Akon works with BitMinutes to promote the new Akoin token

The artist and producer Akon, winner of the Grammy prize, is making great strides to promote his cryptocurrency project, ensuring a strategic partnership that aims at the financial inclusion of the masses, starting from Africa.

Akoin teams up with BitMinutes

Last week, Akon launched its cryptocurrency, called Akoin, on the Stellar network. The choice of the network was made on the basis of a shared vision aimed at 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 collaborating with BitMinutes, a prepaid token tied to a real and widespread resource such as minutes of mobile phone calls. Akon is moving to bring his idea of ​​applying banking dynamics to something that does not have a bank quote.

The Akoin team understood from the outset that millions of people in Africa struggle to exist in the traditional fiat currency model. In Nigeria, for example, almost 35% of the population cannot access banks.

As a result, these people are unable to save or borrow money from a secure source that helps them achieve their economic goals.Considering the difficulties that millions of people across Africa would face to access financial institutions, The creators of the project thought to rely on the prepaid minutes of mobile telephony to be used as a form of currency.

By working together, Akoin and BitMinutes intend to address this problem and allow users to transact using a financial model familiar to them, according to Lynko Liss, COO of Akoin.

From minutes to micro-loans

Liss said: "The relationship with BitMinutes provides the cornerstone for building our shared vision of bringing financial inclusion in emerging economies such as Africa; starting with prepaid minutes as a medium of exchange has been a clear path for us, as people in Africa already recognize its value, and it is the first step to bring more users into the blockchain-based economy that we are developing in Akoin. "

BitMinutes will offer Akoin holders free money transfers to 1.2 billion accounts across Africa and free top-ups for four billion mobile phones. The company will also provide access to prepaid airtime and micro-loan features and "withdrawal / withdrawal" services.

Tom Meredith, BitMinutes CEO, explained: “The BitMinutes application is not only practical, but intuitive for these regions: taking advantage of the fact that the African population is aware of the value of the minutes of telephony, the expanded BitMinutes services make available even micro-loans where prepaid minutes serve as collateral. Trusted Area Network (TAN) agents are highly controlled and will become BitMinutes micro-loan agents, as well as providing withdrawal and withdrawal services to those who use the platform.

"The new decentralized application is expected to be launched on the blockchain with Stellar technology in the second quarter of this year, allowing Akoin owners to exchange part of their tokens with BitMinutes to enjoy all the features it has to offer.