Despite price fluctuations, Africa’s Bitcoin maximalists remain bullish on its future

Bitcoin, as well as other crypto, has had a wild run in the past year. In the face of this, however, the African Bitcoin community has remained unfazed.

Anita Posch is a digital nomad who has spent the past two years travelling Africa as a Bitcoin educator and teaches Bitcoin at grassroots levels. For Posch, who started a learning platform titled Crack The Orange, Bitcoin has one goal; facilitating a more just financial system. She believes in the potential of Bitcoin as an equaliser, giving people across the world access to the same monetary system and is committing a lot of time and effort to that gospel.

On Thursday, August 18, 2023, Bitcoin hit a new low as it fell over 8% to rest at $26,172, its biggest one-day drop since FTX collapsed in November 2022. Hundreds of thousands of traders liquidated about $500 million worth of the digital currency in 24 hours amid rumours that Space X had sold off all the Bitcoin they were holding.

The past year has been a wild ride for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The collapse of FTX triggered a lot of speculation around the legitimacy and fate of crypto, with investors liquidating their remaining assets and startups folding in the face of loss and limited capital. All of these sent the prices of digital assets plummeting, as the price of Bitcoin fell 22% percent in a day. The asset has since regained its losses since then. 

In 2022, I spoke to a number of Bitcoin maximalists working on Bitcoin-related projects across the continent. There were a lot of elaborate plans on what Bitcoin could do for Africa, including plans for a Bitcoin village in Lagos, and Machankura, a custodial wallet that allows people to send and receive Bitcoin via USSD codes. One year and multiple scandals later, Bitcoiners still believe that real Bitcoin has largely been unaffected.

According to Posch, who is currently in Zambia, people who really understand Bitcoin aren’t bothered by the price fluctuation and donations to her non-profit haven’t really been affected.

“Bitcoin is not a game for you to win quick, free money, and that is the mentality we are working to combat. Sometimes people are short-sighted, and understandably so, because they need money and they need it fast, which is what causes a lot of the problems we keep hearing about. The goal of many people using Bitcoin is to save for the long term, and going by that, Bitcoin is the best currency to do that with. You might say the dollar or pound are better but even those currencies are currently being racked by inflation.”

“We ensure that we tell people in our communities to only invest money for the long-term and not the one they need immediately. Don’t risk all your money just because you’re looking for quick returns. Bitcoin has a lot of functionality, but it is not a get-rich-quick scheme,” she shared.

Posch’s Bitcoin platform, Crack The Orange, teaches people