Thread by @marcrjandrew

"Bitcoin only helps right-wing, privileged, 'crypto bros'".

Um, no.

Bitcoin will disproportionately benefit Africa and the African people.

But don’t take my word for it - here’s a collection of amazing African leaders building a Bitcoin economy, and why they’re doing it:

Full credit and thanks to @ndesanjo for inspiring this thread through his insightful article here. Read it for an excellent intro summary.

We’ll get to remittances, but also purposefully leave them last. On to the builders!

moneyweb.co.za/news/africa/bi…

There is an amazing group of African leaders in Bitcoin, among them:

@obi, @ihate1999, @ojomaochai, @actuallyCarlaKC, @ChimezieChuta, @Tongayi_, @AfricanBLC and so many others.

Any mistakes below are mine alone though!

Bitcoin solves a big issue facing Africa's economy: poor access to financial tools.

Over half of Africans don’t have a bank account. It means entrepreneurs could only trade in hard currency, until now.

Bitcoin opens - and digitizes - access to money.

Which is huge because:

Africa's strength is it's a mobile-first economy. Nigeria alone will have 246 million mobile subscribers by 2025.

It means Africans can use Bitcoin to trade locally, across borders, and accept payment from anyone in the world.

This wasn't possible through traditional banks.

Within ten years, new tech will make the internet accessible from everywhere.

But a cell phone and internet is only half the opportunity. One needs to be able to accept money too.

Bitcoin means anyone can sell on the internet. It's so exciting and the impact will immeasurable.

Bitcoin will build a stronger Africa-wide economy.

Over 30 mln Africans live outside their country of origin, but sending money across borders is hard.

Sending money from Ghana to Nigeria is more expensive than sending from the U.S. to Liberia.

Bitcoin's zero fees fix this.

Africa is unquestionably emerging as a #Bitcoin leader. And it's because of amazing leaders who’ve been heads down for years.

No one I’ve found is doing more to build on Bitcoin than @raypaxful.

His latest piece here is great, as is @builtwithbtc.

bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoi…

Want real evidence of Africa's leadership?

Here's data on how Nigeria is the world's leading adopter of Bitcoin on a per capita basis:

africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/…

But wait, didn't Nigeria ban crypto last year? Yes, the central bank has been very clearly negative.

But vast uptake isn't slowing down and will force change soon.

Read this by @jcogene to learn how Nigeria can lead the world in smart crypto regs:

medium.com/@ogenec/nigeri…

But despite many elements of leadership, a concerted effort is needed to build more Lightning nodes in Africa.

Lightning is #Bitcoin's future, and Africa needs more nodes.

Cue this idea from @ChimezieChuta, to provide solar-powered Lightning nodes:

bitcoinlightning.com/africa-to-get-…

Africa's #Bitcoin leadership is supported by @Jack’s work on the Bitcoin trust.

More on the vision for for the Bitcoin Trust below.

It's hugely impressive leadership includes @obi, @ihate1999 and @ojomaochai. Follow them at @btrustteam.

african.business/2022/01/techno…

If you’ve made it this far, and know of other examples of how Bitcoin is building Africa's future, please hit reply and include them!

And follow me at @marcrjandrew for more on how Bitcoin’s emerging stack can build a new, fairer global economy.