IMA alum Grayson Earle collaborated with The New Inquiry to develop a free, easy-to-use application called Bail Bloc, which mines for a cryptocurrency to help disadvantaged people in New York pay for their bail bills. The project was born as a response to the prison-industrial complex, which imprisons thousands of low-income people before they are even trialed, making them lose jobs or custody of children and subjecting them to plea bargains.
The application uses a small part of your computer’s unused processing power to mine a popular cryptocurrency called Monero, which is secure, private, and untraceable. At the end of every month, Bail Bloc exchanges the Monero for US dollars and donate the earnings to the Bronx Freedom Fund, which posts bail for low-income people detained in New York effective immediately.
The fund’s model allows for the money to be recycled: if a defendant shows up in court on their appointed date, the bail is refunded, and it can be used for someone else.