[HN Gopher] Akon wants to run a Senegal city on cryptocurrency ___________________________________________________________________ Akon wants to run a Senegal city on cryptocurrency Author : prostoalex Score : 49 points Date : 2021-04-10 18:49 UTC (4 hours ago) (HTM) web link (qz.com) (TXT) w3m dump (qz.com) | barbazoo wrote: | Well, it sure will make him rich. | quickthrower2 wrote: | Not sure what crypto adds to this. Just make a local currency, | then you can have physical cash as well as digital. | tootie wrote: | Senegal has a currency. It's a regional currency with several | other West African countries and it's pegged to the Euro. | didibus wrote: | Anyone know what network it'll run on? | m3kw9 wrote: | Sure, he will be issuing the coins | grenoire wrote: | The currency technology that started up with the great benefit of | preventing people from being disenfranchised from banking and | money ends up being the perfect tool for doing just that. | tcbawo wrote: | Empowering people in the same way that company towns did in the | early 1900's USA | beckman466 wrote: | Company towns are slavery by another name | CynicusRex wrote: | "Then you have these tone-deaf millionaires going around imposing | their preferences, like Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z investing | 500 bitcoin toward bitcoin development in Africa which will | supposedly empower its population. Vested interests anyone?" | --https://www.cynicusrex.com/file/cryptocultscience.html | varispeed wrote: | Altruism is a myth. Anyone does something for their personal | interest. If a doctor gets satisfaction from helping patients, | should we be pointing at a doctor that they have a vested | interest? | quickthrower2 wrote: | If a doctor helps ease a patients pain using a drug whose rep | takes them to the opera when a better treatment would route | out the cause then yes. | varispeed wrote: | What is the difference? Wouldn't it only matter if the | patient was somewhat in disadvantage? I think this practice | is widespread and kind of why doctors despite not earning | much seem to be happy with how things are. In my country | they don't even have to declare any cash and hospitality | benefits. | quickthrower2 wrote: | You get the shitter remedy because the doctor got a | kickback. Not sure if I can make it plainer than that. | varispeed wrote: | Correct, but isn't that a socially accepted thing? You | don't see people protesting doctors being corrupt? Quite | the opposite, people praise them. I can't even recall any | party that would have tackling this in their program, not | even making disclosure of such benefits mandatory... | africanboy wrote: | difference being you can't buy or sell satisfaction. | hereme888 wrote: | It's precisely what cryptocurrencies were made for; economy based | on math and pre-defined rules, not the whims of corrupt | politicians. Being under a country's jurisdiction also seems to | give the project legal accountability. I really wish this project | success, and hope everything they do is audited properly to | prevent corruption. | | I know this goes agains the general sentiment of HN readers, who | seem to dislike cryptocurrencies. | imtringued wrote: | Usually the country is in trouble and then the currency is in | trouble because of that. Cryptocurrency advocates seem to be | under the mistaken impression that treating the symptom will | magically fix the cause. | | A government that has the power to destroy everything also has | the power to create everything. | ur-whale wrote: | Cryptos is about _separating_ governments and currencies, not | about fixing what is wrong with governments (an impossibility | if there ever was one). | | Just like church and state haven been separated in most | civilized places, there is absolutely no reason to allow | governments to manage or control the means to exchange value | between economic entities. | | If you need proof of that last assertion, all it takes is | looking at the history of currency in the last 2000 years, | starting with the Romans. | | Governments can _never_ resist the appeal of the infinite | money faucet. | | Every single mistake they make, every single problem they | face, can seemingly be fixed short term by opening the faucet | a little wider. | | Until it all goes to shit, of course. | | The story of currency debasement leading to societal collapse | is as old as money and has repeated itself countless times | over the course of history. | | Cryptos take the sharp tool out of the hand of the retarded | child. | | It's certainly not fixing the fact that he's retarded, and he | can certainly find other ways to cut himself, but not with | that particular tool. | didibus wrote: | I think the HN sentiment is more that when a coin is managed by | a single entity, it's no better than a coin managed by the | government, might even be worse. | | And when you see someone creating a new coin without creating | new innovative technology around it, it makes you feel they | just want to capitalize for their own profit. | | So in cases like this I think the devil is in the details. It's | possible Akoin is pushed as a fair decentralized, efficient | currency that isn't designed to make Akon richer, but it might | also turn into a hot mess used to make Akon richer and | providing no real advantage to people using it. | cblconfederate wrote: | > when a coin is managed by a single entity | | But then they do invest heavily in a company managed by a | single person | koolba wrote: | It's both better and worse. Better because there's no mandate | to use it. Worse because the destitute has no representation | to ever change anything. | | I don't know how this will play out, but his best, IMHO, song | is aptly titled "Locked Up". | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locked_Up_(song) | dmitriid wrote: | > It's precisely what cryptocurrencies were made for; economy | based on math and pre-defined rules, not the whims of corrupt | politicians. Being under a country's jurisdiction | | You realise that "a country's jurisdiction" is defined by the | very same "corrupt politicians" that you rally against, do you? | africanboy wrote: | > economy based on math and pre-defined rules, not