World-famous artist Akon partners with BitMinutes to push forward the utility of Akoin ๐จ This article is 5 years old...
World-famous artist Akon partners with BitMinutes to push forward the utility of Akoin
2 min read
Updated: Dec. 20, 2020 at 3:08 pm UTC
Getty Images for Coachella
The Grammy-award winning artist and producer Akon is making significant strides to push forward the utility of his cryptocurrency project by securing a strategic partnership that aims to bring financial inclusion to the masses, starting with Africa.
Akoin teams up with BitMinutes
Last week, Akon launched his own cryptocurrency, dubbed Akoin, on the Stellar network due to a shared vision for creating global financial inclusion, particularly in areas such as Africa, explained Jon Karas, the Co-Founder and President of the project. Now, the Senegalese-American singer is partnering up with BitMinutes, a prepaid airtime token, to bring his vision of banking the unbanked to life.
The Akoin team understood from the beginning that millions of people in Africa struggle to exist within the traditional fiat currency model. In Nigeria, for instance, nearly 35 percent of the population is unbanked. As a result, these people are unable to save or borrow money from a trusted source that helps them realize their economic goals.
Due to the challenges that millions of people across Africa have to access financial institutions, they have been relying on prepaid mobile phone minutes to use as a form of currency.
By working together, Akoin and BitMinutes plan to tackle this issue and enable users to transact using a financial model they are familiar with, according to Lynn Liss, COO at Akoin.
Liss said:
โOur relationship with BitMinutes provides the cornerstone for how we achieve our shared vision for bringing financial inclusion to rising economies such as Africa; starting with prepaid minutes as a medium of exchange was a clear pathway for us given the store of value people in Africa already recognize there, and is the first step in bringing more users into our blockchain-based economy weโre developing at Akoin.โ
BitMinutes will offer Akoin holders free money transfers to 1.2 billion accounts across Africa and free mobile top-up for four billion mobile phones. The firm will also provide access to prepaid airtime capabilities and micro-lending and โcash in/out services.โ
Tom Meredith,ย CEO at BitMinutes, explained:
โThe BitMinutes application is not only practical, but intuitive for these regionsโฆ Leveraging this growing store of value already found in prepaid minutes, BitMinutes expanded services also include micro-lending where prepaid minutes serve as collateral. Trusted Area Network (TAN) agents are highly vetted and become BitMinutes micro-lending agents, in addition to providing cash in and cash out services to those using the platform.โ
The new decentralized application is expected to launch on top of the Stellar-powered blockchain in the second quarter of the present year enabling Akoin holders to swap a portion of their tokens to BitMinutes to enjoy all the features that it has to offer.
Mentioned in this article
Latest Africa Stories
Latest Stellar Stories
Featured Story
Advertise Here
In this article
Stellar is a multi-currency payment backend that tens of thousands of people use every day.
Akoin
AKoin is a new cryptocurrency from visionary changemaker Akon and is the foundation of the AKoin Ecosystem โ a unique global project that offers an abundance of digital and in-real-life platforms and experiences that create opportunity and inclusion for youth entrepreneurs by allowing consumers to buy, hold, and spend cryptocurrency right from their smartphone through […].
As soon as you hear Akonโs voice, you know itโs him! His shimmering, soulful voice has propelled countless hits across genresโfrom pop and R&B to hip hop and dance.
Social Impact entrepreneur, operating executive, driving financial revolutions and related technology, partnerships and business models.
Finance, Entertainment and Technology industry entrepreneur, seasoned capital formation leader, film producer, and talent representative.