We recently had the pleasure of sponsoring and taking part in this year’s @Africa Bitcoin Conference, held from December 3–5 at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port Louis, Mauritius 🇲🇺. The Africa Bitcoin Conference brings together builders, businesses, innovators, policymakers, and community members from across Africa and beyond, all working to advance Bitcoin on the continent. This year, we brought in over 90 people from across our ecosystem, including the Btrust team, grantees, members from @Btrust Builders, @bitshala, @npub13s0k...5g70, @La Librería de Satoshi, #BtrustDeveloperDay speakers, and more, to attend the conference, lead sessions, and connect with the wider Bitcoin community. Beyond the sessions and conversations, we had a great time reconnecting, learning, and building alongside the community. Huge thanks to the Africa Bitcoin Conference organisers for the amazing event and for the work that went into making it a success. #ABC25 #ABC2025

Final call 🚨🚨 The next chapter of Btrust is being written-and this is your opportunity to be part of it. We’re looking for mission-driven leaders ready to contribute to governance, strategy, and long-term impact. Learn more & apply:

Google Docs

Call for Board Members

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This year’s #BtrustDeveloperDay in Mauritius 🇲🇺 was one for the books! 🎉 We welcomed over 260 attendees, far more than we’d expected, making it our biggest and most vibrant edition yet. This event was truly special, not just for the work that went into it, but for the connections and collaborations we made along the way. A huge thank you to all our speakers, booth exhibitors, and attendees for showing up, sharing knowledge, and making this year’s Developer Day an incredible success. 🙏 With 30+ speakers, hands-on workshops, live demos, lightning talks, and even games, the day was filled with energy, learning, and collaboration. From deep technical sessions on Bitcoin development, Lightning, privacy, and infrastructure to discussions on education, inclusion, and open‑source growth in Africa, there was something for every builder. We’ll be sharing a detailed recap and blog post soon, but for now, we just want to say thank you for being part of this growing community of Bitcoin builders. 🧡

We’re celebrating Duncan Dean, whose journey as a long-term Btrust grantee left a lasting mark. During his time with Btrust, Duncan led major progress on dual-funded channels in Lightning Dev Kit, contributed to the BOLTs specifications, and represented our community across global stages, from Nairobi 🇰🇪 to Cape Town 🇿🇦, Oslo 🇳🇴, Prague 🇨🇿, and Seoul 🇰🇷. Beyond his technical contributions, Duncan championed open-source collaboration and mentorship across Africa and beyond. Read the full story and discover what’s next for Duncan:

Btrust Blog

Celebrating Duncan Dean’s Journey with Btrust

At Btrust, we’ve been fortunate to support developers whose work strengthens the foundations of Bitcoin. Today, we celebrate the journey of Dunca...

On November 29 and 30, we hosted our annual #BtrustGathering at the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in Port Louis, Mauritius 🇲🇺. This year’s theme, mapping the future ofnopen‑source collaboration across the Global South, set the tone for two days of deep learning, open conversation, and collective action. We welcomed around 75 participants from across our community, including the Btrust team, grantees, and members from @Btrust Builders, @bitshala, @La Librería de Satoshi and @npub13s0k...5g70. Together, we explored the evolving landscape of open‑source Bitcoin development and how collaboration can accelerate progress across the Global South. Two days of exchanges, workshops, and genuine connection reminded us of the power of community and what’s possible when developers across the Global South co‑create the future of open‑source Bitcoin development. We’re deeply grateful to everyone who joined us, and we’re looking forward to the work ahead of us.

"This is my first time outside India 🇮🇳 to an international bitcoin conference or gathering. The bar has been set really high for me now." Paperpsych from @bitshala. Day two of the 2025 #BtrustGathering built beautifully on the momentum from day one, diving deeper into collective learning and collaboration.

Day two of the #BtrustGathering began with an opening plenary, where participants shared takeaways and reflections from day one and discussed what to look forward to. The morning continued with a session on rethinking developer funding and support, facilitated by Kelvin Isievwore. This session explored how developers across the Global South are supported, financially and beyond, through existing funding mechanisms, mentorship, travel opportunities, and access to tools. We brainstormed practical ways to build fairer, more sustainable models that empower developers long‑term. Next came an insightful session on finding your lane and building credibility in open-source, by Edil Medeiros. This conversation encouraged developers to navigate their open‑source development journeys with authenticity, confidence, and resilience. We then had a thought‑provoking panel on AI, facilitated by Kelvin Isievwore and featuring Abubakar Nur Khalil, Raj, Bruno Ely Reis Garcia, Federico Zupicich, and Leonardo L. The panel unpacked how AI is reshaping open‑source contributions, from enhancing reviews and documentation to transforming developer workflows, and discussed both the opportunities and trade‑offs it brings to Bitcoin development. After a productive morning of discussions and learning, we took a break to take group photos and lunch. In the afternoon we moved into the mapping Global South FOSS priorities workshop, facilitated by Abubakar Nur Khalil. Participants worked collaboratively to define shared priorities, align regional outcomes, and begin drafting a collective 2026 roadmap for open‑source growth across the region. We closed the day, and the gathering, with a heart‑to‑heart fireside chat on lessons from the field. This conversation, featuring Kelvin Isievwore, Nymius, Abubakar Sadiq Ismail, Stratosphere and Marcello Pinsdorf, highlighted real‑world experiences, challenges, and lessons from the community, with candid reflections on sustaining motivation, balancing life and contribution, and navigating burnout. With the Gathering coming to a close, participants left inspired and energized, ready to carry the spirit of collaboration, learning, and open‑source excellence into the year ahead.

