**How has the Kuno process been so far for you? was it easy to set up?**

Yes, the process of setting up the fundraiser was pretty easy, easier than I imagined, to be honest, all it took was a brand new Monero wallet and 10 minutes(and the idea of course), I think that Kuno is the best platform there is to fund projects - related or unrelated to Monero.

**How did you come up with the idea for Os Moneristas?**

The idea of creating Os Moneristas wasn't birthed all of sudden, but is rather a product of several interactions with the people I shared a common interest with: resistance to draconian measures imposed by our governments; originally, the project was about translating content to Portuguese, but I eventually ended up investing the time and energy on both the original content creation and the News report about Monero.

**You have been in the Monero community already for quite some time, right?**

Yes, I've been interacting with the community for quite a while now, initially I started by distributing xmr to no coiners - that's how I met the homies that fight by my side till this day - (Shoutout to Elias from p2privacy and Pyro from MoneroPropagandaBR)

**Amazing! This sounds like a great journey! Do you have an idea on how we can connect the Portuguese speaking Monero community with the English speaking Monero community? I don't speak Portuguese,  but I am interested to know what is going on.**

Well, the Portuguese Monero community is far smaller and more scattered than the English speaking community(obviously), it is mostly made of ancaps and cypherpunks, but I will try and share some links where I interact the most with the Portuguese speaking side:

[https://t.me/MoneroPropagandaBR](https://t.me/MoneroPropagandaBR)  my homie, who makes cool posts for monero 

[http://t.me/Monerobrasil](http://t.me/Monerobrasil) is the biggest telegram group in Brazil 

[http://t.me/MoneroBrasilSemBan](http://t.me/MoneroBrasilSemBan) is my favorite telegram group but it engages in more off topic and more uhhh.. shit talking?

Yeah I think those are the main places to share a good conversation in the community.

**Great resources!**

Another thing regarding Monero adoption in Brazil: I talked to a dude on discord, he mentioned he bought a motorcycle and paid a share of it with Monero, worth to mention that Brazil is the country with the second most Monero.com wallet downloads on Android, this reinforces what I said before: the Portuguese-speaking users are very scattered around.

**So you plan on working 4 hours per day on your project in june, right? What are your plans for the future beyond that?**

Yes, I am already working 4 hours a day to maintain a regular schedule for the social medias, my plan is to continue working on it and expanding it to other platforms, if it goes well(it already is) I hope to continue on it for months or years to come, my future plans are stimulating real life adoption and Monero run free markets(shoutout to squezze store for selling electronics and Moratori for accepting monero donations on his piracy website)

**Amazing! Thank you for your answers!**

Thank you Spiro and AnarkioCrypto for the opportunity you guys gave me.
Also I would like to thank my homies at p2privacy where I buy and sell Monero with BRL, my homies at Monero Propaganda BR, my homies at Monero Brasil Sem Ban, and the friends I made trash talking CBDCs on twitter; It wouldn't be possible without them.

**You can support Nestor through his [Kuno fundraiser](https://kuno.bitejo.com/fundraiser/6fk2/)**

In this conversation, Nestor Mokhnero, founder of Os Moneristas, discusses the easy setup process of the Kuno fundraiser and his plans to connect the Portuguese and English-speaking Monero communities. Discover his journey, future aspirations, and efforts to promote real-life adoption of Monero.

nestor.jpg

A Conversation with Nestor: Exploring the Vision of Os Moneristas

## Why Monero

Monero offers a unique way to raise money for your startup, project or charity. Unlike Gofundme or Kickstarter, Monero fundraisers don't require a bank account or ID, can't be deplatformed or seized, don't take high fees, and it's possible to donate fully anonymously.

## How it works

To raise money, all you need is a Monero address. Simply download a wallet for desktop (FeatherWallet.org) or mobile (Monero.com), and you are ready to start – **no application or KYC is required.** After you have received donations, it's easy to withdraw Monero to physical cash, bank transfer or Paypal with LocalMonero.co, CoinATMRadar.com or Bisq.network. Alternatively, you can buy gift cards and prepaid debit cards from CakePay.com and CoinCards.com, use personal shopping services like AnonShop.app, Proxysto.re and ShopInBit.com or buy from **Monero-friendly merchants** at Monerica.com, AcceptedHere.io and MoneroMarket.io.

To donate to a fundraiser, you just need to copy and paste the Monero address or scan the QR code with your Monero wallet, write the donation amount, then click "Send". Unlike credit cards or bank transfers, no name or address is associated with Monero wallets, which means you can **donate anonymously**. To get Monero, you can buy it with cash, gift cards or bank transfer from LocalMonero.co, CoinATMRadar.com or Bisq.network, or exchange a different cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum) to Monero with Trocador.app.

