16/11/2024 –, Chaum Stage
LightingPiggy is an electronic cash piggy bank for children, that accepts bitcoin sent over lightning while displaying the amount saved in satoshis.
Our vision is to make sats the savings’ standard for every child, while creating an educational platform to inspire future generations, not only to save in satoshis, but also to learn to code and build in a free and open source way.
Global birthrate averages around 400,000 births daily. Approximately 30% of the world’s population, is under 15, accounting for ~2.4 billion young people. That’s a lot of people being brought up and educated, outside of El Salvador, to save with traditional currencies that are rapidly loosing value over time. Children approaching adulthood today, over the course of the last seven years since the tooth fairy visited, will have typically lost at least 98% of their purchasing power compared to bitcoin. We’ve been conditioned to save, exchange, account, think and work on the fiat standard and in fiat terms. It’s time to change that.
Lightning Piggy, the first lightning enabled piggy bank, features a low cost single-board computer with an integrated e-paper display, connected to a LNbits wallet via wifi. The displayed LNURLp QR code allows instantaneous bitcoin transactions from anyone, anywhere, directly to the child’s piggy bank. The bitcoin balance is displayed on the screen, with the most recent transaction amounts and associated messages. Conserving power, this is automatically updated every six hours, but can be initiated with the push of a button, or a quick shake of the device. During updates the piggy entertains with educational quotes and kid-friendly memes.
The piggy’s body can be crafted from recycling materials such as card or cardboard, and there is a growing range of 3D printing options. The project is being developed so that kits and group build sessions can be sponsored, to engages school and community groups.
Richard, a former Aerospace Engineer is now focused full-time working in the freedom technology space. His love for running and bitcoin inspired him to found Bitcoin Runners: A running club for likeminded individuals to take part in social runs, races, and other events representing bitcoin and fitness around the world.
This initiative paved the way for Richard to co-found the Running Bitcoin Challenge, in collaboration with pioneering bitcoin enthusiasts. With Fran Finney serving as the Honorary Chair, this project aims to raise funds for ALS in honour of the legendary cypherpunk Hal Finney.
Richard’s desire to accelerate the adoption of bitcoin led him to co-found LightningPiggy, an open-source electronic cash piggy bank for children to accept bitcoin over lightning.
Through these endeavours, Richard is committed to fostering a community that prioritise freedom technologies, physical fitness, and the transformative potential of Bitcoin.
Jake has a background in business administration, economics, and information management. He has worked in the traditional online payments industry and more recently in the field of privacy and information security. He is involved in several projects in and around Bitcoin, such as @lightningpiggy and @bitcoinrunners. Jake is also the initiator of the Danish community fork of twentyone.world – ENOGTYVE.