the whims of | corrupt politicians | | how is a cryptocurrency made by an American singer after his | name, to run (quoting) "a residential and commercial hub, | complete with resorts, towering condos, recording studios, a | stadium, and e-commerce franchises" better than a stable | economy made on decades of political and social progress, that | benefit every Senegalese citizen? | | Wouldn't it be better to finance that progress directly instead | of building the SoDoSoPa of Senegal? | | genuinely curious. | cblconfederate wrote: | Same reasons why a startup is better than a publicly-owned | company | africanboy wrote: | are you saying that startups are the equivalent of SoDoSoPa | or that NASA didn't work? | | for example I've read that Akon financed renewable energy | plants in Senegal. | | That's a great way to help! | | Building an entire new residential city founded by a single | person in his own name for rich people? not so much IMO. | cblconfederate wrote: | nasa is not a company. I dont see something wrong with | startup cities. They are not for everyone nor advertised | as such | africanboy wrote: | > I dont see something wrong with startup cities. They | are not for everyone nor advertised as such. | | Well, if you are building one where | | *The economy of Senegal is driven by mining, | construction, tourism, fishing and agriculture, which are | the main sources of employment" and 75% of the population | lives in chronic poverty, maybe there is something more | urgent that could be done. | | Unless you think that UAE and Dubai are a good example of | development. | bigmattystyles wrote: | I had a Doc Brown moment where upon reading just the headline I | just said 'Akon? The singer?' | imwillofficial wrote: | "GREAT SCOTT!" | shrubble wrote: | The 'miracle of Worgl, Austria' would seem to indicate that it | might be possible. | | https://mises.org/library/free-money-miracle | | If you don't like the Mises Institute there are many other | descriptions. The Austrian National Bank forced the end of the | experiment. | markwkw wrote: | From what i read now, this free money in the experiment had a | built-in mechanism to prevent hoarding, therefore being quite | the opposite to bitcoin in that aspect. | notahacker wrote: | The Worgl experiment was interesting, but as your link notes, | it worked on the precise opposite principle to that claimed | about crypto: people were paid in a [municipal] government | issued currency which lost value at an unusually high rate at | fixed intervals, and the result was that they paid their taxes | on time... | rvz wrote: | Fine. At least someone is doing something for once. Better than | screaming or screeching on the street for change. Just actually | do it. | | I cringe at the fact many people blame 'tHE SyStEm' when it will | actually never change. A small investment in one of the | established cryptocurrency coins, may even go a long way in the | future. | | It's all about what 'tHE SyStEm' doesn't tell you and | cryptocurrencies is some how just one of them. | the_only_law wrote: | > I cringe at the fact many people blame 'tHE SyStEm' when it | will actually never change. | | There have been a number of "systems" throughout history, many | of which no longer exist. What makes you so sure that whichever | current one you're referring to will be permanent? | imtringued wrote: | The idea of creating a futuristic city in a developing country | is noble. The cryptocurrency idea is weird. It is primarily | motivated by personal wealth accumulation. In theory the money | could be used to fight against corruption and it would be a net | gain, but this can only work if you have deep trust in Akon. | | If there are trustworthy and competent leaders in Africa, then | why haven't they been voted into power? It will have the same | effect. | imwillofficial wrote: | THIS is peak cypto. Akon went to jail for banging a 13 year old, | then released a song blaming everyone but himself for the | incident. He does not have a track record of good judgment. | ceilingcorner wrote: | The cynicism here is tiresome. Akon has done a lot of good for | Africa, a place which is plagued by lack of access to financial | systems. I hope his project works well. | arithmomachist wrote: | From the Akoin white paper: | | >Akoin has chosen to only issue 10% of tokens in this public | sale. To accomplish this, the remaining token supply will be used | to drive adoption amongst merchants/vendors and to bring value to | the platform. The total supply of Akoin will be released over the | course of 4 years, with 39.41% released after 12 months, 70.12% | released after 24 months, 87.25% after 36 months, and 100% at 48 | months. This is subject to change with Escrow tokens being placed | back into Escrow if they are not needed in the month they are | released.Each token allocation is subject to vesting and lock-up | periods except for Public Sale tokens which are available | immediately. | | This sounds sketchy as hell. | bassdropvroom wrote: | Definitely sounds sketchy, though it still sounds more | legitimate than MobileCoin. At the very least Akoin has a | timeline of when all the coins will be released, something | MobileCoin has so far refused to give. | karlerss wrote: | "Driving adoption amongst merchants/vendors" sounds like | creating a self sustaining economy. | | https://youtu.be/YAKOWcs8w54 | chris_st wrote: | The "Flash Forward" podcast did a great episode on Akon's | projected cities and similar celebrity projects here [0] (you can | listen directly from the webpage without downloading anything). | Really enjoy that podcast, well researched and presented. | | [0] https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2020/05/26/welcome-to- | celebr... | rdxm wrote: | lol.....will the bull shit never end? | tim333 wrote: | I'm a little skeptical how well that'll go. | | Usually what works in Africa and the like is a slightly cheaper | and more rugged or simplified version of what works in the west. | If they manage to run a Californian city on cryptocurrency and | then launch a simplified version in Senegal that might work but | it doesn't seem the plan here. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-04-10 23:00 UTC)