Fedimint on BTC scaling in the global south

“Bitcoin is for billions, not billionaires,” a phrase first coined by investment researcher Lyn Alden may soon become a reality, according to Fedimint.

The protocol, which aims to scale Bitcoin (BTC) while making it more private, has been strengthened by a $ 4.2 million seed round for the Fedi application.

Cointelegraph spoke with Obi Nwosu, co-founder and CEO of Fedi, about the “incredible group of inspiring people we work with to support their activities to increase the freedom of some of the most oppressed regions in the world,” and why the Fedi mobile app can solve issues related to scaling, storage and privacy.

Lyudmyla Kozlovska, head of the Open Dialogue Foundation – which focuses on supporting people in post-Soviet Europe – Farida Bemba Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, and Fadi Elsalameen, president of the Palestinian Security Project and fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, supports the development of the Fedi app and its impact on the global south and emerging economies.

In short, the Fedi wallet app connects users to Fedimint “federations”. The Fedimint Protocol (which takes its name from “federated” and “mint”) uses multisignature technology (multisig) and trusted community members called “supervisors”.

Nwosu told the Cointelegraph that Fedi hopes to have the greatest impact on those in the global south, and that the company is “uniquely positioned to help, which is why we want to focus specifically on distribution in these communities.”

Farid Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, told the Cointelegraph that in “poor parts of the world” it is almost impossible to get a hardware wallet. Hardware wallet distributors including Ledger, ColdCard and Trezor are not present on the African continent, despite the fact that “Africa has the fastest growing adoption rate and Togo, for example, was listed among the top 10 countries with the fastest adoption per capita. based on the 2021 Chain Analysis Report. “

The Fedi app could go a long way in solving these problems, enabling greater exposure to Bitcoin in Africa, Nabourema continued:

“Fedimint solves many of our problems in one system. It gives us an extra layer of security to keep bitcoin purchases and ownership completely decentralized, anonymously and offers an extra layer of ownership. “

Nabourema says that the “federated wallet method” draws inspiration from the traditional savings methods used throughout Africa and emerging markets in the Caribbean and Latin America. Known as a “tontine” in French-speaking West Africa, a “sousou” in Nigeria or a “zu-zu” in Trinidad and Tobago, these savings tools help thousands of people plan for the future. It is among the oldest peer-to-peer savings technologies:

“This model has helped millions of people, especially women who were traditionally excluded from the banking system to finance their business, their children’s education, to acquire property among others.”

Fedimint uses this community-supported approach to financing, but uses a decentralized, unchanging currency, ie Bitcoin. “In addition, Fedimint adds an extra layer of security and even more important privacy as the custodians can keep the amount they own completely private from others,” Nabourema emphasizes.

Nourou, the founder of Bitcoin Senegal – a grassroots campaign for Bitcoin adoption located in the populous West African city of Dakar – told the Cointelegraph that Fediment’s community-sponsored approach is a reflection of how certain Bitcoin enthusiasts operate nodes.

Related: Bitcoin in Zimbabwe: Importing cars and sending money to the family

Nevertheless, the way groups of trusted community members called “guardians” interact with Bitcoin using Fedi is still unclear at this stage and may pose a risk, he explained:

“In this case, parents would have more power than others on the network, which could create centralization challenges. In addition, there may be a risk that some people abuse their high responsibility. “

Nwosu explained that “Fedimint is a federated deposit protocol that complements the Bitcoin Monetary Protocol and the Lightning Payment Protocol to provide a complete solution for holding, using and securing Bitcoin on a global scale.” Custody is a completely new development in the Bitcoin protocol while multisig, (where two or more signatories are required to move Bitcoin), has been around for almost a decade.

Although Africa is a clear candidate for Bitcoin scaling and socially supported progress, Nwosu told the Cointelegraph that Leopoldo Lopez, the Venezuelan opposition leader who co-founded the political party Primero Justicia in 2000, has also shown interest. Apparently, the solution that Fedi provides can “meet the needs of the people of Latin America on a large scale.”

Nabourema concluded that Fedimint will be “a lifesaver for millions of people living in developing countries, and most importantly those who face brutal authoritarianism in the hands of their government which tends to control their money and how they spend it.”