Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Indyglo's "You Never Forget Your First" 65 Signups

Below are 65 of my current referral links for cashback bonuses and discounts, categorized by type, followed by brief company summaries. I'd greatly appreciate if you use my links below if you decide to get in on any of these bonuses.

Auto/Travel

Fuel Rewards - https://www.fuelrewards.com/fuelrewards/welcome.html?RefId=e9ac5597976f42e089c07adc1532ea51 - Gold Status and save 5 cents/gal when you sign up.
Lyft - https://www.lyft.com/invite/RIDEONJJ - Varies by location ($5 in credits/first ride free/etc.)
Miles - https://miles.app/ZD2ESE - Get $5 (2,000 Bonus Miles) when you download the app using my link or entering my code ZD2ESE.

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/tgkzVpRi3fb - 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

Befrugal - https://www.befrugal.com/rs/PKCSCTA/ - $10 sign-up bonus when you earn $10 cash back at any of 5,000+ online stores within 365 days.
GivingAssistant - https://givingassistant.org/np?rid=J9dlDtoFa6 - Get $5 when you sign up and earn $0.99 or more in cash back.
GoCashBack - https://www.gocashback.com/r/1834780 - Get $5 and 5% cash back bonus when you sign up and earn $20 cash back.
Honey - http://joinhoney.com/ref/x160d1v - Get $5 when you sign up using my referral link and earn Gold on a qualifying purchase.
Ibotta - https://ibotta.com/register?friend_code=ugqlqeg - Get a $10 bonus when you sign up using my referral link - or use code UGQLQEG - and redeem any qualifying offer.
Lemoney - https://www.lemoney.com/i/johnmego?45764498ac93d54df29b4d50664d0d2e - Receive 3 turbo credits when you sign up and make a $25+ purchase in your first 30 days.
Mr. Rebates - http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=449275 - Get a $5 bonus when you use my referral link. (Note: their website doesn't indicate any bonus, but as long as you used the referral link, it tracks and you'll receive the bonus).
MyPoints - https://www.mypoints.com?rb=49534715 - Get a $10 Gift Card of your choice when you use my referral link to sign up and spend $20 or more on any shop merchant through the MyPoints site/emails in your the first 30 days.
Rakuten - https://www.rakuten.com/r/MPHO202?eeid=28187 - Get $30 when you sign up using my referral link to create an account and make $30+ purchase through Rakuten. Note: better bonus now; it was previously $25 until 5/6. $30 bonus offer valid through 5/13/21.
RebatesMe - https://www.rebatesme.com/r/mph6g471a5 - Get $5 when you sign up using my link and earn $10 in cashback within 365 days.
TopCashback - https://www.topcashback.com/ref/johnmego - Get $10 when you sign up using my referral link and reach a minimum cashback threshold of $10 cashback.

Credit Cards

American Express - http://refer.amex.us/JOHNMXbYN?XLINK=MYCP - Sign up using my referral and earn $150 back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Blue Cash Preferred Card in your first 6 months of card membership. Plus, earn 20% back on purchases at Amazon.com on the card in the first 6 months, up to $200 back.
Capital One Venture - https://capital.one/33F9Sar - Sign up using my referral link and get 100,000 bonus miles (worth $1,000 when you redeem for travel) when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the 12 months from account opening, or earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months (worth $500 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

Doordash - https://drd.sh/T6cRRo/ - Get $10 off each of your first 3 DoorDash orders over $15 when you sign up using my referral. You'll need to copy/paste link if you reach an error page.
- Extra Savings:
  - Paypal has $100 DoorDash e-giftcard for $90 ($10 off).
Full Circle - https://www.fullcircle.com/ - Get $15 off your first box when you apply my promo/share code - JZHN3876 - during checkout. Offer valid for new subscribers or those who have not received a delivery in 3 months. Deliveries to Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska (U.S.).
GNC - https://refer.gnc.com/mpho2002 - Get $10 off your first $75+ order.
Grubhub - https://www.grubhub.com/referral/094dd810-bd50-11e8-ab87-c5056adfa1b1 - Get $10 off your first $15+ order.
Home Chef - https://www.homechef.com/invite/johnm071 - $35 off your first delivery when you use my referral link.
Instacart - https://inst.cr/t/WjFubld0WDFt (or use code JMEGOWAN16F12A when signing up) - $10 off your first order when you use my referral link or code. Groceries delivered in as little as 2 hours
NatureBox - http://ref.naturebox.com/v/john_160 - 20% off your first order.
Postmates - https://postmates.com/invite/JMEGOWAN - Up to $100 free delivery credit.
Uber Eats - Get $20 off your first Uber Eats order of $25 or more. Use my code at checkout: eats-johnm172134ue (https://ubereats.app.link/PmWdhjSNxdb)

