Friday, April 23, 2021

Indyglo's Refereum Currenteum

Below are 62 of my current signup links and codes for cashback bonuses and discounts, categorized by type, followed by alphabetized summaries. I am a customer of the listed sites/apps/services and appreciate any questions or feedback.

Auto/Travel

Banks/Finance

  • Aspiration - https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/AJFRATCE0M3GII6I - Get $50 cash when you join Aspiration - free bank account - and spend $250.
  • Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) - [(U.S.) - WA, ID, OR ONLY] - We can both earn $100 when you join BECU and open a Member Share or Member Advantage savings and also a checking account.
    • You must use both these codes when signing up:
      • promo code: 100REF21
      • my unique referral code: 1412508
    • Sign up online, by phone - 206-439-5700 - or at a BECU Branch and keep acct. opened for 90 days.
    • You must perform 10 of the following transactions within the first 30 days of opening acct :
      • Make a purchase using your BECU debit or credit card (easy with grocery store self-checkout!)
      • Write a check or electronic check.
      • Make a payment using bill pay.
  • Chase Bank - https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/2735652016 - Get a $225 Bonus when you open a new Chase Total checking account.
  • Privacy - https://privacy.com/join/H3S9S - $5 when you sign up using my referral link (Privacy lets you generate smart, virtual debit cards to use online).
  • SoFi Money - https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=004af404-1a99-46b4-b486-44bce3a0ab1d - $50 plus cashback rewards when you sign up for a free account and fund it with $500 or more (no account fees and no ATM fees at 55,000 ATMs). Additional bonus if you sign up for direct deposit.
  • SoFi Personal Loan - https://www.sofi.com/invite/personal-loans/?gcp=ffdeec67-6330-4093-831c-7f84dce20cf4 - You and I get $10 each when you check your SoFi Personal Loan rate, and there is NO hard credit pull for checking your rate. You and I get another $300 each when you fund your SoFi loan.
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing - https://www.sofi.com/invite/student-loans/?gcp=6d9376c5-591a-439d-8bdb-c15da7d50852 - You and I get $10 each when you check your SoFi Student Loan Refinancing rate, and there is NO hard credit pull for checking your rate. You and I get another $300 each when you fund your student loan.
  • Square - https://squareup.com/i/JOHNJJMEGO - Free processing of up to $1000 in sales.
  • Venmo - https://get.venmo.com/ooGrFLhVjfb - Get $5 when you download the Venmo app using my referral link, sign up and make a $5 minimum payment to friends/family/etc. within 14 days.
  • Zogo - https://zogo.app.link/OpvQLwDYodb - Earn 750 Pineapples on Zogo when you use my code: JOHNM711 when you make an account. With Zogo, you can earn gift cards while learning about various aspects of personal finance. I've personally learned quite a bit with this app, complete modules daily to learn more and have recommended this to all of my friends and family. Great for adults and kids.

Cash Back

Credit Cards

  • American Express - http://refer.amex.us/JOHNMJN7Q?XLINK=MYCP - Sign up using my referral and earn $300 back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Blue Cash Preferred Card in your first 6 months of card membership. Plus, apply by 5/5/21 and earn up to $200 back on eligible purchases at select U.S. home furnishing stores (the following merchants will qualify: Anthropologie - Home & Furniture, Bed Bath & Beyond, CB2, Crate and Barrel, Crate and Kids, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Terrain, and The Container Store.)
  • Capital One Venture - https://capital.one/33F9Sar - Sign up using my referral link and get 60,000 rewards miles (worth $600 when you redeem for travel).
  • Discover IT - https://refer.discover.com/s/ssjqfl - Sign up using my referral and you'll get $50 back for signing up for a Discover IT credit card and making any $1 or more purchase within 3 months.
  • SoFi Credit Card - https://www.sofi.com/invite/credit-card?gcp=70c8148e-bc31-480e-9a01-33b7ace2a1fb - Sign up using my referral and get 2x points (4% cash back) on all card purchases for 30 days.

Food/Nutrition

Games

Investing

  • Acorns - https://www.acorns.com/invite/EJLS85 - Get $5 when you use my link to open an account and make an investment.
  • eToro - https://etoro.tw/39w5dup Get $50 bonus when you open an account, transfer $100, make any crypto trade, and hold for one week.
  • Sofi Invest - https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2500097 - Get $50 worth of your favorite stock to start building your portfolio when you fund your SoFi Active Invest account with at least $5,000. Get an additional $25 worth of bitcoin for buying $10 worth of bitcoin on SoFi Crypto.
  • Stash - https://get.stash.com/john_h88crts - Earn $20 of bonus stock when you join using my referral link and add cash to your personal investment or bank account.

Jobs

Shopping

Uncategorized

About These Apps/Services/Sites:

  • 23andMe offers two Personal Genetic Services: Health + Ancestry and Ancestry + Traits. Both services require submitting a saliva sample using their saliva collection kit that you send to the lab for analysis. 23andMe's Ancestry + Traits Service helps you understand who you are, where your DNA comes from and your family story.
  • Acorns merges the robo-advisor model with an automated savings tool, making it easier to build a nest egg. Besides the $5 they give you for signing up, they'll put your money in investments automatically which increase daily, monthly, yearly. You don't need to do anything. Invest as little or as much as you want, and they will put you in a position where your investment will grow.
  • American Express is a lucrative cash-back card for several spending categories. Your first year of $95 annual fee is waived, and offers up to an industry leading 6% cash back for select U.S. restaurants, streaming subscriptions, supermarkets, transit, gas stations and more.
  • Aspiration is an online financial institution offering a variety of accounts, with a focus on rewarding customers with cash back for purchases made from ethical companies. The money customers deposit through Aspiration is held at one of its partner banks, which offer FDIC insurance.
  • Befrugal is run by a bunch of cheap, thrifty, penny pinchers who believe that a dollar saved is two dollars earned. Find tens of thousands of coupons, deals, promotional codes and earn cash back for more than 5,000 retailers, including big retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
  • Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is Washington's largest member-owned, not-for-profit credit union. BECU puts the interest of its members ahead of profit, offering its members free checking, no maintenance fees and no minimum balance requirements. BECU offers business services, personal checking and savings accounts, IRAs, mortgage and home equity loans, personal loans, vehicle loans, online banking and more. BECU is a Federally Insured State Chartered Credit Union with 42 branches, headquartered in Tukwila, WA.
  • Capital One is a credit card company offering many different types with a variety of cash back bonuses and other benefits.
  • Chase Bank is the largest bank in the country and offers a robust menu of products and services. It provides mortgages, auto loans and one of the broadest selections of credit cards in the industry. And its website experience can compete with those at online-only banks that focus solely on checking and savings.
  • Comcast Xfinity is a consumer-facing internet and television brand. TV at home & on the go. Hulu on X1. Stream live sports. Advanced security. Move service stress-free. Millions of hotspots. Netflix on X1. Prime Video on X1. Services: Internet, TV, home security, mobile.
  • Discover IT is a credit card company which offers a cash back match at the end of your first year (no maximum), with no annual fee, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers. Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases (places vary each quarter) when you activate.
  • Doordash offers delivery & takeout from the best local restaurants. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and more, delivered safely to your door. Doordash offers pickup & no-contact delivery.
  • Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you save files online and sync them to your devices. You can use Dropbox links to share files and folders with other people without sending large attachments. Dropbox offers a free plan that includes 2GB of storage. You can pay to increase that to as much as 3TB with a subscription.
  • Duolingo Plus - Duolingo is the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world, with more than 300 million users. The company's mission is to make education free, fun, and accessible to all. Duolingo is designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Upgrading your free Duolingo account to Duolingo Plus gives you an ad-free experience. ability to download lessons in the app for offline use and unlimited skill test-outs.
  • eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets
  • Evernote Premium - Evernote is an app that allows you to work from anywhere, stay in sync from any device, no matter where you are—you can even access notes when you have no WiFi or mobile data access. Evernote Premium, the top tier, adds the most features, such as the ability to search for text in Office documents and PDFs, annotate PDFs, scan business cards and suggested notes and content from the web that are relevant to the note you're currently working on.
  • Fuel Rewards is a loyalty program that helps you save money on gas when you dine at participating restaurants and shop at participating grocers, local, and online merchants. Save at least 5¢/gal on every fill-up with Gold Status at Shell, and save more when you combine with other rewards (see https://www.fuelrewards.com/fuelrewards/how.html).
  • GivingAssistant is a company that gives you cash back and coupon codes when shopping via their online portal. When you purchase a product via the cash-back platform, the merchant pays a commission to Giving Assistant. Then, 50% of the commission is paid back to the customer (you) as an incentive. You can choose the nonprofit and also adjust the percentage they receive.
  • GNC is the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products, including vitamin, mineral, herbal and other specialty supplements and sports nutrition, diet and energy products.
  • GoCashBack is a cash-back website allowing you to get up to 31% cash back at your favorite stores. Find cash back and browse coupon codes to save even more money at over 1,500 retailers. Use the GoCashBack app to check your cash-back status from anywhere and click through while on the go to save when you shop from your phone. You can even get cash back when you dine out locally or at special events.
  • Groupon, whose name combines "group" and "coupon", is a website and mobile app that offers coupons, cashback on purchases and group deals to consumers. Restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers use Groupon deals in an effort to lure customers into their establishments or to purchase their products.
  • Grubhub partners with restaurants in your area to offer delivery for ones that don't normally deliver, while also offering a convenient online ordering system for the ones that do. Everything is handled through Grubhub, giving customers the flexibility to sign into one place and order nearly anything.
  • Home Chef is a weekly subscription meal kit service. Customers receive orders with all the fresh ingredients you need to make restaurant quality recipes, designed by Home Chef chefs. Home Chef saves you the time of going to the grocery store, finding new recipes, meal planning, and portioning.
  • Honey is a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout with a single click. Honey supports over 30,000 stores globally
  • Houzz is an online platform for home remodeling, architecture, interior design, decorating, landscaping, and home improvement.
  • Ibotta is a free cash-back rewards and payments app that gives you real cash for everyday purchases when you shop and pay through the app. Ibotta provides thousands of ways for consumers to earn cash on their purchases by partnering with more than 1,500 brands and retailers.
  • Instacart lets you shop from local grocery stores online, then sends a “personal shopper” to fulfill and deliver your order to you the same day (or a future date/time of your choosing). Unlike other grocery delivery services, the company doesn't stockpile fresh produce in a massive warehouse.
  • Instacart Shopper - Earn extra money shopping for others. As a shopper, you go to the grocery store like normal, except you’re getting paid to shop for others. Work whenever it works for you. With no set hours or days, you can shop as much or as little as you want, anytime you want. Must be age 18+ and be able to lift 40lbs.
  • Invitation.Codes is a site/app where you can sign up for free and post your referral links/codes for all of the most up to date promotions that are out there at the moment. There's a great community vibe to it and it's a great way to meet other like-minds while learning about new products and signup/referral offers.
  • Lemoney is a cash-back site with 1800+ stores. Find the best deals, coupons, cash-back rates, promo codes, sales, and discounts at Lemoney. Shop with Turbo Cashback and boost your cash-back rate.
  • Lyft is a rideshare service that lets you call a driver and car to your location using the Lyft app who will drive you where you need to go.
  • Miles is a rewards app empowering anyone to earn miles automatically for all modes of transportation. The Miles app rewards you with miles - their version of points - for no matter how you get from point A to point B (whether you drive, walk, bike, ride the train). Redeem the miles you’ve earned for rewards, discounts, and deals from brands such as Amazon, Chewy, DoorDash, HP, Reebok, Home Chef and more.
  • Mr. Rebates is a shopping portal where you can do online shopping at online stores you love, and earn cash-back rebates on your purchases. They have an A+ rating from the BBB (Better Business Bureau), and you can earn as much as 30% back.
  • MyPoints is a daily rewards program – just like when you earn miles on an airline or cash back on a credit card. Flexible, you don’t have to stick with one store to earn Points, and you don’t have to take your rewards in just one form. They have many partners that our members can shop with and redeem from. You can also earn points by completing surveys, watching videos and more.
  • NatureBox is a snack subscription focused on providing healthier options to reduce stress and promote wellness. Their snacks are unique, delicious, and guilt-free. No artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. No corn syrup of any kind. No hydrogenated oils. No MSG. Some newer offerings include a Wellness Collection of snacks containing adaptogens in their ingredients list, CBD Snacks infused with hemp, supplements, and coffee.
  • Postmates is an on-demand goods delivery platform having a presence in more than 100 metropolitan areas in the US that enables people to get anything from local restaurants and stores delivered at their doorstep for a small fee. Postmates delivers goods with the help of their human courier networks which enables people to order anything from anywhere within the city.
  • Privacy.com is an innovative way to protect your personal information over the internet. Are you feeling uncomfortable using your credit card online? Privacy.com has the perfect solution - it creates a virtual card that masks your bank statements for your online payments.
  • Raise is a money-saving website aimed at helping people buy and sell discounted gift cards.
  • Rakuten gets a commission from stores when you make a purchase, and shares it with you. Find the store on rakuten.com, click “Shop Now” and shop like normal on the store site. After you make an eligible purchase, you’ll earn cash back and get a check or PayPal payment every quarter.
  • RebatesMe makes it easy to save at the stores you love. Earn cash back while shopping online, get access to thousands of coupons, and get the best price on millions of products.
  • Shutterfly enables users to create personalized photo gifts (including photos and text) such as smartphone cases, photo books, wall art, and home decor. Through its Lifetouch division, it also provides portraiture services.
  • Skillz is the world’s premier tournament platform where mobile gamers can use their skills to compete for cash and prizes. True to its name, Skillz does not host games of chance, and all winnings are based on your ability. Games include Solitaire Cube, Blackout Bingo, 21 Blitz, Texas Holdem and many more
  • SoFi Invest allows users to buy and sell individual stocks as well as ETFs and select cryptocurrencies, offering innovative investment tools to help members get their money right at every stage of their financial lives.
  • SoFi Money is an all-in-one product that is a hybrid checking and savings account. There are no account fees or minimum balance requirements, so you can bank freely. Pay no ATM fees at 55,000+ ATMs worldwide. Because SoFi Money is all online, you deposit checks from your phone and pay bills online. You can also use SoFi Money to transfer and receive money, like paying the babysitter or covering your share of dinner when the bill comes — All cash in your account earns 0.25% APY, which is quite high and even beats traditional banks’ high-yield savings accounts. No fees, and offers interest rate reduction.
  • SoFi Personal Loan is a great option for borrowers who make a decent income and have good credit. There are no origination fees or late fees, and you won’t be penalized for paying your balance off early. They offer low rates, no fees, exclusive member benefits including access to career coaches and financial advisers, exclusive virtual events and more. Fixed personal loan rates range between 5.99% APR to 20.25% (with AutoPay).
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing offers student loan refinancing and private student loans. Its refinancing loan is best for borrowers who want plenty of benefits with their refinanced student loan. Its private loan is best for flexible repayment options and no fees. You can see if you qualify with NO HARD credit check.
  • Square is a popular service that allows you to buy, sell and send money using any Apple or Android mobile device. With three free mobile apps — Square Register, Square Wallet and Square Cash — Square is designed to help small businesses accept credit card payments and to help consumers transition to a cashless, cardless lifestyle.
  • Stash aims to make the process of selecting stocks and ETFs quick and easy for beginners. Stash offers other account options, including brokerage and bank accounts, plus access to a Roth or traditional IRA retirement account.
  • T-Mobile is one of the largest providers of wireless voice and data communications services in the US with more than 81 million customers. It has about 2,200 T-Mobile and MetroPCS branded retail sites (ranging from kiosks to stores).
  • TopCashback is a competing cash-back web site that claims to offer higher cash back than some of the other larger sites. Rather than spend extra money on expensive commercials, TopCashBack uses the savings to provide consumers with higher cash-back payout rates.
  • Uber is a rideshare company with an app that allows passengers to hail a ride and drivers to charge fares and get paid.
  • Uber Driver - Turn your spare time into earnings with the Driver app - built with drivers, to bring you helpful information at your fingertips. Help as you move people and things where they need to go. Drive whenever you want — no offices, no bosses. Wherever you want to go, you can enjoy the journey and the destination. Requirements:
    • Meet the minimum age to drive in your city
    • Have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the US (3 years if you are under 23 years old)
    • Have a valid US driver’s license
    • Use an eligible 4-door vehicle
  • Uber Eats is a food delivery platform that makes getting great food from your favorite local restaurants as easy as requesting a ride. Their app connects you with a broad range of local restaurants and food, so you can order from the full menus of your local favorites whenever you want.
  • Uniqlo is a Japanese casual wear brand for women, men, kids & babies, operating in 20 different countries. Uniqlo is known for providing high-quality, private-label casual-wear at low prices.
  • Venmo is a social payments service used by millions of people to make, receive and share payments with friends, family, and select approved businesses (without using cash or checks). It’s similar to PayPal, but is unique in that Venmo allows users to share and like payments and purchases through a social feed.
  • Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products.
  • Wayfair is an American e-commerce company that sells furniture and home-goods.
  • Wish is a shopping app for iPhone and Android that lets you order cheap goods online with major savings. Most items ship straight from China, and a growing number ship from the U.S. for faster delivery. You can even pick up select items locally in minutes.
  • Zogo is a FREE mobile app for kids and adults (age 13+) to learn financial literacy. Earn points towards gift cards to Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks and more by completing short, bite-sized modules. The many lessons include:
    • How to save money
    • Importance and best practices for a good credit score
    • How to minimize debt
    • How to successfully create and maintain a budget
    • Long-term investment strategies

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How do I bring up that I have a very nice savings account to my frugal SO?

