“Bitcoin is for billions, not billionaires”, a phrase first coined by investment researcher Lyn Alden, could soon become a realityaccording to Fedimint.
The protocolwhich aims to scale bitcoin (BTC) while making it more private, has been boosted by a $4.2 million seed round for the Fedi app.
Cointelegraph spoke with Obi Nwosu, co-founder and CEO of Fedi, about the “incredible group of inspiring people we are working with to support their activities to increase freedoms for some of the world’s most oppressed regions.”and why the Fedi mobile app could solve scaling, custody, and privacy issues.
Lyudmyla Kozlovska, director of the Open Dialogue Foundation – which focuses on supporting the population of post-Soviet Europe – Farida Bemba Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, and Fadi Elsalameen, president of the Palestinian Security Project and a member of the Institute of Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, support the development of the Fedi application and its impact on the global south and emerging economies.
In short, the Fedi wallet app connects users with Fedimint “federations”. The Fedimint protocol (named after “federated” and “mint”) uses multisignature (multisig) technology and trusted community members called “gatekeepers.”.
Nwosu told Cointelegraph that Fedi expects to have the greatest impact in those located in the global south, and that the firm is “in a unique position to help, which is why we will put special attention on deployment in these communities. “
Farida Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, explained to Cointelegraph that in “poor parts of the world”, acquiring a hardware wallet is almost impossible. Hardware wallet vendors such as Ledger, ColdCard, and Trezor are not present on the African continent, even though “Africa has the fastest growing adoption rate in Africa.”oy Togo, for example, was listed among the 10 countries with the fastest adoption per capita according to Chainalysis’s 2021 report.”
The Fedi app can contribute to solving these problems, allowing greater exposure to bitcoin in Africa, Nabourema continued.:
“Fedimint solves many of our problems in one system. It gives us an extra layer of security to keep the purchase and ownership of bitcoin fully decentralized, anonymous and offers an additional layer of ownership.”
Nabourema details that the “federated wallet method” is inspired by traditional savings methods used in Africa and in the emerging markets of the Caribbean and Latin America. Known as “tontine” in francophone West Africa, “sousou” in Nigeria, or “zu-zu” in Trinidad and Tobago, These community savings tools help thousands of people plan for their future. It is one of the oldest peer-to-peer savings technologies:
“This model has helped millions of people, especially women who were traditionally excluded from the banking system, to finance their businesses, their children’s education and to acquire property, among other things.”
Fedimint uses this community-backed funding approach, but uses a decentralized and immutable currency, i.e. bitcoin. “In addition, Fedimint adds an additional layer of security and, more importantly, privacyas custodians can keep the amount they own totally private from others,” Nabourema notes.
Nabourema, founder of Bitcoin Senegal—a grassroots bitcoin adoption campaign based in the populous West African city of Dakar—told Cointelegraph that Fedimint’s community-backed approach is a reflection of how certain bitcoin enthusiasts run nodes.
Nevertheless, how groups of trusted community members, called “gatekeepers,” interact with bitcoin using Fedi remains unclear at this stage and could pose risksexplained:
“In this case, the gatekeepers would have more powers than others in the network, which could create centralization problems. In addition, there could be a risk that certain people will abuse their lofty responsibilities.”
Nwosu explained that “Fedimint is a federated custody protocol that complements the bitcoin monetary protocol and the lightning payment protocol to provide a complete solution for holding, using and securing bitcoin on a global scale.”. Community custody is an entirely new development in the bitcoin protocol, while multisig, (in which two or more signers are required to move bitcoin), has been around for nearly a decade.
Although Africa is a clear candidate for Bitcoin scaling and community custody advances, Nwosu told Cointelegraph that Leopoldo López, the Venezuelan opposition leader who co-founded the Primero Justicia political party in 2000, has also shown interest. Apparently, Fedi’s solution could “meet the needs of people in Latin America at scale”.
Nabourema concluded that Fedimint will be “a lifeline for millions of citizens living in developing worlds and, above all, for those who face brutal authoritarianism at the hands of their government, which tends to control their money and how they use it”.
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.
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