“…I learned many things that allowed me to strengthen and improve my knowledge of how policies are developed, work and continue to affect the lives of people not only in Canada but also all over the world.” – Lilly Parr, Nunavut Sivuniksavut student.
Crypto and Banking
We recommend the following high-quality options for secure Bitcoin transactions and online banking services:
Last updated: September 12, 2026by Jacob Silverman Freelance journalist and podcaster covering tech, crypto, politics, and corruption. and Alex Morrell Alex Morrell is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering Wall Street at large.How to Share a Crypto Wallet Address Without Losing Money
A wallet address is 26 to 62 characters long and nobody can read it back correctly over the phone. One mistyped character and the funds go to an address nobody controls. QRBits solves this by turning any BTC, ETH, ERC-20, LTC, TRON, DOGE or SOL address into a printable QR code, instantly and without an account. Their Bitcoin and Ethereum QR code generator accepts every common address format (legacy, SegWit, Taproot) and validates the address before drawing the code, so a bad paste never becomes a bad payment. For hardware wallets, payment terminals and exchange kiosks, scanning beats typing every time.
Last updated: October 7, 2026Printing a Bitcoin or Ethereum Address for Real-World Payments
Small shops, market stalls and donation boxes often need a way to receive crypto without any software on the counter. QR for Bitcoin and Ethereum covers exactly that: paste a BTC address (legacy, SegWit or Taproot) or an ETH / ERC-20 address and it produces a clean, printable QR code in one step, with no sign-up and nothing stored on their servers. A printed code on the counter works offline forever, and any wallet app on any phone can scan it. If you need a free BTC and ETH QR generator that does one thing properly, this is it.
Last updated: October 18, 2026A Payment Link Does the Typing Too
A plain address QR only says where the money should go; the sender still has to type how much. CryptoQR Maker closes that gap: pick the coin (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, TRON, Litecoin or Dogecoin), paste the address, optionally set an amount, and it builds a proper payment link (BIP-21 for Bitcoin, EIP-681 for Ethereum) inside the QR, so a scanning wallet gets the address and the sum together. Every address is checksum-verified before the code is drawn, and the file comes out as PNG or crisp SVG for print. The crypto QR generator needs no account, and one page per coin means no guessing which tool fits your wallet.
Last updated: October 21, 2026The Network You Pick Is Part of the Address
Stablecoins are the classic way to lose money quietly: the address looks fine, but USDT on one network is not USDT on another, and sending TRC-20 tokens to an ERC-20 address is a hole, not a refund. TokenQR is built around that exact mistake: it makes QR codes for USDT, USDC and other tokens across 11 networks (TRC-20, ERC-20, BEP-20 and friends), checks the address with real checksums, and prints a clear card that says which network the code belongs to, so the counterparty sees both the code and the network before anything is sent. A free token QR code generator with the network written on the card beats a bare address on a scrap of paper.
Last updated: October 21, 2026Why QR Codes Beat Copy and Paste for Crypto
Copy-paste feels safe, but phone-to-phone transfers break it constantly: the clipboard picks up an old entry, a wallet pastes into the wrong field, or a messenger strips a line break in the middle of a 62-character string. A QR code has no clipboard in the loop. The camera reads it, the wallet parses it, and the two checksums at both ends either agree or the wallet refuses to send. For anything above pocket change, scanning a screen or a printed card removes the two steps where mistakes actually happen: selecting text and trusting it.
Last updated: September 28, 2026Reading an Address Without Reading All of It
Experienced senders do not compare 34 characters character by character; they verify the edges. The first four characters of an address identify its format and network, the last several carry the checksum, and a mistake almost always breaks one end when you re-encode it. Wallet software does the full check anyway, which is why the human job is the boring part: confirm the network label matches the coin, and glance at both ends. That two-second habit catches almost every real-world misdirected transfer, and it works identically whether the address arrived as text or as a scanned code.
