Bitcoin in Africa with Femi Longe - WBD748

Femi Longe is program director for Btrust Builders, which
educates developers in Africa about Bitcoin. In this interview,
we discuss societal issues faced by people in different parts of
the world, the economic imperialism hampering emerging economies,
and the challenges Africans face in accessing the global
financial system. We also talk about the impact of external
powers on Africa and the potential of Bitcoin to change the
global financial conversation.


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Femi Longe has extensive experience in promoting transformative
innovation across Africa to drive social change. It was perhaps
inevitable that he would end up working within the Bitcoin
ecosystem. Currently, through his work for Btrust Builders, Femi
is helping to build a critical mass of Bitcoin and Lightning
engineers from the Global South starting with Africa.


This podcast explores how the global system is designed in a way
that prevents emerging economies from thriving. The conversation
shines a light on the damaging effects of economic imperialism
upon the Global South, best expressed in Alex Gladstein's work.
External powers, such as the World Bank and IMF, often prioritise
their interests over the well-being of African people.


Femi and I also discussed the numerous practical challenges faced
by Africans in accessing global commerce. Companies like Western
Union and MoneyGram take a significant cut from remittance
transactions (with the US government even requesting information
on transactions from these platforms), and there are significant
limitations placed on Africans trying to access financial
services such as PayPal across borders.


Africa’s problems are compounded by the influence of outside
powers: the historical fragmentation of Africa by European powers
has made it difficult for African countries to come together and
collaborate effectively; latterly, international aid to Africa
has distorted local markets and influenced government spending,
often to benefit Western businesses at the expense of African
countries.


Femi sees Bitcoin as an opportunity for Africans to change the
conversation and have a stake in the global financial system, as
it cannot be controlled by external powers. He aims to empower
Africans to engage with Bitcoin as producers, rather than just
consumers, by training developers and connecting them to
open-source projects. That way Bitcoin can be integrated into
real-life scenarios that are important to people.


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Show notes:
https://www.whatbitcoindid.com/podcast/bitcoin-in-africa


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