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 information has opened my thoughts to the various issues that Bitcoin can accomplish with regard to elevating human rights world wide.
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 dwell in is corrupted by greed and those that misuse their energy. Oftentimes, the ability hungry use fiat foreign money as a method of management. That being stated, Bitcoin’s case for enhancing human rights is the primary motive why I care about Bitcoin.
Enter Anita Posch: Podcast host,, creator, non-profit founder and Bitcoin educator. Posch has a background of greater than 20 years in internet design and on-line entrepreneurship, and has made it her life’s mission to coach individuals who want Bitcoin probably the most. She has been on the bottom working tirelessly, emphasizing the necessity for everybody, particularly girls, to take management of their monetary literacy by means of Bitcoin schooling and entrepreneurship.
I’m assured you’ll be impressed as you learn her responses to my questions on how she is utilizing Bitcoin schooling to empower extra folks world wide.
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.
Effectively, it should have been a foul 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 a web based entrepreneur and internet designer for 20 years and was on the lookout for new attention-grabbing matters as a foundation for my work. I instantly understood that an uncensorable, collaborative, permissionless and open protocol to ship worth is a instrument that may present a degree enjoying area for anybody globally.
I used to be undoubtedly 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 retailers and marketplaces acted as some type of inside compass to sense the groundbreaking significance of Bitcoin. This time, I needed to be a part of the event and determined to place all my efforts into understanding and studying to grow 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 discovered, many younger folks notice how Bitcoin offers them a selection, a chance to take part in a world economic system, to grow to be free from monetary oppression and lack of entry to monetary means of their residence international locations.
Take the individuals who dwell in Bitcoin Ekasi, for example. I visited and labored with them in Might 2022. Bitcoin Ekasi is a township in Mossel Bay, South Africa, the place 11 retailers and a taxi driver are accepting bitcoin now after being onboarded by group members. Lots of the 5,000 inhabitants don’t have any entry to financial institution accounts or selected to unbank themselves due to the excessive charges and paperwork. Younger folks dwelling within the township are supporting their group with data and sensible schooling on how they will facilitate Bitcoin.
The coaches there earn their salaries in bitcoin and spend it within the native retailers. Not too long ago, yet one more store requested to be added to the Bitcoin economic system due to the excessive grade of safety that bitcoin provides in comparison with conserving money. Just a few months in the past, the neighborhood’s grocery store, Choose n Pay, began accepting bitcoin, too. Which means the store house owners can use their earned bitcoin to restock their retailers with out the necessity to convert to the nationwide foreign money, which saves charges and problem.
A rising variety of younger folks see how they will earn bitcoin by means of content material creation, like on our BTC podcasting platform. It is free to host a podcast with out shedding your copyright (like on Anchor) and, on the identical time, anybody can begin incomes bitcoin by way of Value4Value podcasting with out the necessity to run their very own Lightning nodes.
Value4Value implies that the listeners can freely resolve what number of bitcoin, if any, they wish 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 30 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 convention, it was wonderful to satisfy 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 the moment engaged on a web based mentorship program known as “Crack The Orange” for newbies and group leaders to achieve a wider understanding of Bitcoin to share it with their group members. With my non-profit initiative, Bitcoin For Equity, we’re supporting younger girls to create their very own academic group in Zambia.
The 4 African founders of Qala, a program designed to coach the subsequent era of African Bitcoin and Lightning builders, are inspiring, visionary younger folks themselves. All these initiatives contribute to job and wealth creation and could 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 mates, and so forth.)?
In the previous couple of years, I’ve been making an attempt to coach the naysayers on Twitter or different media platforms with arguments, info and by sharing experiences of African and South American Bitcoin customers on my podcast “The Anita Posch Present.”
I noticed it isn’t simply attainable to win an argument if the respondent has made up their thoughts already. Each reply you give will likely 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 matter, I am going to clarify and help. If not, then I will not contact the subject. The identical is true for my mates. 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 mates have seeked my steering and carried out the work. I feel they’re very content material as we speak.
In your opinion, why is it vital to shut the gender hole in Bitcoin curiosity and adoption?
At first, let the numbers converse. Of the 1.7 billion unbanked folks world wide, 57% are girls.
In response to the American Financial Affiliation:
“Within the USA alone roughly 8.4 million US households are unbanked with a further 24.2 million US households categorised as underbanked. Black girls are considerably extra possible than Black males or another group to be unbanked or to be underbanked. Additional, we discover restricted wealth is extra continuously cited by Black girls as the primary motive why they don’t interact with the banking system.”
And based on WTW:
“There’s a vital gender wealth hole between women and men at retirement. Upon retirement girls globally are anticipated to build up solely 74% of the wealth that males have.”
Seventy-five economies globally “nonetheless restrict girls’s rights to handle property.” There are international locations through which girls are usually not allowed to personal property or inherit it — they by no means will likely be house owners of land that may very well be used as a safety to use for a mortgage or help 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 girls have been getting the identical rights in lots of societies in latest a long time, generally, girls 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 girls cannot produce an ID, which is important to be banked.
Bitcoin is truthful in as far as it doesn’t discriminate. Anybody can use it with out the necessity to present an ID or the have to be rich already. There isn’t any minimal restrict to make use of bitcoin. Anybody can earn bitcoin by means of their work. Incomes bitcoin will grow to be the usual.
By educating girls and women about Bitcoin, we will help them in closing the gender wealth hole, after we think about that Bitcoin’s worth has solely appreciated in the long run. Nonetheless Bitcoin may be just one instrument, it will not magically shut the wealth hole, as a result of males have extra assets now, that is why they will earn or purchase extra bitcoin as effectively. That is why it is crucial to coach girls and women as early as attainable so long as bitcoin is in its infancy, therefore bringing schooling to the International South particularly for ladies, the queer group and human rights activists, is a robust focus of Bitcoin For Equity.
With the latest 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 aren’t 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 will not be accessible globally, that is why actual, on-the-ground, peer-to-peer trade is the primary possibility in African international locations. Another choice are bitcoin vouchers or reward playing cards. And one of the best is to earn bitcoin, by both asking your employer or purchasers to pay you in bitcoin or creating useful on-line content material like a podcast or different media.
However a listing of P2P trade tasks that I’ve discovered to achieve success contains:
- Hodl Hodl
- Bisq
- AgoraDesk
- RoboSats
- Peach Bitcoin
- Noones
This can be a visitor submit by Becca Bratcher. Opinions expressed are solely their very own and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
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