Afribit Kibera

The Afribit Kibera Project is a grassroots initiative addressing financial exclusion in Kibera, Nairobi, one of Africa's largest informal settlements. Launched as a Bitcoin education project in 2019 and expanded into a circular economy in 2022, Afribit empowers a community where many residents lack documentation for traditional banking and find mobile money services cost-prohibitive. Based in Soweto West village, with active expansion across Kibera's other villages, the project builds on mandatory 15-hour Bitcoin education. No one joins the circular economy before understanding the technology. The circular economy integrates waste management, upcycling, and Bitcoin payments. Participants, mostly youth, earn sats for collecting recyclable waste through the Taka Sats initiative. Over 40 local merchants, mostly women vegetable sellers, now accept Bitcoin after community vetting and incentivized meetups. The program has completed over 6,000 Lightning transactions and trained more than 600 people since 2022. AfriBit is peer-led and community-owned. Trainers come from the community they serve, sessions run in Kiswahili and Sheng, and earning comes before everything else. The goal is a Bitcoin circular economy built for Kibera's real conditions: intermittent connectivity, low-cost devices, and a community that trusts neighbors before institutions.