Btrust Backs Five New Lightning Developer Bootcamps Across Africa
Btrust funded Africa Free Routing to run five additional Lightning-focused developer bootcamps, expanding an effort to move experienced African developers into open-source Bitcoin work.
On April 29, 2025, African Bitcoiners announced that Btrust had awarded a grant to its Africa Free Routing initiative to support five additional Bitcoin Lightning developer bootcamps across Africa. The program targeted experienced developers who were not yet working on Bitcoin and aimed to move them toward hands-on Lightning and open-source development.
The bootcamps were designed around practical technical training, mentorship, and pathways into longer-term programs such as Btrust Builders. Organizers also framed the effort as a way to produce infrastructure suited to African users rather than simply importing products designed elsewhere.
The grant documented an important part of Bitcoin's developer geography. Open-source development had historically been concentrated in a relatively small number of countries and institutions; programs like these were deliberately building contributor pipelines in the Global South and widening the set of people capable of maintaining and extending Bitcoin infrastructure.