How Bitcoin and Ether May Help Besnik Sokoli Get to the 2018 Winter Olympics
Cryptocurrency and crowd funding converge to help a war refugee from Kosovo on his quest to compete in Olympic alpine skiing in 2018.
NEW YORK, December 12, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Besnik Sokoli is 36-year-old war refugee from Kosovo and a superintendent in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. This past January, he entered a downhill skiing race and despite having not been on skis in 20 years, he surprised himself and everybody else by winning.
He is now self-funding his dream of representing Kosovo in alpine skiing at the PyeonChang Winter Olympics. Sokoli admitted in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the cost of training for the Olympics has put a real burden on his family. “My credit cards are maxed out.” But he defiantly states, “I’m either going to make it or I’m going to die trying.” This comes from a man who has been shot and stabbed while a teenager in war-torn Kosovo.
Besides setting up a GoFundMe page, Sokoli also hopes that by accepting donations in Bitcoin and Ether via his official website he will increase the chances of covering his Olympic training costs.
Cryptocurrency has been the undisputed highest performing asset class of 2017, recently minting the billionaires Winkelvi. Bitcoin (BTC) has nearly reached $20,000 per coin and public companies like Overstock, CBOE and CME have decisively entered a space that many consider a new and important asset.
Hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz predicts that the market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies will reach $2 trillion in 2018. Novogratz is looking to form a $500 million hedge fund focusing on ether, bitcoin and blockchain technologies. Likewise, Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, announced a new $100 million fund that will be denominated in XRP.
How can cryptocurrencies help Sokoli’s dreams of competing in South Korea?
According to Frank Chaparro of Business Insider, donations made in Bitcoin at Fidelity Charitable, a multi billion-dollar charitable group, increased almost 30 percent in in the first half of 2017 compared to all of the previous year.
While there are potential tax benefits associated with making donations with cryptocurrencies, one of the overall takeaways with donations via bitcoin, ether or any other coin is that crypto is simply becoming more mainstream.
Craigslist now accepts Bitcoin as a means of transaction between sellers and buyers.
In November, Square announced that it would offer the ability to purchase and sell Bitcoin on its app.
Coinbase’s app became the number 1 download in the United States for the Apple iPhone. Coinbase allows people to easily buy and sell bitcoin, ether and litecoin.
After finishing a workout on the skier’s edge which emulates downhill skiing, Sokoli turns off the recording of Radioactive by Rita Ora and replies when asked if bitcoin and ether can help him, “I’ve got to do everything I can. Every little bit helps. I’m not stopping,” he said.
About BesnikSokoli.com
BesnikSokoli.com is the official website of Besnik Sokoli. Besnik Sokoli is a Kosovo war refugee who was shot in the face and stabbed before escaping Kosovo by impersonating a Serbian soldier. Sokoli is employed as a superintendent in Brooklyn, New York and lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his wife, three children and mother. He aims to represent Kosovo at the 2018 PyeonChang Winter Olympics. To find out more about Besnik Sokoli or contact him, please visit website: http://www.besniksokoli.com
Source: Besnik Sokoli