Did you know that rapper Nas has his own domain on Coinbase.com? Well, he does (coinbase.com/Nas), and the rapper, who has invested in the San Francisco-based Bitcoin exchange, features on this digital property the non-profit Watsi.org.
Why has the New York rapper, known for songs like “I Can” and “Daughters”, chosen this non-profit? For one, it accepts Bitcoin. And two, all proceeds go to helping the organization’s cause: to get patients globally the healthcare they oftentimes so desperately need.
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While serving in the Peace Corps in Central America, Watsi founder Chase Adam was on a bus. A woman boarded and asked for donations to pay for her son’s healthcare. He had the idea for the charity. Watsi is the name of the town where this happened.
100% of donations go to those in need, which is in contrast to how many non-profits function. “The level of transparency we promise and go to the ends of the earth to provide using technology,” Watsi’s head of donor operations, Grace Garey, tells GoldSilverBitcoin.com what makes Watsi.org special. “100% of every donation funds healthcare. We don’t take a cut and we fund our operations through separate donations. We’re committed to radical transparency.”
The organization recently released its Year in Review, including its annual transparency report. While Watsi admitted it could turn the opportunity into a marketing event, they instead highlighted the numbers which most accurately describe their 2016.
The first number they underscore is the $54,242 returned due to credit card fraud claims. The company employed credit card fraud detections tools and stopped $40 million in possible fraudulent donations.
While debate in the US about basic health care rages on as president-elect Donald J. Trump threatens to amend Obamacare, discussion about healthcare at the global level persists.
“A billion people lack funds for basic healthcare, and hundreds of millions more are pushed into poverty each year in attempts to pay for care,” Ms. Garey says.
Watsi is so dedicated to transparency, it keeps a Google Transparency Document “to show people they will always see exactly where their money goes.”
But they accept Bitcoin for a reason other than just transparency.
“We accept bitcoin to support our organization’s operations because we believe it should be easy for anyone to support Watsi in any currency,” Ms. Garey says. “While we can’t offer every currency yet, Coinbase made it easy for us to accept bitcoin so there was no reason not to.”
To the pleasure of Bitcoiners, Nas has taken on the money system in his raps, namely in the song “Money is My B*tch.”
In that song, the New York rapper raps about his “green eyed ho” who brings him more hos. He professes his love for money throughout the song…until the end.
She knows the bankers and diplomats, he raps. More than a decade before Bitcoin, Nas was breaking up with money. From the song’s last verse:
I wont sell my soul to you
What do I owe to you
My cars, my house, my flow to you
Screw you
Before you
Real n*ggas said I was cool, now I got you
The envy me cause I’m wit you
You floss too much
Turn n*ggas out, one touch
For you, my guns bust
You always said in GOD we trust
Its hard enough to keep counting on you
You cheat wit’ government thugs, got the IRS pounding on you
I think I like’d you better when you where illegal
But you had to get professional
Musical
Now when we fuck we use prophylactic, hard plastic
Stick you in ATM’s, limited cash quick
Said you’d give me luxury, when I asked it
Fucking me, I gave you back shots in ya assets
Promised happiness, but really did nothing for me
I guess b*tches like you just grow on trees
The hip icon knows money doesn’t just grow on trees nowadays. He was quoted a few years back by Coin Desk as declaring,”We’re entering the Age of Bitcoin.”