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Podcaster and non-profit educator Anita Posch discusses her mission to journey the world and produce Bitcoin to those that want it most.
As an American who grew up within the South, I’m ashamed of the shortage of monetary data I had as a younger grownup. Bitcoin made zero sense to me till I understood the historical past of cash and what it means to have a peer-to-peer, apolitical, financial system. This data has opened my thoughts to the various issues that Bitcoin can accomplish with regard to elevating human rights all over the world.
Each single day, extra human rights violations are reported within the media. From the Rohingya genocide to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a thousand extra in between. The world we reside in is corrupted by greed and those that misuse their energy. Oftentimes, the ability hungry use fiat forex as a method of management. That being mentioned, Bitcoin’s case for bettering human rights is the primary purpose why I care about Bitcoin.
Enter Anita Posch: Podcast host,, author, non-profit founder and Bitcoin educator. Posch has a background of greater than 20 years in net design and on-line entrepreneurship, and has made it her life’s mission to teach individuals who want Bitcoin essentially the most. She has been on the bottom working tirelessly, emphasizing the necessity for everybody, particularly ladies, to take management of their monetary literacy via Bitcoin training and entrepreneurship.
I’m assured you may be impressed as you learn her responses to my questions on how she is utilizing Bitcoin training to empower extra folks all over the world.
How did you first find out about Bitcoin and what particularly drew you to it?
The primary time I heard about Bitcoin was in 2011, I tweeted about it, however did not actually get into it, as a result of I learn an article and concluded that it is simply one other PayPal.
Properly, it should have been a nasty article.
In April 2017 I heard a chat at a convention about Bitcoin and open blockchains and their future affect on society and know-how. This time, I used to be open and able to study one thing new. I had been an internet entrepreneur and net designer for 20 years and was in search of new fascinating matters as a foundation for my work. I instantly understood that an uncensorable, collaborative, permissionless and open protocol to ship worth is a device that may present a degree enjoying area for anybody globally.
I used to be positively not capable of verbalize this again then, as a result of I had no clue how Bitcoin works, however my life experiences and my insights as a builder of on-line outlets and marketplaces acted as some form of inner compass to sense the groundbreaking significance of Bitcoin. This time, I wished to be a part of the event and determined to place all my efforts into understanding and studying to turn out to be a Bitcoin educator myself.
How do you see Bitcoin positively impacting youth within the international locations you serve; Ghana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe?
I’ve been working with my initiative, Bitcoin For Equity, and from what I’ve realized, many younger folks notice how Bitcoin offers them a alternative, a possibility to take part in a world financial system, to turn out to be free from monetary oppression and lack of entry to monetary means of their residence international locations.
Take the individuals who reside in Bitcoin Ekasi, for example. I visited and labored with them in Could 2022. Bitcoin Ekasi is a township in Mossel Bay, South Africa, the place 11 outlets and a taxi driver are accepting bitcoin now after being onboarded by neighborhood members. Lots of the 5,000 inhabitants haven’t any entry to financial institution accounts or selected to unbank themselves because of the high fees and bureaucracy. Younger folks dwelling within the township are supporting their neighborhood with data and sensible training on how they’ll facilitate Bitcoin.
The coaches there earn their salaries in bitcoin and spend it within the native outlets. Lately, one more store requested to be added to the Bitcoin financial system due to the excessive grade of safety that bitcoin presents in comparison with retaining money. A number of months in the past, the neighborhood’s grocery store, Decide n Pay, started accepting bitcoin, too. Meaning the store homeowners can use their earned bitcoin to restock their outlets with out the necessity to convert to the nationwide forex, which saves charges and problem.
A rising variety of younger folks see how they’ll earn bitcoin via content material creation, like on our BTC podcasting platform. It is free to host a podcast with out dropping your copyright (like on Anchor) and, on the identical time, anybody can begin incomes bitcoin through Value4Value podcasting with out the necessity to run their very own Lightning nodes.
Value4Value signifies that the listeners can freely resolve what number of bitcoin, if any, they need to ship to the host whereas listening to a podcast. As a podcaster myself, I noticed the necessity for a platform that’s not charging round $10 per thirty days for podcast internet hosting, as a result of it excludes many individuals from sharing their voices from the bottom.
