Paxful, the leading global peer-to-peer fintech platform with 2.5 million African users, recently announced its interest and intention to provide support by donating to the Human Rights Foundation, a non partisan, non profit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally.
This donation as indicated by Paxful will be done alongside the Built With Bitcoin Foundation, another humanitarian organization devoted to creating equitable opportunity by providing clean water, access to quality education, sustainable farming, and humanitarian support—all powered by cryptocurrencies.
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It is also revealed that the donation will be used to fund Qala Fellowship, a program that would help harness and grow local Nigerian talents and also build career in the bitcoin space. The Qala Fellowship, which is currently accepting applications, aims to get more developers from Africa working on Bitcoin, building their own companies, contributing to open source, and/or getting jobs in different bitcoin companies. Developers will also receive a monthly stipend to assist them stay focused on course of work.
Starting with ten developers, the academy’s inaugural program will consist of a six-month intensive bootcamp focused on how to build on Bitcoin and provide students with the resources they need to succeed — such as connections for internships or full-time roles and guidance on contributing to core and other Bitcoin open source projects. During the course, participants will also be taken on career talks by different developers, CEOs, product managers, and experienced players in the Bitcoin space. The essence of all this is to scale up the initiative by developing a framework and curriculum that can be replicated for similar programs in both Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Co-Founder and CEO of Paxful, Ray Youssef said that Paxful follows energy and it’s clear that the Nigerian youths will make a profound impact on the global economy through Bitcoin. “They have entrepreneurship baked into their DNA but they have not been given the chance to showcase their talent on the global stage. First and foremost, the Qala Fellowship is a career roadmap for Nigerian developers. It also is a way to support the local economy and a means for Bitcoin to capture more developer mind-share. We’re proud to fund this project and cannot wait to see what these developers create.”
In addition, Chief Strategy Officer, Human Rights Foundation, Alex Gladstein, said, “If Bitcoin is going to be a global currency, then it needs to be built by people around the world. There are millions upon millions of Bitcoin users in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and other nations, but relatively few Bitcoin developers and contributors coming from these regions. We are delighted to support the Qala Fellowship to bring more African perspectives and talents into the Bitcoin project and ecosystem.”
In the same vein, Program Lead, Qala Fellowship, the Co-Founder and CEO, Bitnob, Bernard Parah, said, “growing up in Nigeria, I have a fierce sense of pride for local developers looking to make a difference. I’ve also seen what Bitcoin is capable of doing – with far reaching implications beyond speculation. I’m incredibly proud to lead the development and enactment of this program as I believe that Africa has a lot to contribute to the Bitcoin economy. And we’re just getting started.”
Founded in 2015 and completely bootstrapped since then, Paxful is headquartered in New York with offices in Estonia, the Philippines and Russia. The team has doubled in size over the last 12 months, growing to over 400 people.