Games

Skillz - https://skillz.com/p/GYNX3/1E1 - Get $20 when you sign up and make your first deposit.
Swagbucks LIVE- https://w5hv9.app.goo.gl/Tv3eGqj55h2YgqJ96 - A free app where you can play live trivia M-F for a chance to win a big cash prize. Use my referral code PMNSD

Investing

Acorns - https://share.acorns.com/mpho2002 - Get $10 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

Instacart Shopper - https://shoppers.instacart.com/?referral=JMEGOWAN7410A - Use my referral link (you may also need to copy paste my code, JMEGOWAN7410A, when signing up). Guaranteed $1,050 for completing 53 batches in Seattle. Offer varies by location.
Uber Driver - https://partners.uber.com/i/JOHNM172134UE At least $1,200 guaranteed for your first 150 trips within 90 days of signing up to become an Uber driver (may vary by location).

Shopping

Groupon - https://www.groupon.com/visitor_referral/h/b482a215-b6bc-43c9-bfa7-851ea67ca66c - $10 off your first $10+ purchase when you sign up with my referral link and place your first order within 72 hours.
Houzz - https://houzz.com/referral/referee-coupon/UkVGMEQwMkEx - Use my referral link to get $100 off your first purchase.
Raise - https://geta.raise.com/JMEGOWAN6681 - Get $5 when you sign up using my referral link.
Shutterfly - Use one of my three Shutterfly referral links to sign up and receive the gift/discount of your choice:
- 50% OFF Graduation Cards - https://invite-shutterfly.com/x/qyEfGj
- FREE Shutterfly Photo Book - https://invite-shutterfly.com/x/DbycJY
- FREE Personalized Cotton Tote - https://invite-shutterfly.com/x/zpYF9C
Uniqlo - https://refer-us.uniqlo.com/s/John360 - $10 off $75+ purchase when you use my referral link.
Volcom - http://rwrd.io/dhl47hd - $10 off $49+ purchase when you use my referral link.
Wayfair - https://www.wayfair.com/registry/referral_invite?PROMO_CODE=1YQFCYF9E8Z7&refid=EML_38637 - Engaged couples: use my referral link to create a Wayfair Registry and you'll receive $50 (each) in Wayfair Rewards when you receive your first gift.
Wish - Referral code 7vgzqzk - $5 off your purchase when you sign up and use my referral code.

Uncategorized

23andMe - https://refer.23andme.com/s/lhfeg - Minimum of 10% off your order when you use my referral link.
Buy Me a Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/johnmego - You can set up an account and promote your ventures, connect with others, and even buy me a coffee!
Comcast Xfinity - https://referafriend.xfinity.com/ShareTheAwesome/1RUVAR - Up to $100 when you sign up for one or more Xfinity services (TV/Internet/Home Security/Mobile)
Dropbox - https://db.tt/pxongGTiwL - Join using my referral link and you'll receive an additional 500MB of storage.
Duolingo Plus - https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKSPXG5JZ4LUS4IQ - Get one week free when you use my referral link.
Evernote Premium - https://www.evernote.com/referral/Registration.action?sig=164f7674ad363f6fbc0aeb7efbc6f3da05591e7f74884cb7621948af21623078&uid=191384629 - Free month when you use my referral link.
Invitation.codes - https://invt.co/?invite=3dL2NnX9l - 20 coins when you sign up using my referral link (good towards premium account upgrade and benefits)
T-Mobile - https://share.t-mobile.com/johnm-2570 - $50 referral bonus when you use my referral link. (Note: I don't know whether this one has a sign-up bonus, or if it's just a bonus for the referrer).

