Podcaster and non-profit educator Anita Posch discusses her mission to travel the world and bring Bitcoin to those who need it most.
As an American who grew up in the South, I am ashamed of my lack of financial knowledge in my youth. Bitcoin made absolutely no sense to me until I understood the history of money and what it meant to have a peer-to-peer, non-political monetary system. This knowledge opened my mind to the many things Bitcoin can accomplish when it comes to enhancing human rights around the world.
Every day, more human rights violations are reported in the media.from rohingya genocide to the Russian invasion Ukraine And a thousand more in the meantime. The world we live in is corrupted by greed and those who abuse their power.In many cases, power hungry people use fiat currency as a means of control. That said, Bitcoin’s claim to improve human rights is the number one reason I care about Bitcoin.
Enter Anita Posh: podcast host,, author, non-profit Founder And a Bitcoin educator. With over 20 years of background in web design and online entrepreneurship, Posh makes it his life’s mission to educate those who need Bitcoin most. She has worked tirelessly to emphasize the need for everyone, especially women, to take control of their financial literacy through Bitcoin education and entrepreneurship.
I’m sure you’ll be inspired by reading her response to my question about how she’s using Bitcoin education to empower more people around the world.
How did you first learn about Bitcoin? in particular Are you attracted to it?
I first heard about Bitcoin in 2011. I tweeted about it but didn’t really get into it because I read the article and concluded it was just another PayPal.
Well, it must have been a bad article.
In April 2017, I spoke at a conference on Bitcoin and open blockchains and their future impact on society and technology. This time I was open and ready to learn something new.I have been an online entrepreneur and web designer for his 20 years and am looking for new and interesting topics to base my work on. I was. I quickly understood that an uncensored, collaborative, permissionless and open protocol for transmitting value is a tool that could provide a level playing field for anyone in the world.
At the time, I had no idea how Bitcoin worked, so I could never put it into words, but my life experiences and insights as a builder of online shops and marketplaces gave me a bit of insight. It acted as a sort of internal compass for sensing the revolutionary importance of the coin. I decided to.
How do you see Bitcoin positively impacting young people in the countries you serve? Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe?
I have been working on my initiative Bitcoin For Fairness. From what I have learned, many young people understand how Bitcoin gives them choice, participates in the global economy, and frees them from economic oppression and lack of access. For economic means in the home country.
For example, consider the people living in Bitcoin Ekasi. I he visited them in May 2022 and worked with them. Bitcoin Ekasi is a town in Mossel Bay, South Africa, where 11 stores and taxi drivers are now accepting bitcoin following onboarding of community members. Many of the 5,000 residents either cannot access bank accounts or have chosen to close them due to high fees and bureaucracy. Young people living in townships support their communities with knowledge and hands-on education on how to promote Bitcoin.
Coaches there earn their salaries in bitcoin, which they spend in local shops. Recently, another shop was asked to add to the Bitcoin economy because Bitcoin offers more security than storing cash. started accepting This means that shop owners can use the bitcoins they earn to replenish their shop inventory without having to convert it to their home currency, saving fees and hassles.
More and more young people are seeing ways to earn Bitcoin through content creation, like the BTC podcasting platform. It’s free to host a podcast (like Anchor) without losing copyright and at the same time anyone can start earning bitcoins. Value4Value Podcasting No need to run your own Lightning node.
Value4Value means that listeners are free to decide how many Bitcoins they want to send to the host when listening to the podcast. As a podcaster myself, I saw the need for a platform that didn’t charge about $10/month for podcast hosting. This is because many people are excluded from sharing their voices from the ground.
During my travels, and especially when I spoke to Ghana at the first Pan-African Bitcoin Conference, I was amazed to see so many young people starting educational groups: Bitcoin Cowries in Accra, Bitcoin Mountain in Cameroon, Women. rice field. Focused on her Bitcoin Dada in Kenya. I am currently working on an online mentoring program called “Crack The Orange” to help beginners and community leaders understand Bitcoin more broadly and share it with community members. My non-profit initiative, Bitcoin For Fairness, helps young women create their own educational groups in Zambia.
The four African founders of Qala, a program designed to train the next generation of African Bitcoin and Lightning developers, are young, inspiring and visionary themselves. All of these initiatives contribute to job and wealth creation and have positive network effects on the ground.
How do you typically respond to people who disrespect Bitcoin, especially those who are close to you (such as close friends)?
Over the last few years, I’ve tried to educate naysayers on Twitter and other media platforms.
I noticed that winning an argument is not easy if the respondent is already determined. All the answers you give go against opinions and perceptions of themselves. If people show up and are interested in the topic, I will explain and support them. So do my friends. Most of them have their own ideas about Bitcoin and don’t have the time or interest to learn it. Some of my close friends have asked me for guidance and have done some work.I think they are very happy today.
Why do you think it’s important to close the gender gap in Bitcoin interest and adoption?
First, let the numbers do the talking. Of the 1.7 billion unbanked people in the world, 57% are female.
according to American Economic Association:
“In the United States alone, approximately 8.4 million households are unbanked, and another 24.2 million are classified as unbanked. Black women are more likely to be unbanked than black men and other groups. are very likely not to have a bank account, or are short of bank accounts, and they also find that they have limited assets, and black women more often cite it as the main reason for not getting involved in the banking system. ing.
and according to by the way:
“There is a huge disparity in wealth between men and women at retirement. Women in retirement are expected to accumulate only 74% of the wealth that men have worldwide.”
75 economies around the world “still restrict women’s rights Manage your assets. ” There are countries where women are not allowed to own or inherit property. Never become an owner of land that can be used as collateral to apply for a loan or support an informal business. , East Asia and Pacific countries.
Although women have enjoyed the same rights in many societies in recent decades, women in general still face massive gender-based discrimination. leads to It is because of lack of wealth or the inability of women to create the necessary identities to bank.
Bitcoin is fair as long as it doesn’t discriminate. You don’t have to show your ID or be wealthy already, anyone can use it. There is no minimum limit for using Bitcoin. Anyone can earn Bitcoin through their work. Earning Bitcoin will become the norm.
Educating women and girls about Bitcoin can help bridge the wealth gap between men and women, given that Bitcoin’s value is only appreciated over the long term. Bitcoin is just one tool and cannot magically close the wealth gap. Because men now have more resources, so they can earn or buy more bitcoins. So while Bitcoin is in its early stages, it is essential to educate women and girls as soon as possible, and bringing education to the global South, especially for women, the queer community and human rights activists, is a strong part of Bitcoin For Fairness. Focus.
With the recent shutdown of peer-to-peer (P2P) platform Paxful, are there other successful options for buying and selling Bitcoin in countries without centralized exchanges?
There are several other P2P options for buying and selling bitcoins without presenting your ID. This is an important privacy protection. Physical on-site peer-to-peer exchanges are the top option in African countries as they may not be accessible worldwide. Another option is Bitcoin vouchers or gift cards. The best way to earn bitcoin is to ask your employer or client to pay you in bitcoin, or create valuable online content such as podcasts or other media.
However, the list of P2P exchange projects I have found successful include:
- Hodor Hodor
- bisque
- agora desk
- Robosat
- peach bitcoin
- Noons
This is a guest post by Becca Bratcher. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of her BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
