[KOBO] Kobocoin - Mobile Money for Africa

[TheTribesman]

Kobocoin has been listed as one of the Top 100 FinTech companies in Africa and been nominated for an African Fintech Award

The African FinTech 100 and The African FinTech Awards

There are other cryptocurrency projects listed such as BitSoko, a project that aims to use BTC as a payment method on the African continent and has already received a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Coindesk Article

This is great news for Kobocoin which is now entering it's second year of existence. We've survived a very challenging first year and are looking forward to recognition in the market and growth in the coming years.

No IPO, No ICO, No Premine, No forks, no external investment, and a fair launch on 7th February, 2015. This is a major achievement for a small project aiming to break into the largest mobile finance market on the planet.

Thanks to the Kobocoin Community for all your support and encouragement.

We're getting there!!

 

[wahyu5]

Wow...it's GREAT !!

[BitcoinPorn]

Kobocoin currently on the front page of the Crypto Currency subreddit  https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/4arlr0/kobocoin_african_peer_to_peer_payment_system/

[TheTribesman]

Thanks guys

Definitely good news. We're maturing and getting some good visibility now. I'll be pushing for even more visibility and trying to get more write ups on the project.

 

[TheTribesman]

An idea I've been toying with



As ever, exchange volume is required to realise this goal. But the goal now exists.

[TheTribesman]

There's been interest from two services to include Kobocoin on their platform. They're web services so for this to work I'm going to have to create javascript client libraries for the kobo blockchain.

I'm looking at implementing of one of the following:

1. Bitcoinjs-lib
2. Bitcore
3. Cryptocoinjs

This will allow offline generation of new addresses (which has been requested), and other wallet functions. I'm still investigating which to use but should have something ready soon.

Along with the already available kobocoinj (used in the android wallet), it will allow for further extension of kobo services available for the community.

[m4nki]

There's been interest from two services to include Kobocoin on their platform. They're web services so for this to work I'm going to have to create javascript client libraries for the kobo blockchain.

Azure?

[sussex]

Very relevant interview with CEO of Bankymoon on Keiser Report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxHmUndip_Q

Whatever you think of Keiser, it's worth a watch.

[TheTribesman]

There's been interest from two services to include Kobocoin on their platform. They're web services so for this to work I'm going to have to create javascript client libraries for the kobo blockchain.

Azure?

LOL! No.

When I've finished the JS library (almost done) and things are agreed I'll confirm them here. One of them is a partnership that will mean a press release (if I can get it all agreed). You'll like it (I think).

[TheTribesman]

Very relevant interview with CEO of Bankymoon on Keiser Report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxHmUndip_Q

Whatever you think of Keiser, it's worth a watch.

That was a very interesting (and encouraging) watch. Thanks!

[TheTribesman]

Update

I was thinking of holding back on letting the community know about these developments until they were set in stone but that would just mean delays to updates, so here's what's currently going on:

Bitsoko - https://bitsoko.co.ke

Bitsoko will be adding KOBO to it's platform alongside BTC. Bitsoko were awarded a grant of $100,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last year to explore the possibilities of cryptocurrencies as a mobile payment method in the East and West of Africa (and the rest of the world). The project also has the opportunity to have an addon grant of $1,000,000 if successful. They will be launching in Ghana, Zimbabwe & Sierra Leone this year.

As well as KOBO being added to the platform I'll also be working with the project team to see how we can build the blockchain ecosystem in Africa. The project is based in Kenya, the birthplace of the now famous M-Pesa mobile phone-based money transfer, financing and microfinancing service. It's the mighty all-conquering competitor to KOBO and BTC in Africa. It's services have now been exported to SE Asia and South America. That's the power of African mobile fintech.

Blockchain technology is the only thing I see that can disrupt that domination. With our human friendly multiple denominations of KOBO, MAINLLA (mKOBO), COWRIE (uKOBO) and MANSA (satoshi unit) we're all ready for a payments and microtransaction service.

Bitsoko is a product of the Kenyatta University Division of Research, Innovation and Outreach, Nairobi, Kenya
Kenyatta University http://www.ku.ac.ke/
The Bitsoko project http://www.ku.ac.ke/kunew/index.php/62-icecarousel-title
Kenyatta University Startups http://research.ku.ac.ke/index.php/en/english-home/114-spin-off-companies/221-spin-off-companies

Read more about Bitsoko and the $100,000 grant at the following links
http://www.coindesk.com/meet-the-kenyan-startup-trying-to-change-bill-gates-mind-on-bitcoin/
http://disrupt-africa.com/2015/07/kenyan-bitcoin-startup-bitsoko-receives-100k-grant-from-gates-foundation/

UberPay - http://uberpay.io/

UberPay will be adding KOBO to it's platform and also to it's coin swap facility http://doecoins.com/ which offers ShapeShift features. It will give users the ability to swap KOBO with other cryptocurrencies without the need for an account.

Kobojs-lib

I'm in the process of creating the Kobocoin Javascript Client Library. This was requested by the Bitsoko team to allow the integration of kobo on their platform. The library will be based on the bitcore client libraries. This is a new area of development for me so I'll be testing out a few features to verify it before release on github.

