Dakar Bitcoin Days IV: West Africa's Bitcoin Forum 2026

The fourth edition of Dakar Bitcoin Days runs 27 and 28 November 2026 at SEANEMA, Cinema du Sea Plaza in Dakar, Senegal. The call for speakers is open until 18 October. Tickets are 9,900 FCFA per day, or 7,900 FCFA if you pay in Bitcoin. Students enter free.

What Dakar Bitcoin Days is

Dakar Bitcoin Days is a Bitcoin‑only forum held annually in Dakar since 2022. It was created by Mouhamadou Kouta (known as Nourou), a Franco‑Senegalese former bank consultant who returned to Senegal in 2021 and also built Banxaas, a Bitcoin payment and remittance service. Sébastien Ramos co‑organizes.

Presentations are in French, English, and Wolof. The forum draws government officials, entrepreneurs, academics, developers, and the general public, with a stated focus on education and fighting scams. Across three editions it has drawn over 1,000 participants (an average of 350 per edition), 40‑plus speakers, and representation from 10‑plus countries including Senegal, Mali, Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, India, the USA, and France.

Dakar Bitcoin Days Previous editions

Edition 1 (2‑3 December 2022): The first 100% Bitcoin forum in Africa, according to the organizers. Over 350 participants and more than ten nationalities. Focused on the history of money, how Bitcoin works, inflation, and financial inclusion. Talks were given in French, English, and Wolof. The first edition was free. Kouta wrote the founding story on Substack.

Edition 2 (1‑2 December 2023): Held at the Grand Théâtre National Doudou Ndiaye Coumba Rose. Covered by Le Quotidien, which described merchants, grain processors, and entrepreneurs discovering Bitcoin payment solutions. Topics expanded to adoption, Lightning, payments, and entrepreneurship.

Edition 3 (29‑31 October 2025): Three days at the National Grand Theater, CICES. Payment was sats only. Featured Karim Sy (founder of Jokkolabs), Habib Diallo (OQSF, Ministry of Finance), and Serigne Mouhamed Ndiaye (Eclipse Holdings / Yoonu Leer). Kouta presented Banxaas transaction volume live.

Edition IV program

Day 1: the institutional approach to crypto‑assets. How governments, central banks, and regulators are responding to Bitcoin, including the BCEAO's conference on crypto‑assets and the debate around strategic Bitcoin reserves.

Day 2: decentralized cross‑border payments. How Bitcoin and Lightning can reduce costs and speed up transactions, particularly in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Confirmed speakers

Thirteen speakers are listed on the site:

Abdoulaye Cisse, Executive Director of Risk Management and IT Security, CGF Bourse
Charlene Fadirepo, founder and CEO of Mango Digital Strategies
Mouhamadou Kouta, organizer and founder of Banxaas
Colonel Aly Mime, Director General of Encryption and Information Systems Security
Dr Abdoulaye Ndiaye, economist and professor at New York University
Serigne Mouhamed Ndiaye, Eclipse Holdings / Yoonu Leer
Antoine Ngom, DG GSIE and President of OPTIC
Sébastien Ramos, co‑organizer
Modou Sall, mobile money expert
Idrissa Seck, trainer at Xamlé Bitcoin
Dr Michel Seck, Ph.D in cryptography and professor at EPT
Karim Sy, founder of Jokkolabs
Ndongo Samba Sylla, economist

The call for speakers closes 18 October 2026.

The Senegal ecosystem

Banxaas moved nearly seven million CFA francs through Lightning in five months, according to firsthand reporting from a visit in February 2026. Xamlé Bitcoin, led by Idrissa Seck, runs rural Bitcoin education. Bitique is a Lightning merchant checkout space in Dakar where the same reporter watched vendors scan sats for lunch (site currently offline as of September 2026). Bitcoin Sénégal is the community account. And the Yoonu Leer project by Eclipse Holdings combines solar electrification with Bitcoin mining in rural Senegal.

A key accelerator: Senegal introduced a mobile money tax in late 2025, charging 0.5 to 1 percent on transfers and merchant payments. With roughly 90 percent of adults using Wave, Orange, or Free Money, the tax hit the unbanked hardest. Lightning payments sit exempt. As one merchant told the reporter: "Wave now costs more than sats and the government made it official."

Read more: Bitcoin From Paris to Dakar: Senegal's Supercharged Catalysts, a firsthand account of the Senegal Bitcoin ecosystem from February 2026.

Sponsors and partners

Sponsors: Btrust, Wave, and Banxaas. Partners: OPTIC, SenStartup, UEMOA Fintech, Bitcoin Sénégal, and YITÉ Technologies.

Tickets

Pricing depends on how you pay:

Bitcoin via Banxaas: 7,900 FCFA per day, VIP 80,000 FCFA. Paying in Bitcoin is the cheapest option.
Mobile money via Guichet.com or Gnudem.com: 9,900 FCFA per day, VIP 50,000 FCFA per day.
Card via Luma: 9,900 FCFA per day.
Students: free with a valid ID and registration.