GrapheneOS donation options from Pakistan

gra123d

I've had enough of using GrapheneOS for multiple years without donating even once.
My ~ 1,000 Rs (~ 5.05 CAD) monthly donations will never be equal to the immense value GrapheneOS adds to my life. But. It is better than nothing.

The problem is, Pakistan restricts outward transfers, there is no PayPal, outgoing Wise does not work, and the only option is a regular bank SWIFT wire, with service charges at many levels.
Admittedly, I've never sent money abroad due to such hurdles, except ordering from AliExpress via my local bank Mastercard Debit Card online, but that too has massive taxes now.

I plan on trying the wire method as a last resort. If anyone here has faced similar issues from their country and has some tips, please do share.
It would be ideal if GrapheneOS had a bank account in a local Pakistani bank but it is probably too much effort/too costly for them at the moment.

Important note: I have yet to try GitHub Sponsors as I have not trusted GitHub with my banking info and would rather avoid it, I'm sure there will be fees there too(similar to AliExpress) but probably less than wiring method. Maybe I should create a dummy GitHub account just for this.

Tips and suggestions welcome.

Carrousel7956

gra123d It's not possible to buy crypto?

gra123d

Carrousel7956
That's unfortunately its own can of worms. I'm not an expert but reading online, it seems Pakistan recently created Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for crypto but has yet to give licenses to any exchange and FBR or FIA can hold your money and harass you.
Basically, the official support is gray, P2P is full of scams, and overall there is a good chance to get in trouble.
It's a corrupt country.

de0u

gra123d It might make sense to assess the fees for a quarterly donation instead of monthly. Or perhaps you could find a group of people to take turns eating the fees.

envelope

gra123d I would pay in crypto instead of revealing yourself as a GrapheneOS user to the government.
In Russia, i rrange meetups with my local crypto exchange and we swap 1-15k USDC with cash just fine. Banks are terminating banking accounts, it's practically illegal to participate in P2P since you are responsible to know where the money came from. In authoritarian countries i think it's best to act as normal as possible.