In Kenya, banking the unbanked is already happening, with mobile money services you don’t need an Android-enabled phone to have someone send, receive or save money, they can easily do it from their feature phones on the mobile service provider’s network. This can be done from remote parts of the country with network coverage. Is this technology enough? Certainly not, Mobile money service fees are still high and although most people might not be keen enough to know how much they spend in fees, they eventually do in unfavorable financial situations or out of interest from their monthly expenses.
Every time a Bitcoin Core speaker takes the stand and offers a solution for the millions of unbanked people in Africa, they portray willful ignorance. This doesn’t come as a surprise because the Bitcoin Core blockchain doesn’t have much to offer. Profit from arbitrage is the only thing the Bitcoin Core camp can offer at the moment, and given the unpredictable nature of the Bitcoin price, this is murky territory since it has no intrinsic value. Furthermore, the Bitcoin Core trading space is filled with whales who will gladly sell their positions to tank the Bitcoin price with the aim of purchasing more in quantity and repeating the cycle. This in part makes Bitcoin Core a volatile asset and has left most small scale Bitcoin investors unsure whether they will ever get a return on their investment. The Bitcoin Core blockchain was not set out to be an investment instrument.
The Bitcoin Cash blockchain forked off the Bitcoin Core blockchain in 2017, it was created to offer a solution for scaling issues Bitcoin Core was facing with congestion and high transaction fees on its chain. A hard fork or an irreversible upgrade on the original Bitcoin code that branched off into Bitcoin Cash can finally offer a realistic solution for banking the unbanked, and more importantly cross border payments. Apart from being fast and affordable, it has an independent and agile development ecosystem that ensures it stays active and ahead of the game.
Most Africans might not know or care for the solution Bitcoin Cash offers, but it is the future generations that will bolster adoption. As the gap between the rich and poor grows, and rising unemployment, a time will come where only those using fast and affordable payment solutions will get the best deal.
