As the world continues to grapple with natural disasters, the need for swift and efficient aid delivery is more critical than ever. In Japan, a country frequently hit by earthquakes, innovative solutions are being sought to expedite relief efforts. One such solution is the use of cryptocurrency donations. A growing number of Japanese companies are stepping up to facilitate this new form of aid, demonstrating the potential of blockchain technology in humanitarian efforts.

The Rise of Crypto Donations in Japan

Japan has a long history of earthquakes, with the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami being one of the most devastating in recent memory. The disaster prompted a surge in donations, but also highlighted the limitations of traditional aid delivery methods. Delays in fund transfers, high transaction fees, and lack of transparency were among the issues faced.

In response, several Japanese companies have started to explore the use of cryptocurrencies for donations. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, offer several advantages over traditional currencies. They allow for instant, borderless transactions with minimal fees, and provide a transparent record of all transactions on the blockchain.

Japanese Companies Leading the Charge

Several Japanese companies have taken the lead in facilitating crypto donations for earthquake victims. For instance, Coincheck, one of Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, launched a donation platform in 2018 to support victims of the Hokkaido earthquake. The platform allowed users to donate in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies, and raised over 50 million yen in just a few weeks.

Another example is Bic Camera, a leading electronics retailer in Japan, which partnered with the Japanese Red Cross Society to accept Bitcoin donations for disaster relief. The initiative was well-received, with many customers choosing to donate their Bitcoin rewards from purchases at Bic Camera stores.

The Impact of Crypto Donations

The use of cryptocurrencies for donations has had a significant impact on disaster relief efforts in Japan. By eliminating the need for intermediaries, crypto donations have enabled faster and more efficient aid delivery. They have also increased transparency, allowing donors to see exactly where their funds are going and how they are being used.

Moreover, crypto donations have opened up new avenues for fundraising. They have made it possible for individuals and organizations around the world to contribute to relief efforts in Japan, regardless of their location or the currency they use. This has greatly expanded the pool of potential donors, leading to an increase in overall donations.

Conclusion

The use of crypto donations for earthquake victims in Japan is a testament to the potential of blockchain technology in humanitarian efforts. By facilitating instant, borderless transactions with minimal fees and maximum transparency, cryptocurrencies are revolutionizing the way aid is delivered in times of disaster. As more Japanese companies step up to support this initiative, the future of disaster relief in Japan looks promising.

While there are still challenges to overcome, such as regulatory hurdles and public skepticism towards cryptocurrencies, the success of crypto donations in Japan provides a compelling case study for other countries to follow. It is a clear demonstration of how technology can be harnessed to make a real difference in people’s lives, especially in times of need.

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In recent weeks, the Salvadoran media has been abuzz with speculation that Bitcoin Country President Nayib Bukele will step down from his current role to pursue a second term in office. This move hinges on obtaining a special license from the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly, a process that requires three-quarters approval from the body. Previously, it was widely believed that Salvadoran presidents were limited to a single five-year term. However, a landmark Supreme Court ruling has opened the door to the possibility of a second term, provided the incumbent steps down at least six months before the next presidential term commences on June 1, 2024.

The Constitutional Framework

The Supreme Court’s ruling introduced a nuanced framework for seeking a second presidential mandate in El Salvador. It stipulated that a candidate can serve a maximum of two terms within a ten-year period, but crucially, they cannot hold the presidency and campaign simultaneously. This unique provision is designed to ensure that a candidate must “humble” themselves to the status of a citizen without a position of power within the government. This safeguards against the misuse of state resources for campaign purposes, an issue that has plagued many democracies around the world.

The Race Against Time

As of now, President Bukele has not yet registered as a candidate for the upcoming elections. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has set a deadline of October 26, 2023, for presidential candidates to submit their registrations. However, it is increasingly likely that Bukele will need to step away from the presidency in order to meet this crucial deadline. This adds an extra layer of complexity to an already intricate political process.

In a recent press conference, Bukele indicated that he would register as a candidate on October 24 or earlier, but definitely before the deadline and according to the law. What is unclear is whether he will step down before registering or not, and there may be two options for Bukele:

1. To step down from the presidency before the October 26 deadline and register as a candidate; or
2. To register as a candidate while still in the presidency by the October 26 deadline and step down later to meet the constitutional requirement. This scenario is only viable assuming that the Supreme Elections Tribunal would rule that Bukele’s candidacy is provisional, provided that he does not campaign until he steps down, which must happen by November 30.

Implications for El Salvador

This development carries significant implications, particularly for the Bitcoin project in El Salvador, a flagship initiative of Bukele’s administration. Additionally, it holds paramount importance for Salvadorans who have experienced notable gains in terms of security and overall improvements in their country. The upcoming elections, scheduled for February 4, 2024, will undoubtedly shape the future trajectory of El Salvador.

Bukele’s Popularity and Controversies

President Bukele enjoys a staggering approval rating of over 90%, making him the clear frontrunner in the upcoming elections. However, not everyone agrees with his bid for a second term. Detractors and members of the political opposition argue that the Supreme Court ruling that enabled his candidacy is unconstitutional. This dissent has sparked heated debates on the legality and ethical implications of his potential second term.

The Road Ahead

As the presidential electoral campaign officially kicked off on October 3, 2023, all eyes are on Bukele and his next move. When he decides to temporarily vacate his post to seek a second term, the question of who will step in as interim president becomes vital. Both local and international observers will closely monitor this transition period.