## Easy fundraising with Kuno

Kuno Fundraisers ([kuno.bitejo.com](https://kuno.bitejo.com)) offers a streamlined and convenient way to raise money with Monero, whether it's for a startup, personal project or charity. You can start a fundraiser in a few clicks – just enter a title, description, goal and your Monero address, and **you are ready to raise money.**

You can view your fundraiser's progress in real-time. Supporters send funds directly to your Monero wallet (no middlemen). Kuno doesn't take any fees and can't seize or censor any donations. **This means that you receive 100% of all donations, guaranteed.**

Featured fundraisers on the homepage and a search page help people to find your fundraiser. In addition, you can easily share the link in social media and with friends, subscribers or supporters.

With Kuno you can also create a Donation Page, which is essentially a fundraiser without a specified goal. Share the link in your Youtube channel, blog, Github or website, and people can easily send tips and post comments on your page. This provides a more convenient and accessible alternative to Paypal (which Patreon, BuyMeACoffee, LiberaPay and OpenCollective rely on), as no bank account, ID or corporate permission is required. **Likewise, there are no fees and funds can't be seized, reversed or put on hold.** You can exchange your donations to cash or gift cards at any time with LocalMonero.co, CoinATMRadar.com and CakePay.com.

## Other ways to fundraise with Monero

Kuno isn't the only way to fundraise with Monero. As mentioned previously, all you need is a Monero address, which you can copy and paste to your social media profile, website, Gofundme/Kickstarter fundraiser or Patreon page.

If you are interested in working on Monero itself, such as node/wallet development, Monero-related services, educational material or onboarding merchants, the CCS is a good way to receive donations. The CCS is well known and accepted proposals are often funded within days. To submit your proposal, go here: https://ccs.getmonero.org/ and join the discussion at: https://matrix.to/#/#monero-community:monero.social Your proposal will be discussed in the next Monero community meeting (https://monero.observer/tag/calendar/) and if accepted, it will go live on the CCS website, ready for donations.

In addition, you can raise money for a Monero-related project via Monero Bounties (https://bounties.monero.social/). Describe a feature, tool or service that you would like to see. Then people can donate XMR to the bounty. People who are interested in completing the bounty can apply to it and after completion of the work, will receive the Monero to their address.

You can also self-host a fundraiser, for example, for your software project or business idea. BTCPayServer (https://docs.btcpayserver.org/Apps/#crowdfunding-app) and Wishlist As A Service (https://github.com/plowsof/xmr-wishlist-aaS) allow you to host your own Monero fundraiser on a VPS. One example is Monerujo's fundraiser, where users can support new features by sending a donation: https://funding.monerujo.app/

You can find a list of charities, projects and organizations that accept Monero donations at Monerica: https://monerica.com/#non-profits

## Conclusion

Monero's accessibility, privacy and censorship-resistance make it a good choice to raise funds and donate to good causes. If you are interested in raising funds for your project, consider to **start a Kuno Fundraiser** or add a Monero address to your social media bio. If you want to donate to a good cause, visit Monerica's directory or check out the active Kuno Fundraisers.

For more information about Monero, visit https://getmonero.org

Monero offers a unique way to raise money for your startup, project or charity. Unlike Gofundme or Kickstarter, Monero fundraisers don't require a bank account or ID, can't be deplatformed or seized, don't take high fees, and it's possible to donate fully anonymously.


katelyn-greer-spkZnVCj2G0-unsplash.jpg

How to start a censorship-resistant fundraiser with Monero

One of the first things that struck me about the conference is the fact that the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), which organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum, is not a neutral organization. Lets get the obvious out of the way first: **Guantanmo is still open, Assange is in jail.** If the US tried to portrait itself as the good guy, it just wouldn't work.

So the event was not really about Human Rights. It was a carefully crafted experience, similar to a TED talk event. Mixed in with the Human Rights speakers, local politicians from the DPP and the NPP got the chance to present themselves as Human Rights heroes. Which they are not. They are just local politicians doing their thing.

It was basically a propaganda event where people gave prepared speeches to drive home the fact that **other countries commit Human Rights atrocities too.**
The place where the event was held was [very bougie](https://twitter.com/spirobel/status/1588812920284381184).
![Screenshot 2023-04-27 at 21-15-16 spirobel on Twitter.png](/uploads/Screenshot_2023_04_27_at_21_15_16_spirobel_on_Twitter_0cb60e861b.png)


I skipped the second part of the presentations and had a conversation with one of the Bitcoin bros that I met at the Bitcoin session earlier. The session was an opportunity for beginners to learn about bitcoin. I witnessed firsthand how easily conversations about Bitcoin can be derailed by privacy. It gets technical real fast, to a point where **it is completely infeasible for the average person to use bitcoin** in an adversarial environment and not mess up.

The session was recorded by one of the attendees who kindly provided the footage. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoIrqnfKTjo) is the part about privacy for example. The Bitcoin people are overall very cool and have [the right attitudes about freedom, censorship resistance, etc.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjBwYX--RtY) But the thing is this: It makes zero sense for Human Rights activists in adversarial environments to use Bitcoin. 