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).
Full Circle - Farming organically since 1996, Full Circle delivers the season's best produce and wholesome farm products conveniently to your door when you live in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Each delivery includes the option to edit/customize your box online and comes hand-packed with 100% certified-organic produce, news from your farmer, recipes, produce tips and details on upcoming farm events. Adding artisan farm products to your produce deliveries is optional. Full Circle makes it simple to live the good life.
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.
Swagbucks LIVE is a daily live trivia game show where you test your knowledge to win huge cash prizes.
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 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

Thanks for checking out this post! These referrals - and more - are also available on my profile page at https://invitation.codes/@johnmego. And if you want to share your referral codes there, please use my referral link to sign up: https://invt.co/?invite=3dL2NnX9l

Monday, May 10, 2021

Moving Exchanges & Tax Implications

Hi all,

A bit of a noob question:

Up until recently, I'd been using eToro to buy Bitcoin and altcoins but have since realised that the spread is quite large and so moved to Binance Australia. I don't think it's possible to withdraw my eToro Bitcoin into a wallet. I was considering just leaving my current holding as is on eToro and buying more on Binance from now on.

However, considering that I'm expecting to have higher taxable income in the 2021-22 financial year, would it be wise to sell on eToro to trigger a CGT event this financial year? I'd buy back on Binance using the proceeds and potentially sell for profit next year. I'm hoping realising some of my gains before 30 June this year will reduce the total tax paid across this year and next year. Another option would be to just HODL to secure the 50% CGT discount.

Thanks!

ViaBTC Guide | Things about Mining Pools That New Miners Need to Know

https://preview.redd.it/o9ufjb3ykfy61.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=908c0c3af1266c75532eb60e1e9fdcb639da2e71

Amid the bull market, cryptocurrencies are receiving widespread attention. At the same time, venture capital seems eager for action, institutions enter the market, and technology giants keep investments, followed by a great number of individual investors. They are all looking for investment opportunities after the COVID-19 epidemic.

Given that many new investors are strangers to mining pools and relevant obscure concepts, ViaBTC has prepared this issue to get them aware of how the mining pool works and the main settlement methods among the existing mining pools.

Q1: What is a mining pool?

The concept of “mining pool” originated from Bitcoin. As we know, due to the low hashrate of the Bitcoin network, mining was not that difficult at the very beginning, and even an old desktop computer would suffice. Yet as Bitcoin has gained increasing consensus and miners, the hashrate of the entire network climbs, making it hard for individual miners to stably obtain block rewards on the Bitcoin network due to their low hashrate. That was the time when several of them considered gathering their hashrate for pool mining. Some institutions/platforms got inspired, and tried to integrate small hashrates, which led to such a hashrate integration system called the “mining pool”.

In a “mining pool”, individual miners, regardless of their hashrate, can benefit from such pool mining, and their income is directly determined by the settlement method.

Q2: What are the major settlement methods among the existing mining pools?

There are five major settlement methods, respectively, PPS, PPS+, FPPS, PPLNS, and SOLO.

PPS (Pay Per Share): Mining output is about probability, and the ratio of actual income to expected income is called the luck value. If the luck value is greater than 100%, it means the actual income of the mining pool is better than expected and vice versa. PPS is a distribution method that prevails when the luck value is 100% of the theoretical income. In other words, under PPS, the mining pool bears all the risk of fluctuations in mining output: it still needs to pay miners the due income even without blocks generated that day. In return, miners need to pay the mining pool some transaction fees.

In general, this method is characterized by “stable income regardless of the market conditions”, which is also dubbed the “employee mode” by miners.

PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares): This method calculates payments based on the number of shares miners submitted on the pool. Miners’ income is closely related to the actual amount of blocks generated in the mining pool. When a new block is mined, the mining pool will first deduct the transaction fee, and then distribute the remaining block rewards and miner fees to each miner in proportion to the contribution of hashrate.

If the mining pool generates a lot of blocks in a day, the profit in this mode could be considerable. But if without any valid block, the miner will gain no profit that day.

PPS+ (Pay Per Share+): The “+” here means the miner can additionally obtain miner fees from the mining pool. In fact, PPS+ is optimized on the basis of the PPS model. In other words, another part of the income is added to the PPS model: the miner fees obtained by the mining pool are distributed according to the proportion of the miner’s hashrate.

FPPS (Full Pay Per Share): Compared with PPS, in this mode the miner can enjoy additional mining income. Yet there is something different. In the PPS+ mode, the additional miner fees are distributed on the basis of the miner fees obtained by the mining pool, while in the FPPS mode it is subject to the average ratio of miner fees of the entire network on the day. As a result, the mining income varies with the different distribution rules of miner fees between FPPS and PPS+, settlement methods and mining pools.

