Real & Digital

Now unless you live under a rock you most probably have come across debit or credit cards linked to a bank account. In fact I'm willing to bet you have probably used one to pay at a shop check out or a restaurant or even from an On line store like Amazon. How does it all work? How does the money move from your bank account to the merchants? On-line payments were worth over $700 Billion in 2017 and that number is going only one way - UP! So its a good idea to understand how it all works. Whether for debit cards or credit cards the mechanism is pretty similar. You have a few actors involved; First there's you , the Consumer . With that shiny bit of plastic (your debit/credit card). That card gives you access to your money without you ever having to set foot in the bank. Second play is your bank, they gave you that card so we'll call them the Issuing Bank . They'll also be the guys that hand over the cash when the time comes. Generally upstanding honest guy. .

Money Revolution Aside being a digital currency, whats the big deal with Bitcoin? Well there's two big deals Bitcoin actually - its peer to peer so under the control of no single entity and second its anonymous .  Peer-to-peer money:  All currencies, like the one used where you live are controlled primarily by a Central Bank or government agency. A bank authorized by the laws of your country to regulate the supply of money and ensure fiscal stability. At least thats the official line. Now in a monetary economy like we live in, the control of money supply comes with great power -  power to decide who has access to money, power to control how much money exists, how much money people can share with each other etc. Worse still in a globalised world, more powerful countries can dictate the currency of global trade then use access to that currency as a political weapon. To peer-to-peer cryptocurrencies allow private citizens to escape Central Bank/government dictated con

Bitcoin? Unless you live on Mars, you've definitely heard of Bitcoin . Its value against other major currencies has exploded this year. It started out trading at $1000-1 Bitcoin and has peaked at $20,000-1 Bitcoin as at the time of writing this Blog post. So what is Bitcoin and why is everyone losing there minds over it? Bitcoin is simply a currency like US Dollars, Chinese Yuan, Zambian Kwacha or Mexican Peso's. Its a medium of exchange for goods and services. Like any currency its value lies in the belief by its users that it has value. It is however different from regular currencies in several ways.  Lets break it down, shall we? A Bitcoin  (abbreviated BTC ) is a digital currency, meaning it exists as 'data' on a computer[computers] and not in paper or coin form like other currencies. All aspects of the Bitcoin ecosystem are protected/guaranteed by mathematical encryption - hence it is referred to as a crypto-currency .  The Bitcoin ecosys

Money on the Go: The rise of mobile money Mobile telecommunications grew at an astronomical rate in sub-Saharan African and most of the third world in the late 1990's and early-mid 2000's. Tens of millions of rural and urban poor (along with the urban middle class) were empowered with the ability to reach each other faster than ever in human history. It was quiet literally a revolution . Like any truly disruptive technology Mobile telecoms brought on a wave of innovation with it. Researchers examining the usage patterns of prepaid subscribers (~90% of mobile users) in Southern Africa noticed that they would often send money to each other - 'Airtime' (prepaid mobile talk time) - as payments for goods or services or to be traded for goods and services. This data passed on to the obvious players - the Mobile Telco's, led to the creation of a few mobile based cash transfer services. But the first true mobile banking service was launched by Kenya's Mobile telec