A concern you and I have always had about mobile money is how we have to pay money to use money. That seems a bit too much. We are willing to pay for the service but the cost of transaction should be negligible for any amount. If you have never asked for “pesa ya kutoa pia,” you have my permission, you should stop reading this.

A reason for high transaction costs in this, and any other thing, is presence of middlemen. If they are many or few and powerful, you will end up paying more for services and products. Digital money is no different. But what if there was a way to eliminate middlemen?

Blockchain technology is the answer you’re looking for. This innovation, behind Bitcoin, enables transactions to be conducted by people who do not know each other without a central administrator. Blockchain in Kenya is already being used to make sections of the public sector more efficient and less corrupt.

The key innovation behind the successful mobile money adoption in Africa is found in the extensive agency network that allows people to act as a decentralized exchange point for digital currencies to fiat.

Decentralized mobile money/crypto kiosks

The private sector has not been left behind in exploiting opportunities presented by blockchain in Kenya. Startups like bitsoko are promising to bring business closer to prospective customers by using the blockchain. BUT, how are the the businesses and customers going to access tokens in the first place? in a world where credit card payments are rare and mobile money accounts for over 85% of the countries GDP, a new strategy is required. In comes the digital currency agency exchange network. Here, typical mobile money agents have access to ethereum tokens through the bitsoko platform and can then exchange it into fiat directly at the agents shop. Will this decentralized agency model succeed?

stay tuned to the community for updates.

written by Robert Malit