SOLO: In the SOLO mode, miners work independently and will get all the block rewards with corresponding transaction fees deducted. If no blocks are generated, the miner will gain no income. So SOLO is more suitable for miners with a high percentage of hashrate, yet remains not that friendly to those with ordinary hashrate.

The above are the main settlement methods among the existing mining pools. Of course, the specific income also depends on the percentage of the mining pool’s hashrate and the overall operation and maintenance capabilities.

Q3: How to choose a good mining pool?

This bull market has given birth to many institutions in the industry, including incubators, exchanges, media, project developers, mining farms and mining pools. What factors need to be considered for new investors/new miners when choosing a mining pool?

First of all, you need to choose a mining pool with a larger percentage of hashrate. Such mining pools enjoy overall strength, partnerships with large mining farms, and trust from the majority of miners. Mining pools with many years of good reputation generally have a long history;

Second, choose one with a good reputation. Good products and services bring good reputation, which reflects a mining pool’s overall strength and its resources accumulated in the industry;

Third, choose a mining pool that offers much convenience in mining, withdrawing and selling tokens, which is particularly important in extreme market conditions.

All the above make ViaBTC Pool a preferred option. Having engaged in mining for the past four years, it has been one of the top mining service providers in the world. Committed to the concept of security, transparency, fairness, and freedom for all these years, ViaBTC Pool respects the needs of the market as well as the majority of miners, integrates industrial resources, and has rolled out services such as selected mining farms, hedging, staking, and mining companies, which are deeply concerned by the industry and unanimously recognized by miners.

It is worth mentioning that ViaBTC allows miners to automatically withdraw mining income in the extreme market, free of transaction fees, a function well-received among miners. All the mining income can be automatically, once in an hour, converted into USDT and BTC on the automatic exchange page. Miners can also manually exchange the mining income according to their needs.

If you are a veteran with some knowledge of ViaBTC Pool, you may be aware that our products, services and functions are designed to meet the diversified and personalized needs of miners and investors in general. If you are a newcomer to this field, it is suggested you follow updates of ViaBTC so that you won’t miss the latest “ETH Mining Carnival” event where you can mine ETH without transaction fees and can even enjoy an additional 2% of income for new hashrate. There will be more surprises and exciting events, and we sincerely hope to embrace the era of the digital economy with all miners.

The Doge Card - Day 2: A 21st Century Payment Processor

tldr; Doge has something that not many of the other crypto's have and that's liquidity (a lot of coins). Because of that and the low fees (compared to say ETH), it has the opportunity become a mainstream 21st century blockchain payment system.

I've organized this into sections, so if you don't care about a specific section, you can skip to the next:

Section 1: Context
Section 2: Background (aka Story Time)
Section 3: The role Doge can play in the financial system
Section 4: Community Input Questions

Section 1: Context

In a previous post, I discussed the Doge Card concept allowing people to use Doge on a debit card to transact with the existing infrastructure and be reloadable adding more Doge as needed. After more research, this post discusses next steps and things for the community to consider, #butfirst let's take a look at how the financial system came to be where it is today.

**Section 2: Background (aka Story Time)**

A long time ago in a nation not far away...

**************SCROLLING CREDITS*********************

Turmoil has engulfed the new Republic. It has only been 36 years since the US declared independence and now war with Great Britain and her allies threatens the stability of the young nation.

With a blockade of deadly Royal Navy battleships blocking trade with Europe, Americans are left to trade among themselves.

While the banking system was full of politicization and corruption, foundations would soon be laid that defined the US financial system for generations to come...

*****************END CREDITS************************

To summarize the history of banking in the US across the years, the ability to issue credit and remain solvent when debtors default is the core theme of regulatory and systemic changes. To facilitate solvency challenges, the federal government took it upon themselves to insure the American people and reassure that their money is safe - it is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States in response to the great depression in the 1930s establishing the FDIC. This and more recent regulation in 2010 with the Dodd-Frank Act, has worked to prevent banks from failing and increase their ability to offer businesses and consumers credit to buy houses, cars, go on vacations, and start businesses that create jobs. This backing though comes with a price, oversight and intense procedures with a snail pace of innovation.

