₿TrustA non-profit organization focused on training and funding developers from the Global South for Bitcoin open-source development, recently announced Bitcoin Core contributor and one of its board members, Abu Bakar Noor Khalilas interim CEO.
1/ 📢 Exciting news from ₿trust!
We are glad to announce that Abu Bakar Noor Khalil (@ihate1999), a Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor and current board member, has been appointed as the interim CEO of the trust pic.twitter.com/km5iYQU6Pe
— Btrust (@btrustteam) August 8, 2024
This non-profit was founded in 2021 and received initial funding from Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey. Since then it has nurtured an ever-growing network of Bitcoin developers in Africa, Latin America, and India.
The trust has trained hundreds of developers, some of whom are working on projects such as libraria de satoshi And BitshalaInitiated BitDevs meetups in five African cities and supported annual events such as African Bitcoin Conference,
Noor Khalil will serve as interim CEO for one year starting August 2024. During this period, he will retain his board seat and serve as a non-voting member.
The role should be familiar to Noor Khalil, as he founded the organisation, originally called Qala, which the trust took over and rebranded.
Other members of the Trust Board have expressed confidence that Noor Khalil will be an excellent leader for the organization given his expertise as a developer, the fact that he hails from the Global South (Nigeria) and is one of the leading voices in the African Bitcoin ecosystem.
“Ever since I first met him, Abubakar has been firmly focused on supporting the advancement of bitcoin and open-source development in Africa, the Global South, and beyond,” said Founding Trust board member and CEO Fedi Obi Nwosu. “I am grateful that he has taken on the challenge of leading the Trust through this important initial phase, and I am excited to see what he will achieve in this role.”
As interim CEO, Noor Khalil will focus on growing the trust’s developer pipeline, increasing the number of grants distributed by the institution, and improving its developer program to further its mission of decentralizing Bitcoin open-source development.
“I am truly grateful for the trust the Board has placed in me to take on this role next year,” said Noor Khalil. “I look forward to furthering our initiatives, ensuring that Trust solidifies itself as the primary driving force behind Bitcoin’s growth in Africa, and developing an unparalleled Bitcoin FOSS ecosystem in the regions we serve.”
