Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin gains traction in West Africa with educational drive

Bitcoin (BTC) adoption in West Africa is dominated by Nigeria, the crypto powerhouse and the region’s economic engine. But against a backdrop of anti-French sentiment, Bitcoin educational efforts are also bubbling away in French-speaking West Africa.
Senegal recently opened its first physical Bitcoin exchange and education center called Bitique, and the country of 17 million people will host another Bitcoin Forum in the capital, Dakar, in December, where pseudonymous local Bitcoin advocate, known as Nourou, runs an independent Bitcoin node beamed from space.
In Benin, a country of 13 million people to the west of Nigeria, the Bitcoin-only Bitcoin Mastermind conference takes place next month. The first of its kind in the country, Bitcoin Mastermind unites Bitcoin entrepreneurs and crypto enthusiasts from homegrown groups and businesses such as Izichange, GoesPay and Flash, and it offers locals a space to learn about Bitcoin.
Cointelegraph spoke with Nourou, the founder of Dakar Bitcoin Days and Bitcoin Senegal, and Loïc Kassamoto, the founder of Bitcoin Mastermind, to better understand the Bitcoin and West African crypto evolution — or revolution.
A rising tide lifts all boats
Countries in French-speaking West Africa are subjected to the West African CFA franc currency, described by the Economist as a “colonial hangover.” The Senegalese are vocal in their criticism of the currency, with some Bitcoin advocates, such as local crypto enthusiast and entrepreneur Mama Bitcoin, explaining that it’s pretty normal to complain about the currency — an implicit criticism of post-colonial French policy in the region.
Anti-French sentiment has historically existed in the region but has recently manifested in public demonstrations. Neighboring Mali recently dropped French as the nation’s official language — a law in place since the country won its independence in 1960.
In Niger, to the east of Mali and north of Nigeria, a recent military coup represented a significant setback for French President Emmanuel Macron and France’s military strategy in the region. Well-known French newspaper Le Monde commented that the coup was a “new heavy blow” for France’s military strategy in Niger’s Sahel region.
A groundswell of alternative currency initiatives is occurring across French-speaking West Africa. Growing numbers of Senegalese are turning to Bitcoin as a savings tool and a means of exchange, while in Benin, Bitcoin Mastermind’s Kassamoto told Cointelegraph the number of Beninois turning to Bitcoin is also on the up.
Magazine: Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?
In the West, much financial discussion and education tends to take place online. However, the emphasis in West African countries is on physical meetups and real-life interaction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nourou said that discussions about Bitcoin and money were transferred and confined to online platforms such as ClubHouse and X (formerly Twitter), but more and more physical spaces have opened up post-pandemic.

Indeed, as Kassamoto explains, one of the keys to unlocking deeper levels of financial education and demonstrating how West Africans could use a decentralized currency such as Bitcoin is through interactions in the real world:
“Bitcoin conferences, meetups and shops provide opportunities for education, outreach and direct interaction. Conferences and meetups bring the community together, share knowledge and exchange experiences.”
Norou opened Bitique, which is Dakar’s first physical Bitcoin store for buying and selling cryptocurrency. He explained that in addition to trading services, there will also be educational programs for people to learn about Bitcoin in person: “Training courses will be around 10,000 francs [$16] for two or even three hours of training.”
The in-person training goes hand in hand with a series of classroom sessions that Bitcoin Senegal conducts nationwide called the “Baol Digital Kids” program, which teaches kids how to use Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
@SeckIdrissa, un membre actif de notre communauté, vient d’animer une session de sensibilisation sur la thématique Bitcoin/cryptomonnaies à de jeunes enfants, lors du “Baol Digital Kids” organisé par @xaralatech.
Une initiative à encourager et à soutenir pic.twitter.com/aX4u9kVFoz— ₿itcoin Sénégal (@bitcoin_sen) August 11, 2023
The kids in the video who received and sent their first satoshis via the layer-2 Lightning Network can spend the money at a growing number of merchants listed on the open-source Bitcoin tool BTCmap.org. In just 18 months, Dakar has developed from one small Bitcoin office to tens of artisans, restaurants and cafés accepting the cryptocurrency.
Nourou recently received a Blockstream Satellite kit, which, once set up, will allow him to run a Bitcoin node that will be protected against network interruptions. The internet service can sometimes be patchy and unreliable in West Africa. According to Blockstream, the satellite kit ensures that any connected Bitcoin full node “will not be isolated or partitioned,” with blocks streaming continuously for the node to verify.
Across a few borders in Benin, Kassamoto, along with his peers, runs what he believes to be one of Benin’s first Bitcoin nodes.
8GB of Ram and using the Ubuntu process from Umbrel and bim we became probably one of the first to run a Bitcoin node in Benin
We’ll share more experience about this soon.
— Loïc Kassamoto (@Loicbtc) January 24, 2023
He explains that Bitcoin adoption has increased, but it comes with risks due to its association with crypto:
“Bitcoin adoption in West Africa is greatly helped and hindered by cryptocurrencies.”
Kassamoto said that the money-making side of crypto attracts more and more people into the “crypto universe,” but crypto scams, loss and rug pulls taint Bitcoin’s appeal. The promise of crypto riches drawing noobies into Bitcoin is not necessarily good.
“It’s toxic for Bitcoin because these people are very quickly disappointed with their loss and associate it with Bitcoin because they haven’t even had time to understand the difference between the two,” he said.
Kassamoto said that “Bitcoin, not crypto,” is what the West African community should understand.
There are more Bitcoin meetups and, therefore, more opportunities to demonstrate what many Bitcoin exchanges and thought leaders have preached for some time: that there could be a difference between Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market.
Related: Worldcoin cryptocurrency project suspended in Kenya
The Central African Republic, which made headlines in 2022 for adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, was elevated and then dropped by large swathes of the Bitcoin community. After adopting Bitcoin, it announced its own crypto token, Sango Coin, while the country is now experimenting with tokenizing real-world assets such as farmland.
In Ghana, to the east of Benin, another large Bitcoin and educational conference will occur this year. Strike CEO Jack Mallers and Human Rights Foundation chief strategy officer Alex Gladstein will speak as part of a Bitcoin educational drive in West Africa.
Cryptocurrency
Coinbase Tanks 11% Pre-Market After $1.5B Q2 Revenue Miss

