This is an opinion editorial by Renata Rodrigues, the global community and education lead at Paxful.
Bitcoin is empowering millions of people around the world to become sovereign entrepreneurs. After visiting neighborhoods in Nigeria and Colombia, I found people taking power into their own hands and planning their journey toward financial independence. What we are seeing are communities that are removing boundaries and limits and revolutionizing wealth without the need for middlemen or authority.
In Kenya, peer-to-peer (P2P) finance is driving the next wave of bitcoin adoption. Just last year, the country had the highest rate of grassroots adoption in the world, along with Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. We are looking at a country where bitcoin works 100% – 1% doesn’t. For people like Andrey, bitcoin is life and a chance to experience a brighter financial future.
With a focus on Africa, we’ll also take a look at Paco as he travels through Africa to educate and demonstrate his power using bitcoin.
Bitcoinforthe100 is a collection of stories and use cases that prove that bitcoin is indeed 100% for Below are the voices of people adopting bitcoin for freedom and self-sovereignty outside the confines of the traditional financial system.
Andrey Sikdelnikov: Nairobi, Kenya
Andrey has completely changed the way he handles his finances. He went from using the Kenyan shilling in his everyday life to now exclusively using bitcoin for everything. Despite the odds, he leads with bitcoin and he can’t wait for the rest of the world to follow.
Since not everywhere in Kenya (or the world) accepts bitcoin as a payment method, Andrey had to get creative with his solutions. When he comes across a merchant who doesn’t take bitcoin, “I sell my bitcoin on Paxful and get the required amount in shillings on my phone and then pay my bill,” he shared. Since these transactions take less than two minutes to complete, Andrey doesn’t have to leave a beat. Instead of making sure that he has the correct amount in his bank account, he can transact immediately without doing anything in advance.
Learn more about his story here.
Paco de la India: Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Inspired by the concept of time preference for humanity, Paco knew he wanted to do something to show how bitcoin could empower the world with financial freedom. Combining his love of travel with his passion for bitcoin, Paco knew he could combine these two worlds for a greater purpose.
Paco has always been one of the world travellers, so it was only fitting that he learned about bitcoin for the first time while visiting Germany. “In 2015, a crazy German boy in shorts started yelling at the dorm to buy bitcoins,” Paco told us. He didn’t think much about it at the time – set it up to make something he had no interest in as he was focused on his journey.
Fast forward to 2021 – Paco decided it was time to take the leap and make its debut in bitcoin. He Raises “The Bitcoin Standard: A Decentralized Alternative To Central Banking”., By Dr. Saphedian Ammos and consumed everything it had to offer. Paco became fascinated by the book and took a lot from bitcoin – he learned about the concept of freedom and time-preference. “We should really hold onto something that is not controlled by anyone,” he said.
Today, Paco is set to visit 40 countries over a period of 400 days. challenge? He is only using bitcoin during his journey to educate and demonstrate his power.
Learn more about his story here.
This is a guest post by Renata Rodrigues. The opinions expressed are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of BTC Inc. either . reflect the thoughts of bitcoin magazine,