One fundamental aspect of the monetary system in any society is payment systems because they are involved in shaping monetary and fiscal frameworks of any nation. Also payment systems aid monetary transactions for the payment of goods and services and thereby facilitate products and enterprise development, increase the integration of regional financial markets that will foster regional growth, improve the pace of economic expansion and also contribute towards the implementation of effective economic policies. The importance of effective payment systems cannot be over emphasized and they greatly contribute towards a successful regional economic integration in a highly heterogeneous region such as the African continent.
For quite some time, the integration of African payment systems has greatly lagged behind the rest of the world and this can partly be attributed to several factors such as the culture of the use of cash for payment, weak banking systems and insufficiency in the technological development of many African countries.
In order for African countries to achieve the goal of being a strong player in the global economy, then consumers, SMEs and large corporations must develop the capacity to make payments safely, efficiently and securely. Consequently, all stakeholders and partners need to focus on creative and unique payment frameworks that will help foster both domestic and regional economic integration.
Despite the benefits of having effective, safe and secure payment systems, most African countries are faced with several challenges. They experience technical difficulties with online transactions and payment processing and this happens to be one of the biggest obstacles facing many African countries in the bid to fully integrate secure and efficient payment systems. This challenge has led to obstacles when people attempt to link regional payment systems at various stages of development across the African continent. Also, most banks in Africa lack the adequate infrastructure that will cater to the increasing technology needs.
Did you know that the percentage of Africans having bank accounts is between 15-20 percent? Despite that low percentage of bank users, about 60-70 percent of Africans have mobile phones and bills are often settled with mobile-phone credits in some African countries like Uganda and Kenya. Specifically, about 65 percent of Kenyans make use of their mobile phones in paying bills, making payment for goods and services, sending and receiving money, withdrawing cash and top up airtime. This implies that we can actually be innovative and instead of waiting for what we have always regarded as normal banking operations, we can make financial transactions without any bank accounts. Mitigating the payment processing issues will definitely fare well when traditional banking methods are excluded.
Okay, this is where it gets more interesting. In order to deal effectively with the challenges mentioned earlier, there is a need to put in place orchestrated innovative guidelines, regulations and policies that will ensure the sufficient pillars that will support the integration of payment and settlement system throughout the region and this is where Cryptogene-Mart and blockchain technology comes into play. This service will enable professionals, administrators, business owners, entrepreneurs and retailers that accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for their services and goods to make use of Cryptogene-Mart.
The Cryptogene-Mart will serve as a base platform that will foster business integration with easier, faster and on-time processing with the aid of several blockchain tools. When unilateral payment systems are fortified, it will also improve confidence and the use of non-cash payment systems. When the proper components of a regional institutional framework needed for the interconnection of African payment systems are successfully implemented, it will speed up the integration process. Most impediments to trade will be minimized when the payment systems are strengthened while regional ties are established. This will also lead to the expansion of trade and exchange of venture capital, goods and services and merchandise across the region leading to economic growth.
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During the ICO of Cryptogene, a total of 50,000,000 CGT will be issued and 25,000,000 will be sold during this phase. The crowdsale of CGT will be launched on the Waves platform while smart contracts will be on Ethereum. With a goal to raise a minimum of US$1 million and a maximum of US$2.5 million, Cryptogene is no doubt the solution to present challenges of payment systems in Africa and you have to be a part of this great movement in Africa.
