Stephanie Titcombe

Really glad to finally see this out in the world! Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with #BitDevs communities across Africa and seeing what it actually takes to build technical spaces that last, not just meetups, but real cultures of learning, openness, and collaboration. This playbook is an attempt to document those lessons in a practical, honest way: what works, what’s hard, and what organizers should think about if they’re serious about building credible, technical #Bitcoin spaces. It’s all in there. Thank you @ihate1999, @dzeg5, and @TChileta for shaping this first release! Also, to @btrustteam for backing the work and continuing to invest in long-term ecosystem building. If you care about open-source, learning-driven communities, or you’re thinking about starting (or improving) a BitDevs chapter, I hope this is genuinely useful. It’s fully open-source and meant to evolve. Contributions are welcome!

We just kicked off the first 2026 live cohort of the Bitcoin CLI pathway, bringing participants together to begin exploring how to work directly with Bitcoin using the command line. Over the past week, participants worked through the opening chapters of the course, starting with an introduction to why learning Bitcoin through @bitcoincoreorg and its command‑line tools matters. The readings explored how Bitcoin differs from traditional payment systems, and why developers often interact directly with the core software to build reliable applications on the network. From there, the cohort moved into setting up their own Bitcoin environments. Participants learned how to deploy a Bitcoin Core node on a VPS, exploring the different types of nodes that can run on the network and the trade‑offs between them. Along the way, they discussed the differences between mainnet, testnet, and regtest, and why testnet is useful for experimentation and development. Once their environments were running, participants began getting familiar with bitcoin-cli, the command‑line interface used to interact with a Bitcoin node. They practiced verifying that their nodes were running correctly, exploring the structure of their Bitcoin setup, and using basic wallet commands such as generating new addresses to receive testnet bitcoin. Throughout the week, participants paired up with study partners to talk through the discussion questions, compare their experiences setting up their nodes, and work through the technical exercise provided in the course materials. These conversations came together in the group study session with faculty, where participants shared what they discovered, asked questions, and reflected on what it means to run and interact with Bitcoin infrastructure directly.

We've just concluded week 2 of the live cohort for the Mastering Bitcoin pathway. 📚 Over the past week, participants studied chapters 3 and 4 of Mastering Bitcoin, discussing the material with their learning partners before coming together for our live session with the faculty. The conversations focused on how Bitcoin actually works behind the scenes. We explored @bitcoincoreorg as the reference implementation, what it means to run a full node, and why independent verification is such an important part of the network. We also examined how developers interact with Bitcoin Core through tools like the command line and JSON‑RPC. From there, we moved into the foundations of Bitcoin cryptography. Participants unpacked how private and public keys work, how signatures prove ownership, and how addresses are derived to make sending and receiving bitcoin possible. Week by week, it’s all starting to come together. On to the next! 🚀

It's important to note that intelligence in one domain doesn't inherently translate to others. The shock comes when you assume an expert on topic X is somehow impervious to bias, propaganda, cognitive dissonance, and bad takes on topic Y. Know this and know peace.

Btrust Developer Grantee Footprint in Africa (2025) | Active grantees (starter and long-term) grew from 5 to 18, representing a 260% increase over the previous year. At the same time, the program's geographic footprint expanded beyond its strong base in Nigeria to include Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, and Egypt, reflecting a growing pool of open-source Bitcoin talent across the continent. bitcoinke.io/2025/05/btrust… @btrustteam

🚨Just in: @btrustteam, the non-profit dedicated to decentralizing Bitcoin development, recently released its “2025 Btrust Developer Grantee Impact” report... 👇Read More! bitcoinnews.africa/2025-btrust-de…

In a significant step toward decentralizing Bitcoin development, @btrust_builders has launched the inaugural live cohort of its Mastering Bitcoin program... 👇Read More! bitcoinnews.africa/btrust-builder…