Take a look at the official Bitcoin HRF guide for non governmental organizations [ www.btcfornonprofits.org](https://www.btcfornonprofits.org/). To spare you the effort to read all of this: It essentially recommends that the NGOs run their own btcpayserver to collect donations. Despite the fact that it would be much easier and safer to **just use Monero or Zcash.** 

The HRF guide was written in collaboration with the Btcpolicy Institute, which has former [Booz Allen Hamilton employees ](https://www.btcpolicy.org/authors/jason-brett)
 on its pay roll and writes longs [effort posts](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/627aa615676bdd1d47ec97d4/636547bc06461825ef584365_BPI%20Comment%20to%20Treasury%20.pdf) about how Bitcoin is a strategic asset for US interests. 
 
![Screenshot 2023-04-27 at 19-51-33 636547bc06461825ef584365_BPI Comment to Treasury .pdf.png](/uploads/Screenshot_2023_04_27_at_19_51_33_636547bc06461825ef584365_BPI_Comment_to_Treasury_pdf_be995bbfa9.png)

So what to make of this? we have to find the answer to two questions: 

**Is the HRF a front for the US intelligence community to frame US interests in the language of Human Rights?**


The biggest Human Rights atrocities in the last decades were committed in the name of the **"war on terror"**. Millions of people have been murdered in wars that were started because of lies and half truths. The US has **systematically tortured people** in Guantanamo and killed innocent people with drones that were operated from thousands of miles away. (the most cowardly way to wage war in human history)

The mass surveillance and constant invasion of our rights to privacy are a result of this same "war on terror". 
The HRF does a great job at diverting attention away from this simple fact. Our **most basic rights get clawed away.** The Human Rights heroes in the west get thrown in jail and the culprits get listened to on TV. **Meanwhile the HRF** paints Human Rights stories as these stories that happen in far away lands.

**How do we make sure that the interests of the privacy community get respected in the Human Rights debate?**


The people that want to encroach on our right to privacy are the same people that are responsible for the war crimes and drone murders that were committed in the name of the "war on terror".
The timid way to go about this is to abide by the rules of their **fake narratives to justify the "war on terror".** This is the strategy that the TOR project also uses to get funding from the US government. 

**People need privacy** in places that the drone murderers can't reach, so tools like TOR get funded. Zcash takes a similar approach in the way it presents itself. They develop very solid technology similar to the tor project, but at the same time distance themselves from criminals and the supposed bad guys in the "war on terror" narrative.

The Zcash foundation funded [a long report](https://medium.com/human-rights-foundation-hrf/privacy-and-cryptocurrency-part-i-how-private-is-bitcoin-e3a4071f8fff) about Bitcoin privacy that is mentioned in the HRF ngo guide.

It also mentions "privacy coins" in the second section of the document, but **fails to arrive at the right conclusion** that Bitcoin is just completely useless in adversarial environments. This clearly shows the limits of the timid approach.

Monero on the other hand goes all the way to the other end of the spectrum and proudly proclaims to be the coin for criminals. This immediately makes it the least dangerous coin from a political perspective. It basically takes the losing position from the very beginning.

**The real criminals are the people on the other side.** We should not forget this. The people that put Assange in jail. The people that cowardly murdered people with drones. The people that started the war in Iraq on the basis of a complete fabrication. Millions of people died as a result of this. Thousands were tortured. The same **fake stories** and arguments that were used to commit these atrocities are being **used to attack our right to privacy.**

We have to realize that the goals of the Zcash and Monero community are the same. **We all want to protect our right to privacy.** The issue is that Zcash is too timid and Monero is too out of touch with the political reality. We waste our time with useless infighting and debating Bitcoiners (many of which share our values).

**We should focus on the real enemies.** The people behind the advancing encroachment on our right to privacy. The people behind the "war on terror". The cowardly drone murderers. They are the enemies of the people. **They are the real criminals.** They are the scum of the earth hiding in our midst. We should not be timid in calling out the real criminals. "Privacy is normal" is not enough. "You are the real criminals" is the right response.

If you like my work you can send me Monero or Zcash:

Monero: 
```
88e137tRQ5sSsUF4HxSocxJgeyhREBpP27n21mzxHNavPmtCRw1UuT9MPDg1xLdLBLF9gtEJkyrQ7fxTo8kxDMDx76HTp7b
```

Zcash:

```
u1azdfencd4vt279l2altd42xs0wrufy5ay0r484tj6tj92wyummuc42xhgh92jrrelu8rrv4a0mh90s99eyzltjr2rl7ed5awpq3quk763qm0nhnukmqrf00gfgnap4wcjn2g4ggs5rpwa3scjhrxsrlhy60dx0zeqyng967egecyawvnelhhw4qpy8gdjktml84k0g5t6t8p2pyga8m
```

Please also reach out via twitter or email or post something in the [monerochan.news forum.](https://forum.monerochan.news/)

Here is a funny clip where I tell a former SEC employee that taxes are also used for war and not just to fund schools and roads: [https://twitter.com/spirobel/status/1636759969591590913](https://twitter.com/spirobel/status/1636759969591590913)

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum in Taipei, Taiwan. As a member of the Monero community I was ironically the only person at the event that paid with Bitcoin.