My SO grew up on the poorer side. I grew up in upper middle class. However, most of my savings is my own. It's because I had jobs since I was 16 and through college my parents didn't let me pay for anything. Spoiled, yes, but they wanted me to build up my savings. They put money in there too to start it as well.

I ventured out on my own after college and my parents still helped me with rent as I was working retail. Any money I got for graduation, birthday, etc. I put in that account. I don't really spend money on physical stuff. I prefer experiences. Also for a few years I didn't have friends, so I never really went out to spend money on experiences (travel, bars, events, etc.) That was a sad time in my life, but I did save a lot of money.

Before I realized it, I had 25k saved up.

Now my SO and I are talking marriage and moving east to buy a house. We talked a little bit about how we will handle bills, but that's about it. He's buying the house and wants to do it by himself. I am hesitant to help with the down payment because I won't be able to get that back if anything happens until we're married.

Anyway, the situation that led me here was he was talking about Bitcoin and I said I put money in the stock market. He was shocked that I had $3,000 in some stocks. Now I am afraid what he will think of me when I tell him of my savings. Will he look at me differently? Will he be mad that he bought me meals and drinks all this time (I take turns paying for his but he still pays more)? Will he be upset I didn't offer to help with down payment? How do I bring this up?

Tldr; my SO grew up poor. He knows I grew up upper middle class. I have 25k saved up and I'm worried how he will see me once I tell him. I think he thinks I'm living paycheck to paycheck like him. How do I bring this savings up?

Edit: to add I now am completely on my own financially.


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Indyglo's Promote (62 Current Signup Bonus Links and Codes)

Below are 62 of my current signup links and codes for cashback bonuses and discounts, categorized by type, followed by alphabetized summaries. I am a customer of the listed sites/apps/services and appreciate any questions or feedback.

Auto/Travel

Banks/Finance

  • Aspiration - https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/AJFRATCE0M3GII6I - Get $50 cash when you join Aspiration - free bank account - and spend $250.
  • Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) - [(U.S.) - WA, ID, OR ONLY] - We can both earn $100 when you join BECU and open a Member Share or Member Advantage savings and also a checking account.
    • You must use both these codes when signing up:
      • promo code: 100REF21
      • my unique referral code: 1412508
    • Sign up online, by phone - 206-439-5700 - or at a BECU Branch and keep acct. opened for 90 days.
    • You must perform 10 of the following transactions within the first 30 days of opening acct :
      • Make a purchase using your BECU debit or credit card (easy with grocery store self-checkout!)
      • Write a check or electronic check.
      • Make a payment using bill pay.
  • Chase Bank - https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/2735652016 - Get a $225 Bonus when you open a new Chase Total checking account.
  • Privacy - https://privacy.com/join/H3S9S - $5 when you sign up using my referral link (Privacy lets you generate smart, virtual debit cards to use online).
  • SoFi Money - https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=004af404-1a99-46b4-b486-44bce3a0ab1d - $50 plus cashback rewards when you sign up for a free account and fund it with $500 or more (no account fees and no ATM fees at 55,000 ATMs). Additional bonus if you sign up for direct deposit.
  • SoFi Personal Loan - https://www.sofi.com/invite/personal-loans/?gcp=ffdeec67-6330-4093-831c-7f84dce20cf4 - You and I get $10 each when you check your SoFi Personal Loan rate, and there is NO hard credit pull for checking your rate. You and I get another $300 each when you fund your SoFi loan.
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing - https://www.sofi.com/invite/student-loans/?gcp=6d9376c5-591a-439d-8bdb-c15da7d50852 - You and I get $10 each when you check your SoFi Student Loan Refinancing rate, and there is NO hard credit pull for checking your rate. You and I get another $300 each when you fund your student loan.
  • Square - https://squareup.com/i/JOHNJJMEGO - Free processing of up to $1000 in sales.
  • Venmo - https://get.venmo.com/ooGrFLhVjfb - Get $5 when you download the Venmo app using my referral link, sign up and make a $5 minimum payment to friends/family/etc. within 14 days.
  • Zogo - https://zogo.app.link/OpvQLwDYodb - Earn 750 Pineapples on Zogo when you use my code: JOHNM711 when you make an account. With Zogo, you can earn gift cards while learning about various aspects of personal finance. I've personally learned quite a bit with this app, complete modules daily to learn more and have recommended this to all of my friends and family. Great for adults and kids.

Cash Back

Credit Cards

  • American Express - http://refer.amex.us/JOHNMJN7Q?XLINK=MYCP - Sign up using my referral and earn $300 back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Blue Cash Preferred Card in your first 6 months of card membership. Plus, apply by 5/5/21 and earn up to $200 back on eligible purchases at select U.S. home furnishing stores (the following merchants will qualify: Anthropologie - Home & Furniture, Bed Bath & Beyond, CB2, Crate and Barrel, Crate and Kids, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Terrain, and The Container Store.)
  • Capital One Venture - https://capital.one/33F9Sar - Sign up using my referral link and get 60,000 rewards miles (worth $600 when you redeem for travel).
  • Discover IT - https://refer.discover.com/s/ssjqfl - Sign up using my referral and you'll get $50 back for signing up for a Discover IT credit card and making any $1 or more purchase within 3 months.
  • SoFi Credit Card - https://www.sofi.com/invite/credit-card?gcp=70c8148e-bc31-480e-9a01-33b7ace2a1fb - Sign up using my referral and get 2x points (4% cash back) on all card purchases for 30 days.

Food/Nutrition

Games

Investing

  • Acorns - https://www.acorns.com/invite/EJLS85 - Get $5 when you use my link to open an account and make an investment.
  • eToro - https://etoro.tw/39w5dup Get $50 bonus when you open an account, transfer $100, make any crypto trade, and hold for one week.
  • Sofi Invest - https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2500097 - Get $50 worth of your favorite stock to start building your portfolio when you fund your SoFi Active Invest account with at least $5,000. Get an additional $25 worth of bitcoin for buying $10 worth of bitcoin on SoFi Crypto.
  • Stash - https://get.stash.com/john_h88crts - Earn $20 of bonus stock when you join using my referral link and add cash to your personal investment or bank account.

Jobs

Shopping

Uncategorized

About These Apps/Services/Sites:

