BitDevs Kampala

@ChaincodeLabs In our latest article, we catch up with these 11 builders to learn what they are working on now, what they have learned since the challenge and how the experience continues to shape their journeys in Bitcoin open-source development. Read the full story below 👇

The end of a program is not always the end of the story. Months after the 2026 ₿OSS Challenge, @abeeujah, @jolah99, Winterrdog, @tech_lateef, @JunaidAaliyah, @dev_useee, @chukwuxdike, @Su_Githaiga, @Its_nkathake, @_RulesPlayer and @_ceceji are still finding different ways to contribute to Bitcoin open source. Some are reviewing PRs and contributing to established projects. Others are building new applications, improving developer tools, exploring Lightning infrastructure, mentoring the next generation of developers and deepening their understanding of Bitcoin’s technology.

Hey 👋🏾 Join us for our monthly Socratic seminar. 🗓️ 31st July 2026 🕜 5:00pm - 6:30pm 📍 Africa's Talking Kampala 🔗 Register: clooza.com/events/BITDEVS… Hope to see you there!

NEW: 🚨Btrust Announces Q2 2026 Developer Grant Recipients. Seven talented engineers from across Africa and the Global Majority have been awarded grants to advance critical projects in Bitcoin Core, wallet infrastructure, privacy tools, peer-to-peer exchange systems, and developer tooling. Read More: bitcoinnews.africa/btrust-announc…

Nagasha is a software engineer based in Kampala, Uganda, and a contributor to @lightningpolar. Nagasha’s work so far has focused on making Polar easier and more reliable to use. She has helped add the ability to rename nodes, improved the manual block-mining workflow, contributed to Tor support for nodes, and participated in pull request reviews and issue discussions. With the starter grant, @nagasha_ will work full-time on improving Polar’s usability, reliability, and developer experience. Her planned work includes adding better support for @Core_LN on Windows, improving wallet locking and unlocking workflows, adding seed phrase and backup management tools, and fixing bugs that affect developer testing. She also helps grow the local Bitcoin developer community by organizing @BitDevsKLA 🇺🇬, creating a space for developers in Uganda to learn, discuss, and contribute to Bitcoin.

Ojok is a software engineer based in Kampala, Uganda. His Bitcoin development journey began through @btrust_builders programs, including the BOSS program, Bitcoin CLI, and the Open Source Bootcamp. Over the past grant period, he worked full-time on @bluewalletio, where he contributed to several important BlueWallet improvements. He has also been working on reproducible builds. With the long-term grant, @Ojokne will continue improving BlueWallet. His planned work includes Android 16KB page size compliance, finalizing reproducible builds, modernizing Gradle, improving interoperability with hardware and external wallets, expanding end-to-end test coverage, and exploring a Taproot CLTV savings wallet feature. His work will help make BlueWallet more reliable, easier to maintain, and more trustworthy for users who depend on self-custodial bitcoin tools. Ojok also contributes to local Bitcoin developer education as a co-organizer of @BitDevsKLA 🇺🇬, helping developers in Uganda learn, discuss Bitcoin technical topics, and connect with open-source contribution opportunities.

We’re excited to announce the Q2, 2026 Btrust Developer Grant recipients. 🚀 Seven Bitcoin open-source developers were awarded grants last quarter, including three starter grant recipients and four long-term open-source cohort members. This cohort continues our mission to decentralize Bitcoin open-source development by supporting talented contributors from the Global Majority. Their work spans wallet infrastructure, @bitcoincoreorg testing, developer tools, privacy-preserving payments, peer-to-peer exchange infrastructure, cryptography, and user-facing bitcoin applications. The quarter also marked an important first for us: for the first time, we supported a grantee working on peer-to-peer exchange infrastructure. Learn more about the Q2 recipients and what they’re working on here:

NEW: ⚡️Women Are Building Bitcoin’s Future in Africa, And Btrust Is Funding Them. In the just-concluded Q1 2026 Mastering Bitcoin cohort, 34% of participants were women. Recently, Btrust spotlighted three African women whose work shows exactly what that future looks like. Read More: bitcoinnews.africa/women-bitcoin-…

Read the full story of how they are shaping Bitcoin's future here👇🏾

Behind every active Bitcoin open-source contributor is a system that helped them get there, one that helped them discover Bitcoin, develop the skills to work on it, and find a place within the open-source ecosystem. Supporting that system across the Global Majority is what Btrust grants are designed to do. For a long time, open-source Bitcoin development has not reflected the full range of people Bitcoin is meant to serve. That gap was never about ability. It was about access, to learning paths, technical communities, mentors, and funding. Since 2021, Btrust has been working to change that through grants, mentorship, and education programs for developers from Africa and the Global Majority. @Camilla_rhi , @nagasha_ and @engb_os are three grantees from across Africa who found their way into serious Bitcoin open-source work through that system. Three different backgrounds. Three different paths. One shared commitment to building.