Screenshot 2023-04-27 at 19-47-27 Fgni6p_VIAc0nEk (JPEG Image 1153 × 2048 pixels) — Scaled (33%).png

Representing Monero at the Oslo Freedom Forum: A Report from Taipei

**Why are you into the Fediverse? How did you get into this topic?**

I am involved in the blockchain space for many years, but there is one thing that I don't like about the space: almost everyone uses centralized platforms like Twitter, Reddit and Discord to share ideas and communicate. In my view, this is a big weakness, because people who control these platforms can use deplatforming and disinformation to attack our communities, and destroy the alternative financial systems that we've been building.

**Why is federation important for social networks? What problem does it solve?**

There were many attempts to build decentralized social networks using blockchain technology, but at some point it became obvious to me that this is the wrong approach, which leads to centralization. So I started to look for a better solution.

I realized that true p2p social networks are very hard to build. Mainstream browsers can't make peer-to-peer connections, and without a nice web interface you won't get users. It will be just another ghost town. Federated networks trade off some decentralization for usability, and though initially I dismissed them,  in the end I decided to use the ActivityPub protocol in my project.

**Why can we not just rekindle the old forum culture that existed before the advent of social media?**

Big social platforms out competed the small sites of the old web because of the network effect: the more people are there, the more value a social network provides. Federation solves this problem by uniting many small blogs and forums into one big network.

**Your project Mitra includes Monero tips as well as web3 wallet login. How do you think these tools can help the Fediverse achieve its goals?**

Mitra has a tipping feature and it has subscriptions, which allow people to earn Monero by publishing subscribers-only content.
In general, I want to help the parallel economy grow. Independent developers, researchers, writers and artists need monetization tools that do not depend on the legacy banking system and centralized social media platforms.

I think the Fediverse also needs these tools to remain independent. It was built by volunteers, but it grows, and some software developers are starting to accept grant money from structures affiliated with governments.

**So from your point of view integrating payment features is essential to make the Fediverse sustainable in the long run?**

If it remains a small network, it can be maintained by volunteers indefinitely.
But I think it will grow, and the recent exodus from Twitter to Mastodon shows that the possibility of Fediverse going mainstream is real. 
In this scenario commercialization becomes inevitable, and by default it will be a strong centralizing force, unless the foundation for the peer to peer economy is laid out early on. So yes, I think payments are essential, and the infrastructure for them must be built with decentralization in mind.

**Why did you pick Monero over other cryptocurrencies?**

In the beginning Mitra had only Ethereum integration, because for some features I needed smart contracts. Monero was added later on, and it is possible that some other currencies will be supported in the future, though at the moment I'm not working on that.

I like Monero because it provides good privacy and its transactions are cheap. This is the cryptocurrency I usually use for payments.  Also, people were asking for Monero support, I think it's one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the Fediverse.

**Okay great! Where can people find out more about you and your project?**

The code and documentation can be found at [https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra](https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra)
My Fediverse address is 
```
@silverpill@mitra.social
```
**We will have more content on the Fediverse in the future. Please also join the builders group in the [monerochan.news forum](https://forum.monerochan.news/) if you are interested in this topic!**

The future of social media is decentralized. Silverpill explains why he is working on Mitra and why he is into Monero.

Screenshot from 2022-11-16 20-37-33.png

Monero and the Fediverse, a conversation with silverpill

**What makes Monerujo special?**

Monerujo is indeed special. It's truly a passion project, built by a few Monero believers in their free time which even became friends. We believe private, self-custodied money is something worth having in the world, and without the proper tools to interact with it, it'll fail. Monerujo is also special because its design decisions are not profit-driven, we're not a company nor do we plan to be one. We also try as best as we can to strike a balance between security and ease of use, but if we fail, we rather fail in friendliness and keep everyone's hard earned moneroj safe.

**As you are not a company: How does your funding model work?**

Most of our funding comes from the donations of our users. Since the beginning we have a public XMR address and we provide the view keys so the users can see how much we receive. It's a great use case for the *optional* transparency Monero offers. We also get a small commision on the exchanges done inside the app, of course with no extra cost to the user.

Since last year we implemented a very interesting twist to donations, with the Monerujo Funding system. It's a website where you can see all open ideas for new features that the team considers viable and desirable, and anyone can donate to a specific one to get it funded (and worked on) first. It's based on [plowsof's work ](https://github.com/plowsof/xmr-wishlist-aaS)and u/ twisted_turtles's design for [https://monerochan.art](https://monerochan.art), with our own modifications on top of it. You can check it our at [http://funding.monerujo.app](http://funding.monerujo.app). We also added NFTs to it, because you can never have enough Günthers.

**That means the community can influence the direction you are going in, right?**

Yes! It's not a 100% fixed rule but we do work first on features that have been funded first. But we also take into account the number of individual donations as well. Everything can be gamed, of course, but it may be a good indicator of interest for a specific development coming from people that are not Monero whales, so to speak. And we love that. We don't get data from our users so without the funding signal or the comments, we're pretty much designing in the dark.

