Singer, rapper and businessman Akon plans to develop a cryptocurrency that will be used to partially finance a ‘crypto city’ he describes as a ‘real-life Wakanda’.
Speaking at the Cannes Lions Festival on Monday, the Locked Up singer said he believed his cryptocurrency, dubbed AKoin, could be “the saviour of Africa”.
AKoin’s official website says the singer wants the app “on every mobile phone” between now and December.
The website says Akon, who is of Senegalese descent, has been “gifted” 2,000 acres of land by the President of Senegal to build the city – which is also named after himself.
Akon Crypto City will apparently be a short drive from the very real city of Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Just like Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther, Akon promises says his city will be a “futuristic environment”.
He calls it “the first 100% crypto-based city with AKoin at the centre of transactional life”.
Under the “Akoin Ecosystem”, consumers will be able to buy, hold and spend cryptocurrency straight from their smartphones.
“It brings the power back to the people and brings the security back into the currency system,” Akon explained.
“It also allows the people to utilise it in ways where they can advance themselves and not allow government to do those things that are keeping them down.”
However, Akon admitted he didn’t know all the technical aspects of his new venture.
“I come with the concepts and let the geeks figure it out,” he said.
AKoin is one of many projects Akon has announced in Africa.
In 2007 he co-founded the Konfidence Foundation, a health and education charity for underprivileged children in West Africa and the United States.
He also co-founded the Akon Lighting Africa project in 2014, which Akon’s site says has brought solar power to 18 African countries so far.