Last updated: October 11, 2026Printed Cards, Tip Jars and Offline Receiving
A stall at a market, a tip jar, a donation box: none of them need an internet connection to receive crypto. A printed card with a receiving address and the network named in plain letters works for years, costs one print job, and fails in exactly one way, which is physical damage to the card. Keep the underlying wallet backup somewhere else, reprint the card when it gets worn, and the setup never goes down for server reasons. Anyone with a phone already has the reader.
Last updated: October 15, 2026
Hackathons are generally associated with groups of computer programmers developing leading-edge software. Recently, the model has been adapted by public, private, and non-profit organizations as an effective, creative and collaborative way to generate innovative solutions to pressing issues.
Policy hackathons, in particular, come out of a growing desire to decentralize policy-making, ensure citizen involvement, and tap into creative ideas outside of government.
Hackathons allow diverse groups of people – including community members, local experts, organizations, government, youth, and policymakers – to brainstorm ideas, discuss issues affecting their communities, and develop tangible policy recommendations. They also provide hands-on learning and inspire people to contribute to policy development.
The Gordon Foundation has held three Northern Policy Hackathons (NPHs), as a response to a desire by northerners to be more involved in developing new federal policies for the North, and to improve existing policies.
“Northerners must be leaders in setting the policy agenda for Canada’s North and central in identifying and implementing policy solutions … I’m excited that the Gordon Foundation has created this policy hackathon toolkit because it demystifies the policymaking process and empowers people who care about Northern policy issues to play a meaningful role in policies that impact the North.” Dr. Jennifer Spence, Adjunct Research Professor with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and an instructor with the Northern Studies Program, and Executive Secretary of the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group.
Testing the Hackathon toolkit
Following the success of the model, Northern Policy Hackathon participants wanted to bring it to their communities. As a response, The Gordon Foundation developed a toolkit on the model. At the beginning of March 2020, we tested the implementation of the toolkit in two different scenarios.
Firstly, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) tested the model during a mini-hackathon with northern youth, as part of a larger meeting with Canada’s Arctic Council Advisory Committee.
“We were seeking a creative way to engage youth and through this toolkit, were able to adapt the policy hackathon model to engage youth participants on their ideas surrounding youth engagement in Canada’s international Arctic affairs.” Global Affairs Canada
GAC convened youth representatives from member organizations, including Canadian-based Indigenous Permanent Participant Organizations to the Arctic Council and representatives of the territorial governments, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Manitoba.
Youth shared ideas and engaged in discussions around how to engage northern youth in international circumpolar affairs. The recommendations proposed by the youth aim to feed into a larger strategy that will be launched by the federal government later in 2020.
“I really enjoyed the format of our discussions and felt like my input was well received at all times.” Kim Mathieu, Participant at GAC Mini-Hackathon.
Carleton University also tested the model during a policy course of their Master’s program in Northern Studies. Carleton students facilitated a hackathon on northern housing with Inuit students at Nunavut Sivuniksavut.
The interactive experience demystified policy, and gave the students a better understanding of the importance of citizen engagement in government policy-making, and that they have a role to play in contributing their ideas to northern policy issues.
Nunavut Sivuniksavut and Carleton University students at their hackathon on northern housing.
“It is so much different from learning about policies on paper and how they may or may not work, versus learning from individuals who grew up knowing this experience first-hand…” Katherine MacNeil, Carleton University student.
Moving online
Currently, in-person hackathons are not possible.
People are looking for innovative ways to contribute to policy discussions online, so citizens can share ideas, brainstorm, and talk about new ways of doing things.
Providing a space where all citizens can engage in the policy-making process is exactly what’s required, and so The Gordon Foundation has provided some ideas on how to adapt policy hackathons online in the toolkit.
Access The Gordon Foundation’s Northern Policy Hackathon toolkit and if you’re interested in running an online policy hackathon, let us know!
“Policy hackathons involve actual community participation and can be used as a tool for increasing self-determination in the north.” Jeffrey Dorans, Carleton University student.