Kenyan startup; BitPesa aim at pushing the idea of bitcoins as a measure of transfer in developing countries.

18th June 2014 We’re doing our best to keep up with all the developments in the world and everytime we seem to have it covered, something else comes up! Not too many people might be familiar with Bitcoin; a digital currency that can be used for online exchanges and which is gradually gaining popularity offline.

Now a Kenyan startup called BitPesa is trying to push the idea of bitcoins as a measure of transfer for use in developing countries. The company aims to show that using bitcoins is more efficient than going through regular banking channels. Users of the service can convert their bitcoins to Kenyan shillings and then send the shillings to a mobile wallet of their choice.

Kenya is probably the best place to start this off – the country is fast developing a reputation as a tech friendly nation and use of mobile phone technology is probably one of the highest in Africa. With mobile penetration at 76.9%, and 67% of new phones bought in Kenya being smartphones, maybe bitcoins might soon become just another way of conducting transactions in Kenya