Human Rights Foundation Awards 1.3 Billion Satoshis to Global Bitcoin Projects, 2 African Initiatives Included
The Human Rights Foundation announced in January 2026 that it awarded 1.3 billion Satoshis through its Bitcoin Development Fund in Q4 2025 to support 22 projects building censorship-resistant financial tools, open-source Bitcoin infrastructure, and education initiatives worldwide. Among the recipients, two African projects received funding to expand Bitcoin development capacity across the continent.
The grants span Bitcoin Core development, mining decentralization, Lightning infrastructure, privacy tools, and grassroots education, with a strong focus on regions facing financial repression and authoritarian control across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The Africa Free Routing Lightning Developer Bootcamp, operating in Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and other Pan-African locations, received funding to expand Lightning Network developer training across Africa.
The program aims to build local, censorship-resistant payment infrastructure by equipping African developers with the skills needed to implement and maintain Lightning Network solutions.
The bootcamp addresses a critical need in the African Bitcoin ecosystem: the shortage of developers with specialized knowledge in Lightning Network implementation. By training local developers, the program ensures that Bitcoin payment infrastructure can be built and maintained by Africans solving African problems, rather than relying solely on external expertise.
Additional funded projects include Programming Lightning, a global initiative offering self-paced Lightning Network development courses, and Zapstore, a decentralized app store on Nostr enabling censorship-resistant software distribution.
The HRF Bitcoin Development Fund continues to support builders and educators strengthening the foundations of a permissionless, censorship-resistant financial system. The foundation’s strategy prioritizes ensuring Bitcoin remains usable for people living under restrictive political and economic conditions.
This latest round of grants builds on HRF’s ongoing commitment to decentralizing Bitcoin development. In previous funding rounds, the foundation has supported multiple African projects, recognizing the continent’s unique position where Bitcoin addresses real-world challenges including currency instability, limited banking access, and restrictive financial controls.
The focus on Lightning Network infrastructure is particularly significant for Africa, where the technology’s promise of instant, low-cost transactions aligns with the needs of remittance corridors, mobile money integration, and merchant payment systems. However, implementing Lightning at scale in African contexts requires addressing challenges like internet connectivity, electricity reliability, and user experience design for populations with varying levels of technical literacy.