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110 sats \ 1 reply \ @BOLT11Village OP 24 Jan 2023 \ parent \ on: We've changed our mind about Custodial Wallets bitcoin
Nice solution, but needs hard physical cash. If someone could build one that is digital and coverts layer 2 sats to mobile money that would be far better for this environment.
Haha, yeah whatever happened to Akoin City? That thing just disappeared into thin air, much like most other tokens do. He should have just launched it with bitcoin, with all that investment probably would have got more traction. Haven't heard about "Trusted Agent Network", but it looks like a closed solution.
Yup, understood. It's worth looking at what they're doing with getting in and out of fiat, although the P2P bitcoin trading platforms might be best option we've got. Since transfers are done with Mobile Money which also requires kyc, this will probably be OK for the user that has already gone through that process when they got their sim card. There will be lower amount users that can spend their sats to 0 until they get more (without kyc) and higher amount users on the edge of the circle that need to convert to fiat every now and then, probably travel frequently to cities and have the necessary paper work.
Interesting use case. Did a quick search and read "CBK announces that only 10 digital loan companies have been licensed". Does this mean they are still operational? What is the CBK's current stance on bitcoin? Have they taken a position for/against or are they neutral?
Great question. This means that it is more likely to succeed internationally than within a specific region, apart from those cases where there is friction. There are a few cases locally, for example, one is when they are dealing with larger amounts. There is a lot of fraud on Mobile Money, because people that work for the mobile network operators see the messages being transmitted and the mobile numbers and get paid to share this information. The privacy offered by Lightning is a great use case to bypass that fiat system here. Essentially mobile money is just a fiat system, but the banks are being replaced by MNOs.
First question is how does bitcoin get in to the ecosystem in the first place?
a) Earn (very rare)
b) Buy (most of cases, but mainly done by traders for a profit or bitcoiners holding for the long-term)
c) Donations (quite rare using bitcoin, but there is an existing $30B market in international remittances that is ripe for disruption)
Second question is, once it's in the system, does the recipient (d) keep it in their wallet, (e) spend it, or (f) convert it to fiat?
The only way the recipient does not convert it to fiat is if they can spend it the same way they spend their cash or mobile money. That's why we want to onboard the merchant/informal market participant first. Anyway, it's still early stages so we'll see how it goes and write a new post after the first trial.
only 10 digital loan companies have been licensed". Does this mean they are still operational?
I don't know whether Google and Apple have yet kicked the "unlicensed" apps off yet. Not sure. But those 10 so far will be permitted to continue operating in Kenya.
What is the CBK's current stance on bitcoin? Have they taken a position for/against or are they neutral?
They have a "circular" / memo from 2015 that prohibits the banks from servicing exchanges, traders, and pretty much any business that does anything related to bitcoin ("virtual currency"). The central bank governor that implemented that is gone in a few months (term limit), so it will depend on who is chosen to replace him and what their position on bitcoin will be. Kenya is heavily in debt so it will not diverge much from what the IMF's wants them to say. But they've been hands-off for the most part with mobile money. P2P traders using mobile money have only gotten in trouble when they were receiving funds for bitcoin where the buyer had fraudulent/stolen funds. Ya, that happens. I think the charges against the sellers that got caught up in that were eventually dismissed.
a) Earn (very rare)
That's really where the problem lies -- globally, for circular economies to form and grow organically.
Anywhoo ... check out this Telegram group (from Galoy), if you aren't already in it.
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