  • 23andMe offers two Personal Genetic Services: Health + Ancestry and Ancestry + Traits. Both services require submitting a saliva sample using their saliva collection kit that you send to the lab for analysis. 23andMe's Ancestry + Traits Service helps you understand who you are, where your DNA comes from and your family story.
  • Acorns merges the robo-advisor model with an automated savings tool, making it easier to build a nest egg. Besides the $5 they give you for signing up, they'll put your money in investments automatically which increase daily, monthly, yearly. You don't need to do anything. Invest as little or as much as you want, and they will put you in a position where your investment will grow.
  • American Express is a lucrative cash-back card for several spending categories. Your first year of $95 annual fee is waived, and offers up to an industry leading 6% cash back for select U.S. restaurants, streaming subscriptions, supermarkets, transit, gas stations and more.
  • Aspiration is an online financial institution offering a variety of accounts, with a focus on rewarding customers with cash back for purchases made from ethical companies. The money customers deposit through Aspiration is held at one of its partner banks, which offer FDIC insurance.
  • Befrugal is run by a bunch of cheap, thrifty, penny pinchers who believe that a dollar saved is two dollars earned. Find tens of thousands of coupons, deals, promotional codes and earn cash back for more than 5,000 retailers, including big retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
  • Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is Washington's largest member-owned, not-for-profit credit union. BECU puts the interest of its members ahead of profit, offering its members free checking, no maintenance fees and no minimum balance requirements. BECU offers business services, personal checking and savings accounts, IRAs, mortgage and home equity loans, personal loans, vehicle loans, online banking and more. BECU is a Federally Insured State Chartered Credit Union with 42 branches, headquartered in Tukwila, WA.
  • Capital One is a credit card company offering many different types with a variety of cash back bonuses and other benefits.
  • Chase Bank is the largest bank in the country and offers a robust menu of products and services. It provides mortgages, auto loans and one of the broadest selections of credit cards in the industry. And its website experience can compete with those at online-only banks that focus solely on checking and savings.
  • Comcast Xfinity is a consumer-facing internet and television brand. TV at home & on the go. Hulu on X1. Stream live sports. Advanced security. Move service stress-free. Millions of hotspots. Netflix on X1. Prime Video on X1. Services: Internet, TV, home security, mobile.
  • Discover IT is a credit card company which offers a cash back match at the end of your first year (no maximum), with no annual fee, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers. Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases (places vary each quarter) when you activate.
  • Doordash offers delivery & takeout from the best local restaurants. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and more, delivered safely to your door. Doordash offers pickup & no-contact delivery.
  • Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you save files online and sync them to your devices. You can use Dropbox links to share files and folders with other people without sending large attachments. Dropbox offers a free plan that includes 2GB of storage. You can pay to increase that to as much as 3TB with a subscription.
  • Duolingo Plus - Duolingo is the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world, with more than 300 million users. The company's mission is to make education free, fun, and accessible to all. Duolingo is designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Upgrading your free Duolingo account to Duolingo Plus gives you an ad-free experience. ability to download lessons in the app for offline use and unlimited skill test-outs.
  • eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets
  • Evernote Premium - Evernote is an app that allows you to work from anywhere, stay in sync from any device, no matter where you are—you can even access notes when you have no WiFi or mobile data access. Evernote Premium, the top tier, adds the most features, such as the ability to search for text in Office documents and PDFs, annotate PDFs, scan business cards and suggested notes and content from the web that are relevant to the note you're currently working on.
  • Fuel Rewards is a loyalty program that helps you save money on gas when you dine at participating restaurants and shop at participating grocers, local, and online merchants. Save at least 5¢/gal on every fill-up with Gold Status at Shell, and save more when you combine with other rewards (see https://www.fuelrewards.com/fuelrewards/how.html).
  • GivingAssistant is a company that gives you cash back and coupon codes when shopping via their online portal. When you purchase a product via the cash-back platform, the merchant pays a commission to Giving Assistant. Then, 50% of the commission is paid back to the customer (you) as an incentive. You can choose the nonprofit and also adjust the percentage they receive.
  • GNC is the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products, including vitamin, mineral, herbal and other specialty supplements and sports nutrition, diet and energy products.
  • GoCashBack is a cash-back website allowing you to get up to 31% cash back at your favorite stores. Find cash back and browse coupon codes to save even more money at over 1,500 retailers. Use the GoCashBack app to check your cash-back status from anywhere and click through while on the go to save when you shop from your phone. You can even get cash back when you dine out locally or at special events.
  • Groupon, whose name combines "group" and "coupon", is a website and mobile app that offers coupons, cashback on purchases and group deals to consumers. Restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers use Groupon deals in an effort to lure customers into their establishments or to purchase their products.
  • Grubhub partners with restaurants in your area to offer delivery for ones that don't normally deliver, while also offering a convenient online ordering system for the ones that do. Everything is handled through Grubhub, giving customers the flexibility to sign into one place and order nearly anything.
  • Home Chef is a weekly subscription meal kit service. Customers receive orders with all the fresh ingredients you need to make restaurant quality recipes, designed by Home Chef chefs. Home Chef saves you the time of going to the grocery store, finding new recipes, meal planning, and portioning.
  • Honey is a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout with a single click. Honey supports over 30,000 stores globally
  • Houzz is an online platform for home remodeling, architecture, interior design, decorating, landscaping, and home improvement.
  • Ibotta is a free cash-back rewards and payments app that gives you real cash for everyday purchases when you shop and pay through the app. Ibotta provides thousands of ways for consumers to earn cash on their purchases by partnering with more than 1,500 brands and retailers.
  • Instacart lets you shop from local grocery stores online, then sends a “personal shopper” to fulfill and deliver your order to you the same day (or a future date/time of your choosing). Unlike other grocery delivery services, the company doesn't stockpile fresh produce in a massive warehouse.
  • Instacart Shopper - Earn extra money shopping for others. As a shopper, you go to the grocery store like normal, except you’re getting paid to shop for others. Work whenever it works for you. With no set hours or days, you can shop as much or as little as you want, anytime you want. Must be age 18+ and be able to lift 40lbs.
  • Invitation.Codes is a site/app where you can sign up for free and post your referral links/codes for all of the most up to date promotions that are out there at the moment. There's a great community vibe to it and it's a great way to meet other like-minds while learning about new products and signup/referral offers.
  • Lemoney is a cash-back site with 1800+ stores. Find the best deals, coupons, cash-back rates, promo codes, sales, and discounts at Lemoney. Shop with Turbo Cashback and boost your cash-back rate.
  • Lyft is a rideshare service that lets you call a driver and car to your location using the Lyft app who will drive you where you need to go.
  • Miles is a rewards app empowering anyone to earn miles automatically for all modes of transportation. The Miles app rewards you with miles - their version of points - for no matter how you get from point A to point B (whether you drive, walk, bike, ride the train). Redeem the miles you’ve earned for rewards, discounts, and deals from brands such as Amazon, Chewy, DoorDash, HP, Reebok, Home Chef and more.
  • Mr. Rebates is a shopping portal where you can do online shopping at online stores you love, and earn cash-back rebates on your purchases. They have an A+ rating from the BBB (Better Business Bureau), and you can earn as much as 30% back.
  • MyPoints is a daily rewards program – just like when you earn miles on an airline or cash back on a credit card. Flexible, you don’t have to stick with one store to earn Points, and you don’t have to take your rewards in just one form. They have many partners that our members can shop with and redeem from. You can also earn points by completing surveys, watching videos and more.
  • NatureBox is a snack subscription focused on providing healthier options to reduce stress and promote wellness. Their snacks are unique, delicious, and guilt-free. No artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. No corn syrup of any kind. No hydrogenated oils. No MSG. Some newer offerings include a Wellness Collection of snacks containing adaptogens in their ingredients list, CBD Snacks infused with hemp, supplements, and coffee.
  • Postmates is an on-demand goods delivery platform having a presence in more than 100 metropolitan areas in the US that enables people to get anything from local restaurants and stores delivered at their doorstep for a small fee. Postmates delivers goods with the help of their human courier networks which enables people to order anything from anywhere within the city.
  • Privacy.com is an innovative way to protect your personal information over the internet. Are you feeling uncomfortable using your credit card online? Privacy.com has the perfect solution - it creates a virtual card that masks your bank statements for your online payments.
  • Raise is a money-saving website aimed at helping people buy and sell discounted gift cards.
  • Rakuten gets a commission from stores when you make a purchase, and shares it with you. Find the store on rakuten.com, click “Shop Now” and shop like normal on the store site. After you make an eligible purchase, you’ll earn cash back and get a check or PayPal payment every quarter.
  • RebatesMe makes it easy to save at the stores you love. Earn cash back while shopping online, get access to thousands of coupons, and get the best price on millions of products.
  • Shutterfly enables users to create personalized photo gifts (including photos and text) such as smartphone cases, photo books, wall art, and home decor. Through its Lifetouch division, it also provides portraiture services.
  • Skillz is the world’s premier tournament platform where mobile gamers can use their skills to compete for cash and prizes. True to its name, Skillz does not host games of chance, and all winnings are based on your ability. Games include Solitaire Cube, Blackout Bingo, 21 Blitz, Texas Holdem and many more
  • SoFi Invest allows users to buy and sell individual stocks as well as ETFs and select cryptocurrencies, offering innovative investment tools to help members get their money right at every stage of their financial lives.
  • SoFi Money is an all-in-one product that is a hybrid checking and savings account. There are no account fees or minimum balance requirements, so you can bank freely. Pay no ATM fees at 55,000+ ATMs worldwide. Because SoFi Money is all online, you deposit checks from your phone and pay bills online. You can also use SoFi Money to transfer and receive money, like paying the babysitter or covering your share of dinner when the bill comes — All cash in your account earns 0.25% APY, which is quite high and even beats traditional banks’ high-yield savings accounts. No fees, and offers interest rate reduction.
  • SoFi Personal Loan is a great option for borrowers who make a decent income and have good credit. There are no origination fees or late fees, and you won’t be penalized for paying your balance off early. They offer low rates, no fees, exclusive member benefits including access to career coaches and financial advisers, exclusive virtual events and more. Fixed personal loan rates range between 5.99% APR to 20.25% (with AutoPay).
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing offers student loan refinancing and private student loans. Its refinancing loan is best for borrowers who want plenty of benefits with their refinanced student loan. Its private loan is best for flexible repayment options and no fees. You can see if you qualify with NO HARD credit check.
  • Square is a popular service that allows you to buy, sell and send money using any Apple or Android mobile device. With three free mobile apps — Square Register, Square Wallet and Square Cash — Square is designed to help small businesses accept credit card payments and to help consumers transition to a cashless, cardless lifestyle.
  • Stash aims to make the process of selecting stocks and ETFs quick and easy for beginners. Stash offers other account options, including brokerage and bank accounts, plus access to a Roth or traditional IRA retirement account.
  • T-Mobile is one of the largest providers of wireless voice and data communications services in the US with more than 81 million customers. It has about 2,200 T-Mobile and MetroPCS branded retail sites (ranging from kiosks to stores).
  • TopCashback is a competing cash-back web site that claims to offer higher cash back than some of the other larger sites. Rather than spend extra money on expensive commercials, TopCashBack uses the savings to provide consumers with higher cash-back payout rates.
  • Uber is a rideshare company with an app that allows passengers to hail a ride and drivers to charge fares and get paid.
  • Uber Driver - Turn your spare time into earnings with the Driver app - built with drivers, to bring you helpful information at your fingertips. Help as you move people and things where they need to go. Drive whenever you want — no offices, no bosses. Wherever you want to go, you can enjoy the journey and the destination. Requirements:
    • Meet the minimum age to drive in your city
    • Have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the US (3 years if you are under 23 years old)
    • Have a valid US driver’s license
    • Use an eligible 4-door vehicle
  • Uber Eats is a food delivery platform that makes getting great food from your favorite local restaurants as easy as requesting a ride. Their app connects you with a broad range of local restaurants and food, so you can order from the full menus of your local favorites whenever you want.
  • Uniqlo is a Japanese casual wear brand for women, men, kids & babies, operating in 20 different countries. Uniqlo is known for providing high-quality, private-label casual-wear at low prices.
  • Venmo is a social payments service used by millions of people to make, receive and share payments with friends, family, and select approved businesses (without using cash or checks). It’s similar to PayPal, but is unique in that Venmo allows users to share and like payments and purchases through a social feed.
  • Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products.
  • Wayfair is an American e-commerce company that sells furniture and home-goods.
  • Wish is a shopping app for iPhone and Android that lets you order cheap goods online with major savings. Most items ship straight from China, and a growing number ship from the U.S. for faster delivery. You can even pick up select items locally in minutes.
  • Zogo is a FREE mobile app for kids and adults (age 13+) to learn financial literacy. Earn points towards gift cards to Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks and more by completing short, bite-sized modules. The many lessons include:
    • How to save money
    • Importance and best practices for a good credit score
    • How to minimize debt
    • How to successfully create and maintain a budget
    • Long-term investment strategies

