Greater Than Fiction presents our next story, Current, Block 1,234,937.

These are speculative stories inspired by real people today’s impact on the Bitcoin community and possible futures they can enable. Every story is timestamped on the blockchain, driven by hope, sovereignty, and the tools to build both.

In 2030, a Nigerian township lit up for the first time—not by politicians, but by a river-powered Bitcoin miner.

This is their story…

——

When the lights came on during the night, no one believed it would last.

At first, it was a flicker—a low hum across the zinc rooftops of Wushishi, a small town tucked between Nigeria’s forgotten farmland and the Kaduna river. The Nigerian GridOne generator had gone silent the week before they made the bold switch to Rafiki Power. Most figured it was another unkept promise that continuous electricity could happen, not the frequent nationwide power outages they had been used to with the current regime. Power never stayed longer than a few hours here. But that night, the lights didn’t die.

Fifteen-year-old Aisha Musa crouched beside her younger brother under the thatched lean-to, watching their mother’s reflection shimmer in the newly lit window. She was stitching dried baobab leaves into packets for market. Nearby, a small tablet flickered to life, her AI tutor, Kofi, coming online. Aisha clutched it like a miracle. For years, she had been learning in darkness, charging the device and battery packs she salvaged but the power never lasted as long as her curious mind. She knew more about Bitcoin than anyone else in town. But this time, the power stayed.

Across town, old men muttered quietly, some crossing themselves, others praying under their breath. Rafiki Power, the strange shipping container by the riverside, had done what no campaign promise ever had. It had brought electricity. Not from Abuja. Not from bribes. Not from some foreign aid donor. From mining Bitcoin.

In the weeks that followed, change arrived like a steady current. All the streetlights buzzed to life together for the first time. Generators groaned awake. Aisha's mother, Hauwa, no longer had to trek five kilometers to dry cassava. Her food dehydrator now hummed daily. She began accepting Lightning payments through her niece's phone, stacking sats, laughing now at how the naira kept melting.

Malam Dauda, the town’s most respected elder, initially dismissed it all. Until one morning, the tablet he once called "demonic" helped him diagnose his high blood pressure. Aisha’s, Kofi AI, had translated his symptoms from his local dialect, Nube, and recommended treatment options, which he took to the Doctor’s and it had worked. He became Kofi’s biggest advocate overnight. But not all change is welcomed.

By the third month, word had spread. GridOne, the central authority managing Nigeria’s CBDC energy credits, sent officials. They wore crisp uniforms, carried weapons with polite smiles for now, offering promises to “upgrade” the village’s power to a monitored smart grid. For CBDC tokens, not sats. Credits, not choice.

Rafiki Power was now illegal, they said. Unauthorized energy extraction. Mining without license. Threat to national stability. They gave them a week.

That night, Aisha gathered with Nyero—the young technician who ran the Rafiki operation—and a dozen others beneath the blue glow of the container. They didn’t speak loudly. They didn’t need to. Their presence was a vow. They wouldn’t go back.

When GridOne returned, they found a different township.Every home powered. Mesh routers online. Solar panels gleaming. Children learning. Food drying. Elders resting with fans keeping them cool.

They brought threats. But the town had already uploaded their story to Nostr. The world’s eyes were on them, they knew the Bitcoin community was strong enough to fight back. There confrontations were immutably timestamped to Block 1,234,937 and Aisha was live streaming. A sovereign global record.

GridOne personnel weren’t expecting this and had many other Bitcoin mining projects to shut down. They left figuring there were easier targets to start with. But little did they know the people of Wushishi were wise to their ways and would help others and broadcast their triumph to fight back. 

Rafiki was no longer just a box. It was the beating heart of something ungovernable.

Bitcoin had given them electricity. But what they kept was power.