The political landscape in El Salvador is undergoing a seismic shift as President Nayib Bukele readies himself for a bid for a second term. The Supreme Court ruling, the electoral deadlines, and the intricacies of Salvadoran politics converge in this pivotal moment. The outcome of these events will not only shape the future of El Salvador but will also have far-reaching implications for the region and beyond. As the nation stands at the precipice of this historic juncture, the eyes of the world remain fixed on Bitcoin Country.

This is a guest post by Jaime Garcia. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoin light clients are now able to sync to the tip of the blockchain nearly instantly, thanks to a new development enabled by bitcoin startup ZeroSync and their work in zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. Ultimately, ZeroSync seeks to enable full nodes to do the same.

ZK proofs allow a prover to generate a short mathematical statement that proves to a verifier that a given computation is correct without revealing any details about such computation. Constructing this proof can be computationally expensive, but the statement it provides is always very compact, regardless of how large the data served as an input to the proof calculation was –– enabling blazing fast verification of the correctness of that data with mathematical certainty. In bitcoin, this math trick can be very useful to nodes and clients.

Bitcoin full nodes are notoriously required to download and verify every single piece of data that makes up the blockchain, from its inception in January 2009 to the present day. Due to the difficulty in scaling such a comprehensive setup, Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned in the bitcoin white paper a different type of client that would be able to verify their incoming payments without running a full node.

Bitcoin light clients leverage a simplified payment verification (SPV) mechanism. Upon receiving a payment, the client queries network nodes to get the headers of the longest chain. Then, it is able to find the block to which the incoming transaction was added –– which shows network nodes have accepted it as valid. As more blocks get added to the chain after that one, the more confirmations the light client gets that the payment was valid and accepted by the network into a block.

Without any need for a consensus change to bitcoin, ZK proofs improve this setup by compressing the headers into a single proof. Similarly to how each bitcoin block effectively compresses its transactions’ data into a Merkle tree and includes the root of that tree in its header, ZeroSync’s work takes every bitcoin block header and batches them into another Merkle tree. This process allows for the chain of headers to be synthesized into a short and lightweight piece of data –– the proof.

The header chain proof is able to quickly prove whether a given block header is included in the chain. A block header can then be leveraged to attest whether a specific transaction was included in that block. This process is very similar to the SPV method described previously, but more efficient. Instead of having to keep a full copy of every header in the blockchain for SPV, with ZK proofs the light client only needs to store that small header chain proof, being able to sync to the latest state of the chain in seconds.

Ultimately, what the header chain proof is able to prove is that each block in the chain met the difficulty requirement at the time it was mined. In other words, verifying the header chain proof allows the user or client to be sure that each bitcoin block up to that given height was mined correctly and met the mining difficulty criteria at the time.

Releasing the first complete header chain ZK proof was ZeroSync’s first milestone. To achieve their bigger vision –– provide a full verification of the historical blockchain to full nodes without requiring users to download and process it –– the team needs to tick two more checkboxes. The second would take the header chain proof up a notch and enable a node to sync similarly to the Assume Valid function of Bitcoin Core. The third and final one would provide the complete bitcoin blockchain sync envisioned.

Assume Valid is an option in Bitcoin Core, enabled by default, that assumes that all scripts up to a given block height are valid. This means that new full nodes syncing the blockchain with initial block download (IBD) get to skip the verification of scripts from the Genesis block until the block height established by the Bitcoin Core client at a given release. These scripts are the Witness data part of the transactions –– mostly the signatures resolving the locking scripts and unlocking the funds to be spent, as well as timelocks and other programmed spending conditions. Users do have the option to set `assumevalid=0` and force their client to perform full verification of all scripts, in addition to the verification of the other block contents. However, the general and fairly safe assumption behind enabling Assume Valid by default is that enough proof of work has been shown up to that given block height that makes it fair to believe the scripts preceding it are valid.

ZeroSync’s middle ground offering, when complete, will let bitcoin users sync their nodes similarly to a default Bitcoin Core IBD. The node downloads all data from bitcoin’s inception to the present day, but only verifies witness data after the assumevalid height. The UTXO set is also a necessary part of the equation. To solve for that, ZeroSync leverages Utreexo, a project that also seeks to increase efficiency in syncing bitcoin nodes. Utreexo provides the latest UTXO set at a given block, and ZeroSync is able to add that into its ZK proofs-based setup. The result is a much shorter header chain proof and a more compact and efficient UTXO set, which clients can leverage to satisfy their payment verification needs.

The team’s top tier offering will take things a step further and allow nodes to synchronize to bitcoin’s latest state without assuming any script is valid. Using ZK proofs, full nodes would be able to achieve a much faster initial sync with perhaps even greater security assurances than Bitcoin Core’s default setting, which uses assumevalid.

It is important to note that even if Bitcoin Core users disable assumevalid –– verifying all scripts and achieving similar security assumptions to ZeroSync’s top tier offering –– the latter’s greater value proposition is still the substantial gain in efficiency and speed for verifying all this information. While the bitcoin blockchain currently holds 510GB of data, ZeroSync’s approach will, when complete, enable a much quicker process given the production of a short and lightweight proof of slightly over 1MB –– an improvement in performance of several orders of magnitude over a standard IBD using Bitcoin Core while ensuring that the exact same consensus rules are followed.

Gains in efficiency will only become more important as the bitcoin blockchain keeps growing block after block. Eventually, downloading and verifying the entire chain could become prohibitive in terms of bandwidth and storage –– especially in parts of the world where access to high-speed internet and bigger hard drives is limited or expensive.

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