For hundreds of years, Africans have always traded on currency that was helped setup by their colonial masters as they exited their countries which in a nutshell goes to say that the masters made sure that even after their exit they would still continue to control a countries economy remotely through regulations set under a countries Central bank.
A study on who owns Africas central banks has shown that most banks are owned by the Rothschilds and other powerful entities. They continue to grow richer and more powerful even after their colonizing partners leave a country. So most, if not all, African countries are still colonized economically!
With the introduction of Nuru coin in Kenya and gradually in Africa, countries like Nigeria are embracing the technology. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is also embracing the concepts and welcoming the currency into Uganda. It is clear that the next phase of trade and the revolution of money is once again at a precipice in its evolvement. This shift is from the known and traditional forms of trade to a search for new technology. It enables things to move faster and new systems to operate in high gear.
As we write this Kenyas Block chain taskforce has acknowledged digital currency citing it as an unavoidable technology and there is need for the country to forge forward and embrace crypto currency as it endeavors not to be left behind in the digital shakeup.
More than just a coin.
The concept in this new financial model focuses not just on the ‘coin or currency’. More emphasis is actually being created through the understanding of Blockchain technology platforms. It is crucial to note that cryptocurrencies will operate on these platforms. Blockchains are blocks of records synched in a chronological order. They store records of transactions to create a chain of interconnected financial transactions. This makes one huge blockchain that can be uncompromised and traceable from its original form. It is a new secure and effective tool to fight normal vices like corruption and money laundering. Such vices are easily manipulated through the standard banking operating systems.
Economic & Trade Opportunities.
“Our goal with Nuru Coin is to handle transparent intra-Africa trade. It is also meant to encourage Africans to trade amongst themselves more instead of over-relying on trading with other regions. Currently, Africa trades with the rest of the world at 66% but only trades with itself at 11%, This needs to Change,” Isaac Muthui- CEO CB Group Ltd.
Nurucoin could just be the secret weapon that the Intra-African trade agreements have been waiting for. Countries like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania are opening up their trade regions with easy access. Now there is a possibility of a trading currency that these countries can embrace.
Online trading and shopping opportunities in these countries can also be enhanced with easy currency transfer using cryptocurrency. The first confirmed online market introduced by Church Blaze Group is called Blazebay. It offers product purchase in Kenya shillings, US Dollars, and Nurucoin. It’s only a matter of time before other online shopping platforms like OLX, Uganda’s Kilimall & Masikini, Rwanda’s Yubeyi & MIRO, Tanzania’s Kivuko, Shop Online Tanzania, & Zoom Tanzania join this trend. Additionally, regional Jumia may also consider having Nurucoin as an alternate payment method.
Challenges or excuses?
It’s true that most Central banks have not yet given their blessing on the introduction of Cryptocurrency. Most Central bank bosses advise against it, claiming these virtual currencies lack the necessary prerequisites to work as currency. However, their observations are also seen as dogmatic. They need to embrace the changing times with online services being offered. In this new internet generation, it is no longer a question of if but when Cryptocurrency becomes a worldwide concept, as seen in Sci-Fi movies.
Central banks need to wake up and find a way to embrace this new currency, lest they get left out and become outdated. Especially since most African countries are embracing stronger currencies like the Dollar and Yen in place of their devalued currencies. This is evident in countries like Zimbabwe and war-torn countries trying to recover. The notion that corruption can be defeated through cryptocurrencies' tracking and blockchain data tracing capabilities is another major factor. It can push more African countries towards embracing this new technology.
The Setup
Nurucoin has its own trading platform, Acefinix, at https://www.acefinix.com/ where one can sell or buy. It is currently trading at $1.23 (Kshs 124.00). Its operational platform is developing nicely with its first trading online shopping site, BlazeBay, at https://www.blazebay.com/. It accepts Nurucoin beside the shilling and the Dollar.
With some businesses gradually embracing and accepting payments, like Betty’s Place Restaurant in Nyeri, Central Kenya, now accepting Bitcoin, the integration of Cryptocurrency in a country’s economy is inevitable. African governments and Central banks need to look harder at how they can integrate this in their fiscal and economic systems, lest they continue being manipulated and controlled by masters from afar.
Why Africa’s Solution?
In retrospect, what former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi envisioned in 2000 at the African Union Summit in Lome, Togo, when he championed for a united Africa and a Gold backed Afro-currency could not come true a few years ago. This was due to different cultures and diversity of language. What former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe tried to revive in 2013, in the name of a figurehead for a United States of Africa, might actually come to be, but not in the way they envisioned. Their thought and approach, though not originally theirs since Bob Marley had sung about it and Marcus Mosiah Garvey had penned poetry about it, needed reevaluation.
was based on their time, Ideology and political outlook since it spoke of a physical presence while in the real sense what Africa needed and needs now given its vast consumer market, mineral deposits and huge oil reservoirs is an economic median that allowed fair trade and easy access to the regional markets.
This young entrepreneur might just have found the missing connection. It could overcome the biggest challenge most African countries have faced with each other, which is territorial enmity. Time and again, it creates a bridge towards a successful economic relationship. This is in the form of a language any African country or nationality understands, using a median that trespasses virtual borders: Currency and Internet!
What African leaders have always admired about the fifty United States of America and India’s twenty-five states under one President and Legal tender might be farfetched. Even then, it is still a pipe dream on a single figurehead and currency for all the fifty-four countries. However, a shared currency in the name of digital coin might just be achievable through Nurucoin. A unifying blockchain platform might finally be what African leaders have been seeking. They wish to build from the bottom economically rather than imposing a notion of unity from the top down, as explained by Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society 2013.
Charles J. Kabaiku is an Economist with a background in Networking security fundamentals & Forensic Studies from Strayer University and a Diploma in Stock exchange and control.
References:
https://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/does-rothschild-own-all-central-banks/
https://www.quora.com/How-does-Jacob-Rothschild-own-every-central-bank-except-3-arent-central-banks-owned-by-the-government
Nairobi-based entrepreneur invests Sh15Mn to develop Africa’s bitcoin
http://news.tokenmap.net/articles/71-could-uganda-be-the-focal-point-of-digital-currency-trade-in-africa
http://news.tokenmap.net/articles/37-cryptocurrency-integration-inevitable-as-nyeri-embraces-bitcoin
http://news.tokenmap.net/articles/56-win-for-kenya-as-taskforce-gives-nod-to-digital-currencies
http://news.tokenmap.net/articles/43-feature-how-blockchain-could-curb-corruption-and-instill-trust-in-african-governments
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/1144006141/gaddafi-s-vision-for-africa-is-a-pipe-dream
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/21/mugabe-gaddafi-united-states-africa