Day one of the #BtrustGathering began with an engaging opening plenary by Stephanie Titcombe, followed by the state of Btrust address from our CEO, @Abubakar Nur Khalil, who shared a thoughtful year‑in‑review, key milestones from 2025, and the outlook for 2026. The morning continued with the 2025 program reports, where @Btrust Builders, @npub13s0k...5g70, @bitshala, and Libreria de Satoshi presented updates on their work, growth, and the impact they’ve created in supporting open‑source Bitcoin development across the Global South. In the afternoon, participants joined cross‑organization working groups to explore opportunities for collaboration on joint programs, developer connectivity, localization, and technical cooperation. Discussions also covered shared initiatives, developer exchange and communication, grants and sustainability, as well as community growth, storytelling, and brand alignment. These sessions were energetic and idea‑driven, with groups sharing thoughtful outputs that reflected the strength of cross‑community collaboration. The day captured the essence of what the gathering stands for; connection, transparency, and collective progress. It was a powerful reminder of how much can be achieved when builders from across the Global South come together to advance open‑source Bitcoin development.

Highlights from day one of the 2025 #BtrustGathering 🎉 Day one of set the tone for the work that's to come in 2026. It was a day focused on sharing progress, celebrating program highlights, and reflecting on our collective impact across the ecosystem.

We recently announced our Q4 2025 Btrust Developer Grant recipients at this year’s #BtrustDeveloperDay 🚀 We’re celebrating six exceptional Bitcoin open‑source developers from across Africa who are driving forward decentralization, privacy, and scalability in the Bitcoin ecosystem. This cohort includes four starter grant recipients and two long‑term open‑source cohort members, all building critical infrastructure that strengthens the global Bitcoin ecosystem. Read the full announcement and meet the recipients on our blog:

Btrust Blog

Announcing Q4, 2025 Btrust Developer Grant Recipients

Africa, December 12, 2025 — We’re excited to recognize six outstanding Bitcoin open-source developers awarded Btrust grants, including four sta...

The Btrust Starter Grant empowers software engineers to contribute to open‑source Bitcoin development full‑time, offering mentorship, community support, and the freedom to focus on impactful, long‑term projects. Shammah Destiny Agwor is advancing privacy and reliability within Rust‑Payjoin, enhancing transaction‑level privacy through metrics‑driven adoption tracking, performance optimizations, and security enhancements. He will also lead the creation of a community Payjoin PR Review Club to onboard new contributors. Mohamed Emad is improving Bitcoin privacy infrastructure by enhancing the Mill‑IO event‑loop library and leading the migration of Coinswap to an event‑driven architecture. His work will bring Bitcoin‑specific performance optimizations, a new RPC framework, and detailed developer documentation to strengthen privacy and scalability. Simon focuses on mining decentralization through the Stratum V2 Template Provider and sv2‑apps. As co‑founder of BitDevs Nairobi, Btrust Builders faculty member, and Bitcoin educator who has facilitated developer bootcamps both within and outside Kenya, he is helping nurture the next generation of open‑source contributors. Ifeanyichukwu Amajuoyi is strengthening Lightning infrastructure through production‑level improvements to LDK‑Server, adding PostgreSQL support for high availability, a unified logging system, and comprehensive telemetry. His work addresses core stability and operability for Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) worldwide. The Btrust Long‑Term Grant sustains established open‑source contributors with year‑long support, mentoring, and funding to help them expand their impact across vital Bitcoin projects. Abdullahi Yunus, a former Starter Grantee and Btrust Builders alum, is deepening his work on Onion Messaging (BOLT 4) and BOLT 12 Offers in LND, pushing forward privacy‑preserving, invoice‑less Lightning payments. He will also enhance Lightning Polar with new developer tooling and testing features to support broader interoperability in the Lightning Network. Sulaiman Aminu Barkindo is driving VLS (Validating Lightning Signer) to mainnet readiness, integrating secure persistence, fuzz testing, dual funding, and splicing support while improving entropy security and enterprise‑scale validation. His long‑term focus on security and enclave deployments will make VLS production‑ready for non‑custodial Lightning operators. Five of the six recipients are graduates of the Btrust Builders program, which offers structured learning pathways covering Bitcoin fundamentals, open‑source contribution practices, and mentorship from seasoned Bitcoin developers. Their journey, from Builders graduates to funded grantees, highlights Btrust’s commitment to cultivating long‑term open‑source careers in the Global South and expanding the network of independent Bitcoin contributors worldwide. Applications are now open for the 2026 ₿OSS (Bitcoin Open‑Source Software) Challenge, a structured, hands‑on program for developers taking their first steps into Bitcoin open‑source development, created by Chaincode Labs. Learn about the ₿OSS Challenge:

Btrust Blog

Btrust Builders & Chaincode Labs Partner Again for the 2026 BOSS Challenge

Applications are ongoing for the 2026 ₿OSS (Bitcoin Open-Source Software) Challenge, kicking off January 12, 2026.

Apply for the 2026 cohort:

Chaincode Labs

BOSS Challenge cohort applications close December 31st, 2025. Btrust developer grant applications are open year-round, with new recipients announced quarterly. If you’re a developer passionate about contributing to Bitcoin open-source development, we encourage you to apply. Learn more about our grant programs and apply through our website: https://www.btrust.tech/grants/developer