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Bitcoin

The path to accumulating wealth with bitcoin is one that anyone can walk, regardless of its fiat performance.

None of this is financial advice! Please do your own research before buying bitcoin.

Since the historic, bloody event of March 12th, 2020, when the price of bitcoin dropped 50% in 1 day, its price has been in a constant uptrend. Going from ~$3,800 to $64,000 in roughly 1 year, bitcoin is in a historic bull run. Many people are making profit in bitcoin, and you’re wondering how you can get in on the fun.

But what does making profit mean in bitcoin? Whereas most think that profit means making more U.S. dollars, I disagree, and we can turn this argument on its head. Making profit in bitcoin is when your total satoshi count (the amount of BTC you own) goes up. In the end game, when fiat dies, the only thing that will matter is bitcoin. When counting profits, you need to use the correct unit of account. Bitcoin is that superior unit of account, not the downtrending U.S. dollar.

Now that you’re evaluating your wealth in BTC terms, what do you do? Do you trade bitcoin? Do you trade other cryptocurrencies? Do you try to time the market, buy low and sell high? Nope. The easiest way to make a profit in bitcoin is to buy and HODL. That’s it. Nothing complicated. It takes no time out of your day, and you don’t even have to think about it.

The beautiful thing about bitcoin is that it’s not investing, it’s saving. When you invest, you take the money you earned from your day job and invest it in assets like stocks and real estate in the hopes that you can turn a profit in the future by selling it. You have to take your money and buy assets with it, and your investments can turn out poorly. Saving is taking your earned money and simply saving it—not taking your bitcoin and investing into other assets hoping to make a return, but just letting it sit there and do nothing.

Saving in bitcoin is the best way to increase your purchasing power because of the hard-capped supply of 21 million BTC combined with its increasing user adoption. All you have to do is sit on bitcoin; there is absolutely no need to use your bitcoin to take on risk. As bitcoin was the best-performing asset of the last decade and is looking to be the best performing asset of this decade, one would be a fool to invest one’s bitcoin into other assets.

Bitcoin is not a giant bubble destined for $0; that is only something mainstream haters say when trying to discredit Bitcoin. Once you understand how the Bitcoin protocol works, you realize that there is little to no risk in using bitcoin as a savings vehicle. Its price fluctuations are just market participants reacting and have nothing to do with how Bitcoin is governed. Bitcoin goes through big booms and small bust cycles, eventually en route to infinity. Anyone buying or dollar cost averaging into bitcoin, making it their unit of account, is profiting. Get to the point where every time you stack more satoshis, you hit a new all time high, regardless of bitcoin’s current dollar price.

Please note: this works for bitcoin (BTC) only! The above does not apply to any other cryptocurrency


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Bitforce5 is reborn! It's a blockchain visualization that uses a force-directed graph. BCH telemetry has been added (and about time!)

I wrote BitForce5 for Bitcoin years ago, long before the fork. This last weekend I dusted off the cobwebs, added BCH and tuned up the presentation.

It was created as an educational exercise to learn about d3, Data-Driven Documents library, specifically the force-directed. A steady stream of transactions from the blockchain made an ideal data source. This time around I had an interest in Quasar and Vue.js frameworks and decided to overhaul BitForce5. One cool Quasar feature, right out the box, an appt can be installed as a PWA on your mobile device.

I've wanted to add Bitcoin Cash activity for some time now but never found a good data stream. The original data stream was blockchain.info. It's still an option, but it doesn't emit BCH events. They also crippled the available BTC data points, and it doesn't emit all trxs. So I looked at TxStreet and added it as a source.

If anyone knows of other BCH blockchain streams (websocket), I'd be interested, especially one that includes the value for each input/output address.

Be sure to browse the settings menu in the upper right to fiddle with the graph parameters. It's still very much beta as I continue to add back features from the original site and smooth out the graph performance.

Fun fact, when I wrote bitforce5.com there were so few transactions on the network that I had to wait nearly a minute for the next trx to pop. It took a half-hour before the nodes filled up. I had to write a test data generator to spew fake trxs to see any meaningful amount of action. Of course now it takes less than a 15 seconds to flood the whole display. And you can mix both the BCH and BTC action.

Note: It can get overwhelmed with both BCH and BTC operating. There are times, often before a BTC block appears, when the data stops flowing and appears to spool up. And then bang! All of the transactions flood in at once and explode onto the screen. Unfortunately, this can overwhelm the browser. If this happens tune down the Max Edges setting. I highly recommend running in Chrome as it appears to handle the SVG/Javascript load better.


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Vertcoin 101

Disclaimer: I have been in crypto space since 2016, I HODL and mine Vertcoin among other cryptos.

Now that's out of the way, I would like to take this opportunity to educate everyone here both newcomers and veterans of cryptocurrency about Vertcoin and the unique opportunity it presents for all of us.

What is Vertcoin?

Vertcoin (VTC) is an ASIC-resistant P2P Litecoin fork that uses Proof Of Work (POW) to reach consensus. Billed as the 'The People's Coin', the Vertcoin ascribes primacy to keeping its mining functions decentralized, and seeks to allow anyone with a personal computer to join the Vertcoin network.

This video describes what Vertcoin is perfectly, if you have some time please go watch it.

As you might have noticed the key focus of Vertcoin is decentralization and it tries to achieve it by making mining fair and available to everyone with a graphics card that has at least 2 Gb vRAM. It is also ASICS resistant and will remain that way. Every time an ASIC was detected on the network it has forked to a new algorithm to boot them off the network and make it mineable via a GPU. As of this writing that has happen 3 times, last one being on Jan 2021 to Verthash.

What is ASIC and why is Vertcoin against it?

