In the comments last week, @J85063 said "Hope there is no more set backs." Unfortunately, 2 new problems have arisen with Crypto Lunch!
Crypto Lunch began by identifying the problem:
Crypto MUST be able to function WITHOUT identifying the user (private) and without involving governments, corporations, or banks (decentralized). There's NO way to convert Bitcoin to cash without identifying oneself. I believe this is one of the main issues preventing mass adoption of cryptocurrency!
And more recently, a pathway to achieve the goal:
Buy bullion online with crypto, and sell it for cash at a local dealer! Privacy retained, not too expensive, not too difficult.
Week 7
Now, I'm attempting to save up for my lunch through post payouts and donations. Each post, I include original content like photographs of my garden and food it produces, and provide information about cryptos and related topics, in the hopes that viewers will find value in it, and bless me with an upvote.
Many of my fellow bloggers are earning $10+ per blurry cellphone snapshot, often of trees or flowers or sunsets, usually almost exact copies of previous posts. It's a formula. Crappy photo, nonsensical phrase or 2, ten bucks. It doesn't encourage quality, it encourages quantity (and sloppy curation), but that's just how it goes. I do think it's strange and unfortunate that my well-written posts - which include a variety of photographs, videos, gifs, writing, links, graphics, and other media - should also be able to generate a few dollars. It's strange that many of the Crypto Lunch posts earn essentially nothing, and it's taking me months to earn a single meal. Hopefully something changes, and I find a way to monetize what I do. I believe online content-creators, just like offline content-creators (aka conventional authors, photographers, etc), should be able to get paid for their time, skill, and effort. But this has been a 3-year struggle and losing battle, with content-creators only being shoved further into the dirt with each fork and upgrade. Any hope that things will change usually meets reality before long.
Regardless of that, 2 additional issues have become known:
I lost my method of converting tokens in steem-engine to STEEM in my account on the blockchain. Steem-engine now says they have "deprecated" SteemConnect, and that I must use "KeyChain". I looked into it, and KeyChain is a Google product, exactly what most crypto users are working to get away from, so it's not decentralized (and probably not very private either). There doesn't seem to be any other way to access my tokens, and there was no warning that was about to happen. I can still use hive-engine as before, but my steem-engine funds (and tools) are currently unavailable.
I no longer have any private and decentralized way to convert STEEM or HIVE into BTC. In other words, I have bigger problems than a few lost tokens, or even a sluggish income. If I don't have a way to move funds off the blockchain, they're of limited use to me, and I need to rethink my participation here. If I'm not reaching anyone and I'm not making any money, what am I doing?
To be specific, when I use my wallet to "sell STEEM (or HIVE)", I am taken to a very complicated 3rd party exchange platform, for which I need an account so my transactions can be tracked (due to anti-money-laundering laws).
3 years ago, when Steemit took my 0.2 BTC in exchange for a few hundred STEEM to get my account started, I didn't have to prove my identity, and there was no 3rd party required. I just sent my BTC to the address they indicated, and the STEEM was credited to my account. Now, I want to do it in reverse, but it appears I'm out of luck.
Why do we pretend we're involved with "crypto", when it's not private or decentralized? Don't we care that the currencies we're getting into are just virtual tokens that are FAR more heavily tracked than even bank accounts or credit cards? Don't we mind that "crypto" all-but-requires a smart device, use of banks and corporations, and the complete loss of our freedom? Why do we pretend crypto is making us more free, when I have proved very plainly here that it isn't, and that fact is apparent to anyone with half a brain and a lick of common sense?
Shouldn't a computer savvy person like me, heavily motivated and backed by hundreds of followers, be able to figure this out? If there's a way, shouldn't we be able to find it?!
And if there isn't a way... what the hell are we doing?
So, with a PC and internet connection, how does a person privately convert STEEM (or HIVE) into BTC? This is the only potential option I can think of:
One token available at hive-engine.com is a BTC-swap, which means it is pegged to the value of BTC. It appears in the list of tokens able to be withdrawn from the platform:
It costs 2% in fees, it's not instant, and it's limited by how much you have accessible to your hive-engine account, but it should work. I went through with the withdrawal and should receive 0.0000099 BTC soon. (At the time of posting this article, the payment hasn't arrived in my private wallet, but I will make an update once it does.)
