HelperBit

HelperBit developed a transparency donation platform where people can donate directly to NGOs for generic causes or to other entities (such as civil protections, hospitals, municipalities..) involved in the emergency management. Even verified single users in need can directly benefit from worldwide donations. 

Helperbit came alive to radically change the way in which we deal with charity sector, focusing in particular in humanitarian assistance and emergency situations. Helperbit helps nonprofits to raise crypto donations and users to monitor in real time the path of the money thanks to blockchain

Helperbit is born from an idea of Guido Baroncini Turricchia, as a result of the increased awareness about inefficiencies in the management of funds for humanitarian emergencies. Realizing in how many scandals the emergency management had been involved after the earthquake in L’Aquila, Guido came up with an idea: to use the blockchain public register to make visible the flow of money. In this way. In this way many of the problems associated with the redistribution of donations would be mitigated. National and international organizations, UN agencies and governments allocate funds to mitigate the devastating effects of natural disasters, supporting the needs of the concerned population. Private donations can give a support too to face the emergency, but even here there are problems related to inefficiency, opacity, delays in the distribution and bad administration of funds. These issues lead to a lack of trust in the institutions and in the organizations involved, which results in a drop in donations. Not only disaster related fundraisings, but the entire charity sector is affected by these issues.

PRODUCT: We prove that cryptocurrencies could be used for social good and to further increase the aid transparency. Since the foundation in 2016, we helped more than 15 NGOs to raise money for their charitable causes, generating a real social impact: thanks to our platform Legambiente, a well-known Italian organization, helped some local entrepreneurs affected by the earthquake in Central Italy and the NGO "La Casa di Sabbia" helped 15 families with disable children. Till today, there were 300+ donations and the total volume inside the platform is 26+ btc (about 100.000€). 

Helperbit uses only the bitcoin blockchain, that is the unique robust infrastracture that can guarantee the traceability of funds and help the disintermediation. Our project is useless without the blockchain technology, only passing through its features we can unlock that economic potential blocked due to lack of transparency in donation process. Our web wallet, internaly developed, is non-custodial and multisignature (M of N): N passphrases are generated, but M passphrases (fewer than generated) are requested to send a transaction. Helperbit manages only one passphrase, which means it has no decision-making power. This increases the security of the wallet, protecting it from internal mistakes (loss of a passphrase or incorrect backup), and from external attacks by malicious people. For non-profit organizations and public entities, bitcoin wallets are “3 of 4” type, with 3 passphrases managed by the organization and one in the hands of Helperbit, as a backup, while for Single Users and Companies, they are “2 of 3” type, with 2 passphrases managed by the User/Company and one by Helperbit. Helperbit has also developed an open source recovery service that helps Users in case of loss of a passphrase. The traceability is completely available in the bitcoin blockchain and we just use this information to show in a easier way the path of the donation.

Guido Baroncini Turricchia – CEO: Environmental engineer with over 10 years of experience in GIS and Remote Sensing; co-founder of Bitcoin Foundation Italia and Assob.it; -Roberto Tudini – CFO: Business partner at the accounting firm Tudini & Tudini and expert of bitcoin taxation; -Gianluca Carbone -GIS Developer: Environmental engineer expert in analysis and modeling of geographic data; -Davide Menegaldo – COO: Energy engineer and co-founder of Blockchain Education Network Italia, 4 years of experience in blockchain technology; -Matteo Calvani – Frontend Developer: he is focused on Web management and Big Data Maps/Graphs representations; -Davide Gessa – CTO: full stack developer, expert in P2P and blockchain technologies. Graduated with the highest grade in Computer science. Python, C++, NodeJs developer. He built a general purpose framework for the development of decentralized applications, offering a different approach to Ethereum