An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use like GPUs. It is designed to be very efficient at doing one thing and one thing only. In case of mining it will enable a miner to mine a specific coin/token faster and efficiently which translates to better profit.

But, wait that doesn't sound so bad at all does it?

Well, it's complicated and here is why. Even though ASIC in paper is efficient and more profitable, it is very expensive and even if you can afford to buy one the chances are you not getting the best one available. Let me elaborate, ASIC costs a lot of money to develop and produce, somewhere between hundreds of thousands to multi millions and the companies producing these ASICs use them to mine a coin/token first before selling them to others. This means you are either getting a used ASIC miner or an older version of it. If you can shell out tens of millions of dollars then you might be able to get unused and latest ASIC miner which means only rich can profitably use these ASICs to mine leaving the little guy out of the picture.

Now the only way for us average user to buy these coins/tokens are from those ASICs producers or big mining farms. We the consumer do not have any say on what happens to the coin as Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned when he said one CPU one vote. The prime example of this is Bitcoin fork to Bitcoin Cash. You can read more about it here.

Because of the reasons above Vertcoin was created in 2014 form a fork of Litecoin's code base. It kept all the parameters of Litecoin such as max block size (1MB), average block time (2.5 mins) and max supply (84 million). However the algorithm for mining was changed so that it's profitable to mine via a consumer grade GPU and is till this day.

Relation between Vertcoin and Bitcoin:

Vertcoin was forked off of Litecoin's code which was intern a fork of Bitcoin's code therefore, they are closely related. You can think of Vertcoin as a first cousin of Bitcoin. Since, the code is very similar any updates/upgrades that is done to Bitcoin can also be ported to Vertcoin for example SegWit (Fun fact Vertcoin activated SegWit before Bitcoin on it's network). Developers constantly port the changes to Bitcoin's code over to Vertcoin regularly. This makes Vertcoin the closest thing to a GPU mineable Bitcoin. So close that they are Atomic Swap, submarine swap and Lightning network compatible.

Atomic Swap:

An atomic swap is a smart contract technology that enables the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another without using centralized intermediaries, such as exchanges. This means no KYC no exchanges as Cryptocurrencies were supposed to be. You can more about atomic swap here.

Submarine Swap:

Submarine Swaps are atomic on-chain to off-chain swaps (and vice versa, often called Reverse Submarine Swaps) of cryptocurrencies. Again, no KYC and exchanges here either. Read more about Submarine Swap here. Vertcoin is the only coin that has demonstrated to work with Submarine swap AFAIK. Here is a video proof of Submarine Swap between on chain Vertcoin and off chain Lightning Network Bitcoin.

Lightning Network:

The lightning network is a second layer technology applied to bitcoin that uses micropayment channels to scale its blockchain’s capability to conduct transactions more efficiently. You can learn more about lightning network here.

Mining Vertcoin:

Decentralized mining is the key goal of Vertcoin and will always be it's top priority above anything else. Since, the recent fork to Verthash anyone can mine Vertcoin at home using their PC profitably. Even though it's not as profitable as Ethereum to mine at this moment, once ETH moves to Proof of Stake (POS) consensus I expect Vertcoin to be more profitable to mine in the coming days.

Recently released One Click Miner 2.0 makes it ridiculously easy to mine Vertcoin. It is truly one click and all the overhead of mining like creating a wallet, connecting to the best pool are taken care of automatically. A new iteration of OCM is being worked on which lets you swap your mined Vertcoin's to LN BTC from within the miner itself. Although it's still in beta it's been proven to work without any issues.

The biggest problem with mining using your PC is that you cannot use it while mining let alone play games. However, the new mining algorithm Verthash solves this problem in a spectacular fashion. Not only can you use your PC while mining (I am currently typing this post from my PC while also mining Vertcoin) you can also play non graphics intensive games like Minecraft, League of Legends, Dota, etc. without any significant performance impact. Check out this post for an example.

Another benefit of Verthash is that you can underclock your GPU's core and reduce power limit, doing so will not affect mining at all and will keep your GPU running cooler and you will be able to use it for longer. My GPU never sees more than 65c while mining fans are quiet and even on a hot day the temperature of the GPU never goes significantly higher.

Verthash is memory intensive which means developing an ASIC is rather hard and if one is ever developed it will not have a significant performance improvement as compared to a GPU.

If you are interested in mining Vertcoin head over to vertcoin.org and download their One click miner. Here is what you need to do after you have downloaded OCM.

  1. Extract the zip file
  2. Add the exe file to windows defender/AV exclude list. (If you don't do this it might get flagged as a malware, rest assure it is not. Every mining software is flagged as such and it's a false positive. However, if you don't trust me and want to find out for yourself, the code is open source and you can have a look at it for yourself. Also try to compile it yourself if you know how.)
  3. Launch the OCM buy clicking on the exe file
  4. Enter the password for the wallet and remember to note it down somewhere. You will need it to send funds to other wallets. If you forget it there is no way to retrieve it later.

That's it, you are now mining Vertcoin. Next time you want to start mining just click on the exe file and you are all set.

51% attack:

sadly, Vertcoin has had two 51% attack in the past. Even though they weren't profitable for the attackers it is still a big deal. Unfortunately there is nothing developers can do to remedy that and the only way to prevent the next attack is to get enough miners on the network so that it is impossible or unprofitable. However, there is some good news, last two attacks were conducted by renting hashpower from Nicehash but it is no longer possible since Nicehash has publicaly stated that they will not be supporting Verthash on their platform. Here is the proof.

Fairness:

  • No pre-mine: Vertcoin has been fairly mined since it's inception and developers do not hold a large amount of coins, each and every coin was distributed among miners for supporting the network.
  • No airdrop: Being a minable coin this is not possible, unless there was a large pre-mine which is not the case with Vertcoin.
  • No ICO: No pre-mine means this is not possible either.

Marketing and Exchange listing:

Since, Vertcoin is a community funded project and maintained my volunteers with no pre-mine there isn't enough money for a wide scale marketing. That is why you don't see tons of bots awarding and upvoting every single posts in reddit forums and other social media platforms. Because of the lack of funding marketing team cannot run digitals ads or pay influencers to promote Vertcoin that is why it is over shadowed by other crypto projects both genuine and scams.

Vertcoin is only listed in two bigger exchanges as of this writing, Bittrex and Bitvavo (Only for Europe). Every single exchanges contacted by the marketing team or the volunteers are asking huge sums of money for listing, which they don't have. There is a campaign going on to raise funds for Changelly listing, so far community has donated about 6500 Vertcoins. If you find this project genuine and would like to contribute please take a look at this post.

Future:

I cannot tell you what the future holds for Vertcoin but I can tell you this much, developers will keep working on it to make sure it is up to date with Bitcoin and ASIC resistant, community will always support and mine it.

I also have some predictions based on current events and they are as follows:

  • More miners will start mining Vertcoin after ETH move to POS
  • If lightning network takes off or another layer 2 solution is developed for Bitcoin, Vertcoin will always be compatible with it and might fill in some gaps where Bitcoin is lacking.
  • There will be solutions developed which will make it easier to convert Vertcoin to Bitcoin and vice versa without a centralized entity like exchanges and KYC.
  • When Bitcoin goes main stream and everyone is using it in their daily lives, we will still be able to mine Vertcoin with our PC and convert it to on chain Bitcoin or off chain Bitcoin and have a reliable source of income.

​

I hope this post helped you understand what Vertcoin is and what makes it special. In these times where scams are rampant and it's hard for us to find out which crypto is genuine, I wanted to shine some light on the crypto that brought me to mining and taught me a lot about cryptocurrency and the future of finance.

Peace

Edit:

  1. As pointed out by u/HyperGamers Vertcoin has forked 4 times so far.
  • Scrypt-Adaptive-N to Lyra2RE
    Lyra2RE to Lyra2REv2 ( CPU botnets )
    Lyra2REv2 to Lyra2REv3
    Lyra2REv3 to Verthash

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Indyglo's Sixty-Two Referralcodes

Below are 62 of my current signup links and referralcodes for cashback bonuses and discounts, categorized by type, followed by alphabetized summaries. I am a customer of the listed sites/apps/services and appreciate any questions or feedback.

