[Vlog] Thoughts on the Unbanked, Mobile Money, Steem mobile wallet and the Steem Dollars peg
Getting mobile
Earlier this week, I went to a two day Tech In Ghana Conference. It was part of my continued reconnaissance into investment opportunities in Africa.
What struck me most on Day One of the event was the prominence of ‘mobile money’ in Ghana and in Africa general. In today's video I discuss my thoughts around this and the role/ gap Steem (and Steem Dollar in particular) can fill in this eco-system.
Mobile disruption
Although ‘mobile money’ is a relatively nascent industry, I feel it is one tailor-made for cryptocurrencies to disrupt. For me, the cryptocurrency that is able to corner the market and become "the" decentralised money network; enabling fast and effortless peer-to-peer transactions across the globe, will win the largest market share of the whole space.
This cryptocurrency network will undoubtedly need to be primarily a mobile one. People need to be able to whip about their phones and transact in seconds as mobile will (in my view) fast become the primary mode by which people across the globe will transfer value.
For example, mobile use in Ghana has 109% penetration (thanks largely to people needing to have more than one phone in order to get better network conference across the region). Also Mobile bank deposits in Ghana rose from 16bn in 2016 to 32bn in 2017.
While the uptake and adoption of cryptocurrency lives largely in the realm of speculation; mobile money (the ability to transact using a phone or portable device) is a phenomenon that exists in the here and now. It can't be ignored in any discussion around cryptocurrency adoption.
Steem development
In this regards I’m watching the development of the Steem mobile wallet more closely. I remember it featuring prominently during Steemfest 2 in November. If I remember rightly the mobile wallet was supposed to launch in December however it appears to be on the back burner as I haven’t heard much since.
This is a pity as I think a Steem mobile wallet along with a Steem Dollar that is pegged to the US dollar can be the ace in the hole for Steem. While the ability to mine cryptocurrency through engagement and social interaction, as well as the ability to post censorship resistant content are fantastic features of Steem; a US dollar pegged Steem Dollar could easily turn out to be it's chief tenant.
Short sighted bonanza
The spike in the Steem Dollar price has been nice for the contributors to Steem’s ‘proof-of-brain’ protocol. However this windfall should be looked at as a Pyrrhic victory. The Steem Dollar is effectively becoming just another token to speculate on… and the world needs another token like it needs a hole in the head!
What the world could use is a solid fiat pegged cryptocurrency asset. A convenient way, for anyone in the world, to store (say) dollar value, in their own wallet, and transact (any amount of that value) to anyone else in the world, in seconds, for little or no fee, is a huge game-changer.
With the uncertainty (and vulnerabilities) surrounding US Tether, there is a gap in the cryptocurrency market; the Steem Dollar had the potential to fill that void until it lost it's peg.
Pinning down the dollar
A relative straight-forward way to regain the dollar peg would be to allow a ‘reverse conversion’ (of Steem for Steem Dollar at the price of 1 dollar per Steem Dollar). I know the white paper talks about abuses that can arise from this however I do not see the logic in the argument made; but that’s a discussion for another day. (For more on this topic, see this brilliant post by @lukestokes).
Suffice to say, the stability a pegged Steem Dollar could bring to the cryptocurrency community and the mobile money eco-system is huge. Both contain populations that would benefit from the opportunity to store and transact dollar value on a blockchain. We should take time to consider whether that blockchain should be Steem.
