Bitcoins.co.ke - Kenya/Africa Bitcoin portal

[weex]

How can Kenyan undergound artists sell music globally at true market rates?

[1713576868]

1713576868

[1713576868]

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[Ente]

It looks like it's advancing fast, great! :-)

So, what's needed next, thinking in big steps?

Ente

[baggyp]

well done sir! I really want to help this project in any way I can, I see it as a good thing not only for the Bitcoin, but for Africa. Early adoption of bitcoin could do alot for that continent.

[weex]

So, what's needed next, thinking in big steps?

well done sir! I really want to help this project in any way I can, I see it as a good thing not only for the Bitcoin, but for Africa. Early adoption of bitcoin could do alot for that continent.

Thank you both! Here are some steps big and small that would be great to take:

* We need to build the local exchanger network on localbitcoins.com. Perhaps a document that describes the process or helping to fund some Swahili translations could help with that.
* I think growing the local community on the forums and through Twitter (@BitcoinAfrica has been setup for this purpose) would be good. We need a moderator or two who can visit the site daily and approve new users.
* Other tasks I've been starting with have been to contact local publications and other local tech startups to let them know about Bitcoin, offer help if they have any questions about the technology, and help to connect them with others that are local to them.

The focus has been on Nairobi so far but exploring other African tech centers will become important over time.

[Ente]

..lets get some more users and posts in http://www.bitcoins.co.ke/forum :-)
I'll start!

Ente

[ahmed9979]

I can do Arabic translation for the site, would you be interested?.

[Werosim]

Yes, how are you?

[mai77]

good luck to you. 

may we the people overcome all central banks in the world!   

[pvaladares]

I may start the Portuguese version.
There are severals countries in Africa that currently use Portuguese language (Angola, Mozambique, etc).

Give me some feedback.

[Ente]

I may start the Portuguese version.
There are severals countries in Africa that currently use Portuguese language (Angola, Mozambique, etc).

Give me some feedback.

Good approach!
Like, a whole new portal, or a portuguese translation of bitcoins.co.ke?
With the currently little members and activity, I would suggest concentrate all of them in one place (as a neginning at least).

Ente

[Stephen Gornick]

New Post:

Afrinnovator - Bitcoin Crypto-currency and the opportunity for a truly Pan-Africa money revolution

 - http://www.bitcoins.co.ke/forum/showthread.php?tid=36
 - http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2013/04/01/bitcoin-crypto-currency-and-the-opportunity-for-a-truly-pan-africa-money-revolution/
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=164451.0

[cypher-punk]

New Post:

Afrinnovator - Bitcoin Crypto-currency and the opportunity for a truly Pan-Africa money revolution

 - http://www.bitcoins.co.ke/forum/showthread.php?tid=36
 - http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2013/04/01/bitcoin-crypto-currency-and-the-opportunity-for-a-truly-pan-africa-money-revolution/
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=164451.0

excellent idea!

[IntentionTech]

It'd be useful for the site to be mirrored or at least some content in Swahili/Kiswahili.  Arabic and French would also be useful for an African audience.  Plus making the site work well on a 2G mobile phone would be a good idea.  As that's how most Africans access the internet.

Any suggestions on design and test for 2g mobile phones when you don't have one? Guess I'd better figure out what text to post and get translated in the first place.

There may be someone on here that will translate for bitcoins

[pelleb]

Hi Kenyan bitcoiners.

We're launching a wallet with mpesa to bitcoin integration. We performed the first M-Pesa to Bitcoin sale 2 weeks ago.

Our site is http://kipochi.com and yes we have a version in Kiswahili http://kipochi.com/sw/

I'd be interested in hearing feedback and perhaps organizing a meetup here in Nairobi.

Asante sana

Pelle

[niko]

Hi Kenyan bitcoiners.

We're launching a wallet with mpesa to bitcoin integration. We performed the first M-Pesa to Bitcoin sale 2 weeks ago.

Our site is http://kipochi.com and yes we have a version in Kiswahili http://kipochi.com/sw/

I'd be interested in hearing feedback and perhaps organizing a meetup here in Nairobi.

Asante sana

Pelle

Can anyone from Kenya confirm a successful M-Pesa transaction through this Website?

[jim618]

(slightly OT but this is the only Kenya thread).

As the Bitcoin activity in Kenya seems to be picking up, I have added Swahili as a target language for MultiBit.
If you are a Swahili speaker and are interested in helping translate, please have a look at:

http://translate.multibit.org

Asante!

[Ente]

Great project, I wish you all well. I went camping in Uganda for two weeks last January. My cousin has been a missionary/veterinarian there for 22 years. She got married, I went to play music for her wedding (along with two sisters, and some cousins). We were in the Karamoja area (northeast Uganda, not far from Kenya).

Where we were was amazingly primitive. The Karamojong do not really have currency, other than cattle. One of the things that impressed me greatly, was the wide use of cellphones in Uganda (not among the Karamojong, but on the way there). There was widespread use of "Mobile Money", an SMS protocol to facilitate peer to peer money. People that lived in cardboard boxes have old candy bar phones, and there are plenty of street kiosks to sell air time, charging, and give cash for the mobile money.

This is one of the things that got me interested in Bitcoin. Bringing currency and payments to the otherwise unbankable.

Thank you for your observations!
Yes, we hear "hey, Bitcoin would be good for Africa!" regularly, but it's first-hand experiences like yours which show the path.

Maybe we need to go big on this. Like, founding a Bitcoin-Africa-Foundation. Have some dedicated people, have funds from the community, and do it right.

Ente

[nanobtc]

Some of the strengths of BTC seem like they could be problems in Africa. BTC is by nature peer to peer. To use it on dumb phones requires a middleman (M-Pesa, Mobile Money, whoever). They are big companies, they probably won't start using this new currency, without a surcharge. And really, that is fine, as long as it doesn't get taxed into the ground.

I asked someone what happens when they lose their phone. They said it's all based on their password, and that the money is "out there" (waving hands in the air) and not on their phone. I guess "the cloud" buzzword has not made it to the small villages yet. Although in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, English is widely spoken, in Uganda there are 40 dialects (much a variation of Swahili). English letters and numbers on phones are alien, but they learn to use them.

Many governments in Africa are very corrupt as well, I don't know how well a truly decentralized currency would be accepted. I live in the USA, and have the same thoughts about BTC here.

[weex]

Some of the strengths of BTC seem like they could be problems in Africa. BTC is by nature peer to peer. To use it on dumb phones requires a middleman (M-Pesa, Mobile Money, whoever). They are big companies, they probably won't start using this new currency, without a surcharge. And really, that is fine, as long as it doesn't get taxed into the ground.

The difference with Bitcoin is that it can help in different ways. No company can have a monopoly on Bitcoin transactions so it breeds competition in whatever it touches. If the technical know-how were there, there could be hundreds of sms powered services backed by Bitcoin. Or maybe they'd use their own servers and Android apps to help move value around with Bitcoin serving as the economic backbone.

Many governments in Africa are very corrupt as well, I don't know how well a truly decentralized currency would be accepted. I live in the USA, and have the same thoughts about BTC here.

Yeah, it will be tough some places but that's why education and building relationships with all stakeholders is important. The more Bitcoin is seen not so much as an inevitable force but more as a source of competitive advantage (you do want competitive advantage, right?) the more it will be supported.

[Stephen Gornick]

hi weex,

I'm having trouble logging in.   I don't see an error message, but submit on the user login just reloads the page without authenticating me (says "Hello There, Guest!").   I've tried with both my e-mail address as username, and with a username as well.  Both behave the same way.