Coinbase shares fell sharply after the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed expectations. Total revenue for the quarter came in at $1.5 billion, representing a 26% decline from the previous quarter.
The shortfall was largely driven by weaker-than-expected transaction revenue, which fell 39% quarter-over-quarter to $764 million.
Missing Expectations
In the official release, Coinbase revealed that its subscription and services revenue also declined 6% to $656 million. Despite efforts to reduce variable costs, operating expenses climbed 15% to $1.5 billion. Coinbase attributed this largely to the $307 million hit related to the data breach disclosed in May.
The crypto exchange recorded a net income of $1.4 billion, but this figure included $1.5 billion in pre-tax unrealized gains from strategic investments, including in Circle, as well as a $362 million pre-tax gain from its crypto investment portfolio. On an adjusted basis, net income stood at just $33 million, with adjusted EBITDA reaching $512 million.
Coinbase’s trading activity also underperformed the broader crypto spot market, as global and US crypto spot volumes declined 31% and 32% respectively. Meanwhile, its total trading volume fell 40% to $237 billion, and the consumer segment witnessed a 45% drop to $43 billion.
Consumer transaction revenue plunged 41% to $650 million, as volume shifted toward Simple trades amid low volatility. Institutional transaction revenue also saw a similar pattern, down 38% in both volume and revenue.
While Base Chain activity grew, other transaction revenue dropped 21% as average revenue per transaction declined.
As of the close on the previous trading day, Coinbase (COIN) shares were priced at $377.76, up slightly by $0.28. However, pre-market trading shows a sharp decline, with the stock down $42.30 (-11.20%) to $335.46. This steep drop suggests a strong negative reaction from investors, likely in response to recent earnings results.
Despite grappling with declining revenues and rising costs, Coinbase is doubling down on product innovation.
“Everything App”
Earlier this month, Coinbase rebranded its Wallet as the Base app, launching a crypto-focused “everything app” that merges trading, social media, USDC payments, mini-apps, and tokenized posts.
Announced at its “A New Day One” conference, the app runs on Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 network and integrates Farcaster for social feeds, Zora for post tokenization, and encrypted XMTP chat. Users can earn from tips, interact with AI agents, and make one-tap payments.
The platform also introduced Base Pay for Shopify merchants and plans 1% USDC cashback in the US. The app is in beta, while a full public release and developer tools are expected soon.
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Cryptocurrency
Dogecoin Slides 8% but Long-Term Channel Holds, Can DOGE Rebound?

