Topic: Bitcoin in Africa (Read 1780 times)
Get some locals together who have the funds to start and back an exchange for the poor locals. Find the business folks who want to improve Africa and the people, rather than line their own pockets. Hold local meetings. Make kiosks available to the people who can't afford computers. But do it locally at first. Then expand to nearby areas.
Join a gifting programme and as I have said in a previous post the skies the limit of the Btc's you get in return
MOD NOTE:
Link removed as it's clearly a scam
MOD NOTE:
Link removed as it's clearly a scam
If I can make a suggestion coming from Canada, a developed first world country it is this:
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
ArticMine your insight and direction are right on point. If I may take it one step further. This service you provide can be as little as setting up the system that allows you to be the point of access for many that are not fortunate of having access to the system. Provide a service that goes in direct contradiction to Western Union and your local bank branch.
Take for example Europe. There are many Africans that come to Europe and work and perform business and use systems such as Western Union to move cash flow back and forth for the set fee Western Union see's fit.
Check out your countries regulation on crypto currency and set up your new point of access. This technology opens the door for endless possibilities.
If you want to build up a network with Europe, send me a PM and we could talk about further possibilities.
I don't see why bitcoin would be widely used there yet. The MPisa service already seems to give the ability for individuals to transfer money between themselves within the country, and it is probably more expensive to use bitcoin rather than Western Union to transfer money into the country because of the fees, inconvenience and risk currently associated with buying and selling bitcoins.
I think these fees, inconvenience and risk for conversion betweeen bitcoin and fiat are possibly the most important indicator of the viability of the bitcoin economy, and I'd love to quantify them in different countries, and track them over time. Specifically, I'm interested in the percentage cost to transfer fiat to bitcoin and bad again to fiat.
Think about how hard it is explaining bitcoin to an average American who has access to 1st world services, internet etc. Now think of how hard that would be to explain to someone who has no concept of what the internet is.
I think these fees, inconvenience and risk for conversion betweeen bitcoin and fiat are possibly the most important indicator of the viability of the bitcoin economy, and I'd love to quantify them in different countries, and track them over time. Specifically, I'm interested in the percentage cost to transfer fiat to bitcoin and bad again to fiat.
Think about how hard it is explaining bitcoin to an average American who has access to 1st world services, internet etc. Now think of how hard that would be to explain to someone who has no concept of what the internet is.
thank you for your opinion. i think you are right in a sense but you cant neglect something cause it will be hard to do!
help break the barriers there is no cant do other wise there would be no progress, what are your thoughts?
please give feedback!
I don't see why bitcoin would be widely used there yet. The MPisa service already seems to give the ability for individuals to transfer money between themselves within the country, and it is probably more expensive to use bitcoin rather than Western Union to transfer money into the country because of the fees, inconvenience and risk currently associated with buying and selling bitcoins.
I think these fees, inconvenience and risk for conversion betweeen bitcoin and fiat are possibly the most important indicator of the viability of the bitcoin economy, and I'd love to quantify them in different countries, and track them over time. Specifically, I'm interested in the percentage cost to transfer fiat to bitcoin and bad again to fiat.
Think about how hard it is explaining bitcoin to an average American who has access to 1st world services, internet etc. Now think of how hard that would be to explain to someone who has no concept of what the internet is.
I think these fees, inconvenience and risk for conversion betweeen bitcoin and fiat are possibly the most important indicator of the viability of the bitcoin economy, and I'd love to quantify them in different countries, and track them over time. Specifically, I'm interested in the percentage cost to transfer fiat to bitcoin and bad again to fiat.
Think about how hard it is explaining bitcoin to an average American who has access to 1st world services, internet etc. Now think of how hard that would be to explain to someone who has no concept of what the internet is.
ok lets say we take the different government out of the equation. how does the discussion start if not in a forum just like this one ?
Read back to me what I wrote in my last reply.
ok lets say we take the different government out of the equation. how does the discussion start if not in a forum just like this one ?
understand !
lets say i can do all this and i am able to provide a public exchange from bitcoin (and other crypto currencies) to local currencies
would i not get shot down within the day i start ?
this is kind of the reason for the post to build this kind of think tank for an african "trade platform"
lets say i can do all this and i am able to provide a public exchange from bitcoin (and other crypto currencies) to local currencies
would i not get shot down within the day i start ?
this is kind of the reason for the post to build this kind of think tank for an african "trade platform"
That all depends on local government behaviour I'm afraid - not something I can advise you on from behind a computer screen.
