StudentofBitcoin

AskSN

How much sleep do you get?

Cool, I used the whoop for a year and then stopped paying the subscription.

I don't nap much, maybe I should work that in to the routine.

Thanks for sharing, I've noticed an earlier bedtime has helped me for sure. I'm trying to be more conscious of stretching and taking a cool shower in the morning to start the day. 

Sleep is one of the most important factors that contribute to our health, yet it’s so easily neglected. I used to be a big culprit! Countless late nights where I’ve told myself, “Another few hours of work is okay.” And work wasn’t the only excuse. Sometimes it was a basketball game, a movie, or doom scrolling on Twitter.

I’d average 6 hours of sleep, 7 if I was lucky. I did have a couple of good habits in the mix: no devices in the bedroom, and no snoozing. Without distractions in bed, falling asleep was fairly quick. To avoid snoozing, I placed an analog alarm clock in the bathroom so when it went off, I had to get out of bed to turn it off. Since I was functioning fine during the day, I never thought much about getting more sleep. I’d just tell myself, “I’ll make it up on the weekend.”

When we took our sabbatical, I made it a goal to prioritize sleep and aim for the recommended 8 hours. For a couple of months, I didn’t use an alarm, just to see how my body would react. How much sleep did I really need?

Turns out it depended on a variety of factors such as the activity levels for that day, what I ate, when I slept, screen time and much more. Some days I woke up naturally after 7 hours. Other days, I was out cold for 9. It made me realize there isn’t a magic number. 

Now that I’m back in a startup environment, the priorities are piling up but sleep has not taken a toll. I’ve kept it a priority. Sticking to a nightly routine of stretching, reflecting on the day, and winding down has helped. I’m by no means perfect. There are bad days. But being more intentional about what I do before bed has made a difference.

Do you have a nighttime routine? How much sleep do you get?

Hi SN! 

My apologies for going dark. I was posting consistently during my travel adventures in Africa (Cairo2Cape) but got caught up with a new job and have been MIA since. I have started to document those travel journeys in a book (will post about this separately).

I joined www.bringin.xyz, where we enable seamless EUR on/off ramp with Lightning and NWC compatibility and don't take custody of your Bitcoin. The founder built this company to solve the problem he encountered 2 years ago. Trying to sell Bitcoin from his hardware wallet to Revolut took days, and that's if the transaction wasn't blocked. With Brigin, this happens in a minute (Lightning and SEPA Instant). 

An IBAN is provided for each user so when you send money to your traditional bank (say Santander, BNP or Revolut), the incoming transaction appears as your name, not Bringin avoiding any flags for the bank. This prevents your account from getting blocked for 'suspicious or crypto activities.' 

Due to the stringent rules of the EU (upcoming MiCa), we have to KYC (everyone will soon). That said we are striving to provide a tool to enable folks to live off Bitcoin. We want hyperbitcoinization as much as anyone but until bitcoin is accepted everywhere, the reality is we have one foot in bitcoin and one foot in fiat.

I'm not originally European and don't have a network on the continent. I was hoping to learn more about your preferences and the solutions you use to buy, sell, spend bitcoin:

- Are there any challenges with those solutions? 
- If you had a magic wand, what would you solve? 

PS. I hope to keep this constructive, I know P2P is the best approach from a privacy standpoint. KYC is not ideal but unfortunately, we're not going to onboard the next 100M users in Europe that way. 

What are your preferred on/off ramps in Europe?

Travel

~Travel Is Live

JonnyTravels

AHHH I had the territory and got caught up with life and forgot to renew. Glad you brought it back to life :D

Did you end up splurging on lifetime? 

Located in Mossel Bay South Africa, [Bitcoin Ekasi](https://bitcoinekasi.com/) aims to create a bitcoin circular economy within the township (a low socio-economic community) through an existing not-for-profit, The Surfer Kids, which empowers underprivileged children through surfing. 

'Ekasi' is a colloquial term derived from the Afrikaans word 'lokasie' referring to the vast slums that grew outside South African cities during Apartheid. Unemployment, crime, and poverty remain rife there. - [X post by Bitcoin Ekasi](https://x.com/BitcoinEkasi/status/1465771141822398469)

Surfer Kids runs a surf program 5 days a week with nearly 50 children from the local township. Their surf and skating center is an oasis for these children, a safe space to learn away from the community hardships. How does bitcoin fit into this? The coaches/leaders are paid in bitcoin, the children are rewarded for attendance, and local merchants, such as grocery stores and fast food vendors are on-boarded to accept bitcoin. This means the bitcoin accumulated by coaches and students can be spent with local vendors creating a flywheel effect for bitcoin to move around within the members of this township.

