....

[bernard75]

Bitcoin will be widely adopted in Africa when they realize how it's convenient for buying AK-47's and selling smuggled diamonds

Nice misconceptions and stereotypes you have there.
Unfortunately the ship has almost sailed in Africa, most countries use mobile phones for payments, but the market was wide open until just recently. They still paid in goats(to stay in tune with your approach) not so long ago.

[Cubic Earth]

Nice misconceptions and stereotypes you have there.
Unfortunately the ship has almost sailed in Africa, most countries use mobile phones for payments, but the market was wide open until just recently. They still paid in goats(to stay in tune with your approach) not so long ago.

That 'most countries are using mobile phones for payment' is hardly a missed opportunity.  If they are using litecoin... then yes, I'll agree, but they are using local, proprietary systems.  It's still a massive opportunity for many reasons.  With bitcoin they can pay for things globally, and in turn receive remittances instantly.  Keep in most of them don't have bank accounts.  Also, the political systems their are in pretty bad shape.  The managing of their currencies might even be worse than the USD.  Finally, to your point, they are already comfortable with digital, phone based currency.  Provide them with a vastly superior e-currency and you don't think they will go for it?


Edited to fix bad quote format

[bernard75]

Unfortunately mobile coverage is much better than internet access and the same goes for the costs of phones vs. computers.
Another factor is the simplicity of paying with your mobile.
I still think there is a lot of room for BTC, but as i said the mobile providers beat us to it and im sure they wont like to share.

[monkeybars]

Unfortunately mobile coverage is much better than internet access and the same goes for the costs of phones vs. computers.
Another factor is the simplicity of paying with your mobile.
I still think there is a lot of room for BTC, but as i said the mobile providers beat us to it and im sure they wont like to share.

You can already do BTC transactions with SMS.

[jamesc760]

Nigerian princes, princesses, and the like are rejoicing at this news! Yay, more ways to scam/fleece the fat westerners out of their money!!!

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

I really do hope financial revolution starts from Africa out. The people there need it more than anyone else.

+1

This is great news.

[BitChick]

With all the shouting going on here you would think Kenya would know something about BTC. Alas no. Doing a search on Nation.co.ke (our major newspaper) only finds 1 result. This article :

http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/DN2/Bitcoin/-/957860/1747854/-/item/1/-/t958ik/-/index.html


So what about The Standard then? (http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/)

"Mombasa in spotlight over ‘currency that improves lives’ Bangla-pesa"
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000085013story_title=mombasa-in-spotlight-over-currency-that-improves-lives

...only 1 comment mentioning BTC...


What about "Money transfer service to boost diaspora remittances"?
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?id=2000017219&articleID=2000017219

...still no mention of BTC...


Even the new local Kenya forum (i think set up be weex here) is boring :
http://bitcoins.co.ke/... no action there.

http://www.the-star.co.ke/search/node/bitcoin? (I see they use Drupal...)
"Your search yielded no results"

Kenya is still at the "we are all on facebook and its so cool" stage, so be patient and bear with us.

I don't think it really matters if the people have heard of BTC in Kenya or not.  The question will be, have they heard of Kipochi in a few months!  They could be using BTC without really understanding what BTC even is.  If it works, if they save money and are able to transfer in and out of M-Pesa without paying high fees, they will use it. 

[Le Happy Merchant]

I am excited

[bernard75]

There are a lot of africans worldwide working in foreign countries and sending money back home to their relatives. Once they notice that sending money via Kipochi is a lot cheaper and faster then using Western Union or MoneyGram, I believe it is about 10 Euros per transaction, then they will switch easily. So the start will be outside of Africa with the emigrants sending money back home to their families.

And once they notice how easy, fast, cheap and convenient it is, then it may even go viral in Africa!

The costs are variable and usually a lot more than a mere 10€.
You are right about the emigrants starting it though, this is how it became so popular in Poland.
Hell they even started that exchange that is part of Gox now.

[semaforo]

With all the shouting going on here you would think Kenya would know something about BTC. Alas no. Doing a search on Nation.co.ke (our major newspaper) only finds 1 result. This article :

http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/DN2/Bitcoin/-/957860/1747854/-/item/1/-/t958ik/-/index.html


So what about The Standard then? (http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/)

"Mombasa in spotlight over ‘currency that improves lives’ Bangla-pesa"
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000085013story_title=mombasa-in-spotlight-over-currency-that-improves-lives

...only 1 comment mentioning BTC...