Maybe start with an advert in a paper to create a local meetup to form a discussion group and see where it goes from there.
understand !
lets say i can do all this and i am able to provide a public exchange from bitcoin (and other crypto currencies) to local currencies
would i not get shot down within the day i start ?
this is kind of the reason for the post to build this kind of think tank for an african "trade platform"
lets say i can do all this and i am able to provide a public exchange from bitcoin (and other crypto currencies) to local currencies
would i not get shot down within the day i start ?
this is kind of the reason for the post to build this kind of think tank for an african "trade platform"
If I can make a suggestion coming from Canada, a developed first world country it is this:
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
this is brilliant you see we don't have the processing power or the actual electricity to mine as the rest of the world yay for power cuts.
this is what i am talking about ways Africa can enter the conversation! so thank you for the meaningful input.
You don't need to mine to make an impact in the bitcoin world. Go look at zSIM, being run by seedco.in - it replaces M-PESA with bitcoins. There's also potential bitcoin ideas regarding banking, money transfer, secure messaging and much more.
You just need to come up with an idea that's suitable for your local area, a willing group of programmers and business people and make it happen!
If I can make a suggestion coming from Canada, a developed first world country it is this:
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
this is brilliant you see we don't have the processing power or the actual electricity to mine as the rest of the world yay for power cuts.
this is what i am talking about ways Africa can enter the conversation! so thank you for the meaningful input.
If I can make a suggestion coming from Canada, a developed first world country it is this:
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
Create a service that makes it easy for people in Africa to receive payments in BTC and have those payments converted to local payment systems that the local people use much like Bit-pay does for merchants. A good example would be a BTC to M-PESA gateway for people in Kenya.
Let us say Bob in Kenya needs to receive payments from Alice in Canada. Bob would sign up with the service in Kenya and is provided with a custom web page on a site in Kenya and a password for a sender to use. Bob does not need to have Internet access. Bob then provides the password and the site url to Alice. This can even be done by regular (snail) mail. Alice then logs into the site with the password provided by Bob. Alice is provided with a Bitcoin address to send funds to Bob. After say 3 confirmations the M-PESA credit shows up on Bob's phone.
The key here is that the service in Kenya does not need to concern itself with how Alice obtains the BTC or learn how to use BTC or for that matter what the regulatory requirements are in Canada. Leave that up to the Bitcoin community in Canada. Replace Canada by any other "rich" country and one immediately sees the benefit Bitcoin can provide here.
I mention this because I still recall a situation 18 months ago. I was waiting in line at the local Post Office, ironically to pick up some documents I needed for my MTGox account. The fellow in front to me wanted to send 70 CAD to someone in Kenya. I could not avoid to overhear that it cost him in the neighbourhood of 10 CAD in fees. Do the math please.
awesome! tell em to stop mining for diamonds, and start mining for btc!
Great job removing the newbie restriction, now we get this shitty spamming everywhere 
I now see the down side of removing the restrictions.
Durban Poison. it's a popular African strain of cannabis. look it up
Great job removing the newbie restriction, now we get this shitty spamming everywhere
i am a newbie , it was not my intention to be seen as spamming and i removed the account!
yes we can use the funds but its not the reason i made the post.
thank you for your thought and help much appreciated
Great job removing the newbie restriction, now we get this shitty spamming everywhere
just so you understand this is how its being seen in our media!
Want to make money mining bitcoins? Criminals have you beat
Summary: Bitcoins are becoming the "national currency" of criminals the world over and are becoming an increasingly poor investment for legitimate miners.
http://www.zdnet.com/want-to-make-money-mining-bitcoins-criminals-have-you-beat-7000025361/
Want to make money mining bitcoins? Criminals have you beat
Summary: Bitcoins are becoming the "national currency" of criminals the world over and are becoming an increasingly poor investment for legitimate miners.
http://www.zdnet.com/want-to-make-money-mining-bitcoins-criminals-have-you-beat-7000025361/
We have working groups here in Johannesburg and thank you to the previous post we will get in touch with them in cape town.
however South Africa gets that exposure i am talking and highlighting not only here but in our neighbors too. we know there is a conversation here we trying to expand the conversation and interest in bitcoin get the word out .
ill send you a beer for that link to cape town
Please join the conversation if you are here in Africa and abroad so that we can grow on the same level playing fields.
I'd like to get in touch with anyone working on this. I'm an economic advisor with an investment company and one of my clients is one of the worlds largest foundations which deals with the poor. I've had some informal conversations about a Bitcoin with them and some others and think this area has a lot of potential.
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