A Bitcoin (BTC) educator based in Tanzania has scaled Africa’s highest peak, Kilimanjaro, sponsoring the entire trip through Bitcoin and Nostr donations.
Kweks, (not his real name) crowdfunded over $1,700 in Bitcoin (0.0018 BTC) to cover the costs of the hike, which doubled up as an announcement for a new Bitcoin education academy in Tanzania.
“Kweks” recently moved with his wife to a new city in Tanzania to open a learning center, the “Proof of Work Academy,” or POWA. Kweks told Cointelegraph that while POWA is a pun on Bitcoin’s consensus protocol, proof-of-work, it also refers to the Zwahili word “Poah,” which means fresh or cool.
To promote the new school and subtly hint at his affinity for decentralized protocols, including Bitcoin and Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relay), Kweks funded the ascent to nearly 6,000 meters in Satoshis or “Sats” (a satoshi is a unit of a bitcoin, equal to 100 millionth of a bitcoin).
Bitcoin Lightning Network donations streamed in from all around the world via crowdfunding on Geyser Fund and through Zapraising, or Bitcoin Lightning Network crowdfunding via NOSTR, (also called Zaps.)
Kweks carried and waved a giant Nostr flag while sharing status updates throughout the multi-day hike on X, Nostr and WhatsApp. Speaking from Tanzania, Kweks explained to Cointelegraph that while the money raised was meaningful to cover the costs of getting into the National Park, the impact was primarily educational:
“I thought it [the ascent] would be a great case study to show what Bitcoin can do and then introduce some people to Bitcoin as well.”
The ascent demonstrated to his local community that a global base of Nostriches (users of Nostr), and generous Bitcoin advocates around the world were happy to support Kweks’ climb and educational work on the ground in Tanzania.
Plus, Kweks received a tip from one of the guides leading the party to the summit of “Kili”, as it’s known locally, showing that there is grassroots Bitcoin adoption in Tanzania.
There is, evidently, some understanding of Bitcoin in Tanzania, Kweks explained—but one of the key challenges is “offramps,” into local currency. The likes of Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini do not operate in Tanzania, so swapping cash for Bitcoin and vice versa can be challenging.
Over the course of the hike, Kweks…
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