For months, Western headlines have asked whether Bitcoin is finished. The coverage follows one number: price. After bitcoin reached an all-time high near $126,000 last October, it now trades around $63,000, and US spot Bitcoin ETFs have spent much of 2026 in retreat.
In one stretch from mid-May to early June, those funds recorded 13 straight days of net outflows totaling roughly $4.4 billion, the longest redemption streak since the products launched in January 2024.
That is the story when you measure Bitcoin by its dollar price. It is not the only story. Since 2010, Bitcoin has been declared dead 472 times. None of those obituaries stopped a single block from being mined.
In much of the world, the question being asked is different. Not “what is Bitcoin worth today,” but “what can I do with it.” Nowhere is that clearer than across the African continent.
A Different Question, a Different Continent
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Bitcoin and stablecoins are working money. Chainalysis recorded more than $205 billion in on-chain value received across the region in the year to mid-2025, up around 52 percent on the year before, the third-fastest growth of any region.
The pattern of use sets it apart: a larger share of transfers are small, everyday amounts under $10,000 than anywhere else in the world. The size of those transfers tells you who is using it: ordinary people, moving money they need.
The reasons are practical. Sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa through traditional channels costs close to 9 percent in fees, the highest of any region, according to the World Bank. On Bitcoin’s Lightning network, the same transfer can cost a few cents.
When Nigeria’s currency was sharply devalued in March 2025, on-chain volume across the region spiked as people moved to protect what they had earned.
Traditional finance often asks for something many people cannot provide: a national ID, a credit history, a permanent address, a bank willing to open an account. Refugees, displaced people and orphaned children are frequently shut out before they begin.
Bitcoin does not check who you are. For people excluded by the existing system, that is the whole point.
Seeding Bitcoin
This is the story Trezor Academy set out to tell. The non-profit initiative has just released Seeding Bitcoin: Trezor Academy and Africa’s Bitcoin Revolution, a documentary on how Bitcoin is being earned, saved and spent across the continent, and what it means for people the formal financial system has left out.
Trezor Academy is a non-profit initiative that brings practical Bitcoin education to the Global South through hands-on workshops and local meetups. It has run 300+ meetups, reached 2,000+ graduates and now operates in 30+ countries.
“In the West, we argue about Bitcoin’s price. The people in this film aren’t watching the price. They’re using Bitcoin to get paid, to keep their savings from losing value overnight, and to take part in an economy that never asked them for ID they don’t have.
That is what a financial system looks like when it finally lets people in. We made this documentary because that story almost never reaches a Western audience, and it should.”
A Way to Take Part
Alongside the documentary, Trezor has added a voluntary donation option to its online shop. Customers can add a small donation to Trezor Academy at checkout alongside any order, or donate directly without buying a product.
100% of the funds go toward workshops, local meetups and project sponsorships that support Bitcoin education and local circular economies in the Global South.
Trezor Academy is not a registered non-profit organisation, and donations are not tax-deductible. They are voluntary and do not form part of any purchase of goods or services.
About Trezor
Trezor created the world’s first hardware wallet in 2013 and is trusted by more than two million people. Its open-source approach to self-custody means only the user holds the keys to their crypto. Trezor Academy is its non-profit education initiative, bringing practical Bitcoin education to the Global South.
