Bitcoin Is Breaking Barriers For Self-Sovereignty Across The Globe

Bitcoin is financial technology that enables real progress for countries that traditionally suffered at the hands of the fiat system.

This is an opinion editorial by Renata Rordigues, global community and education lead at Paxful.

Bitcoin is empowering millions across the world to become sovereign entrepreneurs. After visiting neighborhoods in Nigeria and Colombia, I found people taking power back into their own hands and charting their own journey toward financial freedom. What we’re seeing are communities removing borders and limitations and revolutionizing money without the need for a middleman or authority.

In Kenya, peer-to-peer (P2P) finance is driving the next wave of Bitcoin adoption. Just last year, the country had one of the highest rates of grassroots adoption across the world, alongside Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania. We’re seeing a country where Bitcoin works for the 100% — not the 1%. 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 using Bitcoin to educate and demonstrate its power.

Bitcoinforthe100 is a collection of stories and use cases that prove that Bitcoin is truly for the 100%. Below are the voices of people who are embracing Bitcoin for freedom and self-sovereignty outside of 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. Regardless of barriers at hand, he leads the way 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 is faced with a merchant that doesn’t take bitcoin, “I sell my bitcoin on Paxful and get the necessary amount in shillings to my phone and then pay my bill,” he shared. Since these transactions take less than two minutes to complete, Andrey doesn’t need to skip a beat. Instead of needing to make sure he has the correct amount in his bank account, he can make transactions on the fly without having to do anything beforehand.

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 merge these two worlds for a greater cause.

​​Paco has always been one to travel the world, so it was only fitting that he first learned about Bitcoin while visiting Germany. “In 2015, a crazy German guy in his shorts starts shouting in the hostel to buy bitcoin,” Paco told us. He didn’t think much of it at the time — chalking it up to being something he wasn’t interested in since he was focused on his travels.

Fast forward to 2021 — Paco decided that it was time to take the leap and get his start in Bitcoin. He picked up “The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative To Central Banking” by Dr. Saifedean Ammous and consumed all it had to offer. Paco was fascinated by the book and he took away so much more than Bitcoin — he learned about freedom and the concept of time-preference. “We should truly hold onto something that is not controlled by anyone,” he said.

Today, Paco has set out to visit 40 countries over a span of 400 days. The challenge? He’s only using bitcoin during his travels to educate and demonstrate its power.

Learn more about his story here.

This is a guest post by Renata Rodrigues. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.