2013-06-16 SALON - Could Bitcoin become the official currency of Kenya?

[suryc]

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/16/why_bitcoin_could_become_kenyas_official_currency_partner/

I know this magazine is closer to a tabloid than real news, but still the article has some interesting insights.

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[Bogdan]

That would be amazing if it became a whole country's currency.

[jgarzik]

That would be amazing if it became a whole country's currency.

Amazingly stupid.

We have a private currency where people may freely choose to enter and exit at will...  and somebody thinks we need a government to force an entire country to use it?  Sigh.

[Peter Todd]

That would be amazing if it became a whole country's currency.

Amazingly stupid.

We have a private currency where people may freely choose to enter and exit at will...  and somebody thinks we need a government to force an entire country to use it?  Sigh.

The article is suggesting that Kenyans' might adopt Bitcoin against the will of the government:

Another reason is that the government has begun taxing M-Pesa transactions. (Of course, it’s hard to imagine, if M-Pesa users all switched to Bitcoin tomorrow, that the Kenyan government would simply give up the tax revenue on 30 percent of its GDP.)

[BCB]

Kenyans have M-Pesa.  Why do they need bitcoin?

You can't down load the blockchain on a feature phone.

[Peter Todd]

You can't down load the blockchain on a feature phone.

You don't need to. Mike Hearn's bitcoinj library is perfectly capable of operating as a SPV client that has very close to the same security as a full node yet can be operated with relatively little bandwidth, enabling lightweight clients such as Andreas Schildbach's Bitcoin Wallet for Android phones.

[jgarzik]

The article is suggesting that Kenyans' might adopt Bitcoin against the will of the government:

The headline suggests otherwise with "official"

[BCB]

You can't down load the blockchain on a feature phone.

You don't need to. Mike Hearn's bitcoinj library is perfectly capable of operating as a SPV client that has very close to the same security as a full node yet can be operated with relatively little bandwidth, enabling lightweight clients such as Andreas Schildbach's Bitcoin Wallet for Android phones.

do these solutions support SMS.  These user are NOT using smart phones.

[Peter Todd]

You can't down load the blockchain on a feature phone.

You don't need to. Mike Hearn's bitcoinj library is perfectly capable of operating as a SPV client that has very close to the same security as a full node yet can be operated with relatively little bandwidth, enabling lightweight clients such as Andreas Schildbach's Bitcoin Wallet for Android phones.

do these solutions support SMS.  These user are NOT using smart phones.

Ah, then update your post to say "You can't run a Bitcoin client on a feature phone"

Although you could definitely use SMS to communicate with a third-party wallet provider, or if you were clever and SMS messages were cheap enough even run the SPV protocol over SMS.

[molecular]

Kenyans have M-Pesa.  Why do they need bitcoin?

I heard they will tax mpesa with 9%?