Bison Trails Newsletter 002 • Mar 2020

A lot changed here in New York City in the last month. Like many of you, our team is fortunate enough to be able to continue our work from our homes (in the NYC area, distributed across the country, and around the world).

Now more than ever, I am grateful to be a member of this team and to remain deeply engaged with work. Staying connected during a moment of rapid societal change is a privilege. It’s also a source of comfort.

In that spirit, our second company newsletter begins with links that may help adapt to new environments and remote life, curated from resources we’ve shared on our company Slack. Also included—a few recommendations for coronavirus support efforts from members of our team.

There is good news to share too, but first and most importantly, I hope that you are safe and healthy. 🌞

– Mark Forscher, Head of Brand & Design

Good Resources

1. Adapting to Remote Life: Check out Justworks’ collaborative doc of tips on remote life. It is “a public, collaborative list of helpful links for anyone working (and living) remotely and looking for great ideas and accessible resources for staying happy, healthy, and safe during this crazy time.” From fitness videos to kids classes, there are links for everyone. —Melissa
2. Dealing with Business Disruptions: This Guide to the US Stimulus Bill’s Aid for Small Businesses is an evolving round-up of how to tap into Federal government support for your business. —Austin
3. Food & Meal Support: Food banks and other meal services are critical lifelines for children who depend on now unavailable school meals and for so many people who are unable to work. Seek out your local food bank, a program for children, or contribute to a national organization. —Guillermo
4. Peer-to-Peer Support: For anyone with job security, there are many peer-to-peer ways to help people whose work status has been impacted by COVID-19, including leveler and Fork Over. —Casson
5. Direct Support: Members of the #CeloAlliance are mobilizing in response to the novel coronavirus outbreaks. GiveDirectly is delivering cash to vulnerable families directly economically impacted by COVID-19. Also, Mercy Corps' Resilience Fund provides “emergency supplies, food, clean water, and urgently needed support to vulnerable families and communities during this crisis and beyond.” —Mark

Company News

1. NuCypher + Worklock

Through a strategic integration, Bison Trails and NuCypher will bring cryptographic infrastructure to users globally while scaling the network securely and supporting WorkLock, NuCypher’s innovative token distribution mechanism. If you have ETH, learn more about WorkLock. (See coverage in Cointelegraph)

2. Solana

Building on a year of experience working with the Solana team and protocol, we are excited to welcome Solana token holders to the Bison Trails platform. Run your own validators or delegate to our validator at mainnet launch. Help secure the network and earn participatory rewards! (See coverage in Decrypt)

3. Celo

We're proud to join Celo's Alliance for Prosperity. Celo has the potential to be a global driver of financial inclusion. While this new Alliance was framed as a Libra rival in media coverage, we support both of these initiatives and believe they can coexist while furthering similar goals:

"Many blockchain projects, not just Libra and Celo, are trying to make the world more financially inclusive. As a long-term technologist, engineer and entrepreneur, the idea that there’s only one protocol that can do this and solve for all the needs of the future, seems naive."—Joe Lallouz, CEO

4. Coda

"Community is blockchain's killer feature. Bison Trails is proud to be a Genesis Founding Member, the highest honor in the Coda protocol community. Bootstrapping a community of passionate and active ecosystem contributors is the number one challenge protocols face today." –Viktor Bunin, Protocol Specialist

View all our supported protocols.

Bison Trails: Pioneering Blockchain Infrastructure™

Bison Trails is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service company, based in New York City, specifically focused on blockchain participation. We’ve built a platform for anyone who wants to participate in new chains effortlessly (e.g. by running Cosmos Validators, Tezos Bakers, and Libra Validators, etc.)—without having to invest time and resources into developing any of the engineering, protocol, dev ops, or security competencies in-house. Our goal is for the entire blockchain ecosystem to flourish by providing robust infrastructure for the pioneers of tomorrow.

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