Section 3: The role Doge can play in the financial system

This is where cryptocurrency has made a huge impact. The ability to transact internationally quickly (within 10 minutes and 1 minute for Doge), to not have a central entity inflate and deflate it at will, and to have privacy in a time where companies are collecting tons of information about you, sounds like a silver bullet solution, but there are trade-offs which will be discussed in section 4.

Where Doge fits in to the puzzle, is that unlike many other crypto coins, it has liquidity and is not deflationary; although, it will inflate less and less over time. The early American financial system (as well as many before it) proved that by having a store of value as a means of transactional currency limits the ability for transactions to take place.

Circulation problem - there is a small amount of it
Adoption problem - only the wealthy have it and it's difficult to price things against it
Hoarding problem - owners want to hodl instead of release into the economy (Banks were the first true hodl'rs - we will lock our doors before we give you our bullion!)

This is why Bitcoin, the trailblazer, has failed to gain mass adoption in terms of transactional use - because it was not designed to be used but literally designed to be hodl'd. See why Stripe ended their adoption in 2018 - https://stripe.com/blog/ending-bitcoin-support#:~:text=Therefore%2C%20starting%20today%2C%20we%20are,transactions%20on%20April%2023%2C%202018.

Doge on the other hand has the solution to each of those problems:

Circulation problem - there is plenty of it, over 129B coins (compared to USD circulation of 2.2 trillion it's not quite as liquid b/c the USD circulation has been inflated over the years)
Adoption problem - it's affordable and attainable, even if it reaches $10 becoming top valued crypto in the world, it's still affordable and things can be priced against it
Hoarding problem - in it's current volatile state, there will be this but as adoption of a functional use increase, think this will turn more into a savings account like perspective where you get 10% interest growth rather than current banks of 0.01% - 0.6% annual rate, but you aren't afraid to spend it to go Disney World or ticket for Virgin Galactic space tourism ride.

This sets Doge up to be a primary candidate for a payment system (and yes there are 3 other cyrpto with more liquidity than Doge but I'm excluding them b/c don't know much about them other than BTT which is meant really as an internal reward system).

Let's talk about the components of the existing electronic payment system with debit cards/credit cards:

Payment Gateway -> acts an entry way to talk to a merchant bank, think Authorize.NET, you still have to get a merchant bank account which will offer Authorize.NET as the payment gateway solution.
Acquiring Bank (aka Merchant Bank, aka Processing Bank) -> the merchant bank, if you go with Authorize.NET you will have to get a Merchant Account through your bank and go through a lengthy KYC process, sometimes a credit check, etc. Newer platforms like Stripe, provide a merchant account and payment gateway for you all in one and take on some of the risks (e.g. merchant being fraudulent taking customers money and disappearing - Stripe has to pay this back to the customer) and most compliance tasks handling the relationship with acquiring bank behind the scenes. Note: The merchant bank account is not the same as a business checking account, but separate. If you just accept checks and cash, you don't need a merchant account.
Payment Processor -> the entity that coordinates payment flows on behalf of acquiring banks, think First Data or Global Payments. They primarily act as as a routing mechanism that connect gateways to acquiring banks through credit card/debit card networks to issuing banks.
Issuing Bank -> the bank that issued the debit/credit card
Credit Card Network (sometimes Credit Card Association)/ATM Network -> the network through which VISA/MasterCard determine which issuing bank to send transaction requests to or for debit-pin transactions, the inter-bank network of determining authorization (Discover/American Express are their own issuing bank).
Clearing House (facilitated by Credit Card Networks or ACH) -> how transactions are settled between the Issuing Bank and the Acquiring bank (upon authorization/capture, the acquiring bank will generally release funds right away to the merchant although it still takes 1 day or more to actually be deposited into a business account for use and will settle later with the issuing bank)

The next two components towards the Doge Card are:

A payment gateway
A payment processor to route transaction requests to legacy networks or the blockchain network in which the blockchain would act as the issuing bank

Section 4: Community Input Questions

If you've made it this far, I'm quite impressed. There are some challenges with this hybrid evolution with both perspectives clashing. The crypto world (it seems) has the following values:

Security - it's a common occurrence for credit cards and personal information to get hacked, with so many parties involved it's not surprising that data can be comprised
Privacy - it's not uncommon for personal information to be sold or made accessible to businesses within a supply chain - how many have gotten letters in the mail for pre-qualified credit offers that you didn't apply for
De-centralization - consumers have put their trust in entities (corporate and government) and a few bad apples ruin it for everyone where decisions are based more on profit-based outcomes (best for bottom line) which doesn't always align with consumers or is a regulation worthy event (e.g. political agendas).

