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Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

Dakar, the capital of the West African nation of Senegal, now boasts an annual Pan-African Bitcoin conference, over 10 merchants accepting Bitcoin, a local peer-to-peer BTC exchange and a budding Bitcoin community.

What’s more, the speed at which Bitcoin’s progress is unwinding is staggering. The city hosted the DakarBTC Days conference just 10 months after the country’s first “in real life” Bitcoin meetup. All of this is despite a brutal bear market that has put a big dent in Bitcoin adoption.

Why is Bitcoin bubbling in Senegal? Is this country on the path to “hyperbitcoinization,” or at least more entrenched Bitcoin adoption and use? Could Senegal be the next country to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps?

I wanted to find out. I had missed out on the inception of Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador in 2019, so I wanted to explore what a bottom-up, Bitcoin-circular economy might look like in West Africa. This is that story so far.

A colonial currency

The West African Economic and Monetary Union CFA franc is an awful currency. The French created it; they control its conversion rate; they even design and print the notes for use in Africa. A Frenchman sitting in the historic university town of Clermond-Ferrand conjures up the designs in use on CFA notes used by millions of Africans across 13 countries — despite the fact that they might never have set foot in Africa.

African countries using the CFA

Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

Bitcoin adoption has the potential to take off in Senegal, where people are eager to get away from the volatile and colonial local currency.

Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

Bitcoin adoption has the potential to take off in Senegal, where people are eager to get away from the volatile and colonial local currency.

Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

Bitcoin adoption has the potential to take off in Senegal, where people are eager to get away from the volatile and colonial local currency.

Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

Dakar, the capital of the West African nation of Senegal, now boasts an annual Pan-African Bitcoin conference, over 10 merchants accepting Bitcoin, a local peer-to-peer BTC exchange and a budding Bitcoin community.

What’s more, the speed at which Bitcoin’s progress is unwinding is staggering. The city hosted the DakarBTC Days conference just 10 months after the country’s first “in real life” Bitcoin meetup. All of this is despite a brutal bear market that has put a big dent in Bitcoin adoption.

Why is Bitcoin bubbling in Senegal? Is this country on the path to “hyperbitcoinization,” or at least more entrenched Bitcoin adoption and use? Could Senegal be the next country to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps?

I wanted to find out. I had missed out on the inception of Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador in 2019, so I wanted to explore what a bottom-up, Bitcoin-circular economy might look like in West Africa. This is that story so far.

A colonial currency

The West African Economic and Monetary Union CFA franc is an awful currency. The French created it; they control its conversion rate; they even design and print the notes for use in Africa. A Frenchman sitting in the historic university town of Clermond-Ferrand conjures up the designs in use on CFA notes used by millions of Africans across 13 countries — despite the fact that they might never have set foot in Africa.

African countries using the CFA

73.3% of Q1 rug pulls happened on BNB Chain: Immunefi

Rug pulls and other frauds made up a small percentage of losses compared to hacks and exploits, the report stated.

73.3% of Q1 rug pulls happened on BNB Chain: Immunefi

Rug pulls and other frauds made up a small percentage of losses compared to hacks and exploits, the report stated.

Brazil bank BTG Pactual to issue USD-pegged stablecoin

The new U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin aims to help BTG Pactual’s customers interact between the traditional financial system and the digital economy.

Midjourney AI users find workaround amid ban on Chinese President’s images

Midjourney AI bans the creation of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s images, but users find ways to create deepfakes.

TON validators receive single nominator smart contract

Orbs’ single-nominator contract offers independent validation for validators, safeguards against gas attacks and enables stake recovery during emergencies.

Why is Dogecoin price up today?

Dogecoin (DOGE) pared a portion of its massive daily gains on April 4 as investors speculated on the meaning behind Elon Musk’s latest cryptic stunt.

Elon Musk pumps Dogecoin by over 30%

In what appears to be a late April Fool’s joke, Musk-owned Twitter changed its official blue bird logo to mimic Dogecoin’s symbol — a Shiba Inu dog featured in viral memes. Later, Musk tweeted a meme recognizing the change.

Over the years, Musk has influenced the Dogecoin market with his cryptic tweets. The billionaire investor calls himself “Dogefather,” and has earlier discussed the prospect of adding a DOGE payment option for Twitter subscription services. 

