Abubakar Nur Khalil Ushers In Bitcoin’s Global South
You know that feeling when you ever wake up on a good day, hop on Instagram and people younger than you are buying houses, retiring their parents and you’re out here, just trying to make it to the next month while your loan requests are getting declined? Man. That’s me every morning. And then I log into LinkedIn.
But every now and then, you see a story that makes that journey feel worth it, proving that merit and opportunity still exist. Abubakar’s story is exactly what we’re talking about.
Leadership
So Abubakar Nur Khalil, a brilliant Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor, has been appointed the permanent CEO of Btrust. For the organization funding Bitcoin development across the Global South, putting a young African developer in command is going to definitively shift the ecosystem in new and exciting ways.
Khalil embodies Btrust’s code-first culture. As a developer-turned-leader, he previously served as interim CEO and co-founded Btrust Builders to aggressively lower entry barriers for African developers.
- Impact Speaks: Under his interim tenure, Btrust deployed over $1.7 million in grants since mid-2024. Crucially, more than half went directly to developers in Africa, India, and Latin America.
- Pipeline, Not Handout: Btrust’s strategy focuses on building a full developer pipeline, funding full-time open-source work, education cohorts, and seeding community events like the Africa Bitcoin Conference Developer Day.
Building the Human Infrastructure
Btrust has become the key launchpad for the next generation. It’s now funding technical talent working on core protocol improvements like LDK Node, Silent Payments, and Bitcoin Core privacy.
His core philosophy is about building human infrastructure, not just issuing checks. As he put it, the goal is to establish Btrust as the leading grant organization empowering the “Global Majority,” creating a sustainable developer economy that extends well beyond the current funding cycle.
The future of Bitcoin development will be written not only in Silicon Valley or Berlin but, emphatically, in Lagos, Nairobi, and beyond.
