Celebrating the Bitcoin Halving? Exercise with the #HalvingChallenge at block 629999

What will you be doing between blocks 629999 and 630000? Well, the people behind Team Satoshi and Bitcoin Runners have decided to livestream an athletic challenge that may just be the first edition of the Bitcoin Olympics.

It’s called the #HalvingChallenge, and bitcoiners from all around the world will exercise together to celebrate this new era of Bitcoin mining rewards. Some participants will be running, others will be cycling, and there are even bitcoiners who have announced that they will be swimming or do burpees.

If you’re not one of the guests who join the livestream during block 629999, then you can record yourself exercising and post the footage on Twitter by using the #HalvingChallenge hashtag. The moderators (myself and Alexandra) will give you a shoutout and some retweets for participating the challenge.

The livestream itself begins at block 629998, so that the guests and the challenge can be introduced to everyone watching. But a block later, it’s going to be a full exhibit of athleticism.

Who said that being in the space is only about sitting in a computer chair for extended amounts of time? Who said that halving events should only be about people talking for hours? The #HalvingChallenge aims to be the most dynamic Bitcoin halving celebration, and everyone is invited to watch and do a quick workout.

While other events make you sit for extended periods of time, the Halving Challenge helps you burn some calories in a fun way.

Who are the guests and what’s the charitable cause?

The two organizers of the Halving Challenge are Team Satoshi founder Vitus Zeller and Bitcoin Runners founder Richard Taylor. Their guests include Anibal Santaella, Anita Posch, Javier Bastardo, Giacomo Zucco, Meltem Demirors, Desiree Dickerson, and many other bitcoiners who are into sports.

During the workout livestream, an ongoing fundraiser will seek to support the St. Anne School in Zimbabwe. If you’d like to make a donation, use this address (for more info and verification, check the official Team Satoshi website): 37JYLVegSbFESajY2DtZu7eyYDALmcc1Vg

Some information from the Halving Challenge press release

Team Satoshi was created by Vitus Zeller in 2019. In the beginning, the Bavarian entrepreneur thought about how he can become a harmonious and effective part of the Bitcoin ecosystem. As a sportsman he considered that sports can touch people emotionally. While many mainstream media outlets primarily report on negative aspects or unresolved challenges of Bitcoin, Team Satoshi promotes positivity and spreads knowledge while undergoing workout challenges. 

To improve the public perception on Bitcoin, Vitus came up with the idea of creating a decentralized sports team based on the freedom-loving ideals mentioned above. Correspondingly, athletes and Bitcoin enthusiasts around the world can participate in challenges and events  independently.

Initially, Vitus has tested a prototype of his idea on his own for Bitcoin’s 10th birthday. On January 3^rd, 2019, the Bavarian entrepreneur started his adventure with his bicycle from Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence and finished his 1000 km winter cycling tour by crossing the Alps in the snowy winter. The journey came to an end after 10 days, when Vitus arrived in Frankfurt and stopped in front of the ECB headquarters. The challenge of this so-called “Tour de Satoshi” was, besides the cycling part, to pay with bitcoins for each of his nine nights of hotel accommodation. Although Vitus had to drive to more than 50 hotels, this payment goal was achieved in seven out of nine cases. In addition, Vitus was able to pay for all seven hotel nights with donations from other Bitcoin enthusiasts.

Since then, several events have been organized by different athletes associating themselves with the Team Satoshi mission. This includes the Satoshi Freeathlon (#satoshifreeathlon), the Run for Hal Finney challenge (#RunForHalFin), several marathon runners in different countries, and more. Find out more at teamsatoshi.org. 

Bitcoin Runners is a free, global, borderless running club at the intersection of two community lead movements enabling sovereignty of one’s wealth, while improving one’s health. It was founded by Richard Taylor at the Digital Asset Summit in London in March 2019.

The ‘genesis run’ took place during the summit with Anibal Santaella. It was supposed to be a 20 minute run along the Thames, but they ended running for 20km because they were simply enjoying it so much.

Thanks to Andreas Antonopoulos’s assistance, Anibal introduced Richard to Vitus and they have since been working, and working-out, together.

For more information about Bitcoin Runners visit http://www.bitcoinrunners.org/

Also, if you’d like to read the entire press release, then you can find it here.

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