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Gloria on pop-up cities and web3.

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Everything she knew about blockchain came from her parents and relatives calling it a pyramid scheme. Ten months later she is at a pop-up city in Ethiopia working out how it applies to women’s sports. What changed, in her own account, is not evidence. It is proximity.

She is direct about where she started. “All I knew was Bitcoin scams. I’ve heard from parents and relatives talk about how it’s just a pyramid scheme and all. So that was my idea of blockchain at the start.” She had never bought any. The opinion was inherited whole.

She dates the turn precisely: August of the previous year. And she names the work it took, which is the part most conversion stories skip. “I had to unlearn my hate for it.”

Asked what a pop-up city even is, she gives the clearest definition on this channel: “The pop-up city is a meetup of Web3 builders, mainly in Africa, to use Web3 as a tool to develop the continent and make it better.”

Asked whether two or three weeks there had shifted her perspective, she declines the easy answer. “I don’t think much has shifted.” The one thing that did surprise her was the count. “I didn’t expect as many builders to be there. I was shocked by the numbers.” And then, immediately, she declines to be impressed: “There can still be more, though.”

Her own field is women’s sports tech, and that is the lens she is looking through. “The possibilities of how it can be integrated in different industries, like my specialty, women’s sports tech. So I’m here to just learn as much as I can and see how it can be moved into or merged with women’s sports.”

Filmed at a pop-up city in Ethiopia for We Them Media.

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Transcript

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Transcribed from the original audio and corrected for names. Speaker letters mark turns, not names. Search every transcript →

These are the speaker’s own words. We have not checked their claims.

0:00APersonally, I didn’t buy Bitcoin, but I’ve heard from parents and relatives talk about how it’s just a pyramid scheme and all. So that was my idea of blockchain at the start, so I’ve learned more about Web3 side of things and I’m loving it, yeah. It’s been quite interesting, I’ve really gotten new perspectives, new lessons and just exploring the culture in Ethiopia, it’s amazing.

0:38CAnd what is a pop-up city?

0:40AThe pop-up city is a meetup of Web3 builders, mainly in Africa, to use Web3 as a tool to develop the continent and make it better, yeah.

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0:52CAnd so how would you say your perspective on that has shifted over being here the last two, three weeks?

0:57AI don’t think much has shifted. Well, okay, the only thing I would say is I didn’t expect as many builders to be there, but I was shocked by the numbers. There can still be more, though, it’s a good show-up,

1:09Cyeah. When was the first time that you first heard about blockchain?

1:13AAugust last year, yeah, and I had to unlearn my hate for it, because all I knew was Bitcoin scams, but yeah.

1:22CYou said all you knew were Bitcoin scams? Yeah. And what was your experience with Bitcoin scams?

1:26APersonally, I didn’t buy Bitcoin, but I’ve heard a lot of people say Bitcoin scams, I’ve heard from parents and relatives talk about how it’s just a pyramid scheme and all, so that was my idea of blockchain at the start, so I’ve learned more about Web3 side of things and I’m loving it, yeah.

1:42CDo you feel like blockchain is important for the future of Africa?

1:45AThe possibilities of how it can be integrated in different industries, like my specialty, women’s sports tech, so I’m here to just learn as much as I can and see how it can be moved into or merged with women’s sports, yeah. So I do feel like it’s an important skill, I feel like it’s a key, I feel like it’s a key to our society and to our society as a whole. Brought to you by The Bitcoin Hub. Join the conversation. $500,000 is the $100,000 $100,000 there is. So I think it is $56,000. Yeah. That’s crazy. I think it’s the best thing that you’ve done in your time.

1:45AIt’s a great opportunity to create something that I think has been extremely valuable for you and all of you. Thank you.

That was the whole tape.

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