Big shout-out to @BitcoinEkasi and @fedimint You've probably heard the story. You may not have gotten what it means. At the same time that Bitcoin was printing its worst month in four years, a township in Mossel Bay, South Africa was quietly building its own bank using Bitcoin. Bitcoin Ekasi has run a circular economy since 2021: 50 kids in its surf program, their coaches paid 100% in Bitcoin, spending it at local spaza shops. The piece that stayed unsolved was custody. Some members will never manage their own keys, and a custodial app means trusting a company that can freeze or lose their money. So they built community custody with Fedimint. 7 local guardians hold a 5-of-7 multisig and issue eCash that is instant, free, private, and simple enough for non-technical people to use. The people least served by banks now hold sound money with no bank, no exchange, and no key to lose. Why Bitcoin and nothing else? No bank will build rails for a poor township, and the rand keeps eroding what little people can save. Only open, permissionless, fixed-supply money let this community own its financial rails and run them itself. Just imagine what would happen if other towns around the world folllowed Mossel Bay's recipe. Adoption does not stop when the price falls. In fact, that's when the builders become easiest to see.(Daniel Batten)