Hello, everyone! I'm Ian. Today, I'm starting my journey to use crypto to save peoples' lives in Syria. I'm going to create a cryptocurrency exchange called SyriaSwap, where all the fees will go directly to a charity operating within Syria to help feed, clothe, and house Syrians in need.
The idea hit me when I was talking to my best friend and voice acting mentor who is originally from Syria. He frequently tells me stories about what his life was like in Syria, and how it changed in 2011 after the civil war started. He will often send me photos of Syrians who he has helped in some way, shape, or form. For example, he recently helped a mentally disabled boy (pictured below) attend school with the supplies he needs. He told me that he had never owned a backpack in his life and that most families can't even afford bread in Syria. I asked him how much a Syrian family would need to survive for a month, and he told me that a month of food and water would cost about 35 USD.
Due to devastating sanctions, it's almost impossible to send money in or out of the country through central banking institutions and apps. He has to find creative ways of getting money into the country to help the people in his life. Sometimes, these methods are questionable and based 100% on trust. That's when I realized that this would be a perfect use-case for cryptocurrency.
Actually, I (currently) suck at coding. I'm a voice actor and own a small dubbing and video editing company, which is how I met my Syrian friend. He is a critically acclaimed Arabic voice actor from Syria. I've been learning to code for about two years now, but I've never done any coding in the crypto-space. Only web and web-app development. I decided to challenge myself by undertaking this project. This blog is going to be a chronicle of my trials and tribulations, and (hopefully), the satisfying results. This begs the question -- how am I going to code a cryptocurrency exchange with such little experience with blockchain technology?
Originally, I was simply going to use the 0x Launch Kit, which would have allowed me to launch a simple exchange in a few minutes, then spend a few hours customizing it and adding custom graphics, banners, and logos. Unfortunately, though, this project is no longer supported, so it looks as though I'm going to have to learn from scratch. I've been studying most of the day, and have a conceptual grasp on how I can code it, but it's probably going to be difficult. I'll surely run into a million challenges along the way, which will be equal parts frustrating and exciting.
Today is the first step! I truly hope this project will help people in need in Syria. Crypto has so much potential for doing good in this world. If anyone has questions, comments, or advice (please feel free to share), I'd be happy to read them in the comments section!
