2024-01-06 12:33:33
The name of the village is Bondo. The settlement is located at the foot of Mount Mulanje in a remote region of Malawi close to the border with Mozambique. It is an impoverished region with no means of transportation other than feet, very few sources of food, and no electricity. Well, until recently.
Bitcoin brought electricity to Bondo
What is characteristic of the region is the heavy rains and fast-flowing streams. Taking advantage of this, three turbines were installed in a micro-hydro system to take advantage of this rapidly falling rainfall. Meanwhile, 32 computers are mining bitcoin in a concrete pump house.
And while cryptomining is often criticized for its excessive power consumption, it is a local initiative reverses this narrative by using bitcoin mining to finance the cost of power generation in parts of Africa that are too poor or remote to have the opportunity to connect to power grids, but that have some other abundant potential energy resources.
Bitcoin mining utilizes the surplus energy of these renewable energy power plants. This has a “real lifestyle-changing” effect for the 1,800 homes connected to the mini-grid in the settlement. And it achieves this in several ways.
First, people finally had access to electricity, unlike other settlements in the region. Among many other things, they can use the stoves for cooking, the refrigerators for storing food and medicine, they can watch TV, and the light has finally turned on for the children to study, giving them a chance to continue their studies at a higher level. In addition, villagers are able to produce food and drinks that can be sold in local markets.
No more dependence on aid
The leader of the settlement said that they never thought that they would be able to bring electricity to their village. And not only homes, but also schools, corn mills, small businesses, shops and churches are connected to the network.
“When you walk around Bondo, you see happy people – and that’s because of the electricity.” summed it up.
Of course, all this helps the development of the local economy. One of the most important and often neglected facts is that many impoverished communities rely on foreign aid. However, bitcoin mining has “liberated” the community from dependence on foreign aid for survival.
Bitcoin can thus prevent Bondo from becoming a white elephant like the one we see in many places in Africa, built by aid organizations and then abandoned.
The Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust, a local group working to protect the region’s unique biodiversity, built the Bondo power stations. In the beginning, they were supported by funding from aid organizations and development agencies, but now bitcoin covers the operating costs.
So finally, this small settlement in Malawi shows another reason why people in Africa are increasingly turning to bitcoin. They are looking for ways to protect their money and keep it away from unstable local currencies.
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