Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include comments from Jusper Machogu
A village in Kenya has grabbed headlines for its community-driven approach to adopting Bitcoin BTC/USD in every aspect of life.
From Local Shops And Gyms, Bitcoin Is Everywhere
In a post dated 23 June, Jusper Machogu, who introduces himself as a small-scale rural farmer and a fossil fuel advocate, shared videos, highlighting the growing acceptance of Bitcoin in his community.
He pointed out that Bitcoin Chama, a local self-help group, has successfully convinced two local stores to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment.
Banana Fitness Gym, another local business created with the help of this initiative, not only accepts Bitcoin but also conducts free Bitcoin classes for its members periodically.
Machogu’s post ended with the phrase “Bitcoin Kwa Wote,” which translates to “Bitcoin for all.”
A look at Machogu's X timeline shows numerous posts about how the world's largest cryptocurrency has helped transform the lives of residents in rural Kisii in southwestern Kenya.
He talks about how low-income families in the village have got access to electricity, thanks to a Bitcoin-funded rural electrification project.
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He even claimed that community-pooled Bitcoin helped build a bigger house for a family and later got it connected to the grid. "Thanks to Bitcoin, his family has a bigger, neater house. He has since then bought a cow with the saved funds," Machogu said.
The aforementioned example underscored the significance of inflation-resistant currencies for not-so-privileged regions around the world.
In fact, the self-help group Bitcoin Chama, which pools Bitcoin investments, was founded on the need to protect savings from an inflationary Kenyan Shilling.
While speaking to Benzinga, Machogu highlighted the difficulty of having national currencies in Africa.
“In Africa, once you cross country borders/boundaries, you’ll realize your local currency is useless! We should be able to trade with each other freely. Bitcoin helps with that,” he emphasized. “In my community, Bitcoin helps solve inflation problems. The IMF values and devalues the Kenyan Shilling as they please.”
Machogu’s Pro-Fossil Fuel Advocacy Grabs Attention
Machogu also defends his climate denialism, blaming "anti-African, anti-human" Western entities for keeping African nations poor in the name of climate change.
Furthermore, he appears unconcerned about the environmental impact of the Bitcoin generation process, claiming that mined Bitcoin has done more for his community than gold ever has.
Regarding his stance on climate change, Machogu questioned the credibility of prediction models.
“Science is all about questioning stuff, but especially a look at the data and not climate models that haven’t predicted the climate right even once. How do you trust a climate projection 30 years away when the same people can’t accurately predict the weather the day after tomorrow?”
In an interview, the farmer described a recent BBC report, which revealed that he received thousands of dollars in funding from oil and gas interests in Western countries, a “personal attack.”
The debate around Bitcoin mining’s environmental impact continues to be debated. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, the annual greenhouse emissions from Bitcoin mining were higher than in countries like Kenya and Romania.
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