Bitcoin runs because of people. Developers who review code, fix bugs, debate tradeoffs, and quietly maintain the software behind a global monetary network. Btrust was created to help decentralize Bitcoin development across the Global Majority. One way we do this is by funding and supporting African developers contributing to Bitcoin open‑source projects. In 2025, we focused on building the systems to make this work better. We experimented, improved our processes, and strengthened the pipeline that supports developers contributing to Bitcoin. And our grantees delivered. They contributed to 15 Bitcoin open‑source projects, including @bitcoincoreorg, @lightningdevkit, @bitcoindevkit, @BtcpayServer, @lightningpolar, @bluewalletio, @VLSProject, Rust‑Bitcoin, and more. Together they produced 431 commits, 222 merged pull requests, and 475 code reviews, helping improve tools used across the Bitcoin ecosystem. This blog, co-authored by @kelvinator05, breaks down the projects they worked on, the technical contributions they made, and the impact across the Bitcoin stack. Read the full blog to learn more: x.com/i/status/20323…

Last year we were largely experimenting and trying to understand what works. We’re scaling that this year, especially around our developer pipelines, so we can support more contributors coming from different parts of the continent. We’re also being very intentional about diversity, and that work has already started through the @btrust_builders program. Another area we’re exploring is partnerships with different communities across the continent that are already doing the work locally. You’ll probably start to see some of that reflected in the Q1 developer grantees we’ll be announcing soon.

Lovely to see one of our alumni doing amazing work and receiving funding in this round. 🫡🧡 We’re also excited to see more Africans getting recognized and funded by international organizations supporting Bitcoin open-source development. The talent is here, and it’s great to see it being supported.

This week we kicked off the first live cohort of the Mastering Bitcoin program, bringing together participants, faculty, and the Btrust team for the start of a deep dive into how Bitcoin actually works. Over the course of the week, participants explored the foundations of Bitcoin through the opening chapters of Mastering Bitcoin by @aantonop. The discussions started with understanding Bitcoin not just as digital money, but as a system made up of several technologies working together. The group unpacked how Bitcoin enables value to move across the internet without relying on centralized intermediaries, and how the network itself is built around open protocols that anyone can run and verify. From there, conversations moved into the mechanics of how the system operates. The group unpacked key components of the Bitcoin ecosystem, including wallets, cryptographic keys, transactions, the peer-to-peer network, and miners. To make these ideas more concrete, participants also walked through the lifecycle of a Bitcoin transaction, from creation in a wallet, to broadcast across the network, validation by nodes, and eventual inclusion in the blockchain. Over the next few weeks, participants will continue building their understanding step by step, moving from these first principles toward the deeper technical layers of the protocol.

Our guest for today, na @ihate1999, na him be di No. 1 Most Impactful African Bitcoiner for 2025. Na him also be CEO of @btrustteam wey also win most impactful project of the year. Watch this video make you hear im take on Bitcoin! 0:01 - We go like make you introduce yourself to our people wet dey watch 0:21 - Wetin be the experience so far for Mauritius 1:05 - Wetin be the message you get for people wey feel say Bitcoin na scam? 1:40 - Wetin you go tell developer wey get double mind about the ecosystem 1:55 - Wetin be the last message wey you get for us and wetin we need to expect from Btrust #bitcoin #africanbitcoiners #ABCZ

@callebtc We need more conferences and programs like @btcplusplus from @niftynei, @satsconf_ from @lucasdcf, BDL from @Vinteum_org, B4OS @libdesatoshi, @btrust_builders, @ChaincodeLabs, @summerofbitcoin..

@callebtc I feel confident with @btrustteam @DadaDevs and other programs outside of the global North stepping up their efforts. Now people/groups with some means need to support these programs to accelerate and grow those efforts. The appetite and talent is there…we need to harness it.

In my latest piece for @ForbesCrypto, I go through Nigeria’s new tax laws and its implications for Bitcoin and Stablecoin holders and VASPs in 2026 🔥📌 forbes.com/sites/digital-…

Stephanie Titcombe (@StephTitcombe) Head of Program and Operations, @btrustteam ✨ Want to mentor alongside Stephanie? Apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

So proud of you, sister! 🎓❤️ All your hard work and focus paid off. Can’t wait to see the amazing things you’ll do next 🥂✨

First class graduate 🎓✨ Grateful. Proud. Slightly tired 😅 I earned my degree in Criminology and Security Studies from Federal University Oye-Ekiti, and this journey really stretched me, built me, and taught me to trust myself more. On to the next chapter 🥂

@AfriBitcoinNews This is beautiful! Thank you so much for highlighting our work 🥹🧡

@StephTitcombe You inspired this presentation 🤭