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RE: Humaniq: banking services for the undocumented and unbanked
I agree with you. This project is designed not for most of us because we have access to the traditional banking system. But it is important for about 2 billion undocumented and unbanked people in poor countries. They have no access to KYC and banking services. This project aims to help them. We can only support the idea.
No, @arvydas, I have to disagree. You can help the people who do not have access to the traditional banking system WITHOUT taking their biometric data. You can do it with bitcoin, litecoin, dash, startcoin, and all other blockchain based cryptocurrencies that do not collect and control information on people.
They will control their own information - on the Blockchain and decide who gets to see that information, not any central authority.
But you said they are illiterate. How are they gonna control their own biometric data (which are open on the Internet with every login) if they are illiterate? Would you use biometric data as litterate?
And if they live on less than $2.5, then they really just need hardware to game their crypto of choice through faucets. Also, if the are illiterate, they are not stupid. And even as illiterate, they can choose symbols from the keyboard and write them to paper, where they will not be available to everyone like biometric data.
At the end, I have to thank you. Your “arguments” have made me sure that Humaniq is human only by name.
How they can afford themselves to acquire very expansive Bitcoins? They cannot earn more BTC just using Bitcoin network but with Humaniq they can. It is kind of cheap mining and incentivize to use Humaniq network. Nothing similar with your mentioned cryptocurrencies. Do not forget that the goal of project is to identify undocumented and unbanked people but not to exclude them. Bitcoin, DASH, XMR, Litecoin etc. is suitable for westerners but not not for poor African people. They have only very cheap smart phones running only very simple apps. Bitcoin is for richers and not for poor. How can they buy Bitcoins if they have no access to the markets?
@arvydas, you are seriously missing my point. Even if you think that Humaniq is the only coin possible for use in poverty stricken countries (which is not true), it is still NOT NECESSARY to take their biometric data. Do you understand what I'm talking about?
I am not sure you understand what you are talking about. Have you ever been to Africa? Asia? South America? Or any place where some of the 2 billion people live on less than $2.50 cents a day and scrape to live in the depths of poverty and struggle? Or been somewhere where some of the 2 billion people without bank accounts can't participate in the economy?
Or met any of the 1 billion people who are illiterate and would not have a clue how to interpret text on a paper never mind on a phone?
Your concern about biometrics is what I call a 'White Man' problem that is born from a life of privilege in the West. I suspect you are cryptoanarchist or a hard core Libertarian and that's fine. Or maybe even a Bitcoin Maximalist.... But honestly, your concerns are far different than the people who Humaniq is aiming to lift out of poverty and improve their lives.
In fact it IS NECESSARY to take their biometric data. Because that allows them, even when they are illiterate - to protect and safeguard their data on their phone. It gives them an identity which they can use to access more than just banking services, much like a profile on Facebook but is rock solid and gauranteed to be theirs. One that can't be hijacked or stolen, or ripped from a database. It's them and it's theirs. Protected and safeguarded in a Blockchain.
Do YOU understand what I am talking about?
It's not about the coin. That's what you can't see. It's more about the hardware than the software. Humaniq will be putting smart enough phones into the market at the lowest possible costs or even zero cost as investment with the app and some currency to use. Bitcoin is great if you have a phone and you understand how to use it well enough to figure out how to buy and sell Bitcoin (good luck buying bitcoin with a Fiat currency out of Africa or a small Asian country). People in the West can hardly figure out how to participate in the cryptocurrency revolution without some coaching. Never mind someone who can't read, lives on less than $2.50 cents a day and has never had a bank account.