Auto/Travel

Banks/Finance

  • Aspiration - https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/AJFRATCE0M3GII6I - Get $50 cash when you join Aspiration - free bank account - and spend $250.
  • Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) - [(U.S.) - WA, ID, OR ONLY] - We can both earn $100 when you join BECU and open a Member Share or Member Advantage savings and also a checking account.
    • You must use both these codes when signing up:
      • promo code: 100REF21
      • my unique referral code: 1412508
    • Sign up online, by phone - 206-439-5700 - or at a BECU Branch and keep acct. opened for 90 days.
    • You must perform 10 of the following transactions within the first 30 days of opening acct :
      • Make a purchase using your BECU debit or credit card (easy with grocery store self-checkout!)
      • Write a check or electronic check.
      • Make a payment using bill pay.
  • Chase Bank - https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/2735652016 - Get a $225 Bonus when you open a new Chase Total checking account.
  • Privacy - https://privacy.com/join/H3S9S - $5 when you sign up using my referral link (Privacy lets you generate smart, virtual debit cards to use online).
  • SoFi Money - https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=004af404-1a99-46b4-b486-44bce3a0ab1d - $50 plus cashback rewards when you sign up for a free account and fund it with $500 or more (no account fees and no ATM fees at 55,000 ATMs). Additional bonus if you sign up for direct deposit.
  • SoFi Personal Loan - https://www.sofi.com/invite/personal-loans/?gcp=ffdeec67-6330-4093-831c-7f84dce20cf4 - You and I get $10 each when you check your SoFi Personal Loan rate, and there is NO hard credit pull for checking your rate. You and I get another $300 each when you fund your SoFi loan.
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing - https://www.sofi.com/invite/student-loans/?gcp=6d9376c5-591a-439d-8bdb-c15da7d50852 - You and I get $10 each when you check your SoFi Student Loan Refinancing rate, and there is NO hard credit pull for checking your rate. You and I get another $300 each when you fund your student loan.
  • Square - https://squareup.com/i/JOHNJJMEGO - Free processing of up to $1000 in sales.
  • Venmo - https://get.venmo.com/ooGrFLhVjfb - Get $5 when you download the Venmo app using my referral link, sign up and make a $5 minimum payment to friends/family/etc. within 14 days.
  • Zogo - https://zogo.app.link/OpvQLwDYodb - Earn 750 Pineapples on Zogo when you use my code: JOHNM711 when you make an account. With Zogo, you can earn gift cards while learning about various aspects of personal finance. I've personally learned quite a bit with this app, complete modules daily to learn more and have recommended this to all of my friends and family. Great for adults and kids.

Cash Back

Credit Cards

  • American Express - http://refer.amex.us/JOHNMJN7Q?XLINK=MYCP - Sign up using my referral and earn $300 back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Blue Cash Preferred Card in your first 6 months of card membership. Plus, apply by 5/5/21 and earn up to $200 back on eligible purchases at select U.S. home furnishing stores (the following merchants will qualify: Anthropologie - Home & Furniture, Bed Bath & Beyond, CB2, Crate and Barrel, Crate and Kids, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Terrain, and The Container Store.)
  • Capital One Venture - https://capital.one/33F9Sar - Sign up using my referral link and get 60,000 rewards miles (worth $600 when you redeem for travel).
  • Discover IT - https://refer.discover.com/s/ssjqfl - Sign up using my referral and you'll get $50 back for signing up for a Discover IT credit card and making any $1 or more purchase within 3 months.
  • SoFi Credit Card - https://www.sofi.com/invite/credit-card?gcp=70c8148e-bc31-480e-9a01-33b7ace2a1fb - Sign up using my referral and get 2x points (4% cash back) on all card purchases for 30 days.

Food/Nutrition

Games

Investing

  • Acorns - https://www.acorns.com/invite/EJLS85 - Get $5 when you use my link to open an account and make an investment.
  • eToro - https://etoro.tw/39w5dup Get $50 bonus when you open an account, transfer $100, make any crypto trade, and hold for one week.
  • Sofi Invest - https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2500097 - Get $50 worth of your favorite stock to start building your portfolio when you fund your SoFi Active Invest account with at least $5,000. Get an additional $25 worth of bitcoin for buying $10 worth of bitcoin on SoFi Crypto.
  • Stash - https://get.stash.com/john_h88crts - Earn $20 of bonus stock when you join using my referral link and add cash to your personal investment or bank account.

Jobs

Shopping

Uncategorized

About These Apps/Services/Sites:

