Cardano and Africa seem to have been intertwined from the beginning. It would sometimes appear as if the blockchain itself had been designed with the sole purpose of helping to develop the continent. However, there are still certain issues that must be resolved before full adoption takes place. There are many African citizens who refuse to receive ADA, due to the difficulties they face in exchanging it into their locally used currency. However, a start up company by the name of Up Dev, consisting of more than 18 developers who work in the field of web, mobile and desktop applications may have a potential solution on the cards.
Wallets and More Wallets
As of now, there are several types of wallets that allow Africans to receive ADA. Yet as of yet, there isn’t an app which provides the opportunity for them to easily exchange ADA into their local currency. This is why the team at Up Dev have decided to design a mobile app which will allow for the exchange of ADA into a local African currency. This should hopefully remove some of the hesitancy which is currently stopping Africans from adopting ADA. Having said that, the adoption of ADA continues to grow across Africa, and businesses in the region will soon be required to offer a convenient way to convert cryptocurrencies into their local counterparts. Think of it like this, salary payments from abroad, transfers of funds from investors and sponsors, or payments from abroad could all be received in ADA, and easily converted into the local currency via means of the proposed ADA to Mobile Money App. This will help facilitate countries that don’t yet recognize cryptocurrency as a usable, daily commodity.
So how will it work?
The user in question simply logs into the crypto mobile app and adds ADA to their wallet. They then simply enter the amount they wish to convert. The app uses a script that passes through a stable coin which will give the $USD equivalent. If the user is happy with the conversion rate, they then enter a ‘mobile money number. This allows the App to send back a request to the server, which plays two roles. Primarily, the request will take the ADA and transfer it to the central wallet. Following on from this, the corresponding amount (in whichever currency) will be transferred from our mobile money account. All transactions will be stored on the blockchain.
How will it be Achieved?
The team will start by creating their own ADA wallet, and then implement the Mobile Money API (Airtel Monet and Orange Money). The required wallet doesn’t need that long in the way of development time. It’s also trustless in nature. If you’re reading this as a newcomer to the crypto world, ‘trustless’ is a good thing. The team has a fully planned roadmap for completion and execution, which can be found below.
Roadmap
Step 0 – Proof of Concept (up to 1 month of development) :
The team wants to provide a working proof of concept for Fund 7. For intensive testing by their developers and all members of the community, they will deliver a version that will work with the Cardano mainnet. You will be able to perform payment and conversion tests without having to spend your ADA.
Stage 1 – Active development (up to 2 months) :
Creation of the CRYPTO MOB wallet with the possibility of sending and receiving ADA.
Step 2 – Conversion solutions (up to 3 months of development) :
Stable Coin integration for converting ADA to USD.
Integration of the API of the first mobile money payment mode.
Step 3 – Testing with internal users :
Conversion test of ADA into local currency using mobile money already integrated
So what’s the cost?
The team has requested just $14,000 USD to execute their proposal, which seems a reasonably small price to pay for something which could change the lives of millions of people.
Here is the roadmap on how funds will allocated :
Stage 0: Proof of Concept (Up to 1 Month)
During this step they will focus on the detailed study and analysis of the problem of exchanging ADA to local currencies.
The following steps must be carried out
– Detailed study of the problem
– Implementation of a basic architecture
– Proposal of the graphic model to use
Funds needed: $2000 USD
Stage 1: Active Development (Up to 1 Month)
During this step they will begin the active development of the ADA To Mobile Money application.
They will take the following steps:
– Development of the Administration part
– Development of the user part
Fund needed: $8000 USD
Stage 2: Conversion solutions (Up to 3 Months of development)
– Connection of the application with a first extension of ADA wallets that already exist
– Implementation of the API of a first mobile money operator such as M-Pesa
Fund needed: $4000 USD
Stage 3: Testing with internal users:
First tests of the application by beta testers in order to correct the first version of the application, which will be published.
The team is ready and confident in their ability to turn this proposal into a reality. The fact that it could, and should lead to the adoption of Cardano/ADA across Africa and potentially the world as a whole should be enough to convince anyone to get involved.
