Ashley Cleveland
Ashley Cleveland is a Global Strategist, economist, and founder of Africa-focused investment and relocation platforms that have supported over 100 diaspora families and entrepreneurs building lives and businesses across the continent. Her work sits at the intersection of African political economy, diaspora capital, and sovereign relocation.
She has advised investors, partnered with legal and financial institutions across Southern and East Africa, and collaborated with Pan-African policy bodies focused on diaspora engagement and economic self-determination. While not a Bitcoin developer, her expertise lies in how money systems succeed or fail in the real world, particularly in post-colonial and emerging markets.
Ashley approaches Bitcoin through the lens of sovereignty, trust, and lived adoption, asking not whether Bitcoin works in theory, but why it may be necessary in practice for Africa’s economic future.
Session
Africa’s economic history has been shaped by externally imposed currencies, capital controls, and monetary systems that weakened sovereignty and trust. These dynamics continue to limit mobility, cross-border trade, and long-term planning across the continent.
This session explores Bitcoin as parallel monetary infrastructure relevant to Africa’s lived realities. Drawing on experience working with diaspora investors, entrepreneurs, and relocating families, it examines how Bitcoin’s neutrality and borderless design can reduce friction created by fragmented currencies, unstable trust environments, and constrained access to financial rails.
The conversation focuses on political economy and adoption pathways, including grassroots communities and diaspora capital flows. Bitcoin’s future in Africa will be shaped by people choosing resilience, coordination, and monetary self-determination.