Afghanistan, a crypto solution?

WATERCOOLER
#1

I figure if there is any place with crypto-experts it would be here on IvanonTech/Moralis Academy
Seeing the recent images of our fellow human beings suffering in Afghanistan made me very uneasy.
I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to what we see right now I eat & live like a king.

I want to do something. Anything.
Call me naiive, call me a fool for trying - doesn’t matter.

There is no money for ordinary people to buy their groceries. A run on the banks has started
ATM’s have been switched off.

Even Western Union is suspending work there. (at this time??)

So, looking at it analytically, rationally, what crypto tech/currency could best rapidly solve the implosion of the Afghani currency?

If a bunch of us rapidly got together to build something, which tech would you think is best suited?

I’m no economist, but it seems to me the feature requirements would have to at least cater for the following:

  • electricity is infrequent
  • cell phone coverage is spotty & infrequent
  • smart phones will likely be low-end devices, therefore not have huge storage space for bloated apps
  • small transactions should be possible quickly & cheaply (eg: payment for a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, etc)
  • nodes would have to run in nearby countries that have more stable electrical supplies (Pakistan, India, China, UAE…)
  • …(I’m sure I’m missing feature requirements)

Given the above, do you think FTM would be a good choice?
ETH & BTC are not good choices in my understanding because fees & speed are not optimum.

My idea is to rapidly rig up some sort of exchange using Moralis, offering coins that are suitable.
I have a team of translators & sponsor ready to help.
But before we get stuck into the technical work I wanted to get some expert advices.

If you have some expert knowledge, please take a moment and leave any relevant suggestion.

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#2

Hey @jenbrannstrom, hope you are well.

You can use moralis to build a website that interact to many networks (ethereum, bsc, polygon) through using moralis as your backend for nodes and the dapp (website).

If you need a token, you can create a ERC20 and deploy it on the mentioned networks above, but you must have a clear path on why you need your own token, because you could just rely on multiple tokens for the payments (dai, usdt, usdc, btc, eth…).

Basically all you need is moralis to build the dapp easier, this dapp will be 24/7 available because is not limited on a country specifaclly, the nodes side will be taked care on moralis nodes, your dapp should be mobile compatible so you can open it on a smart phone (it does not matter if is high end or low end device, as long as your dapp does not use too much resources from the device to load).

Hope this help.

Carlos Z

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#3

It’s definitely a sad situation, I wonder if there is a way to deploy Helium miners (low energy usage) or something similar that create a network for them to use. I believe the new LongFi miners can put signals out for miles. They would need something like starlink to connect them maybe. It would only take a have dozen miners +/- to cover a 100 square mile zone I believe. That’s probably a pipe dream, but maybe something similar could work. I’m really new to the programming side of crypto, but this is the type of stuff I’m interested in, I’m all ears on anything I can learn or build to help. Thank you as well for your selflessness and forward thinking. What other ideas do we have? Thanks. Hope I can help even a little.

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#4

Thank you Carlos, for answering.
I think the most relevant, quickly, is providing access to existing coins. I think making a token takes us down a path where it gets too complex, lacks trust and just well, yet another token.

Instead, I believe what is needed is a way for people to (buy or receive from relatives abroad) existing stablecoins.

#5

Appreciate it Cryptolibrium.
I checked out the Helium miners. I think it would prove prohibitively expensive for Afghanis. Average devices are between $400 to $800, and that doesn’t include the shipping.

I think it’s more urgent to provide them with a way to BUY crypto.

Whenever I sign up with an exchange I have to go through a lengthy KYC process. It’s understandable of course, considering the criminals and tax-evaders that want to exploit this system.
How on Earth is a butcher/baker/ in downtown Kandahar going to get through such a KYC process?? It’s just not going to happen.
Someone suggested Bisq which I am reading the docs for. (It’s not so simple)

So the issue might not be at the crypto side at all, but more about needing a bank account in the first place - in order to start buying BTC or other.

I still don’t understand why BTC is apparently the most popular, because it’s slow and expensive.

#6

In the short term, I don’t know. Maybe an ADA Cardano project can do some good things in a month or two.

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#7

Hi, I have limited technical knowledge, however I believe Electroneum was created with exactly this situation in mind- micropayments. It is also minable on smartphones. https://electroneum.com/
It’s been around for a while,2017, so battle tested .
Another one- but much smaller is Aeon, also on the phone, but private. https://www.aeon.cash/en/home/
I hope this helps. It’s great that this community is trying to create a better, fairer, world!

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