His other ventures, Tesla and SpaceX, already accept DOGE for their merchandise products.

Dogecoin rose nearly 33% after Musk’s tweet on April 3, reaching $0.104, its highest level since December 2022. DOGE price has pared a portion of its gains since, dropping to lows of $0.092.

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Why is Dogecoin price up today?

Dogecoin (DOGE) pared a portion of its massive daily gains on April 4 as investors speculated on the meaning behind Elon Musk’s latest cryptic stunt.

Elon Musk pumps Dogecoin by over 30%

In what appears to be a late April Fool’s joke, Musk-owned Twitter changed its official blue bird logo to mimic Dogecoin’s symbol — a Shiba Inu dog featured in viral memes. Later, Musk tweeted a meme recognizing the change.

Over the years, Musk has influenced the Dogecoin market with his cryptic tweets. The billionaire investor calls himself “Dogefather,” and has earlier discussed the prospect of adding a DOGE payment option for Twitter subscription services. 

His other ventures, Tesla and SpaceX, already accept DOGE for their merchandise products.

Dogecoin rose nearly 33% after Musk’s tweet on April 3, reaching $0.104, its highest level since December 2022. DOGE price has pared a portion of its gains since, dropping to lows of $0.092.

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European banks launch 'sustainable' blockchain platform for digital bonds

The platform makes the first use case of a so-called “Proof of Climate” blockchain protocol.

Dragonfly Capital invests $10M in Bitget amid industry recovery

The exchange currently facilitates cryptocurrency derivatives trading with an open interest of $2.4 billion and has plans to expand its spot trading, launchpad and Bitget Earn products.

Bitcoin price bounces after CZ arrest rumors as traders eye $30K next

BTC price action performs a "classic sweep" of the lows with Bitcoin on track to tackle the $30,000 mark once again.

Bitcoin price bounces after CZ arrest rumors as traders eye $30K next

Bitcoin (BTC) hit new month-to-date lows overnight into April 4 as fresh rumors over the biggest exchange, Binance, spooked fragile markets.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

BTC price returns to $28,000 after weekly lo

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD dipping to $27,240 on Bitstamp.

Its lowest since March 28, the performance followed an outbreak of claims that Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, already under investigation by United States regulators, is now wanted by Interpol.

The claims came from an accidental leak of an encrypted tweet by the private Twitter account Cobie, which appeared to lack evidence, resulting in a market rebound.

Now trading above $28,000 at the time of writing, Bitcoin was exhibiting “classic” behavior, according to Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight.

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What is Gods Unchained, and how to play it

Gods Unchained is a blockchain-based card game where players have true ownership of their assets. This guide has all you need to know.

Euler Labs hacker returns 'all of the recoverable funds' — Timeline

After being robbed of $196 million in a flash loan attack, Euler Finance convinced its hacker within 25 days to return most of the funds. The outcome was a result of numerous to and fro, which eventually led the hacker to do “the right thing.”

On March 13, the Euler Finance hacker carried out multiple transactions, each draining millions of dollars in various tokens, including DAI (DAI), USD Coin (USDC), staked Ether (StETH) and wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).

111 Funds stolen from Euler Finance. Source: BlockSec

As a result, Euler’s total value locked inside its smart contracts has dropped from over $311 million to $10.37 million. Ultimately, 11 different decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, including Balancer, Yearn Finance and Yield Protocol, either froze or lost funds.

The next day, March 14, Euler took proactive measures to recover funds, which involved disabling its vulnerable etoken module and donation function as the first course of action. In addition, it worked with auditing companies to analyze the root cause of the exploit.

Parallely, Euler tried contacting the hackers to negotiate a bounty. On March 15, the hacker received an ultimatum to return 90% of the stolen funds and threatened to announce a $1 million reward for information that could lead to the hacker’s arrest. This deal would allow the hacker to get away with $19.6 million.

Allbridge exploiter returns most of the $573K stolen in attack

An exploit resulted in around $573,000 in crypto looted from Allbridge, but the hacker has now seemingly accepted the offer of a “white hat bounty.”

Satellite orbiting Earth participates in the Ethereum KZG ceremony

The blockchain-powered satellite Cryptosat will be the contributor of the thousands that have already participated in the Ethereum KZG ceremony to do so from outer space.

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