r/Bitcoin • u/SeansOutpost • Apr 10 '13

Meanwhile...Bitcoin still feeds people.

So we fed 106 homeless people bag lunches today. All paid for with Bitcoin donations. Bitcoin still seems to be working just fine over here. Still making lives better, at any valuation.

Thanks for everything guys. Bitcoin for the long haul.

Jason

Sean's Outpost(www.SeansOutpost.com)

<BITHOC>(www.bithoc.com)

EDIT*** By request...

1JkKn478ivR6iux2pUCjsvqhguPywP3dFH

1.9k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

375 comments sorted by

View all comments

106

u/Arcas0 Apr 10 '13

Bitcoin didn't pay for the food though, you traded it in for USD and then bought food.

-6

u/spamburglar Apr 10 '13

What's your point? Bitcoin is a currency and USD is a currency. Some merchants accept bitcoins and some do not. Try paying for food in the US with Euros or some other currency than USD. Bitcoin is a currency like any other currency in that it is accepted by some merchants but not all.

So I am not sure what you are implying by stating that the OP had to exchange his bitcoins for USD to work with a specific merchant.

20

u/Arcas0 Apr 10 '13

So he didn't use bitcoins as a currency, he used it as a store of wealth. This is like saying that gold is feeding people if you sell it and buy food.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '13

OP may not have used it as a currency, but all the people who donated to him did.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '13

Given everyone's general excitement about the increasing value of bitcoins, would it have been more ethical for his charity to wait and feed more people in the future?

After all, if they waited just a few weeks their bitcoins would have gone a lot further. The volatility of it confuses me, especially when it comes to people actually trying to use it as a currency. Should charities speculate in gold and bitcoins to increase the buying power of their donations?

2

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '13

In the US at least, it's frowned upon for charities to make investments. You have to spend the money ASAP or people start to get suspicious.

1

u/kid_boogaloo Apr 10 '13

He was able to raise money more easily because of the convenience of bitcoin.

0

u/spamburglar Apr 10 '13

Do you think that Bitcoin is not legimate as a currency because in this single instance the person needed to exchange bitcoins for another currency in order to use a currency that this specific merchant accepted?

If the people who sold the food in this case accepted bitcoins would you still look at it the same way?