Africa’s largest slum now takes Bitcoin \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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Africa’s largest slum now takes Bitcoin www.yahoo.com/news/africa-largest-slum-now-takes-104828441.html

1977 sats \ 12 comments \ @k00b 9 Jun bitcoin

In Kibera, often called Africa's largest urban slum, some roadside vegetable stands are accepting an unconventional form of payment: Bitcoin.

Approximately 200 residents in the Soweto West area of Kibera, located in Kenya's capital, are using Bitcoin as part of a project aimed at bringing financial services to one of the nation's most impoverished and under-banked communities.

AfriBit Africa introduced bitcoin into Soweto West in early 2022 through crypto-denominated grants to local garbage collectors, who are often funded by nonprofits. The groups are made up of dozens of young people, who Mdawida says are more likely to be open to new tech.

After gathering on a Sunday to collect trash, garbage collectors are paid a few dollars' worth of bitcoin. AfriBit Africa estimates that it has put some $10,000 into the community, with garbage collectors acting as the main agents of spreading bitcoin in Soweto West. In Kibera, many people earn about a dollar a day.

Damiano Magak, 23, a garbage collector and food seller, said he prefers bitcoin to M-PESA, the ubiquitous mobile money platform in Kenya, because M-PESA transaction costs are higher and the network can be slower.

There are no fees for M-PESA transactions between individuals or businesses up to 100 Kenyan shillings (78 cents), but after that the fees increase with transaction size. Fees for the Lightning bitcoin network where transactions take place are free if people use a platform that AfriBit Africa introduced into the community.

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167 sats \ 8 replies \ @BlokchainB 9 Jun

Interesting. I’m always conflicted with stories like these. On one hand the people are so poor they lack basic essentials like clean water, safe sewage disposal, and a safe place to live but on the other hand they have phones and internet/cell network services to send bitcoin payments.

115 sats \ 4 replies \ @elvismercury 9 Jun

Phones are necessary to live in the modern world. They are not a luxury, esp if you're poor.

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @BlokchainB 9 Jun

Phone is useless if you are thirsty

172 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b OP 9 Jun

Not if it shows me where to get water :)

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB 9 Jun

😆

91 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 10 Jun

Africa is not part of the modern world

336 sats \ 0 replies \ @KenyaCoin 10 Jun

Machankura is a custodial LN wallet that uses USSD, meaning it can be used by any phone, including "candy bar" phones (feature phones) -- which can be obtained brand new for $12 (at the low end).

Also, phone plans are not like in the West. Airtime is generally purchased with "bundles", or plans where you can choose the plan based on how closely it matches your usage.

For instance for $0.15 you can buy 20Mins (outgoing voice) +20Mbs (data), for use for one day. Incoming calls and texts are free, so it isn't even required to buy the plan each day.

Most people with smartphones though are paying $20 to $40 / month, mostly due to social media addiction (only half joking there).

And there's the buy now, pay later model for smartphones, where payment is required daily. Fail to pay, and your phone becomes locked until payment is made.

Overindebted? There's what's essentially an overdraft facility, with steep payday loan rates.

Incidentally, the government of Kenya owns more than a third of the near-monopoly mobile network provider which also owns and operates the mPesa mobile payments network. It's a very profitable business. Mobile subscribers are paying fees coming, and going, while awake and asleep.

206 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 9 Jun

Many years ago I was able to travel to Nigeria and I was blown away by the monetary inflation. I was young and didn't know much about economics or what fiat was. I could not wrap my head around how much cash I had to carry to buy simple things. Money is a foundational technology that when it is working facilitates building a society. I think people overlook this as a root problem in African nations. I can see bitcoin taking a foot hold in places like Kenya.

103 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 9 Jun

I mean... people overlook monetary inflation in the US all the time. Its one of my pet peeves and has been ever since I learned about the FED from Ron Paul back in the 2000s.

26 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder 10 Jun

sounds like a good place for Joe Nakomo to report on!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b OP 10 Jun

I wouldn’t be surprised if he had already

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @hasherstacker 9 Jun

“In many cases, people in Kibera do not have an opportunity to secure their lives with normal savings,” said AfriBit Africa co-founder Ronnie Mdawida, a former community worker. With bitcoin, "they do not need documentation to have a bank account … that gives them the foundation for financial freedom.”

This is really interesting. That's the real adoption.