Btrust grants $1M to ten Bitcoin-focused events and developer education programs

Bitcoin-centric nonprofit organization Btrust has announced that it gave out $1.04 million in grants to 10 Bitcoin events and developer education initiatives in the Global South. 

Of these grantees, four African Bitcoin events, including the African Bitcoin Conference, received funding in Btrust’s inaugural grant round for 2025.

The details 

• In a blog post, Btrust, which typically focuses on initiatives that enhance the decentralization of Bitcoin software development, announced that it granted four developer programs and six events. 
• Notably, all African beneficiaries of the grant were in the events and conferences category.  
• According to Btrust, it decided to extend its grant support for bitcoin development programs outside Africa because of the presence of its talent development firm, Btrust Builders on the continent. 

The African grantees are: 

• The Africa Bitcoin Conference, a yearly, rotating event for African Bitcoin stakeholders. The 2025 edition is scheduled for May 27 in Louis, Mauritius. 
• The global conference Adopting Bitcoin, traditionally held in El Salvador, but which debuted its African edition last year in Cape Town, South Africa. The 2025 edition took place earlier in January. 
• Bitcoin Lightning Network infrastructure company Africa Free Routing’s developer bootcamps held across the continent to introduce non-blockchain developers to the workings of the decentralized economy. Its last cohort rounded up in Kaduna, Nigeria last week. 
• The third edition of the Senegal-based Bitcoin event, Dakar Bitcoin Days scheduled to be held in October. 
• Other beneficiaries of the grant are Bitcoin++, Base58, Vinteum, Summer of Bitcoin, B40S and Bitshala. 
• Btrust did not state the exact amount in grants that each beneficiary received, but the total added up to $1,004,010. 

Key quote 

• On why it only supported developer initiatives outside Africa, Btrust’s blog post reads: 

“As a critical component of our mission...we intend to support a healthy path for developers to onboard to the Bitcoin open-source ecosystem. While we have our internal engine for doing this in Africa via Btrust Builders, for other Global South regions we are present in, such as LatAm and India, it is equally essential to support similar pipelines to train Bitcoin open-source developers.” 

Zoom out 

• Nigeria, and by extension, African blockchain and crypto firms are increasingly having to rely more on small-scale grants than institutional investments, a report found. 
• While these small-scale grants are primarily sponsored by blockchain ecosystems to drive adoption of their respective chains, nonprofits like Btrust look to contribute their fair share to development activities. 
• In 2023, Btrust acquired African bitcoin talent development firm Qala and rebranded it as Btrust Builders to further the goal of training African developers in the way of open-source Bitcoin development. 
• Last year, Mariblock reported that Btrust Builders began its inaugural batch, admitting 55 software engineers for training in Bitcoin open-source development over three months.