Turning Trash Into Bitcoin & The Power Of Putting Bitcoin On Africa’s Feature Phones.
Plus, how bitcoin can be a non-violent way to resist dictatorships...
**Notes From The Margin is where I explore untold and inspirational stories about empowering marginalized communities through financial freedom. Subscribe here to get my newsletters.
Hi friends!
My cousin visited for two weeks. Not a day passed by without us laughing, sometimes to tears. Laughter has a way of lifting up what is stuck within us. It creates these extraordinary moments of lightness. As Mark Twain once said:
“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”
Let’s be sunny spirits in whatever room we may find ourselves in.
Onto this week’s highlights!
From My Podcast: Fighting The Nicaraguan Dictatorship with Bitcoin, feat. Felix Maradiaga.
In 2021, Felix Maradiaga announced he’d run for the presidency of Nicaragua. He was then placed under house arrest by Daniel Ortega’s government. Later, he would be arrested under charges of treason and eventually placed in a maximum-security prison where he was held for 611 days.
The reason? Because Ortega considered Felix to be a threat to his absolute rule.
Since gaining his freedom in February 2023, Felix has been studying how “Bitcoin can be a tool to help empower civilians,” particularly Nicaraguans under dictatorship. As this newsletter explores those living in the margin and in pursuit of financial freedom, I wanted to speak with him.
We spoke about dictator Ortega waging warfare on his people by debanking them and how Bitcoin can be a non-violent way to resist dictatorships. If you have time today, I urge to listen to Felix share his thoughts on Bitcoin.
Side note: Listen to the podcast episode: “Fighting Dictatorships with Bitcoin, feat. Felix Maradiaga.” You can listen to it on Spotify or Fountain.
Turning Trash Into Energy & Into Powering The Bitcoin Network.
Landfills produce methane as organic matter decomposes. That’s not good because apparently, methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is also known to contribute to global warming. So, controlling it is important.
Luckily this is where Bitcoin mining is stepping in. Nodal Power – a Bitcoin mining startup that focuses on renewable energy sources – is using methane gas produced from landfills to mine bitcoin.
“Nodal Power captures and repurposes this leaked methane gas by combusting it in a generator to produce power. This reduces carbon emissions when compared to simply flaring off the methane, making a profit from an otherwise wasted resource while keeping the atmosphere cleaner.” – Decrypt media
To date, Nodal Power has two mining data centers in the U.S. Its first and largest site (located in the “southwest U.S.”) is focused on exporting electricity to the local power utility. The second site (located in the “mountainous western region”) powers 500 Bitcoin miners. And just this week they announced that they raised $13 million for a third site, which “will mirror the second site in terms of power, mining capacity, and location.” Pretty cool.
I bet this is something you won’t find in mainstream media – the idea that we have miners using our waste systems, like landfills, to create energy that powers the Bitcoin network (the world’s most global, decentralized, inclusive financial system), and while helping protect our atmosphere. That is pretty special.
Side note: First El Salvador, then Nepal, and now Oman are mining Bitcoin at a nation-state level. Notice the pattern? Countries in the Global South are getting into Bitcoin mining. Here’s the scoop on Oman investing in Bitcoin mining infrastructure.
The Power Of Putting Bitcoin On Africa’s Feature Phones.
Machankura is an innovation allowing Africans to send and receive bitcoin via text messaging with a feature phone. No computer, no smartphone, and no internet is needed.
“With internet penetration being low in [Kenya] and data remaining expensive for the majority, Machankura’s use of mobile phones without internet connectivity allows people to transfer Bitcoin [conveniently]. This is especially significant considering that feature phones still dominate the mobile device market in Kenya, surpassing the popularity of smartphones in 2022 (68.1% compared to 60.2%).” – Becca Bratcher.
One particular person working to get Machankura into the hands of those who need it most is Noelyne Sumba, a representative of Machankura in Kenya. Like most people, she was introduced to Bitcoin multiple times before fully grasping it. And like many others, she had a bitcoin wallet that got lost (hardships create valuable lessons right?).
Lately, she’s been educating herself and others about what Bitcoin can do for Kenya and across the African continent. In this written interview, she shares the story of how Machankura was born, the problems Machankura solves for, Bitcoin accessibility in Kenya, if there are security risks to using text messages to send bitcoin, and more.
Side note: I interviewed Kgothatso Ngako, founder of Machankura, for my newsletter. You can read it here: “Why South Africans are Opting for Bitcoin, Machankura, & the Role of Energy in Sustaining Societies.”)
Want to Help?
I’m crossing my fingers I can make it out to the Des Femmes mentorship training program October 1-6. During the week, ten women in the Bitcoin space will brainstorm, collaborate, attend peer-led workshops, and get mentorship training. If you’d like to help me get there and help offset costs, it would mean… everything to me.
For donations:
Bitcoin donations ONCHAIN: bc1qa4dglpm6ejy72wsg9ft3nlzvdtcehfdal9wvh4
Bitcoin donations on LIGHTNING: ayelenosorio@coinos.io
Dollar donations: go to Paypal here.
That’s it for today. I hope you have an epic rest of your day. And I hope that you get to laugh till your stomach hurts.
Until next week, friends!
– Ayelen xx