The js client libraries will also allow me to look into other areas that the kobo blockchain can be extended. It will mean that iOS crypto services can easily add KOBO to their offerings

Exchanges

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation here. At the moment on both Yobit and CoinExchange we're looking at a daily volume of about 0.1BTC. I've approcahed other exchanges but with such small volume I don't think they're looking too kindly on the request. You might say that once we're added to the larger exchanges that volume will pick up. Possibly, but this is the chicken and egg situation.

At the moment I'm not too worried about price. Volume is the key to the success of KOBO. Volume will bring price stability which we don't have right now.

Twitter Tipping

The response to the twitter tipping has been very positive. I'm tipping retweets, followers and likes 100 KOBO. The tips are being redeemed and there's even been users tweeting Poloniex to add KOBO to their exchange. Some very prolific African tweeters have been tweeting the KOBO price that goes out once per hour so a larger community beyond this forum is becoming aware of the existence of KOBO.

And Finally...

I've had an interview for the Bitcoindood blog http://bitcoindood.com/bitcoin-blog/ which will be out soon. I'll post a link. Hopefully my answers don't make you all run for the hills!

Hope you all have a great Easter

 

[m4nki]

Great news! Keep up the good work!

[killerjoegreece]

kobocoin looks real good. keep it up dev

[EBK1000]

Thats excellent for Kobocoin and good luck with getting into the African market 

[b1007]

Sadly sold all my Kobocoins a while ago, thinking the project would die out. But now it seems Kobocoin is back on the map and prospects are looking good. I hope you will remain passionate about this project Tribesmen and you will succeed. Maybe if you can work out a real use-case scenario, doesn't matter if it's small, then it should be easier to get listed on some exchanges.

[LionOfNarnia]

That is an amazing coup, Tribesman, bloody well done Sir

I'll carry on minting until the day I can spend them to travel to Africa & use them to do some genuine good in a part of the world which has been so shameless abused, exploited & suppressed by the so-called 'western civilisation' for so long.

Happy Ishtar to all!

[TheTribesman]

Happy Ishtar (Easter) to you all, and thanks for your continued support and encouragement. It's always greatly appreciated!

@b1007 - Things were quiet for a long time. I don't blame you.

Kobocoin had a very brief mention on Episode #4 of Blockchain Dynamics Altcoin Talk News and Discussion (Kobocoin's mention is at 39:18:00)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1379730.msg14261267#msg14261267
Not a big mention but it made me smile when they said that they didn't expect us to be around this long. I take that as a compliment

I'm deep in bitcore-lib territory. Yes, it's easier to work with than bitcoinjs-lib, but as usual it's never that easy or straightforward. I've spent most of my spare time researching what needs to be done. The steps are:

- Package the X15 hashing algorithm and publish it on npm (https://www.npmjs.com/) as a package.json.
- It'll be a public package so any other X15 coin will be able to use it.
- I created a working X15 hash for kobocoinj (used by the android wallet) so I'm hoping it won't take too long.
- I've never created a package.json before but the documentation seems straightforward.
- Fork bitcore-lib (https://github.com/bitpay/bitcore-lib)
- Change the network parameters on the forked bitcore-lib.
- Modify the artefacts to reflect the name I give the js library i.e kobojs-lib, kobocoinjs-lib, kobocore-lib, or just koboko (a whipping tool).
- Build the browser bundle
- Test
- Once verified, commit to github

It shouldn't take too long but it's a busy time so it'll be a few days before it's completed. Finding spare time is hard right now.

This is a koboko. Used for maintaining discipline by Nigerian dads and policemen. Sometimes you're made to smell it before the beating starts. They hurt.



 

[bandofgypsys]

Hello Tribesman! I think you'll find the momentum will pick up significantly here.  Somehow you've flown under the radar! Nice work and really excited for your project, thanks for sticking it out through the dark ages of 2015.

I don't know how you have not been added to polo by now??!!  For polo to continue to list coins like Arch it just hurts the site to have traders with no clue stuck in dead end coins. They need to clean house and let in some well deserved coins!

500 sats is a joke! for the current price, so many other coins have half or even 0 the real world partnerships you have been able to secure.

 I just bought 75k kobo i'll begin staking and look forward to your progress. Good luck taking on MPesa, they don't know how powerful and revolutionary the blockchain is.

These are interesting times, with ETH taking up so much of the attention there are a few gems in crypto like Kobo that are a great value:)

[shintosai]

hi there just joined this and downloaded your wallet is there any ways to earn free kobo? I'm in the period of checking this coin and what is the possibilities might have in the near future if development has been created, so as of now I'm just looking for a possible ways to earn w/out buying it so I can see if my wallet will stake or how it will run. thank you OP

[BitcoinPorn]

hi there just joined this and downloaded your wallet is there any ways to earn free kobo? I'm in the period of checking this coin and what is the possibilities might have in the near future if development has been created, so as of now I'm just looking for a possible ways to earn w/out buying it so I can see if my wallet will stake or how it will run. thank you OP

There is a faucet here http://www.multifaucet.tk/index.php?faucet=KOBO



It would be good to put up some coins on https://yobit.net/en/freecoins/ if someone is able to