**What is up with the nifty Günthers? That sounds like a German first name.**

Günter is the name of Monerujo's official mascot, which in true Monero fashion of course we have no way to know if that's his real name. As a fun twist for the funding idea, we made artisanal images of Günthers from different time periods in different art styles, and period clothing. Privacy advocates existed through the ages and we wanted to pay homage to that, the anonymous humans that came before us. They're awarded to all contributors above the 1 XMR threshold.

**What was the first project that you funded through this method? was it the monerujo sidekick?**

The first feature to be funded was a smaller one, the support for .onion Tor nodes, which allows you to keep the fact that you're even using something Monero-related to yourself.

**Why is monerujo called monerujo? It sounds Spanish.**

It's actually Esperanto, like Monero's name itself. Monero means "coin" and Monerujo "coin wallet". It comes from an old [Reddit thread by u/dnale0r](https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/3exy7t/esperanto_corner/).

**Is there a special connection between monerujo and the Spanish speaking Monero community?**

So there's no naming connection, but sadly, many Spanish-speaking countries have a history of bad currency policies and overall distrust of institutions, mixed with concerns for personal safety, therefore a preference for cash. So there's not a big leap for people to make to understand Monero's value. Curiously, I think it also happens in Germany, where there's a big privacy and cash culture, for historic reasons.

**You are also active in the Spanish community, right? I saw you on the El Monero Channel. Do you have an idea on how we can increase the synergy between the Spanish speaking and the English speaking Monero community? It seems like information flows from English to Spanish, but there is not much in the other direction. It would be interesting to have some English content on what goes on in the Spanish part of Moneroland.**

Yes, I try to be as active as I can. I was actually one of the two hosts of El Monero podcast, which was the origin of that channel. I sincerely have no good answer for that. Me and a few more enthusiasts try to create original Spanish content, but the overall crypto discussion is almost entirely in English, so the instances of original Spanish materials that need to cross over are very few. I believe that if the adoption grows, with the appearance of local in-person meetups, different use cases and ideas will pop up. Until then, I think it'll keep flowing from English to Spanish and not the other way around.

**Okay great!  thank you very much for your time! Where can people find out more about you and the Monerujo project?**

I'm [@anhdres](https://twitter.com/anhdres) everywhere, Twitter, Reddit, Matrix, Mastodon, etc. Don't hesitate to reach out, best things in life come from interacting with others.
Monerujo is developed by m2049r, baltsar, and me. You can find out more at [https://monerujo.io](https://monerujo.io) or by following us at
[@monerujowallet](https://twitter.com/monerujowallet)
. There's also an unofficial, user run telegram group at [https://t.me/monerujounderground](https://t.me/monerujounderground) where you can talk with other Günthers.
Thank you very much for your interest and questions!


Monerujo is a Monero wallet that is truly driven by the community. It is developed by a group of friends. Andrés is one of them.

Screenshot from 2022-09-21 12-59-11.png

Andrés on what makes Monerujo special

**How did you first learn about Monero and why do you like it?**

A good friend of mine suggested me Monero because of its good privacy and decentralization. Thanks to the opportunity of becoming a part of the translation community I learned even more about it.

**Currently most of the conversations in the Monero community happen in English. Do you have ideas on how we could start more Monero communities in other languages? is there a Greek / Korean Monero community?**

Unfortunately, there is no Greek nor Korean Monero community. In order to create a community as such, people could share the idea of Monero with individuals who speak the language and make groups that would surely after lead to future communities of the targeted languages.

**Do you think that translators could play a role in this kind of community building?**

Yes, I think it would be a good chance for translators to take the first step in this since they are one member out of the next hundreds or thousands to follow.

**What advice would you give to people that want to become professional translators, especially for cryptocurrency projects?**

As a professional translator, I would advise them first to study cryptocurrencies as best they can to comprehend their terminology and how the system functions. All of that combined would create a much deeper understanding of the technology behind it and make it easier for them to work on cryptocurrency projects.

**How does the model of getting paid by a cryptocurrency community differ from "normal" jobs in the corporate world?**

According to my research in the cryptocurrency field, payment models differ from one another. In some projects, one gets paid, e.g., after the work is complete. In others, one gets paid monthly as an employee, and in others, as a freelancer. In all three cases, one is either getting paid in fiat currency or the cryptocurrency of the respective project. The employee hired by the company in the cryptocurrency sector mostly doesn't have any social insurance, and even taxes don't get deducted from their salary. In contrast to "normal" jobs, employees are essentially self-employed and self-insured. 

**How does [plowsof's wishlist](https://github.com/plowsof/flipstarter-waas-wip)  work and how did you learn about it?** 
As for plowsof's wishlist, I can't take any part in commenting on its preparation and learning method since [u/mjxmr](https://www.reddit.com/user/mjxmr) was the one who provided that work, and I'm grateful to him for helping me with his knowledge and skills.

