Ines Aissani« Project Mano » is the name of an initiative launched by an anonymous group of Ethiopians to push the Ethiopian government to adopt Bitcoin and include it in its economic plan. The project has recently received support from the bitcoin maximalist ; Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter before the latter's acquisition by Elon Musk. Thus, more and more people are discovering the Mano project and some are inspired by it to create bitcoin villagesEg.
The project received a strong response from other members of the Bitcoin community and more particularly, those residing in Africa. This is explained by, on the one hand, the geographical proximity but also and above all by the relative similarity of the economic situation of the country with other countries on the continent.
The Mano project is made up of entrepreneurs and economists based in Ethiopia, convinced that bitcoin could improve the economic and social life of the country. They urge the Addis Ababa government to follow the pro-Bitcoin policy led by President Nayib Bukelé in Salvador, which made the country the first to accept bitcoin as legal tender. Closer, theSango initiative in the Central African Republic led by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra wants to make Bitcoin a real engine for the national economy.
In this movement, the members of the Mano project have published on their site, a real plea for the adoption of Bitcoin which would then serve to "fight the rise of inequalities and global inflation". The development program is focused on 3 components including bitcoin mining, holding bitcoin in the treasury as well as the backing of bitcoin to the national currency (ETB).
Looking for new opportunities for Ethiopia
The Mano project is part of a complex context for Ethiopia which is going through some political difficulties despite the end of the Tigray war, in November 2022. Recently, the United States removed Ethiopia from the African Growth And Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade program. Washington could then indirectly endanger a significant part of Ethiopia's nascent manufacturing sector.
It was then a real commercial boon for various companies working in textiles. In 2019, Ethiopia exported $3 billion worth of products to the US, the largest export market for the country. The withdrawal of AGOA could cut this amount in half. According to the newspaper Foreign Policy, this would affect more than 200,000 people involved in this commercial exchange.
Thus, Ethiopia is looking for new opportunities to circumvent such a commercial loss, and the Project Mano initiative is also positioned in this perspective.
The Mano project and Bitcoin supporters in the country
Project Mano members believe that Bitcoin mining in the country would pave the way for other protocols specific to decentralized finance. This would allow Ethiopian citizens to have purchasing power in Bitcoin, which would then be the strong way to fight against inflation. Considered by its supporters as a "safe haven" in the same way as theor, having bitcoin in the national treasury would then allow the country to fight against the galloping inflation which has hit the country for around ten years.
The bitcoin holding would then be used as a hedge against the inflation rate of the Ethiopian birr. Furthermore, it was proposed that the ETB be backed by the value of Bitcoin so that it could have a quotation that was no longer linked to international exchange rates. According to World Bank data, Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing economies. However, with growth estimated at around 2% in 2023 and strong inflationary pressure, the country still remains far from the development objectives set by the UN.
Inflation of the Ethiopian currency (Birr)
In March 2018, the Ethiopian Birr (ETB) was trading at 22 ETB to 1 USD and the exchange in the black market was close to 25 ETB/USD. In the first quarter of 2021, 1 USD is worth almost 46 ETB – almost 55 ETB on the black market.
https://projectmano.com
In search of a new sovereignty
The Biden administration's recent sanction regarding Ethiopia's withdrawal from AGOA has reminded Ethiopians that they can be victims of third country decisions. The foreign superpowers have implemented a sanction which will necessarily affect the Ethiopian population more than the government itself.
It is with this in mind that the Mano project insists on the need to seek a new sovereignty. For the members of the project, this involves the establishment of a strong national currency, which is not subject to the vagaries of monetary policies. The sovereignty of Ethiopians could no longer be dependent on the decision-makers of the SWIFT system (Editor's note: the international financial system).
The Mano Project activists insist on the need to have a currency that is censorship resistant, and which cannot be manipulated according to the wishes of economists in office, as is the case with the American dollar, for example. They then recommend the adoption of bitcoin, described as sound money, decentralized, non-falsifiable and which is not controlled (and not controllable) by any State. It is then for them, the only possible and desirable alternative to Ethiopia and a fortiori, throughout the African continent.
It is fitting to recall that the search for sovereignty in Ethiopia echoes the history of the country, which is the only one with Sierra Leone not to have suffered the colonial invasion of foreign powers. Reading this history, the Ethiopian people then seem particularly "apt" to adopt the libertarian currency (in its philosophical foundations at least), which is Bitcoin.
Ethiopia is well positioned to include bitcoin in its development plan
According to members of Project Mano, Ethiopia is at a key moment in its history, ideal for starting to adopt Bitcoin. Here are the main reasons given:
- There is a craze for Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Ethiopians are increasingly using bitcoin in peer-to-peer exchange platforms like Paxful. Which clearly demonstrates an effective use case.
- The country is experiencing high inflation rates due to the international economic situation and the internet conflict (see Tigray War).
- The trade deficit cannot be solved by traditional investments alone and there is a need to use other forms of financing. Examples include " Volcano Bond » from El Salvador which are the first government bonds financed in Bitcoin.
- The country has a potential energy production estimated at 6 MW which is not currently exploited or even allocated. This energy capacity could be used for bitcoin mining. It is estimated that the installed production could save the course of bitcoin currently, an amount of approximately 4 billion dollars per year in the country.
The GERD (Grand Renaissance Dam) as an anchor for Bitcoin
Ethiopia's pharaonic project, known by the acronym Gerd, refers to the creation of the dam on the Nile which crosses the country. Since its conception with Emperor Haile Selassie, this work has been at the center of political, economic and geostrategic vicissitudes.
Currently, the dam can provide up to 6000 megawatts with the installation of thirteen turbines in action. A capacity of 4000 watts has been allocated to manufacturers collaborating with AGOA. However, these companies having been banned and no longer having commercial partners to exist, the members of Project Mano propose to reuse this energy capacity for Bitcoin mining.
Excess energy production is very often a difficult problem to manage because unexploited energy is simply wasted. Its use may require the creation of additional infrastructure which proves costly to set up and even more so if it is necessary to reach remote areas. The accumulated delay can inevitably increase energy waste and shape a vicious circle of double losses, which is both economic and energetic.
Recently, a subsidiary of the company Russian BitCluster plans to open a mining center in Addis Ababa to benefit from the energy of the dam.
Bitcoin, as the ultimate development tool for Ethiopia
The proposal from the members of Project Mano then consists of mining bitcoin to the extent that it does not require creation. ex nihilo additional infrastructure. Mining hardware can be installed near the Gerd, for example to minimize the need for related infrastructure. Indeed, bitcoin mining could generate immediate income without having to create transmission lines, for example. Better yet, it could attract new foreign capital and mining companies.
According to Project Mano, the Gerd could finally generate significant income, which would be directly employable and re-injected by the government into the country's economy.
The idea behind it is to be able to create a circular economy based on Bitcoin which would be beneficial for the country and the entire population in the short and long term. It is in this sense that the active members behind the Project Mano initiative urge the government of Addis Ababa to study their proposals. For the moment, no official response has been provided…
—> See the official website of Mano Project
See also:
- More and more “Bitcoin villages” are being created all over the world
- Bitcoin Beach: How “El Zonte” became a model for the rest of the world
- Why does Latin America have everything to gain from Bitcoin?
- Sango crypto from Central Africa: Everything you need to know.
- Nayib Bukele: “Stop drinking the Kool-Aid of the elites”
- Russia to open mining center in Addis Ababa
