** UPDATE: NOW INCLUDES ROME AND ATHENS **

Introduction

I am studying abroad at the University of Vienna, and I think I should take the opportunity to speak about Monero around Europe at local cryptocurrency meetups. This is the first proposal of what I hope to be many, depending on the success of this one. Since I have a lot of free time in Europe, I would love to speak about Monero in many cities. This proposal is just for four, two of which are free to this community.

Valencia: March 15th (not collecting donations; was on vacation)

Graz: March 27th (graciously paid for by BlockchainHub Graz)

Zagreb: April 3rd (asking for reimbursement)

Athens: April 28th (asking for reimbursement)

Rome: May 27th (asking for reimbursement)

About Me

I have been an active contributor in the Monero community for two years now. While the best program I wrote was for my calculator, I have worked to contribute to the Monero project in several other ways. I am among the most active StackExchange users on the Monero site, I am a moderator on the /r/MoneroMining subreddit, and I have spoken about Monero several times at my home university. I am a president of the University of Minnesota Cryptocurrency Club, and we have approximately 50 active members. When I am back in the states, our group typically has two meetings a month, and I play a large role in the meeting presentations. Although I am interested in several cryptocurrencies, Monero has received the majority of my time and effort outside of the club’s efforts.

I am working with other groups to speak in Athens, Rome, Budapest, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cologne, Warsaw, Paris, Riga, Oslo, Stockholm, and others. If this is successful, expect talks in many other cities. I am purposefully avoiding speaking at places that Riccardo Spagni has already spoken at to increase the reach of these talks.

The meeting will cover the history of privacy and fungibility in Bitcoin, discuss several approaches to the problems, and discuss how Monero achieves its privacy in detail. I will discuss the next steps in development going forward and limitations compared to other coins. It will be similar to Riccardo Spagni’s speeches, but I have tried to make the presentation my own. The Valencia speech was very similar to Riccardo’s, and I hope to make some improvements to my presentation before the Graz and Zagreb meetups. My speeches are in English.

I am speaking about Monero, but I will not function as a “salesperson” for the currency. I will address the work in progress with Monero and the drawbacks it has compared to some other coins. While I definitely do not want to make the presentation strictly a comparison of coins, I want to make it clear that I will try to give the most factual information about Monero. I am doing these speeches to raise awareness of Monero, not to trick people into buying some.

Funding Structure

• I am not being paid to speak at this location.
• Flight and hotel search was completed with Google Flights and Google, respectively.
• If the proposal is over-funded, I would suggest that a reasonable amount is used for food costs (~$25). If the price of Monero falls suddenly before the trip, the extra amount will make up the difference in dollars. I am okay taking a slight loss, but I cannot afford to carry out future proposals if the value of Monero falls by a large amount. This decision is ultimately up to the moderators.
• Flights are the cheapest I could find that fit in the available time window. Some exceptions may be made to substantially shorten travel time or layovers. Hotels are basic and 2 or 3-star.
• In some instances, I will take a train or a bus if it saves time and/or money. For instance, I plan on taking a train to Budapest to save money. To get to Zagreb, the train routes are not as direct, and a bus would take many hours. That’s why I am taking a flight to Zagreb this time.

Costs Breakdown

Zagreb Flight (round trip): $256

Zagreb Hotel (2 nights): $120

Transportation to/from airports: $40

Athens Flight (round trip): $280

Athens Hotel (2 nights): $130

Transportation to/from airports: $40

Rome Flight (round trip): $160

Rome Hotel (3 nights): $245

Transportation to/from arports: $40

Total: $1311 (66 XMR)

I got excited and booked my flights and hotels before this gets funded. Thus, I am going to speak at these locations whether this proposal gets funded or not.