I'll admit, we laughed when Akon announced his cryptocurrency then did interviews with memorable quotes like "Nobody even knows what blokchain is".
But what was a rough idea at the start now has some industry experts involved, and an actual place to for the crypto-powered city to exist, as the President of Senegal hands over 2000 acres of land to build it on.
There is now both a company, and a foundation called Akoin, and he'll be working with Bancor's Galia Benartzi to issue the African-focused cryptocurrency. In addition to the residential city will be a industrial tech park in Kenya, "Mwale Medical and Technology City".
"Akoin will be the essential payment platform within the city for a wide range of city-related things, such as utilities. Eventually, they will compensate staff working the hospitals and markets Akoin. The legislature has asked that people move forward and not use physical cash across the country" says Akoin co-founder and Southern California based music producer Jon Karas.
Based on the Stellar blockchain, within just a few months Akoin will aim to raise $6.75 million, selling the first 10% of the total token supply. There will be another 10% going to the founders and management, and another 5% set aside for consultants.
Lynn Liss, another Akoin co-founder cited the use of Dash in Venezuela as an example of what they aim to do with Akoin in Africa.
However, some of criticized Dash's push into poverty stricken nations, claiming they're targeting the vulnerable and making promises they may not be able to fulfill long term.
However, there's signs at least for now, crypto is helping a lot of people living in countries with governments that cannot be trusted to be financially responsible. As national fiat currency becomes worthless due to inflation, OTC crypto markets like Paxful and LocalBitcoins in Latin America more than doubled in size over the past year to reach $44 million in volume.
It is not yet clear which cryptocurrencies will emerge as 'standard' in the 3rd world, which incorporates a variety of areas with a unique needs.
Where the Akion and Dash teams do agree - there's a huge opportunity in Africa, and both they and the population there could benefit.
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
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