Botswana’s first Bitcoin ATM, a Skyhook model, has landed in the country. Originally owned by the Taurus Bitcoin Exchange, its relatively-long processing time was considered untenable in the saturated Canadian market. Its small size and extreme affordability, however, made it perfect for donating to send to Africa.
It’s headed to Satoshi Center in Gaborone, a cryptocurrency incubator soon to be established. The tech team there–eager to get their hands on relatively-expensive technology–will retrofit it to accept South African rands (commonly resorted to in the region) until the Botswana pula can be added.
The Skyhook machine is open source, so when firmware for their local currency is created, it will be easy to install. The only major downside is that the Skyhook machine is 1-way, capable of selling but not purchasing bitcoins.
The Skyhook is not the first Bitcoin ATM in Africa. The titles of first and second go to Johannesburg and Cape Town, respectively. Their Lamassu models reside in fairly developed areas, but that’s not as helpful to the unbanked, who largely reside in the African interior.
Getting a Bitcoin ATM there is expensive and difficult. “Botswana doesn’t have the technical infrastructure for us to track the package there,” Keirnan Wright was told when he shipped the Skyhook from Vancouver city, BC. “Once it arrives, all you can do is pray.”
This feat has been made possible with the help of multiple parties. Various members of the Bitcoin Co-op donated generously, and the general Bitcoin community has been very supportive of ongoing related efforts. Some companies, like ASICSPACE, have given multiple bitcoins to the cause.
The ATM in Gaborone will be unveiled at CoinFest Africa, which came about due to Africa’s inability to participate in CoinFest 2015 because of shipping delays. Ghana decided to delay, as well, and the announced spurred other organizers to join the movement. It now includes 4 events in 3 countries!
It has long been a tradition to install Bitcoin ATMs at CoinFest. The first CoinFest event was held at the Waves Coffee House in Vancouver, where the world’s first Bitcoin ATM was placed by CoinTrader. Manitoba’s first Bitcoin ATM was installed in Winnipeg during CoinFest 2014, and CoinFest 2015 had ATM demos all over the world.
Now they’re hoping to bring that same energy to Africa. A Meet Up will be held in Vancouver in solidarity, at which global planning and further development of the DAO will occur. Elsewhere in Africa outside of Botswana, there will be Meet Ups, workshops, presentations and give-aways.
All of this is just in time for a continent struggling with hyperinflation and poverty, and little access to the traditional financial system. Lack of finances and infrastructure are huge obstacles, but with most Africans already familiar with mobile money, their transition to Bitcoin seems inevitable. Hopefully it brings the change they need.
philip agyei asare 
Josh 
Sinclair Skinner 
Nice Article
I am very confused by the popular sentiment that Bitcoin is somehow Africa’s savior.
Not to discredit well meaning westerners but how many of the people singing praise to Bitcoin and its transformative powers in Africa have actually been to the continent.
I am South African born and bred I grew up there and have since lived in several developed countries in Europe, Asia and currently live in the US. I grew up in Africa and understand the people somewhat better than most Cryptocurrency evangelists preaching of how the underbanked will be saved. As with every country in the world each country in Africa differs from the other. Each country has educated wealthy citizens with full access to just about any modern convenience that the western world has to offer. In some aspects cities like Cape Town has more to offer than many cities I have visited in the so called developed world.
I wish I could read one article that highlights the demographic that Cryptocurrency intends to rescue from the clutches of being “underbanked”. Yes there are incredibly poor people but I can wage all have in the world that they have no need for Bitcoin and Mars 1 will be a success before they care about BTC. The people who understand and care about financial transactions are already “banked”. The wealthy, educated a tech savvy already know about and use Bitcoin.
The family living in a mud hut in rural Africa who tend to chickens and goats will not be the next wave of Bitcoin adopters. Just my opinion.
It will definitely cut out Western Union, which is a leech on Africa’s unbanked.
I agree, please don’t take my comment as negativity toward your article. Your article highlighted some good news and that is always welcome. I see the underbanked term thrown around by just about anybody and everybody recently and I honestly fail to understand who this wildly general term applies to in terms of Bitcoins success or relevance today,
I am “African” but I have two bank accounts in Africa one in the UK and one in the US. So being African does not seem to be adaquate criteria. I was in LA a few years back I needed money sent from Florida at that stage I did no have a US bank Acc so we used western union it sucked and was expensive Bitcoin would have been great. If using services such as moneygram and western leech is criteria for being underbanked then the world is underbanked.
I think my biggest problem is the term Underbanked…. The service Bitcoin is currently able to provide in Africa is very much the same as it serves here or in Europe or Asia and will serve a very similar userbase in terms of economic prosperity. Is there massive potencil absolutely, but I don’t believe for a second that Bitcoin and the people who I consider to be truly underbanked are anywhere near meeting in the near future.
Perhaps I am wrong.
I do see the potential for Africa at this point to be on par with what it offers the rest of the world and that is still amazing for us all. Perhaps I am missing something and somebody has figured out a way to get uneducated people who have never used or truely needed banks to suddenly use Bitcoin on a massive scale while most of my friends in the developed world are still perplexed.
Perhaps I simply dislike the word underbanked and the entirely wrong impression it creates about Africa and the perception it creates in people who don’t know better.
I think Africa’s penchant for mobile money is a huge factor. Bitcoin is very much like some popular existing systems on the continent, but more efficient in several ways.
Great article, digital currency will be transformational for indigenous africa in particular. Decentralizing the power of multinational banks and corporations is really one of the best ways to unleash and unchain the power of indigenous Africa and put montary control in the hands of the people.