15/02/2020
What is Akoin?
Akoin is a cryptocurrency being developed by artist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Akon. Akoin is a token thatâs used within something its team calls theâ Akoin ecosystem.â The ecosystem is their platform, within which token holders will be able to use Akoin to interact with different DApps in the marketplace and into the local economy. The ecosystem will launch with a single DApp, but will scale to include more as the platform is tested. The Akoin platform includes a private exchange mechanism (via an Atomic Swap model) that allows Akoin holders to easily move between Akoin tokens, other alternative cryptocurrencies, their local currency and a number of other fiat currencies (dollar, euro, pounds etc). These functionalities coupled with the first DApp theyâre launching can be seen to represent the Akoin MVP (Minimal Viable Product).
The reason I bring up Akoin in regards to the unbanked is because of its first DApp and use case: BitMinutes.
After researching Akoin, I realized that it in order to achieve their goals, theyâd have to bank the unbanked in the process. Whatâs surprising is unlike many of the businesses tackling the problem, they donât use it as a core pillar of their P.R. and marketing campaigns.
Most companies that want to offer financial services to developing countries engrain that concept into their brand. In hopes that they can benefit from a positive brand association with a good cause. Itâs easier to get a press release about your product-launch picked up by a major publication if youâre also trying to save the world. With Akoin, they seem to be taking a different approach. Their messaging didnât make me feel guilty about not doing more for the unbanked, it made me hopeful for the future.
Akoin is focusing on Africa, its goal is to create an ecosystem of DApps to empower young entrepreneurs in the region. It wants to help them learn marketable skills, earn through the gig-economy for the first time, provide access to many entrepreneur building services and safely save their earnings. Akoin wants to be the infrastructure that allows African entrepreneurs to take part in the digital economy, and give them the tools they need to compete in the realm of international business. Tools like, credit and lending services, a method to quickly and cheaply transfer funds, and a way to pay for digital services like email providers and cloud storage.
The thing is, in order for someone to historically benefit from these services, they need to have a bank account. The reason unbanked entrepreneurs need help accessing financial services is that owning a bank account is the starting point for taking part in them. Which brings us back to the gap in Librasâ plan. How can you bank the unbanked when they donât have a bank account or any way to open one?
When I posed this question to the Akoin team, they introduced me to Tom Meredith, the CEO and Founder of BitMinutes. BitMinutes is the first DApp to be released within the Akoin ecosystem and will be the focus of its MVP.
BitMinutes was created to provide affordable banking to the unbanked. Tom Meredith noticed that people in some developing countries were using prepaid minutes similar to a currency, but also that they were limited with what they could do with their minutes compared to fiat. They couldnât build credit, take out loans, safely store their minutes somewhere similar to a bank account, or send minutes to their friends and family if they used different mobile service providers.
âPrepaid time is one of the most simple assets that exist, itâs simple to understand, and is already used by 4 billion people across the world.â â Tom Meredith
Through the Akoin ecosystem, BitMinutes tokenizes prepaid cellphone time and allows it to be sold for fiat or cryptocurrency. Think of it as a blockchain-based banking and settlement system for prepaid minutes, where you can also convert those minutes to cash or crypto. People who donât have bank accounts can approach the prepaid minutes vendors in their village and convert cash into BitMinutes. Through the Akoin platform, BitMinutes can be sent quickly and freely to other phones as well as be converted to Akoin tokens or fiat currency. This addresses one of the core problems. we discussed earlier, distribution....