Even if that works, and I'm okay with the fees and delay, it's only a partial solution... but even partial solutions are worth investigating, at this point!
Lunch Budget
Last week's post will bring in 5.22 HIVE and 0.65 STEEM, so that much has been added to the totals. @Kunschj sent me 5 SBD and a TipU for a converted total of 22.315 HIVE! Thank you! It has also been added to the totals:
BTC: 0
HIVE: 93.41
STEEM: 17.03
CAD: 0
USD: 0
That's about 24 bucks, and we need around 85 for a minimum online order (silver price is UP again this week). We're about 28% of the way to the first Crypto Lunch.
How to make Crypto Lunch happen
All are welcome to follow and enjoy the weekly adventure. But hopefully some curators also provide crypto to make the whole process happen! Here are a few ways to do that:
- upvote this post (on both chains if possible)
- send HIVE or HBD directly to my Hive wallet
- send STEEM or SBD directly to my Steem wallet
- send BTC directly (1NWGEhWfeg4kscoBUFNqzRT1UN7qjLgnVa)
- use a service like TipU
- send any kind of tokens to my Hive-Engine or Steem-Engine accounts
Thank you for reading and participating! There's no such thing as a free lunch, so I hope the crypto community feels I've earned one with this post. :)
What's faster than earning crypto online and converting it into groceries?
Growing food in your back yard from seeds!
This squash plant has been growing for the same amount of time I've been doing Crypto Lunch. What will I eat first, the squash, or lunch bought from crypto? Looks like it's going to be the squash.
If you know anyone else who cares about privacy and cryptos (at the same time), please let them know about this project! They aren't alone. Others in the crypto sphere also want privacy and are disturbed to find there currently isn't any.
Your input and participation is requested. To make a delicious garlic stir fry from scratch, we're going to have to get our hands a little dirty!
DRutter
Posted Using LeoFinance
7 weeks without lunch? You're lucky you are relying on this, because that's pathetic.
Thank you for all the time you are putting into researching this to help us all out.
Glad you found a way to make it work, even if it's less than ideal.
That squash is getting big on 'em. When are you gonna snap that off and turn that into crypto lunch? I bet it'd make delicious autumn soup mmm mmm
It might be time to face it - crypto isn't about privacy or decentralization in ANY way. It's an animal farm. It said it was one thing, and became the opposite.
So now, the question is, can you (and the rest of us) get any value out of these worthless tokens we've amassed, before the last few pathways to do so are shut? Gold and silver bullion are looking better and better all the time. It doesn't matter if crypto prices go up 100x in the next year. If they're not private or decentralized, they're worthless to me, and to most free people with the ability to think for themselves.
I recommend powering everything down, liquidating everything, and if possible, moving it toward BTC (and then out of crypto completely). If you can buy PMs with crypto directly, that might be the best bet. Crypto isn't private, let's face facts. And it's not getting more private, it's getting LESS private, and MORE centralized. Crypto fanboys and greedy investors will cling on for a while longer, but they're on a sinking ship.
I haven’t really tried myself, but maybe interject an anonycoin like Monero or Zcash?
Super cool goal, though, and I hope to learn from your trials and tribulations.
!BEER
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BEER.Have you ever thought of the potential that local farmers markets may have vendors that could take crypto?
I havent been to my local farmers market in years, but I am curious to return my business if they take QR BTC tx
The more people start using crypto the easier it will be to trade anonymously for cash in a peer to peer manner. I imagine the push to eliminate cash entirely will be pretty strong at that point.
Also the bigger these networks get the easier it will be to trade for good/services direct.
That being said you are doing good work here. Privacy is important. Currency has a hard time being fungible without privacy. It's the foundation of currency itself.
Agreed, and good points.
Hey, isn't it the end of the week? A new Crypto lunch is due any time.. lol
Missed your comment, sorry about that! I appreciate your feedback and support. Your opinion is very welcome around here.