Africa
Stablecoins represent 40% of crypto economy in Sub-Saharan Africa
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3 hours agoon
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adminAs businesses turn to dollar-pegged options, stablecoins now represent over 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s crypto economy.
Stablecoins have emerged as a vital component of Sub-Saharan Africa‘s crypto economy, accounting for approximately 43% of the region’s total transaction volume, according to a recent report from Chainalysis.
In nations grappling with volatile local currencies and limited access to U.S. dollars, dollar-pegged stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) have gained prominence, enabling businesses and individuals to store value, facilitate international payments, and bolster cross-border trade.
In a commentary to Chainalysis, Yellow Card chief executive Chris Maurice said that “about 70% of African countries are facing an FX shortage, and businesses are struggling to get access to the dollars they need to operate.”
Stablecoins to become primary use case for crypto in South Africa
As a result of this struggle, Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, has seen retail-sized stablecoin transfers grow by 180% year-over-year, fueled by a recent 30% devaluation of its local currency, the birr.
While traditional financial institutions struggle to meet the demand for U.S. dollars, stablecoins are increasingly viewed as a “proxy for the dollar,” Maurice said, adding that “if you can get into USDT or USDC, you can easily swap that into hard dollars elsewhere.”
Looking ahead, Rob Downes, head of digital assets at ABSA Bank, a major African bank operating in 12 African countries, foresees stablecoins playing a pivotal role in Africa’s economic landscape, stating that dollar-pegged tokens are going to be the “primary use case for crypto in South Africa over the next three to five years.”
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Africa
Bitcoin Non-Profit ₿trust Announces Q3 Grants For Open-Source Developers
Published
2 months agoon
August 17, 2024By
admin₿trust, an initiative committed to supporting open-source Bitcoin developers based in the Global South, has announced the recipients of its Q3 Starter Grants and the new members of its ₿trust Open-Source Cohort.
1/ 📢 Announcing the ₿trust Q3 Grants!
We're excited to announce the recipients of our Q3, 2024 ₿trust Starter Grants and the Open-Source Cohort Members! 🚀
A key part of our mission of empowering talented Global South devs to contribute to Bitcoin's open-source ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/FnlgPGJoHu
— Btrust (@btrustteam) August 16, 2024
The Starter Grants, which provide full-time funding to Bitcoin software engineers, are a sign of ₿trust’s dedication to expanding the number of open-source Bitcoin contributors from regions such as Africa, MENA, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Each recipient receives six months of support, including a stipend paid in bitcoin, technical guidance and support in developing proposals to to join the ₿trust Open-Source Cohort with long-term funding.
Why ₿trust Starter Grants Matter
₿trust Starter Grants provide financial stability to talented open source developers, which helps them focus on their work without financial stress. They also provide mentorship and support aimed to help the developers establish long-term, sustainable careers in the Bitcoin space.
“Through these grants, we can tangibly contribute to decentralizing Bitcoin open source development by introducing these developers with diverse perspectives to strengthen the resilience of the Bitcoin network,” said ₿trust Interim CEO Abubakar Nur Khalil in a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.
The Starter Grants also provide a pathway to the ₿trust Open-Source Cohort. Developers in the ₿trust Open-Source Cohort receive mentorship, professional development and extended financial support while contributing to open-source initiatives.
“The intention is to make grantees’ Bitcoin open-source careers sustainable, and in addition to the long-term financial support we provide, create a supportive environment for them to thrive and feel a larger sense of community,” said Nur Khalil.
Starter Grant Recipients
The recipients of Q3 2024 Starter Grants are as follows:
Enigbe Ochekliye
Ochekliye has over two years of experience in backend engineering and has worked on projects including Galoy’s Stablesats and Easepay’s payment service provider (PSP).
Ochekliye will contribute to The Lightning Development Kit’s rust-lightning through this grant. She will also work to improve the onboarding process for new contributors to Bitcoin open source projects.
Tobechi Chukwuleta
Chukwuleta is a highly-experienced backend developer with a background in data analysis. He has also been instrumental in enhancing BTCPay Server functionality, especially as it pertains to the system’s multisig capabilities and plugin development.
The funds from his Starter Grant will support him as he continues to advance BTCPay Server’s store functionality as well as the platform’s modularity.
