True decentralization, in the vegetable market in Africa

The son of the Prime Minister of Uganda founded a Crypto organization a few years ago. Several "second-generation officials" who studied in the UK and the US and tech geeks got together to do several small projects related to Crypto, such as peer-to-peer transfers of Crypto using mobile phones without smart apps in places without 3G networks. Africans understand Africans better. Most of their locals are using non-smart phones that can only make calls and send text messages. Since many Africans do not have bank accounts and are unwilling to travel half the city to find a Western Union or a few banks for transfers and remittances, the locals' remittance method is simple and crude: mobile phones based on USSD technology can directly remit money to friends by sending text messages, and everyone's mobile phone number is their "wallet"/account, and the balance of phone bills is the account balance.

I followed a friend from this organization and personally experienced the smooth "registration, KYC, and transfer" process: I bought a $50 mobile phone from a telecom operator next to the Kampala vegetable market, lined up, and the counter staff had operated the KYC process thousands of times. The whole process took 3 minutes. The staff helped me recharge the "phone bill" with cash; there are a large number of fixed and mobile official/unofficial Kiosks (kiosks/service points) in the village. When you want to "withdraw cash", you go to the "villager representative" on duty at the Kiosk, send him a text message to transfer money, and he will give you cash. "Recharge" is the opposite process. The whole process is smooth, and it is all point-to-point, there is no third party, and there is no trust issue at all. This product and process is not only in the capital, but has been deeply rolled out in the vast rural areas.