Great piece, good articulation and definitely some grounds and market share available, I am especially excited with increase mobile wallet use in Ghana it shows that the population is adapting nicely with the time... With regard to Steem and SBD, it is a continued debate I think with great interest while the market share potential you mention may have some merits we need to first examine what the current market conditions are, at present these pegged base currency still have question marks over their head, as we can see to maintain a "legally" accepted pegged the given project must demonstrate they indeed have the amount of reserves to back up whats circulating, and that has proven to be difficult given the volatility and uncertainty in the market Banks are not willing to expose themselves or readily provide liquidity for these projects given their volatile nature. I come from the Caribbean and we have a basket of pegged base currency here that from time to time go wack as they countries Central Bankers struggle to maintain their Current Account, instead many has adopted a floating system, that sets a floor and gives the currency enough room to move. Given Steem mechanics and the fact that its back by Steem itself, I think giving it a floor would be a better attractive feature moving forward, that way market dynamics determine its value and legal questions can't be ask. We should also keep in mine, that there would always be risk as this nascent market would be volatile by nature but we can give traders, speculators and vendors the confidence that the worse case scenario, SBD floor would be a base they work with...I think for now its better that SBD supports Steem, so folks should take advantage of the high SBD to buy more Steem, this also would help stabilize the price of Steem from volatile and snail like movement given its history of being the last to move...I think this system would work out, SBD at least has assets in the form of Steem and that would always make it valuable...Let the markets determine its value, lets things be dynamic, we must not chase a perceive high of market vendors when the game has always been about BTC, we should rather craft medium where Steem has utility on the blockchain and SBD easily transfers value that can be taken advantage of during market volatility, since November SBD has been tracking BTC quite well and most of the buying seem to be coming from Asian market, I think once trend is maintain we need not to worry to much about market share as most of volumes comes from Asia and these traders/ speculators can have to comfort given the track record of SBD...SBD should be allowed to run and support Steem, I like the fact the circulating supply that does out run system fundamentals given our present circumstance... Upvoted for visibility
Mobile money is a brilliant idea.In our country there is a company name bkash they are doing huge business.Most of the bank loose their customer.It's easy accessible and user friendly.The idea of steem mobile wallet is very good. Thanks for the post.
Surely, SBD being pegged to 1$ would most likely benefit the eco-system in the long run. Of course, if we are to talk about short-term effects, a lot of people would lose faith in this platform, because many wouldn't be earning much of anything at all. We can already see how little most people earn at these prices. The huge rewards were really nice for everyone. Now, it's really struggling to earn even at least 5-10$ every day.
I'm not an expert and I can't say what's best for the eco-system, but I know there's pros and cons with SBD price going up or being pegged to 1$.
The idea of steem mobile wallet is simply superb.I am sure this will work.I am worried about the price of SBD.If the sbd price goes down then it will be very bad for the platform.Some people are saying that it will be good for eco system,but if there is no members then how will the eco system will survive?@upvoted and resteemed
Awesome post..l feel so much happy to see you have a Ghana conference of mobile money. We hope to see steem/sbd doing a very cool transaction here in Ghana since the mobile money has become the easiest,fastest and accessible transaction..Its usage is so much on the rise causing reduction in transaction of most local banks here in Ghana.. Here on steemit there are couple of active steemians who have in their way managed to help make sbd/steem follow the mobile money trend by helping other Ghanaian steemians to csah out money from their wallet directly.. Thanks to @ackza and @surfyogi who have supported to help me bring this idea to reality by helping to help us have a local mobile money merchants who could help exchange steem/sbd with no charges. This would in a long way help us to invite most Ghanaian people join steemit where they can do lots of investment and cash money via mobile money without any stress. There exist MTN mobile money,Vodafone cash, Airtel money and Tigo cash as mobile money system by the various Telecommunication networks here in Ghana.. Thanks also to @anaman and @yensesa who have laid good measures for members of TeamGhana to have a smooth steem/sbd transaction through mobile money system.. I personally think this is something good that steem/sbd should trend with. Thanks always too for the support @nanzo-scoop. Very soon Steem/sbd would be on the digital billboard and daily newspapers nationwide to invite lots of Ghanaians on this blockchain platform. Mobile money system would do more good to most of us. Thanks for sharing this.
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There is a Steem wallet provided by freewallet. I personally don't recommend this wallet. We need better, more user friendly on and off ramps to get our Steem in and out. Companies that release products that aren't user-friendly and don't let you easily do what you want to do are not helping the community, and they aren't helping Steemit to succeed. I hope something more advanced comes up.
Regarding SBD, do you expect it to get back to $1.00 and just stay there as it was meant to be? Or is this going to fluctuate thanks to speculators?
Great post though!
well, it looks like the market may be moving us to $1.00 SBD. So, perhaps my argument is mute, but I am in MUCH more favor of the market deciding the price of SBD. I have argued with my self for months over this, and I still come to the same conclusion, allow the market to decide.
SBD were never limited to 1 USD
The 'peg' is to stop it falling below 1 USD
Why people are at all concerned about it is a mystery to me.
i just love your vlog 😊