In addition to Akoin, the 'Smack That' hitmaker has finalized a deal to build his own futuristic city in Senegal, which he is creating in partnership with the state-owned SAPCO tourism company.
- March 20, 2020
AceShowbiz - Rapper and entrepreneur Akon is hoping his new cryptocurrency Akoin will help improve trade across Africa.
The musician spoke with website Cointelegraph about his latest venture, and reflected most people "don't really understand how Africa itself works."
"We have so many currencies in Africa," he said. "A lot of them are unstable, and most of them are untrusted. It got to the point where the day-to-day African people don't even use the currencies any more, they're using their cell phone minutes and credits as a way of trading for basic goods like produce, fish, fruits and things on the market."
However, he told the publication that "outside of the villages, you really can't trade cell phone minutes for anything," and that the use of phone credits as currency inspired the "atomic swap" function on the Akoin platform - which lets users trade phone credit for cryptocurrency.
"Cell phone minutes are used as currency in a lot of parts of Africa," he added. "That was one thing that propelled us to realise, man, the Akoin is going to be very neat."
And Akon has other huge plans for Africa, too.
He has already finalized a deal to build his own futuristic city in Senegal, dubbed Akon City, which he is creating in partnership with the state-owned SAPCO tourism company. It will use Akoin and run on renewable energy generated by his solar power project, Akon Lighting Africa.