Kelvin Isievwore
Isievwore is currently contributing to Bitcoin open source projects such as Polar and LND. While working under the Starter Grant, Isievwore will focus on streamlining the testing and development process for engineers building on Lightning.
New Members Of The Open-Source Cohort
The new members of the ₿trust Open-Source Cohort are as follows:
Abubakar Sadiq Ismail
Sadiq Ismail is a Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor who is actively involved in optimizing the Bitcoin protocol. He works on critical areas of Bitcoin Core such as long-term fee estimation and transaction analysis.
Sadiq Ismail’s work on Mempool fee estimation analysis showcases his technical abilities, which helps to improve the scalability and usability of Bitcoin. While a part of the cohort, he will continue this work, as he refines his abilities to contribute to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Duncan Dean
Dean is a Lightning contributor from South Africa. He has been deeply involved with developing the highly-modular Lightning library, rust-lightning.
Dean also actively participates in projects like ldk-review-club and lndk, where he has contributed to improving continuous integration (CI) actions and helped maintain the robustness of the codebase. While in the cohort, Dean aims to strengthen his abilities to contribute to Bitcoin and Lightning.
Oghenovo Usiwoma
Usiwoma is a Bitcoin Core contributor based in Nigeria who has been with ₿trust since 2023. Under the ₿trust Starter Grant he focused on advancing Silent Payments functionality.
As part of the ₿trust Open-Source Cohort, he will work on introducing new key formats and descriptors for Silent Payments in Bitcoin Core, continuing his work of enhancing the privacy and scalability features of Bitcoin.
Applying For A ₿trust Grant
Developers based in Africa, the MENA region, Southeast Asia and Latin America can apply for ₿trust grants.
Developers in other regions of the Global South will also be considered for grants on a case-by-case basis, predominantly based on their proof of work in the Bitcoin space.
Apply for a ₿trust Starter Grant via this ₿trust link.
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Africa
Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey-Backed Bitcoin Non-Profit ₿trust Appoints Bitcoin Core Developer As Interim CEO
Published
2 months agoon
August 8, 2024By
admin₿trust, a non-profit focused on training and funding developers from The Global South for Bitcoin open-source development, recently announced Bitcoin Core contributor and one of its board members, Abubakar Nur Khalil, as Interim CEO.
1/ 📢 Exciting news from ₿trust!
We're thrilled to announce that Abubakar Nur Khalil (@ihate1999), Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor and current board member, has been appointed as Interim CEO of ₿trust pic.twitter.com/km5iYQU6Pe
— Btrust (@btrustteam) August 8, 2024
The non-profit was founded in 2021 and received initial funding from Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey. It’s since nurtured an ever-expanding network of Bitcoin developers in Africa, Latin America and India.
₿trust has trained hundreds of developers including some who are working on projects such as Libreria de Satoshi and Bitshala, kickstarted BitDevs meetups across five African cities and supported annual events like the African Bitcoin Conference.
Nur Khalil will serve as Interim CEO for one year, beginning in August 2024. During this period, he’ll retain his board seat and serve as a non-voting member.
This role should be familiar to Nur Khalil, as he founded the organization, which was originally called Qala, before ₿trust acquired and rebranded it.
Other ₿trust board members have expressed faith that Nur Khalil will be an excellent leader for the organization given his expertise as a developer, the fact that he’s a resident of The Global South (Nigeria) and is one of the leading voices in the African Bitcoin ecosystem.
“Ever since I first met him, Abubakar has resolutely focused on supporting the advancement of Bitcoin and open-source development in Africa, the Global South, and beyond,” said founding ₿trust board member and CEO of Fedi Obi Nwosu. “I’m grateful that he has taken on the challenge of leading ₿trust through this early formative stage, and I’m excited to see what he will achieve in the role.”
As Interim CEO, Nur Khalil will focus on growing ₿trust’s developer pipeline, increasing the number of grants the institution distributes and improving its developer program to push forward with its mission of decentralizing Bitcoin open-source development.
“I am truly grateful for the board’s trust in me to take on this role over the next year,” said Nur Khalil. “I look forward to growing our initiatives, ensuring ₿trust cements itself as the primary driving force behind Bitcoin’s development in Africa, and cultivating a unique Bitcoin FOSS ecosystem in the regions we serve.”
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