Bitcoin Githurai Opens a Physical Education Hub in Nairobi After Building a 16-Merchant Circular Economy Online
From One Shop to a Physical Hub in 17 Months
Bitcoin Githurai launched as a circular economy initiative in May 2025 under The Core, Felix Mukungu’s Bitcoin education project. It started with merchant onboarding and training, one shop at a time. One became six. Six became 16. As of October 2026, 16 merchants in Githurai 45 accept Lightning payments for everyday goods and services, making it one of the densest Bitcoin merchant networks in Nairobi.
On October 2, 2026, the project announced the opening of a physical education centre in Githurai 45, a room being partitioned to hold cohorts of about 10 people learning Bitcoin. Felix Mukungu and Susan, a community member who describes herself as a Bitcoiner, made the announcement together in a video. Susan put it simply: “I think it will work in Githurai because we are curious.”
Phase 4: Community Building
The team calls the physical hub Phase 4: Community Building. The progression tells the story of how the project was built: merchant onboarding first, education second, community infrastructure third, and now a permanent physical space where residents and merchants can walk in without an appointment, a cohort schedule, or an internet connection strong enough to join a video call. For a settlement as commercially active and densely populated as Githurai 45, a physical room changes the accessibility equation entirely.
The hub supports The Core’s broader education pipeline, which has graduated over 643 students from 28 countries through the My First Bitcoin diploma programme, runs monthly meetups across Kenya, and recently brought over 100 students from Murang’a University of Technology to a Bitcoin meetup for the first time.