TL;DR
- Dogecoin dropped to $0.20, moving in a $0.23 to $0.20 range during heavy selling.
- Analysts see support in the long-term channel and a wedge pattern aiming for $0.265.
- Large holders bought 310 million coins, while Bit Origin added 40 million to reserves.
Dogecoin Records Sharp Daily Decline
Dogecoin (DOGE) fell 8% in the past 24 hours, dropping from $0.22 to $0.21. This was one of the steepest daily moves for the token in July. The price action moved within a $0.23 to $0.20 range, facing resistance at the top and heavy selling near the session close.
However, trading volumes spiked, with a midnight surge to 1.25 billion DOGE, which points to large liquidations and cascading sell orders from leveraged positions.
Dogecoin trades at $0.20 as of press time, down 11% over the past week, giving it a market cap of $31 billion.
Long-Term Channel Remains Intact
Trader Tardigrade shared a 1-month chart showing DOGE inside a long-term ascending channel that has held since 2014. DOGE has often bounced from the lower boundary of this channel, shown in pink on the chart.
$Doge/M1#Dogecoin Long term Channel has been established pic.twitter.com/m8nfq29Q8M
— Trader Tardigrade (@TATrader_Alan) August 1, 2025
Meanwhile, the current price is near the lower-middle part of the channel, an area that has led to multi-month rallies when the trend held. Dogecoin’s long-term structure stays intact while it trades within this ascending channel, even after the recent decline.
In addition, Trader Tardigrade also noted that Dogecoin’s monthly candle closed as the third consecutive bullish engulfing candle, which he described as a setup for a potential “move to Valhalla.”
Short-Term Wedge and Institutional Activity
Ali Martinez noted that DOGE may be forming a falling wedge on the 1-hour chart, with a projected target of $0.265. A move above $0.229–$0.230 would confirm bullish momentum, while $0.215–$0.210 remains key support if the wedge fails.
Dogecoin $DOGE could be forming a falling wedge, which projects a target of $0.265! pic.twitter.com/P9WQbMrXfI
— Ali (@ali_charts) July 31, 2025
Institutional wallets acquired 310 million DOGE during the correction. Bit Origin added 40 million DOGE to its treasury under a $500 million diversification program. Broader crypto markets remain pressured by macroeconomic uncertainty, with inflation and equity risk shaping short-term demand.
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Cryptocurrency
Pepe Dollar ($PEPD) Presale Picks Up Pace as Ethereum (ETH) Hovers Over $3,600

[PRESS RELEASE – Covina, United States, August 1st, 2025]
Within the Ethereum ecosystem, Pepe Dollar ($PEPD) has entered its presale phase. Described as a meme token with integrated utility and cultural references, $PEPD introduces a tokenomics structure intended for long-term application. Certain Ethereum wallet holders have initiated ETH transfers to the presale, indicating early transactional activity.
Overview of $PEPD’s Positioning
Pepe Dollar ($PEPD) enters the market as a parody token referencing central banking themes, aiming to engage users through cultural commentary and decentralized finance (DeFi) mechanisms. Unlike traditional meme tokens, which often adopt simplified or repetitive token structures, $PEPD integrates design elements that combine cultural motifs associated with Pepecoin and components of DeFi architecture.
Comparison to Prior Meme Tokens
Pepe Dollar ($PEPD) enters the Ethereum ecosystem following the emergence of other meme tokens such as Pepecoin ($PEPE), $BONK, $LILPEPE, and $HYPER. The $PEPD model incorporates a tokenomics framework that includes a burn mechanism framed as a commentary on centralization. Its listing on CoinMarketCap has contributed to broader visibility. On-chain data indicates that several large Ethereum wallets have begun transacting with the token during its presale phase.
Pepe Dollar Presale – ETH’s Capital Rotation
Pepe Dollar’s presale architecture and project identity offer a compelling setup:
Presale Fundamentals:
- Current Price: $0.004688
- Tokens Sold: 166,938,905
- Next Presale Price (Stage 2): $0.006495
- Launch Price: $0.03695
Tokenomics and Supply
Pepe Dollar ($PEPD) will have a fixed supply of 3.6951 billion tokens. According to the project, 29% of the total supply is scheduled to be permanently removed at launch through a mechanism termed the “Federal Burn,” which is framed as a symbolic reference to traditional inflationary monetary systems.
Additional details disclosed by the development team include:
- No developer tax mechanisms
- No backdoor unlock functions
- A publicly documented tokenomics model
Ethereum-Native Infrastructure
Pepe Dollar is designed to launch natively on Ethereum and integrate with existing Ethereum-based DeFi tools. The protocol includes functionality to support a meme asset minting platform, enabling users to create, deploy, and govern new assets using $PEPD. The project describes itself as operating at the intersection of cultural commentary and decentralized finance.
Project Links and Official Channels
About Pepe Dollar ($PEPD)
Pepe Dollar ($PEPD) is a decentralized Layer-2 payment infrastructure designed for the meme economy. Positioned as a satirical digital asset, $PEPD offers an alternative approach to traditional financial systems and aims to facilitate value creation within decentralized ecosystems.
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