New Blockchain Protocol Aims To Empower Digital and Financial Inclusion in Emerging Markets

We are extremely excited to announce the launch of the Siglo Protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain which will be used to facilitate free access to mobile connectivity for prepaid subscribers in emerging markets. Starting in Latin America, we connect airtime sponsors with smartphone subscribers and create a decentralized mobile network powered by the transfer of value between users, providers, and brands.

Smartphone penetration is growing at impressive rates but despite the increasing number of people who have a smartphone in their pocket, the high costs of data and connectivity make it impossible for a large part of the world to have consistent access to the network.

The Siglo Protocol

In emerging markets, increased access to mobile connectivity will indisputably create new economic opportunities. We hope to empower smartphone users in these markets by eliminating the barriers that once prevented them from participating in the digital economy.

Siglo will also offer brands a scalable solution for connecting with customers in some of the fastest growing markets in the world. Key transactional pieces of the ecosystem benefit from immutable, auditable ledgers on the Ethereum blockchain, including brand transactions, user transactions and user-to-user transactions. By tokenizing access to mobile airtime, Siglo will be able to facilitate unbanked users’ increased access to networks through incentivizing the creation of decentralized mobile networks.

Background

We built Siglo on the success our Android app Pig.gi, which has been used by more than one million smartphone owners in Mexico and Colombia to access internet, adding a blockchain layer on top of a pre-existing off-chain data reward point, called the Pig.gi Coin. More than 65% of these users are unbanked. Launched in 2016, Pig.gi has generated more than one billion impressions for its brand partners, brands have received more than 1 million consumer opinions, and we have distributed 45 million Pig.gi coins to users. We have amassed a wealth of new data that maps the customer journey from initial discovery to final transaction.

Solving the Problem

In Mexico’s market, 61% of adults are without a bank account and as of 2016. In Latin America, 85% of smartphone connections are prepaid. For these users, earning 500MB of data requires between 8 to 40 hours work, based on average wages and the cost of top-ups in Mexico and Brazil. Getting top-ups for mobile connectivity require traveling to supermarkets, gas stations or small street-side shops. Using the Pig.gi app, these users are able to earn airtime top-ups during their commute, at home, or at any time their schedule permits them to interact with the app — giving them the ability to be more connected than ever before.

The Siglo Token

To provide top-ups at scale, the Siglo token will be launched as the first token to enable providers and brands with a way to directly reward consumers with mobile connectivity in exchange for engagement. We hope that the generation of Siglo tokens will scale the expansion of the platform that will tokenize access to airtime as well as expand the ecosystem in new and current markets. As the user base grows, our datasets become more robust and brands’ demand for data increase.

Siglo’s value proposition is unique in that it is being launched into a market where loyalty and significant participation has already been achieved through Pig.gi’s existing user base of 1.2 million users in Mexico and Colombia.

The challenge of a token economy is balancing the volatility of a free-floating token with the need for a stable user-facing currency in markets where the cost of advertising and cost of mobile airtime are variable. The problem will be addressed in two tiers:

the Siglo token that allows value to be exchange within Siglo apps, for example between Pig.gi and other Siglo apps

the data connectivity off-chain coins that are fixed to local market product pricing, for example the Pig.gi coins that are given to users when they interact with content and brands.

While today the Siglo protocol will be used in the Pig.gi app with Pig.gi coins, in the future, this could be any reward coin or point distributed in different markets at a rate that is a function of mobile airtime costs, advertising cost, and value of local fiat currency.

The value of these off-chain points is variable between markets and apps, yet fixed to the cost of local products. To purchase products and top-ups from local carriers, users can exchange their data coins. In phase 2, users can also purchase Siglo token with their coins in order to exchange them on third party exchanges for other token or between different Siglo apps in the future — we intend to build an exchange for inter-protocol exchanges and peer to peer transfers.

Even as Siglo token price on the open market may fluctuate, the price for local top-ups in Pig.gi coins stays stable. This is desirable for transactions by users, especially in emerging markets, where less understanding of financial dynamics exists.

Stay tuned for the official release announcement and check out the one-pager for more technical details. If you would like to see the full whitepaper, email token@siglo.com.

- Joel & Isaac Phillips, co-founders of Siglo