acquiring Bitcoin and gifting it to someone else, then no taxes are due.



Spoiler However, if you are acquiring Bitcoin for investment purposes, and the value rises, then taxes could be due when you dispose of them, similar to investing in other assets. Bitcoin's value is extremely volatile, and has been known to rise by thousands of USD in a day, but also fall by thousands of USD in a day.



How do I buy and store Bitcoins?

In general, there are 2 ways of acquiring Bitcoin: you can buy them online at an exchange, or you can buy them offline at a Bitcoin ATM. I will go through both methods in detail, as well as listing the advantages of each method.



They can also be stored using an online wallet, or an offline wallet. If buying Bitcoins online, it's more convenient to store them on an online wallet, but they can also be sent offline. The guide below assumes that Bitcoins bought online will be stored using an online wallet, and Bitcoins bought offline are stored offline.



Spoiler (Of course, you can also mine them, but this isn't feasible unless you happen to have a server farm or supercomputers and a perpetual supply of cheap electricity)



Buying Bitcoins online



We recommend



Spoiler Other sites also exist, such as https://bitstamp.net/ https://kraken.com and local tradesites like https://bitcoin.de



Advantages - No need to worry about maintaining a separate app wallet or needing to travel physically to visit a Bitcoin ATM.



Register an account for yourself, and log in.

Verify your account.

Add a payment method. You can simply link a mastercard or a visa card for small purchases.

Buy Bitcoins (or rather, fractions of a bitcoin).

Once you have been credited with your Bitcoins, you are ready to send them to us.



Spoiler



Buying Bitcoins offline



This requires you to use an offline app wallet. We recommend



Spoiler Another good app is https://electrum.org Other wallet apps also exist: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet



Advantages: Not relying on a third party to store your crypto is generally more secure. You have probably heard stories of how large crypto exchanges got hacked and had all their crypto stolen - storing your crypto offline would prevent loss in that situation. However, this won't be a concern as you aren't storing crypto for a long time, as you would be sending it to us. (This is only a concern if you acquire Bitcoins to keep for a while). Buying Bitcoins from an ATM offers total anonymity as well, as the ATMs do not require identification, etc.



Install app.

Tap "+ Add"

Tap "+ CREATE NEW WALLET"

For ASSET TYPE, select "BTC" and give your wallet a name

Open the wallet and tap "RECEIVE" to bring up the QR code of your wallet

Now you are ready to find a Bitcoin ATM nearby, and buy (fractions of) Bitcoins. This is a useful site to search for one: https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin-atm-near-me/

There are several types of ATMs, but in general, they are self explanatory. They will ask you whether you want to buy or sell (you want to buy), you insert cash, and scan your app wallet QR code in order to receive the Bitcoins.

Once you have been credited with your Bitcoins, you are ready to send them to us.



This is an example of what a Bitcoin ATM looks like:

Spoiler



I have Bitcoins now, how can I send them?

You can send them to us by sending to our wallet code, which can be found on the





How much should I send?

The more you send, the more economical it is, because there are always fees involved. The fees are slightly higher than Paypal for an equivalent transaction, but sadly, that is the price of anonymity and security. We'd recommend a minimum of $10, perhaps, but it's up to you.



Note that our current monthly costs are upwards of 700 USD, which will only increase once we upgrade servers. However, based on the poll we held, there were 1000's of users who said they were willing to learn how to use crypto. Even if a fraction of you sent $10 worth of crypto on a regular basis, we should be fine.



What about other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin?

If there is demand from users to donate other types of crypto, like Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero, etc, then we will also add support for them in due course. Let's see how we get on with Bitcoin first!



Edit: Ethereum has now been added.



I need more help!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below, or alternatively, join our



