Hack4Freedom · When Women Build, Freedom Follows

the story so far

Every cohort is two weeks: an in-person kickoff of talks and protocol deep dives, a remote build week with standups and code review, and a Demo Day with judges, prizes and introductions to grants and jobs.

nov 2025 · kaduna, nigeria 🇳🇬

kaduna: the first cohort

20 women, 8 open-source prototypes, 15 mentors. Our first proof that a women-only pipeline into bitcoin and freedom tech works.

may 2026 · lagos, nigeria 🇳🇬

lagos: 38 builders, 13 projects

Our largest cohort at the time. Winners built a non-custodial bitcoin inheritance tool, a gamified bitcoin learning platform, and a bitcoin-native marketplace for women artisans.

jul 2026 · são paulo, brazil 🇧🇷

são paulo: hosted by casa21 with vinteum

26 builders, 9 projects. First place went to Satra, a hidden Lightning wallet disguised as a calculator for women in domestic-violence situations.

sep 22 – oct 5, 2026 · nairobi, kenya 🇰🇪

nairobi: our largest cohort yet

About 55 builders across 10 teams, delivered on the ground with Dada Devs. Winners built creator licensing signed over Nostr and paid on Lightning, a privacy-first support platform for survivors of gender-based violence, and voice-guided Lightning payments.

coming soon · port harcourt, nigeria 🇳🇬

port harcourt: next up

Our next city. Dates announced soon.

the two-week journey

Learn for a week, build for a week, close with a bitcoin-paid Demo Day.

week 1 // learn

foundations & deep dives

Daily sessions on bitcoin fundamentals, Lightning, Nostr, wallet design, privacy and AI workflows.

week 2 // build

teams form, code ships

Teams tackle problems from their own communities and ship to public GitHub repos.

final day // demo day

judges, prizes, intros

Teams demo to the judges. Winning projects are paid in bitcoin.

after // the network

the community keeps building

Alumnae join monthly catchup calls and continued mentor sessions and events. The cohort ends. The network doesn't.

the builders and what they shipped

Every winning project links to its real repo. Explore them, fork them, build on them.

nairobi 2026 🇰🇪

sep 22 – oct 5 · ~55 builders · 10 teams · 10 projects

Funded by Btrust. Delivered with Dada Devs. AI tooling from Soapbox.

1st Place: ANZA · creator-initiated brand licensing, signed Nostr offers, payment before delivery
2nd Place: Resilience · privacy-first safety infrastructure for GBV survivors
3rd Place: MIKI · voice-guided Lightning payments for visually impaired users
Nostr Prize: Nuru Women · women's health guidance in English and Kiswahili

"The first day, it took a lot to actually show up. I didn't feel like I belonged, but I finally did, and it kept getting better, day after day. Starting, for me, means finishing. Overall, the whole experience was great."

nairobi builder · miki team, 3rd place

all nairobi projects read the blog

são paulo 2026 🇧🇷

jul 12 – 26 · 26 builders · 9 projects

Funded by Btrust. Hosted at Casa21 with Vinteum. Prizes from Breez and Soapbox.

1st Place + Breez Prize: Satra · a hidden Lightning wallet disguised as a calculator, for women in domestic-violence situations
2nd Place: Elas Recebem Hoje · Lightning receivables protocol for freelancers
3rd Place: Iris · community savings circles inspired by African SACCOs and Fedimint, built for Brazil's trans community to pool money through trusted circles and unlock access to healthcare
Nostr Prize: Arakne · hides in plain sight as a crochet learning app: underneath, a peer-to-peer microcredit network for women locked out of banking by coercive control, unlocked only by a hidden gesture
Honorable Mention: SatsMeter · turns community power grids into pay-as-you-go Lightning meters, billing electricity automatically down to the last watt, no bank, no middleman

"Vinteum gave me the opportunity to come to Casa Vinteum for a couple of months to deep dive into bitcoin's ecosystem. I really miss the community I had during Hack4Freedom. I miss not being surrounded by men. I miss my Hack4Freedom mentors."

são paulo alumna · now in bitcoin full time

all são paulo projects read the blog

lagos 2026 🇳🇬

may 16 – 30 · 38 builders · 13 projects

Funded by Btrust. Prizes from Breez and Soapbox.

