If Bitcoin Works in Zimbabwe, It Works Everywhere (Part 4 of a Six-Part Documentary Podcast Series)

On this episode we join Anita Posch as she discusses bitcoin’s (BTC) potential and realities with a self-described “digipreneur” and teacher in Harare, Zimbabwe.

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With the use of bitcoin outlawed and the state of human rights and free speech rather poor in Zimbabwe, Anita agreed not to mention her guest’s name. In this episode they discuss:

The opportunities for bitcoin adoption
The shutdown of Golix, the only Zimbabwean crypto exchange
The philosophy of Ubuntu and how it relates to bitcoin
Hyper-inflation
The future of bitcoin in Africa
How cryptocurrency feels like luxury in Zimbabwe
How to design bitcoin for use in Africa
How Libra is a game changer
The most used social media tools
The need for even more accessibility and ease of use

Selected excerpts from this week’s episode:

“If I have a bitcoin, I can send money to my relatives, who are in Malawi or in Namibia or in Ghana. Currently I can’t with our own currency. I can’t send money out freely and quickly. But if we can sit down as a community and say, ‘Okay, we need to buy a new borehole and we can do that just by using our phone,’ that’s an amazing thing. You know, if we look at it from a place of development, if you look at it from a place of helping the community and taking care of each other, if it allows us to take care of each other without having to create so many barriers and so much red tape to get stuff done with money, I feel like when you change that narrative, you speak to something very deep within an African.” – Teacher and Digipreneur, Zimbabwe

“Cryptocurrency feels almost like luxury. It’s sad because I don’t think that’s what it’s supposed to be, but it was also bearing in mind cryptocurrency was designed in a functioning environment. It was designed by people who maybe haven’t spent 12 hours in a fuel queue?” – Teacher and Digipreneur, Zimbabwe

“We need to start having more conversations about the future with the people who are actually affected by the future. Hold workshops under a tree in Binga and have someone who is there who can translate into the local language and have a conversation.” – Teacher and Digipreneur, Zimbabwe

You can find the full transcript on the episode page.

A note from Anita:

This podcast special and my trip to Africa would not have been possible without my sponsors and supporters. I want to thank my sponsors first: Thank you: LocalBitcoins.com a person-to-person bitcoin trading site, Peter McCormack and the whatbitcoindid podcast, Coinfinity and the Card Wallet, SHIFT Cryptosecurity, manufacturer of the hardware wallet BitBox02 and many thanks to several unknown private donors, who sent me Satoshis over the Lightning Network.

This special is edited by CoinDesk’s Podcasts Editor Adam B. Levine and published first on the CoinDesk Podcast Network. Thank you very much for supporting the Bitcoin in Africa series with your work.

Thanks also goes out to stakwork.com. Stakwork is a great project that brings bitcoin into the world through earning. One can do microjobs on Stakwork, earning Satoshis and cash them out without even having an understanding about the lightning network or bitcoin. I think we need more projects like that to spread the usage of bitcoin around the world.

Thank you also to GoTenna, for donating several GoTenna devices to set up a mesh network in Zimbabwe and to Team Satoshi, the decentralized sports team for supporting my work. This special is also brought to you by the Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network.

Credits:

Edited by CoinDesk’s Podcasts Editor: Adam B. Levine

Image by: Martina Gruber Photography

Idea, content and production: Anita Posch Music: “Start with yes” by Delicate beats

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