Below is Charles Hoskinson's (founder of Cardano/IOHK) response to a video I made asking some questions about how Cardano will be implemented in the developing world. So if you haven't seen that video, this post may not make any real sense to you so here's a link to the video - https://goo.gl/5S5TBp
Below is his response verbatim.
"It is far too early to commercialise tech in the developing world. I'm not even concerned with it. We have foundations and relationships to lay but it is absurd and ridiculous to demand a comprehensive strategy and infrastructure when we are still turning on primary functionality, yet its's demanded. What bothers me about this whole affair is the utter lack of respect of time.
This isn't a simple question. We are talking about a global scale problem. We are talking about something that is involving more than a hundred countries and cultures, each with unique needs and considerations and it is being assumed that apparently unless we have a proper strategy whatever the hell that means that we have no idea what we're doing. Since you've taken time to make a video I'll respond directly to you here. Let me be extraordinary clear that I take umbrage to this entire affair and you have been profoundly disrespectful.
First with all respect to cryptocurrencies, none are capable of serving the needs of even people in the developed world, none are capable of acting as a payment system or a proper means of exchange. None are capable of acting as a primary property ledger or identification system, none are capable of scaling to even modest daily use for a small country nor are any of these systems mobile friendly.
It's absurd and counterproductive to attempt any form of developing world proliferation when the systems don't even work amongst the rich. That's the initial focus of our developments efforts- to correct these remedial problems prior to attempting adoption.
We have been extraordinary clear about our methodology. We have also partnered with many different organisations and groups, they have a clear understanding of how to iterate to a reasonable solution.
Second let us now discuss how we will get adoption within the developing world. IOHK was just here in Barbados, first you cannot achieve mainstream adoption as a foreign entity. Its patronising and completely misunderstand the dynamics of these countries. Along that thought there are basic assumptions about capabilities and infrastructure that need to be true prior to any adoption. You need a value stable token, you need low cost cash in cash out, you need participation from small business owners who are willing to host cash in and cash out points, you need ability to permit offline chain payments, you need a secondary network such as a mesh network or satellite uplink to act as a transaction relay system where the primary internet is not stable.
These are not simple problems and they require different solutions based upon the actual countries we're talking about.
SO WHAT ARE WE DOING
First, we have to establish local representation within a collection of pilot countries that we'd actually like to innovate on, this is done via education as the entry point and we've begun piloting this program in Barbados. In countries like Trinidad and Tobago it's hard to get USD, even ADA is value stable, simply having a means of exchange will make it acceptable, at least if volatility isn't hyperactive on a minute by minute basis. It simply means it co-exist with fiat which has many characteristics that you would expect to see in places like Africa, from a large unbanked population to a heavy reliance on remittances.
I have people actually there right now working with university of west indices and local business leaders, training people from the company who will become permanent employees of our organisation.
Establishing a permanent presence requires a minimum of 6-12months doing this, through a university and education for setting. This permits far better goodwill and government relationships.
I personally met with the next prime minister and the finance minister as well as the education minister.
That's the next leader of the country.
You get this kind of access when you embrace education and job creation. And we did this in a matter of months with local partners. The same can be done and is currently being done in Ethiopia. Once you have a stable base of operations and local personnel, the next step is to establish a collection of pilot programs to familiarise the government with the underlying technology.
This includes things like property registration and unforgeable certifications like diplomas. The advantage is that all this type of contracts can be done with local labour using our technology.
Concurrently you continue education programmes, training hundreds of developers to be smart contract developers using our technology. This is extremely easy to do because we've noticed that every single place we've attempted, we've had an overwhelming level of applications. Barbados was several hundreds for just a dozen slots and only 2 months of notice. We expect even larger numbers in Ethiopia.
Now assuming we have a value stable currency to work with the next stage is ATM proliferation, you create an open source ATM design that can run mostly off grid and includes trusted hardware. The manufacturing cost needs to be below 500 dollars. Assuming you can acquire this set up, you can then distribute about a thousand for under half a million dollars which is sufficient to cover an entire country.
It's actually cheap enough to rent satellite spectrum for A few hundred thousand dollars a year to cover all of these devices in a country which means you now have a cash in cash out point which can be owned by an independent business operator.
This is now offline from the main internet but capable of sending transactions anywhere in the world. You can use this point as a credential hub and a micro lending system from there you can explore micro lending schemes such as those done by Mohammad Yunus by the Grameen bank.
You can also have discussions about distribution of foreign aid through these points via pilot programs. We have had hundreds of conversations throughout the years with people ranging from the world bank to the united nations. There is a desire but just simply a lack of infrastructure to run these low-cost pilots.
But my point here is that the cost to provide infrastructure for an entire country with this scheme is in the millions, and the cost to train the thousands of people necessary to run these things is in the hundreds of thousands, and we've already began executing on that model yet this somehow escapes you. I am literally flying out to Barbados to check up on this very process. It consumes a considerable amount of my time but you seem to be more obsessed with the time I spend on twitter.
As a final point, things that take years, and are done in extremely difficult stages will not be explained via one paragraph or interview. I've spent years of my life on this task. I travel to now nearly 40 countries in the last 3 years and if I have to go to a hundred before it's all done I will. But the entire point of this technology is that the work is done by the people on the ground who actually live there.
I cannot by definition solve the financial problems of people in Africa, the Caribbean or south America. They have to solve their own problems. I can give them access to the best infrastructure, knowledge and technology the world has available and I can fly out my best people to work with them.
But ultimately adoption and integration have to be done by local hands. Yet if mPesa, the internet and cell phone adoption are any indication there is ample evidence that this endeavour will be successful. So, I'm going to spend the next half decade of my life giving it a shot"
And then Charles listed a few countries he is going to be visiting and also said "Furthermore some strategies are not politically correct or cannot be publicly stated"
My
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