Our Lightning Developer Bootcamp in Bujumbura, Burundi 🇧🇮 is officially a wrap and what an incredible week it has been.
Over five days, participants journeyed from Bitcoin fundamentals, the history of money, cryptographic signatures, transactions, and the blockchain, all the way to building and testing real projects on the Lightning Network. Today, they pitched those projects to the room. Watching developers who started the week with questions end it with working ideas is exactly why we run these bootcamps.
A huge shoutout to our instructors, @heyolaniran and @advaxeir. You didn’t just teach, you inspired. The depth, clarity, and energy you brought to every session shaped the entire experience. Thank you both.
To our executing team, @_Satoshee and @Ladyyyy_lo, thank you for the countless behind the scenes efforts that made this bootcamp possible. These events only succeed because of people like you.
A special thank you to @belyi_nobel, @Barakana_GE, and the @bitdevsgtga team for inviting us to Burundi, welcoming us so warmly, and supporting the local ground planning. Your community’s passion for Bitcoin education is truly inspiring, and this definitely won’t be our last time here.
And to our sponsors and partners who continue to make this mission possible, @btrustteam, @HRF, @Tether_Africa, @afribitcoiners, @planb_network, and @freetechite, thank you. Your support is what transforms an idea into five days of hands on Bitcoin education across Africa.
The Lightning Network is growing across this continent. One city, one bootcamp, one developer at a time.
Next stop: Kisumu, Kenya 🇰🇪
Live from Bujumbura: 5-Day Lightning Development Bootcamp ⚡🇧🇮
An intensive hands-on training program taking place in Buja.
Special thanks to @_Satoshee and @Ladyyyy_lo from @FreeRoutingAf, as well as the entire Africa Free Routing team, for making this initiative possible.
Our Bitcoin Designers meetup is happening NEXT WEEK.
This time? Abuja🇳🇬.
Bitcoin design talks. Real networking. Working sessions.
Limited to 50 designers. All experience levels welcome.
See full details in flier below ↓
Register: https://t.co/FoBE2cWK7W
#Bitcoin
Grateful to everyone who guided us through the Mastering Bitcoin calls.
@tobi_bams@Dayvvo1@megasley@200OKDeveloper
Your time, insight and perspective made each call what it was.
Appreciate you for rocking with us🤝
We’re just getting started.
Stay Tuned for what’s next⚡
🚀NOW LIVE: Our Weekly Newsletter breakdowns high quality stories from, policy shifts and real adoption to the builders creating new economic rails on the ground.
If you want a clearer view of Africa’s Bitcoin economy, this is for you.
👉Subscribe now: https://t.co/Jld081VWdi
Designers don’t just need to understand interfaces.
They need to understand systems.
We’re joining BitDevs Kaduna for a Bitcoin LARP session, a live simulation of how the network actually works.
You don’t watch. You participate.
Join us → https://t.co/sbNA9cXaxX.
NEW: 177 African Bitcoin projects and Mauritius is now on the map!🇲🇺
This Q1 2026, 10 new projects were added to the ecosystem, expanding visible Bitcoin activity across 23 African countries, a tremendous growth of approximately 6% between Q1 and Q2 2026.🌍
We also launched a Live Directory of African Bitcoin projects in Q1 2026, a continuously updated resource mapping the entirety of African Bitcoin projects.🧭
Projects listed in the directory can now edit and manage their own entries, keeping information accurate, current, and community-driven.✍️
We are proud to see the ecosystem grow and grateful to the builders contributing to this momentum.🤝
Proudly sponsored by @TrezorAcademy, relentlessly supporting Bitcoin education and advancing Adoption across Africa!🎓
👇Explore the directory!
https://t.co/9w0hfMmUX9
We’ve been building this layer by layer. 🧱
Now we go deeper.
Mastering Bitcoin :Chapters 9 & 10
with @200OKDeveloper. Systems, design, and a clearer understanding of the engine under the hood.
No lectures. Just open, high-signal discussion.
https://t.co/BkwaVRyFP5
Day 2 of the Lightning Payment Integration Masterclass was exceptional.
We had @_pretyflaco and @k9ert lead a powerful session on integrating Lightning payments using the @blinkbtc API.
This went far beyond a standard integration walkthrough.
Participants not only learned how to integrate Lightning payments with Blink, but also explored how to extend these capabilities to AI agents. The session covered how to equip agents with Blink skills, enabling them to initiate transactions, interact with the Lightning Network, and even create and manage their own wallets for payments.
It was a deeply practical and forward looking session that pushed the boundaries of what many thought was possible with Lightning today.
On to the final day.
What happens when you take #Bitcoin conversations beyond Lagos and Nairobi?
After speaking on #Bitcoin to an audience do they really get to understand what you are talking about?
Is your language an adoption tax? @_Satoshee from @afribitcoiners at the @abcptza#ABCT26
Everything so far has been setup.
