Gates Foundation Funds Bitcoin Company Bitsoko to Promote Bitcoin Development in Kenya

Last month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced funding for Bitsoko, a Ghana-based blockchain startup that emerged from a startup competition called the Great Quest Challenge, which aims to promote the acceptance of mobile payments by small merchants.

Bitsoko

Bitsoko has received a $100,000 research grant from the Gates Foundation. With the funding, Bitsoko will continue to work on expanding its Bitcoin merchant payment processing and Bitcoin wallet services in Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone. Bitsoko's initiative, called "Making Mobile Payments More Popular," will receive another $1 million in research funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation if the project is successful.

Bitsoko has already started attracting local merchants to accept Bitcoin, including restaurants and cafes. The Bitsoko team said:

“We have signed cooperation agreements with local businesses, including restaurants, Internet cafes and roadside vegetable vendors. If you go to a restaurant and use Bitcoin, the owner will send the Bitcoin to us, and then we will convert the Bitcoin and send the funds to the owner via mobile payment. We are trying to build infrastructure for Bitcoin in Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone, where these basic facilities are very lacking.”

Some businesses in Kenya have already started accepting Bitcoin payments through Bitsoko, including top bars and restaurants as well as internet cafes where people can pay with Bitcoin.

Bitsoko will bring greater development opportunities to the construction of financial infrastructure in Kenya and Africa. Previously, MPESA, the most popular mobile payment provider in Africa, has been committed to the construction of financial infrastructure in Africa. In the future, Bitsoko will work together with MPESA to build financial infrastructure in Africa.

By using Bitcoin blockchain technology, people without bank accounts or in areas with very poor financial service systems can easily make cross-border payments with extremely low transaction fees.

Allen Juma, co-founder of Bitsoko, said:

“With the help of MPesa, the financial structure of Kenya and Africa as a whole has been rapidly transformed. We believe that Africa’s financial development will continue to move forward, and innovative companies like Bitsoko that use blockchain technology to reduce transaction costs will be at the forefront of this trend.”

Challenge and Exploration

Bitsoko is one of nine winners of the Big Quest startup competition, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which saw 304 entrepreneurs from 30 different countries take part.

Kosta Peric, deputy director of the Help the Poor program supported by the Gates Foundation, said:

“The winners of the competition will receive a $100,000 investment from us to help them realize their entrepreneurial dreams and turn their business innovation ideas into reality.”

Bill Gates and Bitcoin

As early as December 2014, Bill Gates expressed his interest in Bitcoin, which caused a sensation. At that time, Microsoft reached a cooperation with BitPay, a global Bitcoin payment processor, and began to accept Bitcoin as payment for digital goods.

A month later, Gates was interviewed on national television to discuss Bitcoin with host Jimmy Fallon, where he talked about Bitcoin as a remittance method for sending funds in emergencies.

Gates explained:

“Poor people don’t have bank accounts, so when they have an emergency, like when they want to borrow some money or save some money, it’s very difficult. Using a bank or ATM to make a small transaction costs too much. If we use digital currency, we can enjoy all these financial services with just a mobile phone.”