After the conference in Cape Town, over 20 attendees visited Bitcoin Ekasi to support the community. We visited the Ekasi Center, a literacy hub where kids are taught after school, and the Surfer Kids HQ, a recreation center (surf and skate) where relevant equipment is available. They are currently talking with the local municipality to build a larger community center to empower everyone, not just the children. 

One area of this township is plastered with logos of bitcoin organizations. Residents of these homes are compensated with bitcoin for having their exterior branded with a logo.  We rolled up our sleeves and painted our logo with the assistance of the community leader, Luthando. Although our logo has since changed, our proof of work remains. 

To encourage people to measure value in bitcoin, they are moving away from denominating prices in USD and adopting sats (smallest unit of bitcoin) as their standard. Bitcoin Ekasi is one example of how a community can be empowered to use bitcoin. Next time you hear negative news about bitcoin, remember the impact it has on marginalized communities worldwide.

You can donate to Bitcoin Ekasi [here](https://support.bitcoinekasi.com/).

![](https://m.stacker.news/62962)

![](https://m.stacker.news/62963)

Bitcoin Ekasi: Empowering Lives Through Sats

Did you know only  ~1000 mountain gorillas are left in the world?? These endangered mammals are found within the borders of Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo, with Uganda home to more than 60% of them.

We had the opportunity to visit the mountain gorillas using bitcoin! It was one of the main attractions that drew us to Uganda. Through conservation, some gorilla families have been habituated to limited human contact. They are gradually exposed to humans while maintaining their natural behaviours. Trackers work daily to monitor the well-being of each gorilla family, observe their behaviour patterns, and provide medical attention if required. The permits for this trek are not cheap, $750 in Uganda. Why? Strict limits enforce a maximum number of visitors daily to reduce impact on the national park.

Our gorilla experience started early morning at the park's visitor centre. Visitors are divided into small groups and assigned a gorilla family to track. Since gorillas share approximately 98% of human DNA, and are susceptible to our diseases, visitors are required to wear masks during the trek. A safe distance must be kept under the close supervision of the guides and the viewing time cannot exceed 60 minutes. 

Our tracker led us by following trail markers, and signs that included nests and faeces to locate our assigned family. Fortunately, we located our family within an hour while other groups trekked for 4 hours. We first came across not one but two silverback gorillas (mature male leader). One of them, the clear alpha! Two females and three babies made up this family of 7. Through the guidance of our tracker, we followed the gorillas, got close and observed for an hour. No cage, no chains. Nothing to hold these creatures back, it was an exhilarating experience to see them in their natural habitat. 

If you're sitting on some bitcoin, why not use it for an experience of a lifetime?

https://youtu.be/8DGm2fi0sNY

A Journey To Uganda’s Mountain Gorillas

The One Man Army in Botswana

In that case beer in Nairobi! Let me know the best way to get in touch.

I was told she has been dealing with a few non btc projects, wasn't able to meet or confirm this though so take it with a grain of salt.

LOL I double-checked as well before drafting the article to make sure I remembered our guide properly. Not sure if we'll be in Ghana soon. We are attending ABC in Nairobi this December. Will you be there?

Gridless: Sustainable Bitcoin Mining

We're going to be seeing more interest in this space as corporations and nation-states realize they can use energy to mine btc.

Yes, there's going to be a huge push for nation states to take up mining, I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this soon!


You never know what to expect with the bitcoin community. During our stay in Botswana, I asked my friend if he knew anyone in Johannesburg. Fortunately, he did and connected us to Jabu who then coordinated a visit to a township (underdeveloped human settlement) near Soweto, Mohlakeng. The local community put together an itinerary to visit businesses that accepted bitcoin!

The day started with an interview at the local radio station. We've never been on the radio before! It was exciting to record in the studio and help explain the basics of this new type of digital money. We then visited a daycare run by an elderly woman, which shows that age is not a barrier to bitcoin. She's still learning and allows the community to use her daycare as a space for literacy sessions. Next, we met an apparel designer whose shop was filled with eclectic pieces made from recycled materials. He accepts bitcoin because it's easy and doesn't require permission from anyone else.