Now it starts to click.
Chapters 7 & 8 :Mastering Bitcoin With @megasley
Designers trying to understand Bitcoin from first principles this is where it starts to click.
RSVP → https://t.co/jHgVR4dekY
The last two Calls were 🔥🔥
So we’re continuing.
Mastering Bitcoin: Chapters 5 & 6.
Designers, money, and deeper questions.
For every designer trying to understand Bitcoin from first principles, you should join us..
RSVP →
https://t.co/BmhP4P4fhR
I don't buy Bitcoin to make money
I buy Bitcoin because it IS money
Nobody REALLY wants to buy precious metals as money, because nobody buys anything with gold and silver
Gold and silver are purely for speculation
💥Celebrating Nigerian Bernard Parah (@bernard_parah) as our #4 Most Impactful African Bitcoiner of 2025! 🇳🇬
We are proud to honor Bernard Parah, the CEO and Co-Founder of @Bitnob_official. He is the architect bridging Africa to the global financial system, combining relentless infrastructure building with massive human capital development.
In 2025, Bernard's impact was monumental as he scaled the @Strike partnership, unlocking instant fiat-to-mobile money transfers for millions in Ghana and Kenya, while expanding Bitnob’s API to settle in about 8 African currencies.
Beyond rails, he invested heavily in the future, training several developers across the continent and hosting the landmark Kampala, Kenya, and Nigeria Bootcamp to equip engineers with core Bitcoin skills alongside other remarkable events to contribute to the growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
We deeply appreciate everything Bernard and his team are doing to build both the rails and the builders of Africa's future.
Special shoutout to @DamilolaRobert for being more than instrumental to these remarkable strides from the @Bitnob_official team. Your value is undeniable, a true African Bitcoin revolutionary.
We celebrate and honor you!
💥Celebrating Kenyan Sabina Gitau (@waithiraah) as our #8 Most Impactful African Bitcoiner of 2025! 🇰🇪
We are proud to honor Sabina Gitau, the Co-Founder of @tando_me. In 2025, she focused relentlessly on utility, building the ultimate bridge between the Lightning Network and everyday spending in East Africa.
In 2025, Sabina's impact was profound as she scaled Tando to allow anyone to spend Bitcoin anywhere M-PESA is accepted, utilizing a powerful "Bitcoin-to-fiat" mechanism. Tando opened vital remittance corridors, enabling Kenyans in the US, UK, and Nigeria to send funds home instantly to family mobile wallets.
Furthermore, Tando became a critical off-ramp for circular economy merchants, allowing them to easily convert Bitcoin earnings to fiat to restock inventory. Driving the acquisition of Splice Africa, Sabina led the platform to process Lightning transactions, making Bitcoin practical for thousands.
We deeply appreciate everything Sabina and her team are doing to make Bitcoin usable for everyone, every day spreading Bitcoin adoption across Africa.
We value and celebrate you!
The kudos should go to @megasley, @IamWhiteSarah, @_Satoshee, and the entire @FreeRoutingAf team for pulling this off.
This is a @FreeRoutingAf event — not a @Bitcoin_Pidgin event. We were only guests at the Bootcamp to capture the experience and help.
Our own Bitcoin Pidgin–themed event is only a matter of time.
Watch out. 🚀
Nothing prepares you for the shock of visiting a country where systems actually serve the people. You see how everything flows, from efficient public transport, clean public spaces, quality food, clean air... People who don’t carry the weight of broken systems on their shoulders.
And that’s when it hits you.
How much you’ve been robbed when you come from a place where the system fails you every day.
Where you live in the cracks of a system that doesn’t see you.
Where the quality of roads, food, air and even human interaction reflects the cost of poor leadership.
Where you’re stuck in survival mode, and it shapes your whole life without you even noticing (ask me about it)
And suddenly you understand the robbery.
How much potential gets wasted back home.
How many dreams shrink because people live in survival mode.
It’s wild how a few people in power can drag an entire nation into struggle just to fill their own stomachs.
And it’s painful. It really is.
African countries have so much potential. So much talent, so many resources. But too many of us still carry the weight of systems that don’t work the way they should. And sure, we all know the rule… no one is coming to save you. Save yourself. Opt out with Bitcoin. Build your own path. I believe that, I live that.
But let’s also be honest.
Even when you try to opt out, you still live inside these systems.
You still need the roads they don’t fix.
You still need the hospitals they underfund.
You still face visa denials because your passport is "weak", closing doors you should have access to.
You still deal with power cuts, water issues, broken public transport, and government offices that make simple things feel impossible.
And when all that fails, it affects everything.
Your time.
Your health.
Your opportunities.
Your pace of life.
Even your sense of what’s possible.
And honestly, this can’t be the standard, something has to shift. People shouldn’t have to fight this hard just to live a basic life. We deserve better than this version we’ve been handed.