_plowsof wishlist was used to fund Yiota's work in a decentralized fashion. [read more...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/x7bmzq/professional_translations_of_monero_a_request_for/)_

**How can people reach you?**

people can reach me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/panagiota-zarra-2b3068187) or [reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/jeonyiota/)



Yiota is a professional translator from Greece. We talk about her career and how cryptocurrency translators could play a role in building local communities.

Screenshot from 2022-09-16 04-34-24.png

Monero translator Yiota on building local communities


**Why are you here? What do you like about Monero?**

Monero means [private digital cash](https://anarkio.codeberg.page/monero/). Send, receive and save money without third parties – no bank account, government ID or corporate permission required. This liberating currency is a stark difference to the dangers of [surveilled and censored CBDCs](https://whycryptocurrencies.com/cashless_dystopia.html) or even the current gatekept banking system.

**Why did you build Bitejo?**

To get the most out of a private and censorship-resistant currency, we need private and censorship-resistant marketplaces for products and services. [Bitejo.com](https://bitejo.com) is one of these.

The [idea](https://bitejo.com/about/) for Bitejo began in September 2018, after a sudden wave of KYC regulations caused closures or exclusion from existing platforms, freelance websites and exchanges. What was needed was a free marketplace, not only to exchange crypto and fiat, but to use crypto as [Satoshi intended](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf): a permissionless, pseudonymous currency for peer-to-peer commerce.

**Why are Know Your Customer rules such a big problem?** 

Government ID KYC is the [state's monopoly on identity](https://anarkiocrypto.medium.com/why-the-states-monopoly-on-identity-is-more-dangerous-than-google-facebook-and-microsoft-4ce415793d7e). In the mainstream economy, most daily necessities – from jobs, apartment rentals and healthcare to receiving mail, online shopping and buying a sim card – require government ID. Not only does this shut out the [millions of people](https://www.statelessness.eu/blog/each-person-left-living-streets-we-are-losing-society) who [can't get government ID](https://anarkio.codeberg.page/#/7560cf4a7685-short-posts/10-roadblocks-to-government-id) (if the state refuses to print ID, there are no appeals nor NGOs who can help), but also surveils the general population and tracks individuals' every action – including **employment, education, earnings, purchases, medical history, home address, phone calls and even internet history**. From the basic right to participate in the economy for stateless and undocumented people, to personal safety for victims of abuse and activists, to everyday privacy for the Average Joe, access to KYC-free services is necessary. And that is why Bitejo, the free Monero marketplace, was born.

**What do you hope Bitejo will be used for in the future?**

Bitejo aims to bring back peer-to-peer commerce. Trade with your friends, neighbors and communities, instead of relying on faceless corporations. Cut out middlemen, avoid red tape, and negotiate fair deals, fair prices and fair working conditions. Enjoy individualized service, where customers and small businesses matter.

**How does Bitejo compare to older legacy web2 platforms that people are already used to?**

Bitejo was launched in May 2021 as a crypto-friendly alternative to Craigslist and Ebay. Members can buy and sell products, jobs, fundraisers and exchanges, and accept Monero, Bitcoin or physical cash. Reviews and reputations help with trust, and a multisig escrow feature is under development. Additionally, members will soon be able to create public or private groups, which include group-only listings and a forum – such as a local New York City group, a book club or a web design studio. Bitejo was designed from scratch to be easy-to-use, and of course, is 100% KYC-free.

**What is Bitejo currently used for?**

Members are already listing electronics, remote jobs, artwork and more, pioneering the Monero circular economy and building a free and fair market for all.

**Are there similar platforms to Bitejo?**

Bitejo isn't the only tool for the Monero circular economy. Indeed, the hope is to have as many diverse marketplaces, merchants, online stores, points-of-sale, meetups and communities as possible. [Bitvendo](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5334549.msg59007795#msg59007795), an upcoming open source marketplace, aims to make it easier for people to launch online stores, multi-vendor marketplaces and points-of-sale in one click, without technical knowledge. Bitvendo will offer all the features of Bitejo, plus a variety of themes, plugins, monetization options and a federation feature, where merchants can efficiently advertise their listings in a global shopping network and customers can use a single account to seamlessly shop from all federated stores. Bitejo.com will remain active as a member of the Bitvendo federated shopping network.

In addition to Bitejo and Bitvendo, the Monero community enjoys diverse merchant adoption, which makes it possible to live on a Monero standard. Some examples include [AcceptedHere](https://acceptedhere.io), [Cryptwerk](https://cryptwerk.com) and [Monerica](https://monerica.com), which list hundreds of Monero-friendly online and brick-and-mortar stores; [CoinCards](https://coincards.com), which sells gift cards for groceries, restaurants, taxis, hotels and more; [ProxyStore](https://proxysto.re) and [Sovereign Stack Rerouter](https://sovereignstack.tools/rerouter/), which make it possible to buy from any online store with Monero; a [Monero-friendly alternative](https://github.com/plowsof/xmr-wishlist-aaS) to GoFundMe and Kickstarter; Monero peer-to-peer [marketplaces](https://anarkio.codeberg.page/markets/), [Reddit](https://reddit.com/r/moneromarket) and [Telegram](https://t.me/moneromarket) groups; [MoneroIntegrations](https://monerointegrations.com) and [BTCPayServer](https://btcpayserver.org), which help you to easily accept Monero in your business; and Bitcoin merchants such as [Silent.link](https://silent.link)'s anonymous e-sims and [CoinDebit](https://coindebit.io)'s anonymous Visa gift cards, which can be conveniently accessed via [FixedFloat](https://fixedfloat.com)'s swap service.

