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Is It Possible to Take Bitcoin to the Rural Areas?
Mary Victoria Imasuen
•2 min read
It is possible to access bitcoin without a smartphone. Thanks to platforms that make it available for feature phones by leveraging the lightning network.
During my personal reflections on bitcoin, I wondered if it was possible for people in rural areas and remote villages could have access to bitcoin.
We say it often here in Bitnob that bitcoin is the best-performing asset in the last decade.
We talk about how bitcoin can solve remittance problems and how it could help protect us from the effects of financial inflation and economic uncertainties. If you’re able to save at least $1 in bitcoin a day, you’d be way off than someone who doesn’t save in bitcoin at all.
But despite how amazing bitcoin is, not having a smartphone or computer and access to the internet could “disenfranchise” you from enjoying the wonders of bitcoin.
So it was exciting to have Kgothatso Ngako on The Nobcast tell us about Machankura. Kgothatso is a young South African bitcoiner who developed Machankura. With Machankura, anyone with a feature phone can have access to bitcoin. You’re able to access the Machankura interface through the use of USSD codes. At the time of writing this article, Machankura is available in 6 countries including Nigeria and Ghana.
Through the code, you’re able to create and customise your lightning address which you can use to send and receive bitcoin.
This got me thinking about how you, as a Bitnob user, can spread bitcoin education and empower people through your Bitnob app.
The Bitnob supports lightning addresses. You can set up your lightning address which will enable you to send and receive bitcoin to your Bitnob app using your lightning address.
If you have a friend or relative in a rural area and they don’t have a smartphone or access to the internet, you can easily send them bitcoin from your Bitnob app straight to the lightning address they created on their feature phone through Machankura. They are able to receive bitcoin in their wallet instantly thanks to the lightning network.
It feels so empowering to be a Bitnob user and to know how far you can get with the lightning network. Now taking bitcoin to rural areas and people without a smartphone is a reality.
If that doesn’t make you feel like a superhero, I don’t know what will.