Still, there's no perfect system. In the pursuit of those things, it comes with a cost which outrages the traditional banking system:

Invites Security Treats - Crypto is not invulnerable to security issues and in some ways invites more hacking opportunity by being open source and a public ledger revealing nodes and large wallets. The counter to this though is that crypto is more transparent about security issues which are quickly addressed.
More privacy supports illegal financial activities - when you know the currency you are accepting can be used for other things without being watched and having oversight, it becomes easier for criminals to finance human trafficking, drugs, weapons, etc.
De-centralization supports fraud opportunities - when you don't have a central counter-party that holds issuers to acquirers and vice versa, then one party can renege in which the merchant either doesn't get paid or more likely the consumer doesn't get the promised product/service combined with increased privacy, the consumer doesn't even know who the merchant is.

No one really talks about the fraud that happened in the early days because most people weren't directly affected by it, but if you ever seen Catch Me if You Can, it shows just how easy (not really) it was to commit all kinds of fraud. Having a bank refund a transaction for a merchant not fulfilling their product/service is something that is easy to take for granted until you get screwed over.

To increase adoption and implement a payment gateway and payment process, these 2 problems need to be solved.

The Questions Finally 😌

As early adopters of Doge believing in it's long-term value:

Would you be willing to give up on some privacy for more accountability and to what extent (e.g. in some cases, regulation requires SSN/EIN like receiving business payments)?A thought I have is connecting wallets to phone numbers and addresses, encrypted and hidden in public network but accessible given node agreement of the validity of the inquiry (e.g. court order) and only to that requester (e.g. government authority clients would be given special permissions to make these authorized requests and created through a community facilitated process - see #2). The phone number/phone identifier could also be used to send push notifications/text messages if and only if the consumer opts-in related to wallet activity (think a development platform like Shopify but the blockchain becomes the source of the customers privacy rights). While companies like CoinBase provide wallet apps, this reduces the effect of de-centralization. If CoinBase fell off the face of the earth, how would you access your wallet? What happens if their bottom line starts to fall and they want to start charging you for it? Privacy controls should be the responsibility of the network.
Would you be willing to rethink de-centralization to some degree to reduce fraud and protect consumers via Community Driven De-centralization?Again, there is no perfect system, but the community here in this subreddit and when the coins were stolen early on is pretty impressive. StackOverflow and the like give strong credibility to the self-organizing capability of individuals. I think a fraud prevention system within the network could be implemented algorithmically pretty decently allowing you to approve transactions on your phone via FaceId/Pin (reducing theft of wallet/issuing card) and by requiring more identify verification from merchants such as a node verified merchant. You could still send direct payments to non-verified merchants but at your own risk. This merchant verification would largely be automated but to merchants whose transactions seem to be flaky require additional community verification. In return for volunteering, the system would reward these community fraud preventers in Doge (e.g. in addition to mining). It would also provide a similar mechanism for flagging transactions as fraud in cases where human validation may be required. How many of you have been scammed before? It sucks. Community fraudster preventers would help reduce that giving consumer confidence. The question becomes, who is qualified to do that and what would stop the wallet holder and his/her/them allies to join the fraudster preventer program to allow their transactions but stop competitors. I think the answer to this is that the protocol
1. Would never allow you to review your own transactions or transactions of those you have a direct transaction relationship with
2. Require you to hold a wallet for a given amount of time (e.g. 30 days) before becoming eligible to apply to join reviewed by existing members
3. All manual decisions would be peer-reviewed by 3 or so people with majority vote
4. Merchants/consumers could appeal decisions which would require 5 votes by people with more experience
5. The protocol would implement a training based program that would you would go through to participate and unlock that feature
6. You as a fraudster preventer would be able to review other fraudsters preventers and be reviewed by others of your feedback/decisions for community accountability.
7. With respect to the government authority special accounts, this verified merchant process would apply to verify government authority process.

Whatever the implementation, if we are going to ever see Doge gain payment system adoption, there will need to be controls in place to limit illegal activity and offer protection to consumers.

Thanks in advance for your feedback, you've made it to the end. The fate of the galaxy now rests in your hands!

