Xapo and Taringa! Worlds ‘Largest Bitcoin Integration’

The Palo Alto based bitcoin wallet company Xapo, founded by Argentine entrepreneur Wences Casares, recently announced its partnership with the largest Latin American social network, Taringa!. The partnership produced an innovative platform called Taringa! Creators, which not only allows Taringa! users to earn bitcoins for posting content on the social media site, but also provides them with alternative banking solutions.

"Xapo’s partnership with Taringa! implements the largest bitcoin integration the community has yet to see and is a historic moment for both bitcoin and social media."
— -Xapo.com

The new platform would make Taringa! the first major social network site to offer financial incentives to users who post and share content, while also introducing bitcoin to new users. "In addition to the Revenue Sharing Program, Taringa!’s entire user base will be given bits  each day to share and earn, adding value to Taringa!’s existing reputation system" explains the Xapo website.

Founded 10 years ago, the Latin American social network now has 27 million registered users, with 75 million unique visitors per month. This makes Taringa! the fourth largest social network globally, after Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, and the second most popular in the Hispanic market.

According to the latest ComScore audience report, Taringa! grew 54% between June 2013 and June 2014 – the highest growth among all of the compared social network websites. Taringa! Is in an ideal position to spearhead the introduction of bitcoin to a new and rapidly growing market.

"We chose to launch Taringa! Creators using bitcoins because we believe it is the most efficient way to make millions of micro payments per day, and does not require users to have a bank account or a credit card."
— – Taringa!

Through the partnership with Xapo, Taringa! Is providing similar functionality found in traditional banking, but without the transaction costs or long processing times. Users will receive the equivalent of a bank account from Xapo, complete with access to a debit card for use at merchants that don’t accept bitcoin. The Taringa! solutions come without the common banking fees and regulatory problems that so many of us live with in the legacy banking system.

"Because of the technical and engineering work required of Taringa! to build out the platform, this has been in the works for many, many months."
— – Tiburcio de la Carcova, Senior Vice President of Xapo

Following integration of the Xapo wallet, a beta testing program was unveiled last Tuesday, and invites were sent to a test group chosen specifically by Taringa!. "In a first step, we will ship a closed invitation to 1000 people.” explains the Taringa! website

The Taringa! Creator test group will have access to two distinct revenue streams. Taringa! will share a percentage of advertising revenues generated by the page that content is placed on. Earnings will be tracked, accumulated and then paid in bitcoin. Each page will keep earning money for as long as the content is available, which accumulate in each user’s account as Bits – which they can spend, tip, or withdraw to their Xapo wallet.

"The program automatically calculates the number of bits that corresponds to each user for their posts, as a combination of variables, the most important: Income advertising"
— – Taringa!

The second revenue stream for Taringa! Creators is through the voting system. The voting buttons have already been in place for 10 years, so users are familiar and comfortable with the process. The system is similar to common social networking voting system, on websites such as Reddit or Digg, but with a financial twist. Each vote on Taringa! will cost the voter one bit that goes directly to the content poster.

To facilitate the transition Taringa! has decided to give bitcoin directly to all users that sign up for a free Xapo wallet – in an attempt to create a full bitcoin economy where both earners and spenders flourish. As a result, participants of Taringa! Creators will not only be able to make money from writing and posting content , but they will also automatically receive a small amount of bitcoin every day. "This is the plan for the foreseeable future." Tiburcio de la Carcova elaborates.

Since everyone is given an, as yet undisclosed, amount of bits each day voters will have some free bits to pass around. That means as soon as the beta testing period is over, all Taringa! users will be able to participate in the system. "Every Taringa! user can give and receive bits." explains Tiburcio de la Carcova.

Being paid in bitcoin, as well as having to use bitcoin, Taringa! Creators will inevitably start using bitcoin more regularly. Not just to send around inside the Taringa! Network, but also as a currency outside of the network through a Xapo wallet.

"You can currently tip or share bits within the community. Once bits are in your Xapo wallet, there are a variety of things you can do with it, whether it be buying goods or services from bitcoin accepting merchants, or using the Xapo debit card to withdraw cash, or make purchases from any merchant that accepts debit card. Most Taringa! users will be eligible for the debit card once it comes out of beta."
— – Tiburcio de la Carcova

Of course users may wish to cash out the bitcoins for local currency, which can be done by sending bitcoins from Xapo to any local exchange service such as Mercado Bitcoin, or even to a local ATM machine.

The potential explosion of bitcoin on the Taringa! platform has raised concerns about blockchain bloat within the bitcoin community. A large volume of tiny transactions makes the blockchain grow much faster than current hardware may be able to maintain. A Xapo spokesperson, on hand at the Reddit announcement thread, eased fears by explaining that these bitcoin transactions will not be sent to the Blockchain as they happen, but will be aggregated by Xapo and batch processed on a regular interval.

The size and scope of this bitcoin project should not be underestimated. After the initial pilot program has ended, the full Taringa! user base of 27 Million will be offered a free Xapo wallet, along with free bits for the foreseeable future.

"With 300,000 Taringa! users already giving around a million points each day on the network, the partnership has the potential to quadruple the current number of bitcoin transactions worldwide."
— – Xapo.com

It is still too early to determine whether Taringa! And Xapo’s efforts will jump-start a larger bitcoin economy in Spanish-speaking nations, or stay confined to the social media website. However, one thing is certain; millions of people who would benefit from the unique characteristics of Bitcoin are about to be introduced to bitcoin, and receive some for free.