What about "Money transfer service to boost diaspora remittances"?
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?id=2000017219&articleID=2000017219

...still no mention of BTC...


Even the new local Kenya forum (i think set up be weex here) is boring :
http://bitcoins.co.ke/... no action there.

http://www.the-star.co.ke/search/node/bitcoin? (I see they use Drupal...)
"Your search yielded no results"

Kenya is still at the "we are all on facebook and its so cool" stage, so be patient and bear with us.

    Thank you for this great post, I would tip for this kind of research.
I have been experimenting with using bitcoin to replace international wire transfers. Depending on exchange rate it can end up being very profitable or costly. I think Kipochi has a mechanism so you can ensure that the amount that you initially put in is what ends up being received on the other side.

[Seth Otterstad]

This article claims the fee is only 2% to convert between M-Pesa and bitcoin.  So someone using coinbase can send money from their US bank account to an M-Pesa user almost instantly for only a 3% total fee right?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044082/in-kenya-bitcoin-linked-to-popular-mobile-payment-system.html

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Nigerian princes, princesses, and the like are rejoicing at this news! Yay, more ways to scam/fleece the fat westerners out of their money!!!

I actually met a Nigerian once whose name was Prince.  I shit you not ! (nice guy by the way).

[bitfromit]

All positive :

http://theconversation.com/bitcoin-fuels-africas-banking-revolution-16044

"There are risks, however. Bitcoin has proved itself to be volatile, fuelled by speculators – although this is not something that Africans are unaccustomed to. M-Pesa as a brand might be a trusted one, but the more abstract connection to Bitcoin might be a harder sell. Currently, Kipochi above all else represents possibility, as M-Pesa once did."

[phelix]

You are welcome to vote for Kipochi as Bitcoin Project of the Quarter:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=251087.0

[Itcher]

the best you can do is spend btc directly to kenyans.

[vokain]

the best you can do is spend btc directly to kenyans.

how i see it is this is like infrastructure. Bitcoins would have a hard time getting a foothold in africa lest we could piggyback an already existing system like mpesa

[manfred]

If this takes off in Kenya and Bitcoin becomes a mainstream global system then its possible that Kenya could fast become an economic super power

FUD like that scares the living day light out from anyone who ones any bitcoins.
M-PESA is nothing else as a rivalling payment system.

[manfred]

M-PESA, the user can buy digital funds at any M-PESA agent and send that electric cash to any other mobile phone user in Kenya, who can then redeem it for conventional cash at any agent. This system is remotely comparable to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala_banking or services like Western Union or Bitcoin or Kilowatt Cards http://www.kilowattcards.com/template/index.cfm or any E-Gift voucher from large company's or........the list is endless.
An M-PESA enabled mobile phone can also function as an electronic wallet and can hold up to 100,000 Kenyan shilling. Safaricom stakeholder Vodafone, which partnered in the development of M-PESA, has announced that it intends to roll out M-PESA internationally as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

Kenya an economic super power lol, not in my lifetime.

[freedomno1]

This is a project I wanted to see develop and help change the world for the better

[bitfromit]

Don't know if anyone else has actually tried this yet?

2 weeks ago we applied for a Kipochi account in Kenya, and have still heard nothing back from them.

Mailed support just now.

Kenya news via the grapevine :

The Treasury has introduced a 10% excise tax on all money transfers, which will inevitably lead to generally higher prices, and the unfortunate consumer will bear the burden.   It will cover not only bank transactions but mobile phone cash transfer systems such as M-Pesa and even the PO Savings Bank.   “Its impact in the short term will be inflation and increase in the price of goods.”   There is also a risk of creating an extensive “underground economy” which will deprive the Treasury of considerable revenue.   A levy of 1.5% on the customs value of imported goods for railway development is already in force.   The Kenya Revenue Authority missed its revenue target for 2012/2013 financial year by Shs.81 billion, although it showed a growth of 13.2% over the previous year.    Part of the loss was attributed to “a shift in consumption patterns towards products with lower or zero tax rates.”

Depriving any Treasury of revenue is the number one thing we should all be striving to do.