Grassroots Bitcoin Education & Circular Economies in Zambia

Briefing Notes contain: (1) a summary of podcast content; (2) potential information gaps; and (3) some speculative views on wider implications for Bitcoin. Most summaries are for Bitcoin-centered YouTube episodes but I also do some on AI and technological advance that spill over to affect Bitcoin.

Summary

The November 13, 2025 episode of The Bitcoin Edge with Paula features Walusungu Nyachikanda explaining how Bitcoin education and circular economies are developing in Livingstone, Zambia. She describes the economic pressures driving families to seek alternatives to a rapidly depreciating currency and outlines her efforts to teach children and merchants how to use Bitcoin safely and consistently. The episode offers insight into how grassroots initiatives can shape financial resilience in environments marked by poverty, inflation, and limited institutional support.

Take-Home Messages

1. Child-Centered Financial Literacy: Early Bitcoin education links monetary concepts with practical tools for saving and spending.
2. Inflation-Driven Adoption: Severe currency depreciation motivates households to explore Bitcoin as a store of value and daily medium of exchange.
3. Merchant Participation: Local circular economies rely on merchants who see real customer demand and operational benefits from accepting Bitcoin.
4. Custody and Security Awareness: Teaching safe wallet practices distinguishes Bitcoin use from risky custodial shortcuts and past altcoin losses.
5. Education Infrastructure Gaps: Scaling Bitcoin literacy requires new institutional models that can operate sustainably in low-income communities.

Overview

Walusungu Nyachikanda describes how Zambia’s economic landscape—marked by persistent inflation, a weakening currency, and widespread poverty—pushes families to look for tools that preserve value. She explains that these pressures shape how people encounter Bitcoin, often as a practical alternative rather than a speculative asset. Her work through BitJR Academy responds to this need by teaching children how money works and why purchasing power erodes over time.

The academy’s lessons cover the history of money, the logic of fixed supply, and the mechanics of using wallets, with a strong emphasis on saving even small amounts. Nyachikanda adapts these concepts for younger students by using concrete examples and repeated exercises that encourage disciplined financial habits. She argues that introducing these ideas early can cultivate long-term thinking and help children avoid common mistakes driven by desperation or misinformation.

Beyond classroom education, she highlights how Bitcoin circulates in Livingstone through more than 160 merchants who accept it for goods and services. Nyachikanda notes that some merchants remain hesitant, often because they have experienced low customer volumes or confusion stemming from prior altcoin scams. To counter this, she frequently spends her own Bitcoin to demonstrate that accepting it brings tangible benefits, a practice she views as necessary for maintaining momentum.

She also outlines plans for a dedicated school focused on English, mathematics, Bitcoin, and computer coding, aimed at students who are out of school or struggle to meet conventional standards. Nyachikanda sees this institution as a way to combine foundational literacy with modern digital skills, building economic resilience from an early age. Throughout the episode, she connects Bitcoin’s fixed supply and self-custody principles to broader efforts to strengthen community confidence, reduce reliance on unstable fiat money, and expand future opportunities.

Stakeholder Perspectives

1. Low-Income Households: Seek reliable ways to preserve purchasing power and build minimal savings despite daily economic pressures.
2. Local Merchants: Evaluate whether Bitcoin acceptance improves revenue, customer flow, and protection against currency depreciation.
3. Educators and Community Leaders: Use Bitcoin literacy as an entry point for broader financial, digital, and critical thinking skills.
4. Regulators and Policymakers: Balance consumer protection concerns with the practical reality that Bitcoin use continues despite limited formal guidance.
5. Global Bitcoin Supporters: Observe Zambia as a microcosm for testing grassroots adoption strategies that may inform broader educational and development efforts.

Implications and Future Outlook

The episode illustrates how inflationary environments can accelerate Bitcoin adoption but also expose structural barriers that limit long-term progress. Households may adopt Bitcoin to hedge against rapid currency depreciation, yet their ability to save consistently is restricted by low incomes and frequent financial emergencies. This tension suggests that Bitcoin’s impact will depend heavily on whether education and community support can offset the constraints of daily survival.

Merchant adoption emerges as both an opportunity and a vulnerability. Shops accepting Bitcoin help create a functional circular economy, but their participation often hinges on advocates like Nyachikanda demonstrating real customer demand. Without stable transaction flow, Bitcoin acceptance risks declining, underscoring the need for tools, incentives, and training that lower operational friction for small businesses.

The broader educational initiatives proposed in the episode reflect a long-term strategy to transform community engagement with money and technology. If future schools integrate Bitcoin, coding, and core literacy skills, they may cultivate a generation better equipped to navigate volatile economic conditions. Whether these plans succeed will hinge on stable funding, curriculum design that remains grounded in practical needs, and the ability to scale without overreliance on external donors or volunteer labor.

Some Key Information Gaps

1. How does extreme household poverty in Zambia affect the ability of families to accumulate meaningful Bitcoin savings over time? Understanding this constraint is essential for designing realistic adoption strategies in low-income settings.
2. Which educational methods are most effective in helping Zambians distinguish Bitcoin from high-risk altcoins that have caused prior losses? Identifying these methods will support more resilient financial literacy programs and reduce vulnerability to scams.
3. To what extent does early Bitcoin and money education for children change their saving, spending, and risk preferences as teenagers and adults? Evidence on long-term behavioral effects will help target resources toward interventions with the greatest impact.
4. Under what conditions do merchants in Zambia continue accepting Bitcoin, and when do they revert to local currency only? Clarifying these drivers will guide efforts to sustain circular economies and reduce reliance on advocacy-driven spending.
5. How does widespread reliance on custodial wallets in Zambia affect user security, resilience to platform failures, and understanding of self-custody? Addressing this question will inform priorities for wallet design, regulatory guidance, and community education.

Broader Implications for Bitcoin

Monetary Resilience Under Inflation

Bitcoin’s appeal in inflation-prone regions signals a broader shift toward alternative value anchors as fiat currencies lose credibility. As more communities face monetary instability, governments may encounter growing pressure to adapt financial education, reserve strategies, and consumer protection frameworks. Over the next several years, hybrid systems where Bitcoin sits alongside fiat could emerge as pragmatic responses rather than ideological choices.

Education as a Vector for Financial Transformation

The rise of child-centered Bitcoin literacy efforts illustrates how early exposure to monetary principles can reshape long-term financial behavior. As these programs expand, education ministries and NGOs may adopt similar models that integrate digital finance, coding, and economic reasoning into core curricula. This could influence societal attitudes toward saving, investment, and future planning in ways that outlast specific community projects.

Localized Circular Economies and Global Lessons

Grassroots Bitcoin circular economies provide a laboratory for understanding how decentralized money functions in everyday commerce. Insights from these experiments can inform policymakers and technologists seeking to design tools, incentives, and regulatory approaches that support practical use rather than speculative hype. These lessons are transferable across borders, especially to regions with weak currencies or limited banking infrastructure.

Self-Custody and Consumer Protection Standards

The prevalence of custodial wallets in emerging markets highlights the trade-off between convenience and sovereignty. As adoption expands, the need for intuitive, secure self-custody solutions will become more urgent, prompting industry and regulators to define clearer safety baselines. Over time, these standards could shape global expectations around digital asset control, personal responsibility, and financial autonomy.