Description
What are the consequences of Trump and various European governments cutting development aid to African countries? Is there an alternative to USAID and other foreign aid?
Exactly forty years after the largest fundraising campaign for Africa ever, Live Aid, Bram Vermeulen travels to Ethiopia. Bitcoiners from all over the world are flocking here because of the cheap electricity and see their investments as a solution to the loss of development aid. But is that really the case?
In 2023, Ethiopia was still the largest recipient of US aid after Ukraine. Its cancellation has not only caused widespread panic among aid workers, but the consequences are already visible everywhere in the African country.
Meanwhile, a whole new kind of money is taking its place: crypto. Ethiopia appears to have become a promised paradise for bitcoiners—people who are active in the crypto sector—from all over the world.
Bram follows bitcoiners from the Netherlands, Germany, the US, Russia, and other countries who have invested in Ethiopia. Other countries, such as China, Kazakhstan, Iraq, and Venezuela, are turning bitcoiners away because their computers consume too much power.
While 50% of Ethiopia's population still does not have electricity at home, bitcoiners believe that their presence can help the country in the long term. They also believe that their investments can serve as an alternative to the loss of development aid.
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