#bitcoinuses

“In many countries in Africa, there are far more cellphones than bank accounts,” said Manuel Valente, co-founder of La Maison. “For bitcoin, all you need is a phone.”

Zimbabwe, where the price of bitcoin spiked to double the international rate after this week’s military takeover, shows Jamie Dimon, Axel Weber and other cryptocurrency skeptics where the real-world use of bitcoin, and possibly its future, lies. It’s becoming the preferred way for residents of failing economies to transfer money without dealing with banks, protecting their savings from political turmoil, and avoiding the local currency when its value declines due to inflation.

Here’s how Dust works: It connects to your bank account to see your transactions. Then it rounds up each transaction to the nearest dollar—basically, collecting spare change. Once about $10 of change has been accumulated, the amount is used to buy bitcoin, litecoin, or ethereum, in proportions set by the user. The app only reads your bank’s transaction data; it doesn’t have access to the fiat or crypto funds. The cryptocurrencies are acquired through Coinbase, one of the biggest firms in the business.