Excerpt
In Zimbabwe, where money loses value faster than it’s earned, a quiet revolution is beginning. What started as skepticism and fear is turning into understanding, as communities learn that Bitcoin is not a scam, but a tool for freedom. Through education and persistence, people are reclaiming control over their money – and their future.
Transcript
Every day people in this city are figuring out how to survive.Not strive, but survive. The rules are not always clear, and they don’t always stay the same. Money moves in strange directions. What’s earned today might not hold its worth tomorrow. But beneath the noise of the everyday, a quiet shift is happening. People are asking different questions about value, about trust, about what lasts. Not everyone has the answers, but more and more are beginning to search. Bitcoin is what we may call a magic solution. It’s a new language for value. A way of thinking that doesn’t wait for permission. It’s the beginning of something different.
Everything that is new or anything that is introduced, people have fear of the unknown. There’s a lot of myth that people try to put into new things. So Bitcoin has been given overthinking on it, whereby people think that it’s a scam, or whereby people are thinking that there’s nothing that is called Bitcoin that exists.
I know that a lot of Zimbabweans know the word Bitcoin, and sadly they know it because someone, or maybe themselves, got scammed. There are a lot of bad actors around who use the fact that most people are not informed about Bitcoin to scam them. And that’s the reason why education is so important. And this is actually what Langa is doing. He’s educating people on the technology because Bitcoin is a technology. It’s actually tech that is very hard to understand without proper education. People need to do the hours of learning, like what we are doing right now with Trezor Academy.
You know, Wayne designs websites, and you can, like, advertise and say, “If you want a website done, I also accept Bitcoin,” right? And then you can start getting the Bitcoin, right? But for now, especially the one that is feasible here in Zimbabwe, you have to be part of our community, the Bitcoin community. There’s a lot of people who will be selling, right? They even sell in as much as the utility, 1,000 and above, right? But now since it’s still got friction, some people charge premiums, you get 10%. You see, you actually get 10%. But we are trying by all means to reduce that friction so that it’s easily available and you can buy at one to one.
In my country, say Zimbabwe, the availability of Bitcoin, it’s not easy to get Bitcoin. Even after you’re educated and enthusiastic about adopting and using Bitcoin, it’s not easy to get. And if you get it, you’re likely to get it at a very high premium. I feel Bitcoin adoption in Zimbabwe is lagging behind. There are a lot of problems with the currency here, with financial freedom of people, and I believe that Bitcoin is a tool that empowers people and gives back the opportunity to save money for the long term.
In many parts of the world, the challenges around access to Bitcoin are not mostly about access like in ours, they are mostly about control. Governments impose restrictive policies, high taxation, and tight regulations that limit how people can use or trade Bitcoin. These measures are often driven by fear and lack of understanding, and at the end of it all, they slow down innovation and block individuals from achieving true financial sovereignty.
I think once again, this is a reminder that decentralized systems like Bitcoin, they threaten the status quo that we have currently. And in response, some authorities, they choose to suppress rather than to engage.
But mostly all this comes back to education again. People need to be taught. We are running a scholarship program for people from the Global South to educate themselves about Bitcoin because I believe it’s important to know how Bitcoin works and why it can empower people. And we have a program called Crack the Orange, and Langa is going to conduct an offline session basically in real life here in Bulawayo for people who are really interested in getting to know Bitcoin step by step, and he will conduct these sessions.
We’re also planning to do a book club. So, I’m going to support the printing costs for several very important Bitcoin books, and he will incorporate those into his work. I’m especially grateful for organizations like Trezor Academy. They’ve managed to step into this gap. They’re providing communities with structured, accessible education around Bitcoin. What they’re doing goes beyond just teaching people about technology. They are planting seeds of financial empowerment. They’re helping people understand not just the mechanics of Bitcoin but, you know, its potential to reshape how we relate to money, value, and the future.
Well, in places like Zimbabwe, that kind of education is not just important, it’s essential in equipping people for understanding the concepts of time, money, and value.
Actually, it’s a very effective way of spreading Bitcoin education across the world, and in places like Zimbabwe, you know, Bulawayo, Harare, and all the cities in Zimbabwe and all other places in Africa.