As a side note, one might wonder how is this profitable for an organization/business to invest in? The answer is it's profitable for the community and doge holders overall. Transaction fees would be given to node operators facilitating the infrastructure for the network in hosting a payment gateway node or a payment processing node. They would then be able to convert it to USD to cover operational costs and earn profit or pay directly in Doge. The key aspect here is not that node operators don't make profit, but rather one node operator doesn't have more than 50% influence/control, aka de-centralization.

Only invest the money you can afford to lose.

(reposting for visibility)

I am fairly a noob to stock and crypto markets. But what I learned from the last few months:

Don’t invest your life savings in any market thinking you’ll be rich next week, thus the post title.
The fluctuations in pricing are normal. don’t be afraid.
Look at the bigger picture. Where was doge a year ago? its a huge rise.
Don’t listen to everything r/crypt0currency says, most of them are Bitcoin holders. They doesn’t like something else getting popular than Bitcoin.
Whales will always dump huge amounts to make it go down and make smaller holders panic sell and they will rebuy again. Thats how filthy rich becomes filthier rich ( applies to stock markets too).

I think Doge will be used in many places considering the recent events, so don’t be that guy who have to buy Doge in high price to use it in the future, so hold what you have

"When is the last time you had something a billionaire wanted to buy from you?" - The Masked Investor - to the young apes worried about X shares - YOU'RE ON THE RIDE WITH US.

I started in January. I felt the panic of missing out, and I did what I could to afford shares. The HFs get to cheat, we don't. It's our money. The bastards even mocked us, saying "they're on their phones, with their government checks" or something to that effect. No sir. I am using money I can't afford from a job I work hard at. I am not alone. We sacrifice because we believe in AMC theaters, because we know a good investment when we see it, and we want you to feel it for once. Not us, you. Welcome to the red, boys and girls. Cozy, isn't it?

So to you smaller apes, with X or XX shares, I want you to know that you have that many shares more than the rest of the sleeping world. The biggest financial event in a century (maybe, I know I like hyperbole) is about to happen and not very many have a clue, let alone a vested interest like you do. Congrats! This is that 'if I had only invested in Google in the 90s', or Microsoft, or FB, or bought Bitcoin for .05 cents a coin. Those moments are glaring to everyone in hindsight - but few saw it happen when it did.

You did. You caught one of those moments. You were smart enough, you had the discipline to stand firm in your read of the situation, the sacrifice to keep it going, the near-constant distraction because news is 24/7.

You're here. I can't speak for every ape, as each is an individual, but I know for sure I'm hodling. Your shares will be worth the same amount as mine. We've been packing for this ride for a long, long time. I'm not going to miss the party on the moon with the giant shrine of the Silverback and Trey.

1 share is a ticket to ride. Fractionals, if you're out there then you need this ride more than any of us and we'll seat you in the front of the rocket.

If we lift off without our GME brothers and sisters, we'll toss 'em a line. I have no doubt they'd do the same. Apes stronger together. Tendies taste best when every ape is eating.

All of the above was hyperbole and nothing more than one individual's impression. Everyone likes the stock for their own reason. We just have that in common.

Edit: Said brothers. Must include sisters. David Attenborough voice: "The females of the pack are often the meanest of the apes, as seen here as one hired a pilot to fly 'We're Not Leaving' over Citadel." Good lord, apes, we've come a long way, haha. A personal favorite moment was the drone and double agent spying late at night.

Edit: In hindsight, I may be amping up some new apes too much. Yes, I'm excited. Yes, it was a great day. However, I have been here, as so many others, when we got slammed down. It happens and it sucks. It'll suck less when you've been there before, and the only way to make it worse is if I set you up for it. Absolutely nothing has changed. We continue to do what we've always done, which coincidentally is the same buying and holding strategy we all seem to be fond of. It works for index funds, after all.

If we slam, it's okay. If we climb, it's great - really great. But now, no matter what, you know we can climb. You might not have seen that yet either, and that's an experience too. This is a tug-of-war, and has been. Remember, we used our own money. We went up against a damn machine. A literal computer trying to learn us and beat us. Infiltration 24/7 reading our posts. Let me tell you, as an Army vet, we absolutely fail communications/operations security. We spell it all out. We did learn a bit and started censoring share amounts, so, hey. We're trying to be better and that's awesome.

Anyway, all of that - and young apes new to the battlefield that is AMC stock - we're still winning.

Enjoy this day. Many more will come, even if they're far apart. Now you know.

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