At the Africa Bitcoin conference, Nigerian developer Emmanuel Kufre was crowned winner of the TBD Hackathon organized by Block, Inc. He won a $15,000 Bitcoin prize thanks to his innovative project, Blink, a decentralized wallet application that acts as a payment processor for freelancers. The event, designed to drive innovation in digital payments in Africa, attracted talented developers across the continent.
Blink, currently in beta phase in five countries, specifically targets the needs of the gig economy in Africa, a market valued at $28 billion. This solution enables self-employed workers to accept global payments, addressing critical challenges such as limited access to banks and high costs of cross-border transactions.
Angie Jones, Global Vice President of Developer Relations at Block, said:
“The level of innovation presented at the TBD Hackathon is inspiring. These projects have the potential to transform payment systems in Africa. »
Other winners and solutions
The hackathon also rewarded two other promising projects:
- tbDEX Go: A local solution for tourism payments, developed by Andrew Glago and Eloke Ikiliagwu, who received $10,000 in Bitcoin.
- Igbigi: An application facilitating instant and secure transfers between banks and applications, developed by Achego Tamunobelema and Fabari Agbora, with a price of $5,000 in Bitcoin.
Organized in collaboration with the Africa Bitcoin conference, this event highlighted the talent and creativity of African developers. Conference organizer Farida Bemba Nabourema said:
“These solutions address major challenges such as financial inclusion and cross-border payments. »
Block, Inc., which actively supports open source technologies, reaffirms with this hackathon its commitment to technological innovation to solve Africa’s economic challenges.