  • 23andMe offers two Personal Genetic Services: Health + Ancestry and Ancestry + Traits. Both services require submitting a saliva sample using their saliva collection kit that you send to the lab for analysis. 23andMe's Ancestry + Traits Service helps you understand who you are, where your DNA comes from and your family story.
  • Acorns merges the robo-advisor model with an automated savings tool, making it easier to build a nest egg. Besides the $5 they give you for signing up, they'll put your money in investments automatically which increase daily, monthly, yearly. You don't need to do anything. Invest as little or as much as you want, and they will put you in a position where your investment will grow.
  • American Express is a lucrative cash-back card for several spending categories. Your first year of $95 annual fee is waived, and offers up to an industry leading 6% cash back for select U.S. restaurants, streaming subscriptions, supermarkets, transit, gas stations and more.
  • Aspiration is an online financial institution offering a variety of accounts, with a focus on rewarding customers with cash back for purchases made from ethical companies. The money customers deposit through Aspiration is held at one of its partner banks, which offer FDIC insurance.
  • Befrugal is run by a bunch of cheap, thrifty, penny pinchers who believe that a dollar saved is two dollars earned. Find tens of thousands of coupons, deals, promotional codes and earn cash back for more than 5,000 retailers, including big retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
  • Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is Washington's largest member-owned, not-for-profit credit union. BECU puts the interest of its members ahead of profit, offering its members free checking, no maintenance fees and no minimum balance requirements. BECU offers business services, personal checking and savings accounts, IRAs, mortgage and home equity loans, personal loans, vehicle loans, online banking and more. BECU is a Federally Insured State Chartered Credit Union with 42 branches, headquartered in Tukwila, WA.
  • Capital One is a credit card company offering many different types with a variety of cash back bonuses and other benefits.
  • Chase Bank is the largest bank in the country and offers a robust menu of products and services. It provides mortgages, auto loans and one of the broadest selections of credit cards in the industry. And its website experience can compete with those at online-only banks that focus solely on checking and savings.
  • Comcast Xfinity is a consumer-facing internet and television brand. TV at home & on the go. Hulu on X1. Stream live sports. Advanced security. Move service stress-free. Millions of hotspots. Netflix on X1. Prime Video on X1. Services: Internet, TV, home security, mobile.
  • Discover IT is a credit card company which offers a cash back match at the end of your first year (no maximum), with no annual fee, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers. Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases (places vary each quarter) when you activate.
  • Doordash offers delivery & takeout from the best local restaurants. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and more, delivered safely to your door. Doordash offers pickup & no-contact delivery.
  • Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you save files online and sync them to your devices. You can use Dropbox links to share files and folders with other people without sending large attachments. Dropbox offers a free plan that includes 2GB of storage. You can pay to increase that to as much as 3TB with a subscription.
  • Duolingo Plus - Duolingo is the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world, with more than 300 million users. The company's mission is to make education free, fun, and accessible to all. Duolingo is designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Upgrading your free Duolingo account to Duolingo Plus gives you an ad-free experience. ability to download lessons in the app for offline use and unlimited skill test-outs.
  • eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets
  • Evernote Premium - Evernote is an app that allows you to work from anywhere, stay in sync from any device, no matter where you are—you can even access notes when you have no WiFi or mobile data access. Evernote Premium, the top tier, adds the most features, such as the ability to search for text in Office documents and PDFs, annotate PDFs, scan business cards and suggested notes and content from the web that are relevant to the note you're currently working on.
  • Fuel Rewards is a loyalty program that helps you save money on gas when you dine at participating restaurants and shop at participating grocers, local, and online merchants. Save at least 5¢/gal on every fill-up with Gold Status at Shell, and save more when you combine with other rewards (see https://www.fuelrewards.com/fuelrewards/how.html).
  • GivingAssistant is a company that gives you cash back and coupon codes when shopping via their online portal. When you purchase a product via the cash-back platform, the merchant pays a commission to Giving Assistant. Then, 50% of the commission is paid back to the customer (you) as an incentive. You can choose the nonprofit and also adjust the percentage they receive.
  • GNC is the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products, including vitamin, mineral, herbal and other specialty supplements and sports nutrition, diet and energy products.
  • GoCashBack is a cash-back website allowing you to get up to 31% cash back at your favorite stores. Find cash back and browse coupon codes to save even more money at over 1,500 retailers. Use the GoCashBack app to check your cash-back status from anywhere and click through while on the go to save when you shop from your phone. You can even get cash back when you dine out locally or at special events.
  • Groupon, whose name combines "group" and "coupon", is a website and mobile app that offers coupons, cashback on purchases and group deals to consumers. Restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers use Groupon deals in an effort to lure customers into their establishments or to purchase their products.
  • Grubhub partners with restaurants in your area to offer delivery for ones that don't normally deliver, while also offering a convenient online ordering system for the ones that do. Everything is handled through Grubhub, giving customers the flexibility to sign into one place and order nearly anything.
  • Home Chef is a weekly subscription meal kit service. Customers receive orders with all the fresh ingredients you need to make restaurant quality recipes, designed by Home Chef chefs. Home Chef saves you the time of going to the grocery store, finding new recipes, meal planning, and portioning.
  • Honey is a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout with a single click. Honey supports over 30,000 stores globally
  • Houzz is an online platform for home remodeling, architecture, interior design, decorating, landscaping, and home improvement.
  • Ibotta is a free cash-back rewards and payments app that gives you real cash for everyday purchases when you shop and pay through the app. Ibotta provides thousands of ways for consumers to earn cash on their purchases by partnering with more than 1,500 brands and retailers.
  • Instacart lets you shop from local grocery stores online, then sends a “personal shopper” to fulfill and deliver your order to you the same day (or a future date/time of your choosing). Unlike other grocery delivery services, the company doesn't stockpile fresh produce in a massive warehouse.
  • Instacart Shopper - Earn extra money shopping for others. As a shopper, you go to the grocery store like normal, except you’re getting paid to shop for others. Work whenever it works for you. With no set hours or days, you can shop as much or as little as you want, anytime you want. Must be age 18+ and be able to lift 40lbs.
  • Invitation.Codes is a site/app where you can sign up for free and post your referral links/codes for all of the most up to date promotions that are out there at the moment. There's a great community vibe to it and it's a great way to meet other like-minds while learning about new products and signup/referral offers.
  • Lemoney is a cash-back site with 1800+ stores. Find the best deals, coupons, cash-back rates, promo codes, sales, and discounts at Lemoney. Shop with Turbo Cashback and boost your cash-back rate.
  • Lyft is a rideshare service that lets you call a driver and car to your location using the Lyft app who will drive you where you need to go.
  • Miles is a rewards app empowering anyone to earn miles automatically for all modes of transportation. The Miles app rewards you with miles - their version of points - for no matter how you get from point A to point B (whether you drive, walk, bike, ride the train). Redeem the miles you’ve earned for rewards, discounts, and deals from brands such as Amazon, Chewy, DoorDash, HP, Reebok, Home Chef and more.
  • Mr. Rebates is a shopping portal where you can do online shopping at online stores you love, and earn cash-back rebates on your purchases. They have an A+ rating from the BBB (Better Business Bureau), and you can earn as much as 30% back.
  • MyPoints is a daily rewards program – just like when you earn miles on an airline or cash back on a credit card. Flexible, you don’t have to stick with one store to earn Points, and you don’t have to take your rewards in just one form. They have many partners that our members can shop with and redeem from. You can also earn points by completing surveys, watching videos and more.
  • NatureBox is a snack subscription focused on providing healthier options to reduce stress and promote wellness. Their snacks are unique, delicious, and guilt-free. No artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. No corn syrup of any kind. No hydrogenated oils. No MSG. Some newer offerings include a Wellness Collection of snacks containing adaptogens in their ingredients list, CBD Snacks infused with hemp, supplements, and coffee.
  • Postmates is an on-demand goods delivery platform having a presence in more than 100 metropolitan areas in the US that enables people to get anything from local restaurants and stores delivered at their doorstep for a small fee. Postmates delivers goods with the help of their human courier networks which enables people to order anything from anywhere within the city.
  • Privacy.com is an innovative way to protect your personal information over the internet. Are you feeling uncomfortable using your credit card online? Privacy.com has the perfect solution - it creates a virtual card that masks your bank statements for your online payments.
  • Raise is a money-saving website aimed at helping people buy and sell discounted gift cards.
  • Rakuten gets a commission from stores when you make a purchase, and shares it with you. Find the store on rakuten.com, click “Shop Now” and shop like normal on the store site. After you make an eligible purchase, you’ll earn cash back and get a check or PayPal payment every quarter.
  • RebatesMe makes it easy to save at the stores you love. Earn cash back while shopping online, get access to thousands of coupons, and get the best price on millions of products.
  • Shutterfly enables users to create personalized photo gifts (including photos and text) such as smartphone cases, photo books, wall art, and home decor. Through its Lifetouch division, it also provides portraiture services.
  • Skillz is the world’s premier tournament platform where mobile gamers can use their skills to compete for cash and prizes. True to its name, Skillz does not host games of chance, and all winnings are based on your ability. Games include Solitaire Cube, Blackout Bingo, 21 Blitz, Texas Holdem and many more
  • SoFi Invest allows users to buy and sell individual stocks as well as ETFs and select cryptocurrencies, offering innovative investment tools to help members get their money right at every stage of their financial lives.
  • SoFi Money is an all-in-one product that is a hybrid checking and savings account. There are no account fees or minimum balance requirements, so you can bank freely. Pay no ATM fees at 55,000+ ATMs worldwide. Because SoFi Money is all online, you deposit checks from your phone and pay bills online. You can also use SoFi Money to transfer and receive money, like paying the babysitter or covering your share of dinner when the bill comes — All cash in your account earns 0.25% APY, which is quite high and even beats traditional banks’ high-yield savings accounts. No fees, and offers interest rate reduction.
  • SoFi Personal Loan is a great option for borrowers who make a decent income and have good credit. There are no origination fees or late fees, and you won’t be penalized for paying your balance off early. They offer low rates, no fees, exclusive member benefits including access to career coaches and financial advisers, exclusive virtual events and more. Fixed personal loan rates range between 5.99% APR to 20.25% (with AutoPay).
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing offers student loan refinancing and private student loans. Its refinancing loan is best for borrowers who want plenty of benefits with their refinanced student loan. Its private loan is best for flexible repayment options and no fees. You can see if you qualify with NO HARD credit check.
  • Square is a popular service that allows you to buy, sell and send money using any Apple or Android mobile device. With three free mobile apps — Square Register, Square Wallet and Square Cash — Square is designed to help small businesses accept credit card payments and to help consumers transition to a cashless, cardless lifestyle.
  • Stash aims to make the process of selecting stocks and ETFs quick and easy for beginners. Stash offers other account options, including brokerage and bank accounts, plus access to a Roth or traditional IRA retirement account.
  • T-Mobile is one of the largest providers of wireless voice and data communications services in the US with more than 81 million customers. It has about 2,200 T-Mobile and MetroPCS branded retail sites (ranging from kiosks to stores).
  • TopCashback is a competing cash-back web site that claims to offer higher cash back than some of the other larger sites. Rather than spend extra money on expensive commercials, TopCashBack uses the savings to provide consumers with higher cash-back payout rates.
  • Uber is a rideshare company with an app that allows passengers to hail a ride and drivers to charge fares and get paid.
  • Uber Driver - Turn your spare time into earnings with the Driver app - built with drivers, to bring you helpful information at your fingertips. Help as you move people and things where they need to go. Drive whenever you want — no offices, no bosses. Wherever you want to go, you can enjoy the journey and the destination. Requirements:
    • Meet the minimum age to drive in your city
    • Have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the US (3 years if you are under 23 years old)
    • Have a valid US driver’s license
    • Use an eligible 4-door vehicle
  • Uber Eats is a food delivery platform that makes getting great food from your favorite local restaurants as easy as requesting a ride. Their app connects you with a broad range of local restaurants and food, so you can order from the full menus of your local favorites whenever you want.
  • Uniqlo is a Japanese casual wear brand for women, men, kids & babies, operating in 20 different countries. Uniqlo is known for providing high-quality, private-label casual-wear at low prices.
  • Venmo is a social payments service used by millions of people to make, receive and share payments with friends, family, and select approved businesses (without using cash or checks). It’s similar to PayPal, but is unique in that Venmo allows users to share and like payments and purchases through a social feed.
  • Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products.
  • Wayfair is an American e-commerce company that sells furniture and home-goods.
  • Wish is a shopping app for iPhone and Android that lets you order cheap goods online with major savings. Most items ship straight from China, and a growing number ship from the U.S. for faster delivery. You can even pick up select items locally in minutes.
  • Zogo is a FREE mobile app for kids and adults (age 13+) to learn financial literacy. Earn points towards gift cards to Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks and more by completing short, bite-sized modules. The many lessons include:
    • How to save money
    • Importance and best practices for a good credit score
    • How to minimize debt
    • How to successfully create and maintain a budget
    • Long-term investment strategies

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