2026-01-30 –, Blink
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.
Africa’s relationship with money has long been shaped by externally imposed currencies, capital controls, and financial systems that prioritize extraction over participation. These structures have constrained trust, limited mobility, and weakened economic self-determination across the continent and its global diaspora.
This talk examines Bitcoin’s relevance to Africa through the lens of political economy, sovereignty, and real-world adoption. Rather than focusing on price cycles or technical mechanics, it situates Bitcoin as a parallel monetary infrastructure capable of operating alongside existing systems where institutional trust is limited and access remains uneven.
Drawing on hands-on work with diaspora investors, entrepreneurs, and families building across multiple African markets, the session explores how fragmented currencies, cross-border friction, and regulatory constraints shape everyday economic decisions. It highlights the role of grassroots adoption, diaspora capital flows, and community-led parallel institutions in accelerating Bitcoin usage without reliance on centralized authorities.
The discussion positions Bitcoin as a tool for economic resilience and coordination rather than speculation. It invites attendees to consider how neutral, borderless money can support trade, mobility, and long-term planning in environments shaped by historical and structural imbalance.
For those engaged in Bitcoin adoption, Africa offers critical insights into how monetary sovereignty emerges in practice. This session connects those insights to the broader global conversation on self-sovereignty, trust, and the future of parallel systems.
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.