Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey Backed This — Here’s What Happened

On today’s Talking Tokens episode, Jacquelyn sat down with Abubakar Nur Khalil, CEO of Recursive Capital and board member and CEO of Btrust — the Bitcoin development organization backed by Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z. Abubakar has been at the center of Bitcoin’s growth across Africa, from launching a venture fund to distributing over $1.7 million in grants to open-source developers.They discuss why Btrust is expanding from Africa to Latin America, the role of Bitcoin in energy, governance, and national treasuries, and why Abubakar sees Bitcoin as fundamentally different from crypto. He also breaks down what’s driving local adoption, why builders are choosing Bitcoin over web2 or AI careers, and what’s next for Bitcoin education, regulation, and electrification across the Global South.TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) - How Bitcoin is evolving in Nigeria and beyond

(1:02) - Who is Abubakar Nur Khalil?

(2:16) - Starting Recursive Capital and building a Bitcoin VC fund

(4:47) - Why they rebranded to focus solely on Bitcoin

(5:45) - The story behind Btrust and its $1.7M in grants

(7:03) - Why Btrust is expanding beyond Africa

(9:01) - Why developers want to be paid in Bitcoin

(10:14) - Abubakar’s Bitcoin thesis vs other crypto projects

(12:07) - The 3 biggest Bitcoin use cases right now

(15:03) - Why Bitcoin treasuries matter for African startups

(16:07) - How Recursive and Btrust stay separate

(17:20) - What surprised him most about building both orgs

(20:00) - Educating developers who don’t know Bitcoin careers exist

(23:02) - What governments are thinking about Bitcoin in 2024

(28:00) - Final advice: Align your principles, then act

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