1st Place: GhostKey · non-custodial bitcoin inheritance tool
2nd Place: SatQuest · gamified bitcoin learning platform
3rd Place: Bitscy · bitcoin-native marketplace for women artisans
Nostr Prize: Zappr · multilingual Nostr client built on NIP-15 and NIP-98
Breez Prize: ZapCart · Lightning point-of-sale with a bitcoin offramp

"Hack4Freedom pushed us to build something real instead of just an idea we kept talking about. We're a team of three women, and it gave us the structure, the mentorship, and honestly the deadline pressure we needed to actually ship a working product in two weeks."

lagos team · 3rd place winners

all lagos projects read the blog

kaduna 2025 🇳🇬

nov 2025 · 20 builders · 8 projects

Sponsored by Btrust — the backers of our first program.

1st Place: LightningO · open-source platform on Nostr and Lightning connecting global sponsors and local talent through bounties, gigs and grants, with secure escrow
2nd Place: BitSave · bitcoin savings app that tracks progress in NGN or USD, with group goals, private Nostr chats and an AI savings coach
3rd Place: Bitstra · everyday utility app to buy airtime, data and pay bills over Lightning, no bank needed

read the kaduna blog

the mentors

66 mentors and speakers in total, across our four cohorts. Linked where they're public.

Sekinah Ibrahim@ibrahim_sekinah ↗Director, Hack4Freedom

Brianna Honkawa d'Estries@briimhd ↗Founder, Hack4Freedom & Evento

Halima Abbalinkedin ↗Founder, What's Haute with Halima

Stephanie Titcombe@StephTitcombe ↗Head of Program & Operations, Btrust

Rita Anene@Camilla_rhi ↗Software Developer, Btrust Grantee

Em@EMbits ↗Head of Technology, Africa Bitcoiners

Mary Kate Fain@mkay_fain ↗Founder, Soapbox & 4WPub

André Neves@andreneves ↗Creator of the Lightning Address; co-founder, ZBD & Vinteum