**What is the end goal from your perspective? Why should we build a circular  Monero economy?**

The dream is a [free market for free people](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/kyc-free-bitcoin-circular-economies), where everyone can get what they need for fair prices and without censorship. The dream is to create a space outside of the state's harmful restrictions and apart from corporate greed and hierarchies. Earn your salary in Monero, rent from a Monero-friendly landlord and buy food from a local Monero convenience store. It may even be closer than you think. Free markets don't need mainstream adoption, state acceptance or corporate funding – as [agorism](https://anarkio.codeberg.page/agorism/) shows us, [parallel economies](https://academyofideas.com/2022/02/parallel-society-vs-totalitarianism-how-to-create-a-free-world/) can thrive in a decentralized, peer-to-peer fashion for the people who need them. The tools are there, ready for us to use.

**How can people get started?**

List a product that you want to buy or sell in Bitejo, browse Monero-friendly merchants in Monerica, or join the Monero community in [Matrix](https://matrix.to/#/#monero:monero.social), [Reddit](https://reddit.com/r/monero) or [Telegram](https://t.me/monerotopia). Think about asking your favorite businesses if they could accept Monero, or if you own a business, consider to accept Monero payments. Despite the increasing authoritarianism in the world, the war on cash and financial deplatforming, Monero offers hope for authentic peer-to-peer trade, true economic freedom and a better future. Monero is private digital cash for everyone, and you can [get started today](https://getmonero.org).

The future belongs to digital marketplaces that run on private digital cash. Anarkio explains why he built Bitejo and why he is into Monero.

dan-freeman-WHPsxhB4mWQ-unsplash.jpg

Anarkio Crypto on building a  circular economy with Monero

**Many people would like to have a career in crypto. How did you first come across this opportunity?**

I first got into cryptocurrency when I was volunteering with one project as a developer, and they had a discussion with an Ethereum-based marketplace. I wanted to learn more about what they were doing, and a few days after being there, they announced a bounty for $600. As a teenager, this was a lot of money. Despite being able as a junior developer, and on contractor sites for a few months, I was never able to work out payment as I didn't have a bank account and couldn't get a Paypal due to my age. With cryptocurrency... it didn't matter. All I had to do was crate a wallet and I was able to get paid! I immediately got to work on, and completed, the bounty, being my first paycheck as a developer.

**How did you learn the necessary skills?**

I learned how to code as a kid, wanting to make video games when I grew up. The core of any programming job, in cryptocurrency or anywhere else, will always be programming, so knowing the fundamentals is critical. The best way, in my opinion, to learn cryptocurrency, or any topic for that matter, would be to get experience with it. I went from writing a basic stats dashboard for one project, to working on a tip bot handling payments, to building my own cryptocurrency. With each step, I learned about different parts, while learning more about everything overall. The key component though is to know you don't have experience and aren't ready to deal with cryptocurrency, which does have value and isn't just a number on a screen. I didn't know this when I did my first large project, the tip bot, and it had issues which could've led to loss of funds if they weren't reported to me. Despite being excited and trying to do my best, I could've hurt other people, and that's not okay.

**How did you initially build trust with your clients / the community?**

When I moved to working on my own cryptocurrency, I still wasn't ready at all. I didn't know how other protocols worked beyond the highest level of basic concepts. The difference was this time I knew I wasn't ready, and I kept iterating. I learned each section as I built it, in what effectively was a multi-year study, noting issues as I could, noting what wasn't good enough, and rebuilding what I needed to. I ended up not deploying it, knowing it still wasn't ready after all that time, yet deciding it was better for me to move on than continue. Now, I feel confident in my knowledge of cryptocurrency, and ready to contribute properly. While I don't believe everyone can/should do such a involved project, I will maintain experience is the best teacher, yet the best thing to know is when something isn't ready. I'll also state the importance of comprehensive testing, not to mention review, to confirm if something is ready.

**What advice would you give to people that want to do the same?**

I'd recommend first learning how to program if you haven't already, likely with Javascript (specifically, NodeJS). It's one of the simpler languages to learn while being widely used in general, and extensively used within cryptocurrency. From there... it depends on what you want to do. I'd recommend starting small, building things around existing projects. Perhaps an app when you can enter someone's address, getting their balance (or balances, if working with tokens). Understanding how data moves around cryptocurrency is key. A tip bot, which I recommend you don't deploy, is a great demonstration of how to send and receive funds as well. Small projects, each giving you a bit more hands on experience.

