🎙️ My guest today is Lorraine Marcel, founder of Bitcoin Dada and its technical arm Dada Devs for women across Africa. She’s a financial activist reshaping Africa’s fintech landscape by training women across 12 countries in financial literacy, Bitcoin fundamentals, and technical development. We talk about how mobile money like M-Pesa, limited banking access, and cultural barriers around property shape the economic reality for African women, and why Bitcoin in much of Africa is used first for payments and day-to-day survival rather than long-term savings. We also explore the expanding reach of CBDC and VASP regulation, and why women-led projects such as Tando and Dada Devs are critical for building practical, grassroots Bitcoin economies that actually serve people on the ground.
This episode is also on Twitter, Spotify, YouTube, Fountain, Rumble and more.
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We talked about:
00:00 - Coming Up…
01:50 - Lorraine’s Background & Intro
04:33 - Financial Challenges of African Women
07:33 - Discovering Bitcoin & Initial Struggles
09:33 - Building “Bitcoin Dada” For Women
11:40 - Ad Break: Trezor & Abundant Mines
20:45 - Lorraine’s Mission Improves Lives
23:13 - Women’s Teaching Approach
25:46 - Digital Payments & CBDCs in Kenya
28:55 - Ad Break: Expat Money & New Totalitarian Order
31:02 - Bitcoin Adoption & Regulation in Kenya, Surveillance & KYC
33:58 - True Financial Empowerment
34:58 - Women As Bitcoin Developers - Tando’s Case Study
38:48 - Circular Economies in Africa
42:48 - HODLing vs. Using Bitcoin for Payments
47:58 - Recognition in Lorraine’s & Dada’s Impact
51:10 - How to Support Bitcoin Dada & Dada Devs
My takeaways from this interview:
Lorraine’s frustration with Kenya’s banking system, low pay, rigid hierarchy, and blocked access to credit revealed how deeply women are restricted by property laws, documentation barriers, and cultural norms.
Her path into Bitcoin began through organizing events during the ICO era, where speculation left her disillusioned until she chose to study Bitcoin directly during Covid.
A pivotal moment came when she hosted a meeting for visiting Bitcoiners and realized the complete absence of women, which sparked the creation of Bitcoin Dada.
Bitcoin Dada began as a small circle of friends, each woman required to bring another, which quickly expanded into cohorts spanning 12 African countries - educating more than 800 women to date.
For African women, Bitcoin education is driven by necessity, not speculation, since financial exclusion, lack of property rights, and unreliable banking make Bitcoin a lifeline.
Women teach differently by adapting explanations to farmers, entrepreneurs, or doctors and beginning with lived problems rather than technology, which accelerates adoption.
Bitcoin Dada now includes two tracks: a non-technical financial literacy and Bitcoin program, and Dada Devs, a three-month Bitcoin and Lightning developer pipeline for experienced programmers.
Lorraine has built a volunteer-driven teaching network, with Bitcoiners worldwide stepping in to teach sessions, mentor students, and reduce her operational load.
Graduates are not just learning but building. Tando, an easy-to-use off-ramp for Kenyan shillings, is a leading example of women-led development that solves local problems.
Circular Bitcoin economies in Africa face real constraints such as unreliable electricity, weak mobile penetration, and persistent scams, but these pressures inspire innovation like SMS and USSD-based Bitcoin tools.
In Kenya, the ubiquity of M-Pesa makes digital payments normal, which accelerates Bitcoin adoption far more than in cash-heavy countries like Nigeria.
While Kenya paused CBDC ambitions, new VASP rules introduce heavy KYC and surveillance risks on digital assets including bitcoin. Lorraine sees this as a double-edged sword. Legitimacy for education, but a threat to privacy.
Bitcoin in Africa is primarily a payments rail, not a savings tool. Stability, speed, and censorship resistance solve daily economic survival before long-term store-of-value thinking emerges.
Western Bitcoiners often project savings-first narratives. Lorraine argues they must check their financial privilege and acknowledge that Africans face fundamentally different monetary realities.
Her recognitions from Forbes and CoinDesk, along with being named Most Impactful African Bitcoiner 2024, validated the work for her students and gave African women confidence that the global ecosystem sees them.
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— Support my work —
I was recently banned from Stripe, so I cannot have paid memberships on Substack… but there’s always another way!