Throughout my travels, particularly to Ghana talking on the first Pan-African Bitcoin conference, it was wonderful to fulfill and witness what number of younger individuals are beginning academic teams, for example, the Bitcoin Cowries in Accra, Bitcoin Mountain in Cameroon or the women-focused Bitcoin Dada in Kenya. I’m at present engaged on an internet mentorship program known as “Crack The Orange” for newbies and neighborhood leaders to realize a wider understanding of Bitcoin to share it with their neighborhood members. With my non-profit initiative, Bitcoin For Equity, we’re supporting younger ladies to create their very own academic group in Zambia.
The 4 African founders of Qala, a program designed to coach the following technology of African Bitcoin and Lightning builders, are inspiring, visionary younger folks themselves. All these initiatives contribute to job and wealth creation and may have a optimistic community impact on the bottom.
How do you usually reply to those that are dismissive of Bitcoin, particularly these near you (similar to shut buddies, and so on.)?
In the previous few years, I’ve been attempting to teach the naysayers on Twitter or different media platforms with arguments, details and by sharing experiences of African and South American Bitcoin customers on my podcast “The Anita Posch Present.”
I noticed it is not simply doable to win an argument if the respondent has made up their thoughts already. Each reply you give might be opposed with opinions and their very own notion. I by no means tried to persuade anybody. If folks present up and have an interest within the subject, I will clarify and assist. If not, then I will not contact the subject. The identical is true for my buddies. Most of them have their very own concepts about Bitcoin, and do not take the time or curiosity to study. A handful of my shut buddies have seeked my steerage and completed the work. I feel they’re very content material in the present day.
In your opinion, why is it vital to shut the gender hole in Bitcoin curiosity and adoption?
At first, let the numbers communicate. Of the 1.7 billion unbanked people around the world, 57% are women.
In keeping with the American Economic Association:
“Within the USA alone roughly 8.4 million US households are unbanked with an extra 24.2 million US households categorised as underbanked. Black ladies are considerably extra seemingly than Black males or some other group to be unbanked or to be underbanked. Additional, we discover restricted wealth is extra ceaselessly cited by Black ladies as the principle purpose why they don’t have interaction with the banking system.”
And in response to WTW:
“There’s a important gender wealth hole between women and men at retirement. Upon retirement ladies globally are anticipated to build up solely 74% of the wealth that males have.”
Seventy-five economies globally “nonetheless limit women’s rights to handle property.” There are international locations through which ladies usually are not allowed to personal property or inherit it — they by no means might be homeowners of land that could possibly be used as a safety to use for a mortgage or assist their casual companies. That is occurring principally in international locations within the Center East, North Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific.
Whereas ladies have been getting the identical rights in lots of societies in latest many years, usually, ladies are nonetheless going through large discrimination on the premise of gender. This inequality results in exclusion from the monetary system, due to a scarcity of wealth or as a result of ladies cannot produce an ID, which is important to be banked.
Bitcoin is honest in as far as it doesn’t discriminate. Anybody can use it with out the necessity to present an ID or the should be rich already. There is no such thing as a minimal restrict to make use of bitcoin. Anybody can earn bitcoin via their work. Incomes bitcoin will turn out to be the usual.
By educating ladies and women about Bitcoin, we will assist them in closing the gender wealth hole, after we consider that Bitcoin’s worth has solely appreciated in the long run. Nonetheless Bitcoin might be just one device, it will not magically shut the wealth hole, as a result of males have extra assets now, that is why they’ll earn or purchase extra bitcoin as properly. That is why it is crucial to teach ladies and women as early as doable so long as bitcoin is in its infancy, therefore bringing training to the World South particularly for girls, the queer neighborhood and human rights activists, is a powerful focus of Bitcoin For Equity.
With the recent closure of peer-to-peer (P2P) platform Paxful, what different choices for purchasing and promoting bitcoin have you ever discovered to achieve success in international locations the place there are not any centralized exchanges?
There are a number of different P2P choices to purchase and promote bitcoin with out the necessity to present your ID, which is a crucial privateness safety. They is probably not accessible globally, that is why actual, on-the-ground, peer-to-peer alternate is the primary choice in African international locations. An alternative choice are bitcoin vouchers or present playing cards. And the very best is to earn bitcoin, by both asking your employer or shoppers to pay you in bitcoin or creating helpful on-line content material like a podcast or different media.
However a listing of P2P alternate tasks that I’ve discovered to achieve success consists of:
- Hodl Hodl
- Bisq
- AgoraDesk
- RoboSats
- Peach Bitcoin
- Noones
It is a visitor put up by Becca Bratcher. Opinions expressed are fully their very own and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
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