_You can follow Luke on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kayabaNerve) and [github](https://github.com/kayabaNerve)_

The Lead Developer of the upcoming decentralized exchange for Monero got into Cryptocurrency development at age 17. We talk about how he got started in the industry.

nathan-dumlao-mZZ0ls7X9tc-unsplash.jpg

Serai developer Luke Parker on how he started his career 

Many people think learning how to code is something hard, that is best left to the experts. Not so long ago twitter even started banning people that tweeted "learn to code" to journalists that just got laid off. Among "Hodlers" you can often see a similarly arrogant attitude of "I can't be bothered with this. Let the specialists do it." They will rudely complain about wallet bugs, but are too lazy to put in the effort to learn the craft themselves.

Why are they like this? Lets take a look. Here is the myth at the  core of Hodler culture: 
There was a time when you could exchange two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. What only if you bought some back then? There are countless stories of relatively normal people that made it. They just bought the right magic internet money at the right time.

For example you can read about the Bitcoin family that now lives on the beach in permanent holiday because they sold everything and bought bitcoin at the right time. As a result of these archetypal "bitcoin stories" people start making two types of bets:
1. they bet that bitcoin will continue to rise and eventually replace the dollar as the world reserve currency.
2. they bet there will be another kind of magic internet money that will make them rich.

![boat.jpg](/uploads/boat_add7223351.jpg)


The reality is that none of these bets are investments. They are gambling. The difference between investing and playing the lottery is that in investing you make educated guesses. For sure it is a gradual scale, but if you take all the education out of the educated guesses all you are left with is gambling. 
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are clearly not an inflation hedge. The high correlation with the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 means they are traded just like any other asset. Cryptocurrencies are essentially viewed as tech growth stocks.

So if you want to make educated guesses on these bets you need to be able to code. You need to be able to judge if the people behind the project are competent and what the roadblocks are they currently face. There also might be a difference between the problems that the builders are struggling with and the real problems that need to be overcome to drive mass adoption.
![monerofreund.png](/uploads/monerofreund_4c56cbe2b4.png)

Even if you dont plan on building something yourself or you already decided on a coin for ideological reasons, you need to learn how to code. You need to understand the basics of what is going on to judge if we are going in the right direction. You need to learn to discern easy problems from hard problems and become accustomed to the basic tools and platforms that coders use.

This does not need to take much effort. You are going to take the first two steps right after closing this article: 

1. create a github account 
2. fork and clone the [monero-playground repository](https://github.com/spirobel/monero-playground). 

Maybe you are scared right now, because the second step sounds like I am speaking Chinese, but at least the first step sounds easy right? making a github account is as easy as registering on reddit. Just go ahead and do it. Afterwards you navigate to the monero-playground repo by following this link:  [monero-playground repository](https://github.com/spirobel/monero-playground)
There you can press  fork and then you can clone the newly  forked repo. 

I also made a [short video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUj1IpwdTc0) that explains all of this in detail.
![ales-nesetril-Im7lZjxeLhg-unsplash.jpg](/uploads/ales_nesetril_Im7l_Zjxe_Lhg_unsplash_f3f6ae4236.jpg)






It is not enough to buy magic internet money and wait. If you want to make it in life you need to do more than that.

hello-i-m-nik-WUTpM4iPCVA-unsplash.jpg

Should everyone in crypto learn how to code?

**What is the  Monero burning bug?**

The burning bug is the result of Monero's privacy protocol, specifically stealth addresses. When you send to someone's Monero address, you generate a random number. This random number is used to create a new one-time key only the recipient knows. When the recipient spends their funds, they provide a proof that one-time key hasn't been used before, preventing double spends.

If the sender chooses the same random number multiple times, the same one-time key will be generated. This causes the recipient to have multiple outputs, yet spending one will burn all of them, hence the name, the burning bug.

**How is this currently mitigated?**

Monero wallets, to properly handle this, need to scan the entire blockchain since they were created, keep track of all one-time keys used, and if they receive an output reusing a key (which is malicious), not credit that output. Not only does this require wallets know their entire history when scanning transactions, it requires extra code to handle and can create ambiguous situations. In some scenarios, it's possible for a legitimate transaction to use a random number, and a malicious transaction to reuse it. If the malicious transaction is mined first, it'll be seen as the first usage and therefore valid, burning another user's funds. This requires a few very specific circumstances which don't affect almost everyone using Monero, but a few new parties are working on protocols which do create these circumstances.

**How do we get rid of this issue entirely?**

Guaranteed Addresses, now part of Featured Addresses, are a new address format removing this as an issue. The one-time key is created slightly differently when they're used, forcing it to be unique. This enables these new protocols to function properly while also enabling wallets to safely run without knowing their history. While Seraphis, Monero's upcoming privacy protocol, incorporates the same fix, I'm trying to get this supported now, while Seraphis is a while away.

_You can follow Luke on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kayabaNerve) and [github](https://github.com/kayabaNerve)_

A Monero transaction is proof that you received funds. To be sure you are able to spend them, your wallet needs to be fully synced. To make life easier for Monero integrators we should get rid of this issue entirely.

MonerochanNews