Distributed, rural, hydro Bitcoin mining in Africa that supports local energy development.

Joined July 2022
600M Africans lack electricity, not because they can’t afford it, but because they don’t have it. If Bitcoin mining lets new energy be built near them, we need more of it. – @whiteafrican , CEO, @GridlessCompute More at #ATSNBO, 10-11 Feb 2027. 🔗 africatechsummit.com
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The Genesis Workshop 1.0, organized by Open Source Guild(OSGuild), we brought hands-on Bitcoin mining education to Mauritius 🇲🇺 university students, connecting them with real open source infrastructure. @dzeg5 traveled all the way from Kenya 🇰🇪 to introduce participants to Bitcoin mining, Stratum V2,Bitaxe Gamma and Mujina the open-source, Linux-based mining firmware developed through the @256FOUNDATION open-source mining initiative. Using Bitaxe Gamma kits from @SoloSatoshi, participants got to explore mining hardware firsthand. Some students even mined Bitcoin for the first time, turning technical concepts into a real experience. This is what OSGuild,Genesis Workshop is about: creating opportunities for young developers to learn, experiment, and become contributors to the global Bitcoin open-source ecosystem. From Kenya 🇰🇪 to Mauritius 🇲🇺, we're building connections, growing communities, and bringing open-source Bitcoin mining to the tropical island of Mauritius 🇲🇺. Thank you to @btrustteam for supporting The Genesis Workshop 1.0. The journey has started here in Mauritius.
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In the wake of the National Treasury of Kenya 🇰🇪 gazetting Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regulations, Robert Kirubi (@rkirubi) has been working behind the scenes to help Kenyan institutions see how Bitcoin mining can catalyze infrastructure development and how businesses can benefit from utilizing bitcoin. In my conversation with Robert, we discussed these topics as well as how Kenya has been primed for broader Bitcoin adoption thanks not only to the new law but to the foundation for Bitcoin that's been laid in the country by grassroots initiatives and companies like @GridlessCompute, @AfribitKibera, and @btc_dada (among many others). According to Robert, broader Bitcoin adoption in Kenya can lead to the country as a whole becoming more sovereign and less reliant on foreign loans. But for that to happen, a certain amount of coordination must happen between public and private institutions, which is something that Robert has been dedicating much of his time and energy to as of late. As Robert wrote in a piece he recently shared with me, Kenya is "at the threshold," and what comes next regarding Bitcoin adoption will play a major role in shaping the country's future. Luckily for Kenya, it has people like Robert advocating for Bitcoin and connecting the dots so that more and more of his countrypeople can benefit from it.
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Hack4freedom is coming to Nairobi 🇰🇪 From Sept 22 to Oct 5, we’re bringing our two-week bitcoin and freedom technology bootcamp + hackathon for women developers to Kenya. This edition is hosted in collaboration with @DadaDevs, who are helping us bring Hack4freedom to life in Nairobi☺️ Special thank you to @marcelorraine & @wandiology for making this possible. Women developers in Nairobi, this is for you. ✅Apply: evt.so/apply-h4f 📆 RSVP on Evento: evt.so/h4f-kenya 🧡 Sponsored by @btrustteam @SoapboxTech @evento_so
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Going live at 1pm CST, Tangents with @bitkite. Today's Rundown: 1. @whiteafrican - CEO, @GridlessCompute 2. @zackcohen_- Sr. Associate, @bitcoinpolicy 3. @zacguignard - Financial Freedom, @HRF 4. @ALewin - Software Engineer, Finite Join us for a front row seat on frontier technologies shaping the world as we know it 🤝
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🚨 @HRF’s Bitcoin Development Fund is granting more than 500 million sats to 16 freedom tech projects worldwide Bitcoin and Nostr development, self-custody, censorship-resistant comms, privacy tech, decentralized mining, and more 🧵 here on the killer projects we are funding:
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Today, Bitcoin Policy Institute and a broad coalition from across the digital-asset ecosystem are publishing an open letter calling on the world’s leading AI labs to provide qualified open-source defenders with trusted access to frontier AI models. The past several weeks have made the need for this abundantly clear. The people defending digital-asset infrastructure and open-source software need access to the latest AI capabilities to perform comprehensive security reviews and stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated adversaries. The coalition includes open-source development organizations, major custodians, treasury companies, payment services, security firms, capital allocators, and others whose businesses and customers depend on the integrity of open-source infrastructure and libraries. Open-source defenders often occupy the least privileged position in the AI security landscape. They have limited access to the strongest internal cyber models and are frequently blocked by guardrails when using publicly available frontier systems for legitimate security research. As a result, they often resort to less capable open-weight alternatives. We are urging frontier AI labs to establish a clear, trusted pathway for qualified open-source and digital asset defenders to access their strongest capabilities, with sufficient compute and secure environments to conduct meaningful security reviews. Frontier AI could become one of the most powerful defensive technologies ever developed, but only if defenders get fair access to those systems. It’s time to give defenders the tools they deserve. Read the open letter, add your organization, or sign as an individual on our website at btcpolicy.org/ailetter
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How can Bitcoin miners partner up with mini grids to help grow and strengthen the local electrical infrastructure? Erik Hersman explains how they do it at @GridlessCompute
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Before bitcoin++ Nairobi 🇰🇪 kicked off, we brought together Btrust developer grantees and team members for a retreat at @NodeNBO. With many of our grantees already in Nairobi for bitcoin++, it felt like the perfect opportunity to spend a day together, connecting, sharing progress, aligning on priorities, and strengthening the relationships that make our ecosystem what it is. For many of the grantees and some of our newer team members, this was the first time meeting in person after months (and in some cases years) of collaborating online.