Day one of the Nairobi Bitcoin Conference. Why Bitcoin Matters The future of Money🔥 @bitcoin_muk @afribitcoiners @BitcoinKampala @Bitcoin @BitDevsKLA @btc_dada @BrindonMwiine

“Bitcoin is the most decentralized monetary network in the world “ We had another powerful session about Decentralizing Bitcoin Development by Kelvin Isievwore from @btrustteam He highlighted about some of the barriers faced by developers to open source contribution such as Lack of mentorship, Financial constraints , Difficulty navigating large codebases , Limited access to established maintainers . So this is where BTrust comes in to bridge this gap #bitcoinnairobiconference #bitcoindevelopment #bitcoin

On the @btcplusplus main stage, @Ojokne just explored reproducible builds and why they matter for Bitcoin software. The talk covered how developers can ensure released binaries match published source code through deterministic builds, dependency pinning, environment isolation, and independent verification.

The countdown is on.⏳ In less than two days, @btcplusplus Nairobi 🇰🇪 kicks off, marking the first-ever conference in Africa and the first open source edition of the series. As the title sponsor, we're excited to be part of this milestone moment for the Bitcoin ecosystem. We'll be in Nairobi alongside developers, researchers, and open-source contributors from around the world, sharing ideas, learning from one another, and building the future of Bitcoin. If you're attending, come find us, say hello, and join the conversation. See you in Nairobi. 🚀

You're invited to bitdevs kampala june 11th socratic seminar! 🎉 The BitDevs Kampala community invites you to the 11th edition of our Socratic Seminar ! Join us for an open,... See more at: clooza.com/events/BITDEVS…

What happens when Bitcoin meets movement? You don’t just watch it… you feel it. Last Friday at Satoshi Hub, The Energy was high. Music loud. Smoothies cold. Feet unstoppable 💃🥤 No pressure. No limits. Just people showing up and moving like they mean it. And yes… Bitcoin was part of the vibe. ⚡₿ Missed it? Don’t worry. The next one is closer than you think. 👀 Stay plugged in. You might be in the next clip.

We used @KnowledgeBit_ , a Kahoot alternative built with Lightning and one of the products that emerged from our Kampala Bootcamp. It worked seamlessly in Kisumu! 🚀 Check it out here: knowledgebit.io

JUST IN 🦒: Ojok Emmanuel Nsubuga (@ojokne) of Btrust to speak at bitcoin++ Nairobi, open source edtion this coming June 17-19, 2026 ~~Don’t Trust, Verify. Reproducible Builds in Bitcoin~~ Join us 👉 #tickets" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">btcpp.dev/nairobi#tickets

Bitcoin adoption looks different when it’s experienced, not just explained ⚡₿ At our Bitcoin Pizza Day meetup, @theeasternman showcased KnowledgeBit — a platform that allows organizers to create quizzes and reward winners with Bitcoin, turning learning into an interactive and rewarding experience. Attendees took part in Bitcoin-related quiz sessions filled with learning, fun, and real sats rewards, and for some people, it was their very first time opening up and earning Bitcoin using their @blinkbtc wallets This is the kind of grassroots adoption that truly matters: educating communities, onboarding new users, and creating real Bitcoin experiences through technology built right here in Uganda 🇺🇬 Kabba Timothy has now uploaded the project on @geyserfund to raise support for: • onboarding schools across Uganda • funding sats rewards for future quiz events and learners. If you believe in Bitcoin education, circular economies, and supporting local builders creating real impact, consider supporting the KnowledgeBit project: This is the link to the geyser project: geyser.fund/project/knowle… #Bitcoin #BitcoinEducation #LightningNetwork #BTC #BitcoinPizzaDay