BITCOIN

The ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon drew to a close on Sunday, as builders from around the world competed for $375,000 in prizes. The event was kicked off with the first-ever ETHGlobal “Pragma” summit, sponsored by Verse, among others. Engineers and representatives from Bitcoin.com also took part in the summit and hackathon, and shared their thoughts on the event and its significance for crypto and economic freedom right now, and in the near future. A Pragmatic Start: From Summit to Hackathon The first-ever “Pragma” summit took place on April 13 in Tokyo, Japan, as the kick-off to the wider ETHGlobal Tokyo hackathon, sponsored in part by Verse . Speakers such as Aya Miyaguchi from the Ethereum Foundation and author Balaji Srinivasan spoke at the event. The hackathon ended Sunday and saw participation from Bitcoin.com’s engineers and representatives. Director of engineering at Bitcoin.com, Andrei Terentiev, who oversees the company’s 30+ strong engineering team, noted he was “super exc

Countries from the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region face a “big funding squeeze” which is forcing some of them to cut spending on health, education, and infrastructure. According to Abebe Aemro Selassie, people from the region are already “feeling the effects of the funding crisis.” The IMF says countries from the SSA region should also consider having in place “a well-functioning debt-resolution framework.” Region Faced With Increased Borrowing Costs and Reduced ‘Access to Cheaper Funding’ According to the International Monetary Fund, the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region faces a “big funding squeeze” which is being spurred by “shrinking aid budgets and reduced inflows from partners.” Without this funding, countries from the region will be forced to cut spending on health, education, and infrastructure, thus “holding the region back from developing its true potential,” a statement released by the global lender has said. Remarking on the region’s declining share of funding, Abebe Aemr