Btrust Awards Bitcoin Grants to Seven African Developers

Btrust has awarded its latest Bitcoin developer grants in Africa to seven open-source contributors.

The recipients are based in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi and Morocco. Their work covers Bitcoin wallets, privacy tools, peer-to-peer trading, testing systems and cryptography.

Btrust announced the grants on July 13, 2026.

What Are Bitcoin Developer Grants?

Bitcoin is supported by open-source software.

Open source means the underlying computer code is publicly available. Developers can inspect it, improve it and report problems.

However, this work takes time. Many developers need financial support to focus on it full-time.

Bitcoin developer grants provide that support. They allow programmers to work on important infrastructure without charging users directly.

Btrust said its latest group includes:

• Three starter grant recipients
• Four long-term grant recipients

The organisation did not disclose the value of the individual grants in its announcement.

Seven Developers Receive Btrust Support

The seven recipients are:

Starter grant recipients

• Jemimah Nagasha from Uganda
• Oyindamola Oladapo from Nigeria
• Yankho Ngolleka from Malawi

Long-term grant recipients

• Abiodun Awoyemi from Nigeria
• Emmanuel Ojok from Uganda
• Jamal Errakibi from Morocco
• Brandon Odiwuor from Kenya

Btrust said six of the seven developers had previously participated in its learning programmes.

These programmes teach Bitcoin technology, software development and open-source collaboration.

Uganda Developer Will Improve Bitcoin Testing Tools

Jemimah Nagasha is a software engineer based in Kampala, Uganda.

She contributes to Polar, an application that helps developers build local Bitcoin and Lightning Network testing environments.

The Lightning Network is a payment system built on top of Bitcoin. It can make small payments faster and cheaper.

Nagasha plans to improve Polar’s reliability and ease of use. Her work will include better Windows support, backup tools and wallet security features.

She also helps organise BitDevs Kampala, a local community for Bitcoin developers.

Nigerian Developer Will Work on Bitcoin Privacy

Oyindamola Oladapo is based in Kaduna, Nigeria.

He contributes to Rust-Payjoin and other Payjoin projects.

Payjoin is a Bitcoin privacy method. It allows both sides of a payment to help construct the transaction.

As a result, outside observers may find it harder to identify which funds belong to each person.

Oladapo will focus on multiparty Payjoin. This system allows more than two people to participate in the privacy process.

His planned work includes software testing, documentation and improvements to the Payjoin Development Kit.

Malawi Developer Will Improve Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Trading

Yankho Ngolleka is a Bitcoin developer based in Lilongwe, Malawi.

He contributes to MostroP2P, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange built using Nostr and the Lightning Network.

A peer-to-peer exchange allows people to trade directly with one another. It reduces reliance on a central exchange company.

Btrust said Ngolleka is its first grantee focused on peer-to-peer exchange infrastructure.

He plans to improve MostroP2P’s reliability, error handling and testing. He will also operate a live Mostro node in Malawi.

A node is a computer that helps run and support a network.

Nigerian Developer Will Strengthen Bitcoin Wallet Tools

Abiodun Awoyemi is a Bitcoin developer based in Lagos, Nigeria.

He works on the Bitcoin Dev Kit, also known as BDK.

BDK provides reusable software components for developers building Bitcoin wallets.

Awoyemi is also a secondary maintainer of bdk-tx, a Bitcoin transaction-building library.

His work will focus on safer fee handling, clearer error messages and better transaction construction.

These tools may help wallet developers avoid repeating difficult technical work.

Uganda Developer Will Continue Work on BlueWallet

Emmanuel Ojok is based in Kampala, Uganda.

He contributes to BlueWallet, a self-custody Bitcoin wallet for mobile devices.

Self-custody means users control the private information needed to access their Bitcoin. A bank or exchange does not hold it for them.

Ojok has worked on software updates, user-interface improvements and reproducible builds.

Reproducible builds allow developers to confirm that an installed application matches its published source code.

His next work will include better testing, Android compatibility and support for hardware wallets.

Moroccan Developer Will Work on Bitcoin Cryptography

Jamal Errakibi is a software engineer from Morocco.

He contributes to the Rust Bitcoin software ecosystem.

Rust is a programming language often used for software that requires strong security and performance.

Errakibi’s work focuses on hashing, cryptography and lower-level software libraries.

A hash is a unique digital output created from data. Bitcoin uses hashing to secure transactions and blocks.

His planned work includes improving SHA-256 performance and contributing to rust-secp256k1.

These systems support some of Bitcoin’s most important security functions.

Kenyan Developer Will Improve Bitcoin Core Testing

Brandon Odiwuor is a Bitcoin Core contributor based in Kenya.

Bitcoin Core is the main reference software used to operate the Bitcoin network.

Odiwuor works on testing, build systems, documentation and continuous integration.

Continuous integration is an automated process that checks new code for errors.

His grant work will focus on improving Bitcoin Core’s testing systems using CTest and CDash.

These tools can help developers identify failed tests and software problems more clearly.

Odiwuor also supports technical discussions through BitDevs Nairobi.

Btrust Is Building Local Developer Communities

Btrust said several recipients also support BitDevs communities.

These communities operate in cities including Lagos, Kampala, Kaduna and Nairobi. A group also operates in Malawi.

BitDevs meetings allow developers to discuss technical Bitcoin topics and review new projects.

Btrust said it supports a network of BitDevs groups across Africa.

The organisation also offers educational programmes and accepts developer grant applications throughout the year. New recipients are announced every quarter.

The Grants Do Not Represent Product Launches

The announcement does not mean all planned features are already available.

Some recipients will research ideas. Others will test software, fix problems or develop early prototypes.

Therefore, readers should distinguish between:

• Work already completed
• Planned grant work
• Experimental development
• Features ready for public use

The Btrust announcement mainly describes what the developers plan to work on during their grant periods.