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Last week we had the pleasure of supporting @btcplusplus Nairobi 🇰🇪, the first bitcoin++ conference in Africa and the first-ever open source edition. Over three incredible days, we saw developers, researchers, educators, and builders come together to explore Bitcoin, Lightning, privacy, mining, open-source development, developer tooling, financial infrastructure, and the future of building on Bitcoin. It was inspiring to see so many ideas turn into working projects tackling real-world challenges. We're especially proud of the strong representation from our community, with members speaking across the conference and teams building projects that earned recognition across multiple hackathon categories. A huge thank you to @niftynei and the entire bitcoin++ team for bringing this milestone event to Africa, as well as the speakers, mentors, judges, volunteers, sponsors, and every attendee who made it such a success. We're excited to see the projects, collaborations, and conversations that started here continue long after the conference. See you next year! 🚀
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In 2026, @tando_me makes it possible to live on Bitcoin Kenya. They are now combining M-Pesa and Bitcoin's Lightning Addresses to unlock that for 40 million Kenyans 🔥 Read more in my latest for @ForbesCrypto forbes.com/sites/digital-ass…
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People ask why we do this. Here's the answer. A documentary on Bitcoin education in Africa, made with @Trezor.
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Replying to @whiteafrican
@whiteafrican speaking on decentralized mining powered by Juakali @GridlessCompute @GAMA_alliance @btcnairobi_conf
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At @btcnairobi_conf at ASK Dome today, looking forward to hanging out with everyone, but especially @rkirubi and @OKIN_17 again!
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Next up is the team from @protomining talking about their mining rig and the open source fleet management software. @BitDevsNBO
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bitcoin++ @ seoul, nov 5-6 🇰🇷
@btcplusplusJun 19
Day 3 of @btcplusplus open source edition kicks off with a talk from Sy⚡️(@dzeg5) about open source mining and what they’ve built on the @StratumV2 team
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The final hackathon presentations at @btcplusplus are officially complete. Selected finalists presented open-source projects, demonstrating creativity, technical skill, and a commitment to advancing the Bitcoin open-source ecosystem. While the judges deliberate, here are some highlights from some participants 🥳
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A 60x gap. That's the reality @_bradcuddy_ used to explain why public Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI. An AI data center earns ~$6,000 per megawatt hour on its compute. A Bitcoin miner earns about $100. 🧵/
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Monetising off-grid renewable energy across rural Africa. Meet Erik Hersman @whiteafrican , the CEO of Gridless @GridlessCompute . Eric is leading the charge in deploying Bitcoin mining infrastructure to bring financial viability to renewable energy projects in remote areas. His work proves that Bitcoin's proof-of-work is a transformative tool for African communities, bridging the gap to energy access. Come hear his insights at the Bitcoin Nairobi Conference! Conference Dates: 24-25th June 2026 Kibera Circular Economy Visit: 26TH June 2026 A.S.K DOME Jamhuri Park Nairobi, Kenya. For any inquiry email us on: [email protected] @AfribitKibera @TrezorAcademy @gorillasats @Talo_Africa @dx5ve @bitika_KE @tando_me @CapitalFMKenya #bitcoinnairobiconference #bitcoinafrica #bitcoinconference
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