Stay safe and thanks for your continued support! tl;dr:- MangaDex traffic is at an all-time high. Our monthly costs are upwards of 700 USD.- We must currently pay for these costs using cryptocurrency, so as to avoid having to rely on ads, we're now asking for Bitcoin donations.- Support via PayPal, Patreon etc. is unfortunately not an option.- In this post we provide general information about Bitcoin as well as suggest ways to acquire some, either online or offline, and how to donate it.- Donations in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin are not yet supported, but may be added depending on the demand.The full post below:Just a quick update from us regarding the recent intermittent access - as you might have guessed, with the world in quarantine due to COVID-19, this has increased traffic to the site to unprecedented levels. To give you an idea, we are seeing peak numbers of users during off-peak times. And at peak times, the volume of users inevitably crash the servers.We are addressing this issue very shortly, by upgrading servers to cope with the increased demand for the coming months ahead. However, in order to do that, we need to resume accepting donations. We have been surviving off our contingency funds left over from last year, before we had to close support due to some unfortunate events occurring.Paypal, Patreon, etc are not available options for us, so we switched server hosts at the start of the year and now we pay all our bills using cryptocurrency.We had a vote on the most preferred way of supporting the site, and even though "using non-intrusive ads" won the poll, it will remain a(as we promised a long time ago). If the number of people who voted to support us with cryptocurrency actually go through with it, we will do fine.As promised, here is a guide on cryptocurrency, focusing on Bitcoin, including what it is, how you acquire it, and how you would send it to us. The spoilered paragraphs are non-essential, but you can read those if you're interested in the finer detail of the workings of Bitcoin.For now, we intend to accept Bitcoin only, but if there is demand, we will also expand to accepting other cryptocurrencies.Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by a mysterious figure using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Like traditional currencies, it can be used to pay for services and products from people and companies that accept Bitcoin as payment. However, there are 3 main differences."Real world" currencies, like USD/EUR/GBP, are managed by a central bank (US Federal Reserve/European Central Bank/Bank of England). This means that they can manipulate the volume of currency in circulation and/or its value (by printing more notes, for example).The supply of Bitcoin is decentralised - it can only be increased by a process known as “mining”. For each bitcoin transaction, a computer owned by a bitcoin “miner” must solve a difficult mathematical problem. The miner then receives a fraction of a bitcoin as a reward.A record of each transaction, using anonymised strings of numbers to identify it, is stored on a huge public ledger known as a "blockchain". This acts to ensure the integrity of the currency.The system can act as a payment network that has no down time, it’s operating 24/7, it doesn’t care where and to whom you send money, which makes it suitable for use as an anonymous method of transferring "money" to each other.If you are simply acquiring Bitcoin and gifting it to someone else, then no taxes are due.In general, there are 2 ways of acquiring Bitcoin: you can buy them online at an exchange, or you can buy them offline at a Bitcoin ATM. I will go through both methods in detail, as well as listing the advantages of each method.They can also be stored using an online wallet, or an offline wallet. If buying Bitcoins online, it's more convenient to store them on an online wallet, but they can also be sent offline. The guide below assumes that Bitcoins bought online will be stored using an online wallet, and Bitcoins bought offline are stored offline.We recommend https://www.coinbase.com/ for buying Bitcoins online. This is one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms in existence. They also provide an online wallet to store your Bitcoins securely, are insured, and also support other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin.Advantages - No need to worry about maintaining a separate app wallet or needing to travel physically to visit a Bitcoin ATM.This requires you to use an offline app wallet. We recommend https://wallet.bitcoin.com/ - It supports both Android and Apple. Also, you need to physically go to a Bitcoin ATM.Advantages: Not relying on a third party to store your crypto is generally more secure. You have probably heard stories of how large crypto exchanges got hacked and had all their crypto stolen - storing your crypto offline would prevent loss in that situation. However, this won't be a concern as you aren't storing crypto for a long time, as you would be sending it to us. (This is only a concern if you acquire Bitcoins to keep for a while). Buying Bitcoins from an ATM offers total anonymity as well, as the ATMs do not require identification, etc.This is an example of what a Bitcoin ATM looks like:You can send them to us by sending to our wallet code, which can be found on the support page.The more you send, the more economical it is, because there are always fees involved. The fees are slightly higher than Paypal for an equivalent transaction, but sadly, that is the price of anonymity and security. We'd recommend a minimum of $10, perhaps, but it's up to you.Note that our current monthly costs are upwards of 700 USD, which will only increase once we upgrade servers. However, based on the poll we held, there were 1000's of users who said they were willing to learn how to use crypto. Even if a fraction of you sent $10 worth of crypto on a regular basis, we should be fine.If there is demand from users to donate other types of crypto, like Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero, etc, then we will also add support for them in due course. Let's see how we get on with Bitcoin first!Edit: Ethereum has now been added.If you have any questions, feel free to ask below, or alternatively, join our Discord and ask us there.Stay safe and thanks for your continued support! ago by Last edited 6 moby Holo