Satoshee@_Satoshee ↗Lead Designer, Africa Bitcoiners

Mubarak Muhammad Aminu@200okdeveloper ↗Co-Founder, Tapnob

Mogashni Naidoo@MouxDesign ↗Co-Founder, Bitcoin Design Community

Tuedon Tuoyo@TuedonTuoyo ↗Software Engineer, Bitcoin Dev Project

Satsie@satsie ↗Co-Organizer, Boston BitDevs

Sharon Nkatha@nkatha23 ↗Backend & Bitcoin Developer, BTC Dada Alumna

Jesse de Witlinkedin ↗Lightning Network Developer, Breez

Eunice Jacob Gigilinkedin ↗Backend Developer, IpayBTC

Kelvin Isievwore@kelvinator05 ↗Engineering Lead, Btrust

Aaliyah Junaidlinkedin ↗Full-Stack Engineer; Kaduna Alumna

Adeyemi Matthew@a_Iyanu_ ↗Bitcoin Product Designer, Bitdesigners Africa

Lorraine Marcel@marcelorraine ↗Founder, BTC DADA & Dada Devs

Sabina Waithira Gitau@waithiraah ↗Co-Founder, Tando

Claire Parkinsonlinkedin ↗Chief of Staff, ZBD

Anaïse Kanimba@AnaiseKanimba ↗Director, Africa Bitcoin Institute

D++@D_plus__plus ↗Bitcoin Educator & Lightning Evangelist

Wandia Mugo@wandiology ↗Head of Operations, BTC DADA

Janet Maingi@nduku_jay ↗Co-Founder, Gridless

Arowolo Kehinde Olamilekan@Arowolokenny01 ↗Bitcoin Backend Developer, BOSS Alum

Thaiz Batistalinkedin ↗Head of Operations, Vinteum

Lucas Ferreira@lucasdcf ↗Co-Founder & Executive Director, Vinteum

Viviane Nogueira Pedrolinkedin ↗Bitcoin Educator

Jãonoctus@jaonoctus ↗Payments Infrastructure, ZBD; Dev Advocate, Vinteum

Bruno Camposlinkedin ↗CEO, Klever

Lucca Godoylinkedin ↗CTO, Mooze

Thiago Orikassalinkedin ↗Product Designer, Bipa

Emilia Roitmanlinkedin ↗Senior UX Content Designer, Decolar

Renata Rodrigueslinkedin ↗Fedi, formerly Paxful LATAM

Dulce Villarreal@Dulce_xyz ↗Founder, Librería de Satoshi

Isabella Rugnalinkedin ↗Bitrefill

Kanika Singhlinkedin ↗Project Manager, Groundswell

Amiti Uttarwar@amizi ↗Founder, Waye

Davidson Souza@Erik17192799 ↗Maintainer, Floresta; Vinteum Grantee

Cindy@bc1cindy ↗Vinteum Fellow, Bitcoin Privacy

Hanan Ibrahim MBElinkedin ↗Founder, Somali Family Support Group

Frankline Omondi@_frankomosh ↗Bitcoin Core Contributor

Susan Githaiga@Su_Githaiga ↗Fullstack Developer, Open-Source Contributor

Mercy Njeri Mbao@junearsenic7 ↗Software Developer, Dada Devs Alumna

Oladimeji “Timileyin” Bamidele@thetimileyin ↗Bitdesigners

Simon Njeru@dzeg5 ↗Co-Founder, BitDevs Nairobi; Stratum V2 Contributor

Brandon Odiwuor@BrandonOdiwuor ↗Bitcoin Core Contributor

Sadiq Rabiulinkedin ↗Founder, BitDevs Mauritius & OSGuild

Mark Kamau@Mark_Kamau ↗Designing Futures

Charlene Fadirepo@charfadirepo ↗Founder, Satoshi Sisterhood

Abubakar Nur Khalil@ihate1999 ↗CEO, Btrust

Sarah White@IamWhiteSarah ↗GM, Africa Bitcoiners

Oyindamola Oladapo@0xZaddyy ↗Bitcoin Open-Source Developer, Bitnob

partners

Hack4Freedom runs on partners who show up, in money, in mentorship and on the ground.

Bitcoin funder backing open-source builders in Africa and beyond. Lead sponsor of the 2026 expansion across three continents.

btrust.tech ↗ · @btrustteam ↗

Runs the Bitcoin Development Fund, which awarded Hack4Freedom a 2026 grant powering the 2027 expansion.

hrf.org ↗ · @HRF ↗

Brazilian bitcoin open-source R&D hub training developers; our São Paulo partner.

vinteum.org ↗ · @Vinteum_org ↗

Bitcoin development house and community space in São Paulo; hosted our entire São Paulo cohort.

casa21.vinteum.org ↗ · @vinteum_org ↗

Our home turf: the open-source event platform with a built-in self-custodial bitcoin wallet. Evento powers our cohorts, applications and blog.

evento.so ↗ · @evento_so ↗

Freedom-tech studio building on Nostr; sponsors the Nostr Prize and funds the AI credits in every cohort.

soapbox.pub ↗ · @SoapboxTech ↗

Self-custodial Lightning wallet infrastructure; sponsors the Breez Prize for the best Lightning-native build.

breez.technology ↗ · @Breez_Tech ↗

Nairobi's community of women in bitcoin and tech; our on-the-ground delivery partner for mentors, outreach and local operations.

dadadevs.com ↗ · @dadadevs ↗

what our partners say

The people funding and building this ecosystem, in their own words.

“Hack4Freedom is doing valuable work creating an effective pipeline of female bitcoin developers, which is a net positive for the entire bitcoin open-source ecosystem. This is a core part of our priorities at Btrust, as we cannot have a truly decentralized effort without it, so we are proud to continue supporting them.”

Abubakar Nur Khalil · CEO, Btrust

“Expanding who gets to build bitcoin isn’t a social goal, it’s a technical one. Today, that builder set is still extremely narrow. If bitcoin is meant to be global, the people building it need to reflect more of the realities it serves. Hack4Freedom is about bringing more capable builders into the arena, and turning users into builders.”

Lucas Ferreira · Co-Founder & Executive Director, Vinteum

about the team

Why we started this, in our own words.

Brianna Honkawa d'Estries

@briimhd ↗

founder

Five years in bitcoin, and what keeps me here is what it can offer the unbanked around the world. Women are disproportionately excluded from financial institutions, and from building the solutions. Hack4Freedom is my answer to that.

Sekinah Ibrahim

@ibrahim_sekinah ↗

program director

I run the ground operations for every cohort: applications, venues, mentors, Demo Day, and the follow-up that turns a hackathon into a career. Four cities in, I've learned the talent was always there. What was missing was someone holding the door open. That's the job.

when women build,
freedom follows.

why it matters