The visit to the math academy turned into a tutoring session. We reviewed the halving formula with one of the tutors who spent the next hour dissecting it and explaining his thoughts. They view bitcoin as mathematical money! Our last stop was a fast-food vendor who served sandwiches, burgers, and juice. The vendor was a jovial character who was open to pricing some of his items in satoshis, a level of maturity very few merchants have reached.

This community is a testament to what can be achieved when a few come together to foster change. The youth ([Thami](https://x.com/Thami_Phiri), [Ofentse](https://x.com/KeamoGodSun), [Retshepile](https://x.com/RetshepileTsat1) & Tumelo) deserve all the credit and I look forward to their continued growth!


![](https://m.stacker.news/61351)

Bitcoin Adoption in Mohlakeng: A Day of Discovery


![](https://m.stacker.news/60637)

We’ve had our fair share of conferences in Vegas during our corporate lives. This, however, was our first Bitcoin conference, and we were speakers! It hit differently. It was exciting to interact with individuals addressing a variety of issues:

Accessing bitcoin without the Internet - [Machankura](https://t.co/WhCmPPrH3W)

Leveraging wasted rural energy for mining - [Gridless](https://www.linkedin.com/company/gridless)

Helping vulnerable kids with a safe space to learn - [Bitcoin Ekasi](https://x.com/BitcoinEkasi)

Empowering women through literacy - [BITCOIN DADA](https://www.linkedin.com/company/dada_bitcoin)

Traveling the world using bitcoin - [Run with Bitcoin](https://x.com/RunwithBitcoin)

As someone vocal about bitcoin within my social circle, I can be seen as a little crazy. It was surreal to meet these dedicated and passionate humans. I guess I wasn't crazy after all. We left the conference inspired to continue on our path of building on bitcoin. 

Here are some quotes from the conference that resonated with us:

"Infinite ways to earn and spend" - [Femi Longe](https://x.com/femilongehttps://x.com/femilonge)(There are plenty of wallets and exchanges, let's focus on earning and spending)

"Africa is the last to get opportunities" - [Okin](https://x.com/OKIN_17)  (Enabling Africans with bitcoin as a monetary infrastructure is vital)

"Addiction ends in 2 ways: death of the person OR death of the habit" - [@vryfokkenou](https://x.com/vryfokkenou) (The addiction to money printing is real and can end in 2 ways.)

"Stack, spend and f*^king replace" - [@Rikki6ixx](https://x.com/Rikki6ixx)  (Don't HODL, SPEND YOUR SATS!)

Cape Town: Our First Bitcoin Conference

I was invited to tag along with a film crew heading to a [Gridless](https://gridlesscompute.com/) facility in Kenya earlier this year. An exciting opportunity to see how Bitcoin mining leverages renewable energy and supports rural communities.


Two hours from Nairobi is a town with a mini-grid powered by hydroelectric energy. The river flowing downstream is captured by generators, converted into electricity, and powers the community. The community only utilizes a portion of the energy produced, resulting in a large surplus wasted. Additionally, the demand constantly fluctuates: factories ramp up demand during the day, households require more in the evenings, and demand plummets at night.

This leaves the producer wasting energy that could be monetized otherwise. Enter Gridless! They use bitcoin miners to stabilize the mini-grid and smooth out energy demand. How? Any surplus energy at any given moment is directed to the bitcoin miners. If no surplus energy exists, the miners receive no power. The energy needs of the community come first!

If you don’t know what bitcoin miners are, a quick TLDR: they are machines that guess a combination of numbers to find a hash below a certain target value. Sound confusing? In simpler terms, the machines are rolling multiple dice, hoping for the right outcome. This results in a new block being added to the blockchain, and the miner is rewarded with bitcoin for their efforts.

Walking into the container filled with miners, you hear a loud buzzing noise similar to a large hornet’s nest. If you pay close attention, you’ll hear a symphony of miners turning on and off based on the energy available. Unlike traditional industrial systems that may require time to ramp up or down, bitcoin miners can be flipped on and off instantly. That means if only some energy is available, only some miners run. If more energy becomes available, more miners turn on.

A common misconception is that bitcoin uses too much energy. It consumes [0.21% of the world's energy](https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/BMC-H1-2023-Presentation.pdf) production and 60% of it comes from [renewable sources](https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/BMC-H1-2023-Presentation.pdf). This consumption increases the resilience and security of the network (an article for another day). 

Gridless continues similar work around Africa to capture excess energy produced by renewable means and stabilize local grids with an extremely flexible solution. It ensures that the energy produced for local communities will never go to waste and can be monetized through bitcoin mining.


https://youtu.be/YB2q0J65VDg