BABB: Making Financial Inclusion a Reality
Earlier this year, while hiking on the foothills of Himalaya, I came across the local villagers there. They lived in a secluded village, built in a crevice in one of the hills. It was fun to interact with them, even in such a cold place, these were some of the warmest people I met in my life.
The moment that made this memory bitter was when one lady told me that she was waiting for her husband to come back, "He left for the bank 4 days ago. He should be back in 2 days."
For the people living in that little village, even the nearest bank was a week ago.
Curiously, the villagers had access to mobile phones and internet connection but a bank was still inaccessible.
Well, my time at the Himalayas was before the blockchain took over the headlines in every newspaper in the world. The definition of what is possible has changed too since then.
BABB, a company started by blockchain enthusiasts, who believe they make banks globally available to everyone.
What is BABB?
BABB is an acronym for "Bank Account based on blockchain".
They believe they can create a decentralised banking community, with the help of blockchain, which will eliminate the need for banks or any other middlemen.
It is estimated that there are still 2 billion people in the world who do not have access to a bank. Furthermore, because of the high infrastructure and operating costs, banks have little motivation to address this situation.
Although the penetration of banks is low in certain remote places, smartphones and internet connection are still common.
Leveraging the mobile connectivity, and blockchain technology, BABB want to create a decentralised bank for microeconomy, which will provide individuals and businesses with a UK bank account.
Anyone anywhere can open a bank account with BABB, all you need to do is download the BABB app, click a selfie and set your security key.
The BABB platform gives a lot of power to individuals, where they can act like a bank with whatever capital they have. Members of the platform even have the ability to lend money securely at fair rates to other users and also verify the accounts for their friends and family members and empower them as well.
Along with the platform and the BABB app, BABB is also making available a new black card which with built in NFC will work independently of visa and mastercard.
With the help of this card, members will be able to purchase goods from any retailer who has an account with the platform.
Functioning independent of a bank or visa and mastercard is vital because then BABB can eliminate the high costs of transactions and long processing time. This benefit can then be passed on to the end users who'll enjoy a frictionless banking experience.
How does the BABB platform work?
The three technologies that are central to the platform are Blockchain, Biometrics and Machine learning.
Blockchain technology is useful to reduce the costs involved with the traditional banking institutions// and introduce smart contracts which help the community to build trust amongst itself with the added layer of security.
For example, if a certain user wants to withdraw or deposit money, BABB app will connect them to members of the network who are nearby and then these members can participate in the transaction. Blockchain will also make it secure to lend money via peer-to-peer lending a lot more secure.
Biometric will enable users to authenticate transactions and open bank account without any document. This will also facilitate the "Social KYC" system, which means that members will be available to verify and welcome people to the platform.
Machine learning is very important to assess the risk and making the platform fraud proof.
This technology will be used for mapping behaviours and risk scoring on the platform.
Members can use either fiat currency or the BAX token for participating in the transactions on the platform.
About the ICO
The BAX token is an utility token based on Ethereum blockchain (ERC - 20).
The token can be used to exchange for licensing fees and service fees on the platform.
The pre sale will start on 15th January, 2018.
A total of 1 billion tokens will be issued during the ICO. Out of which, 60% will be available during the presale.
20% of the total tokens will be reserved for the team and 18% for the reserve fund.
The value of the token will be determined two days prior to the pre sale. The hard cap is set at 50 Million dollars and early investors will get the benefit of various early bird bonuses.
Opinion
The BABB platform is trying to redesign the financial structure of the society by enabling every individual to form its own bank, through the decentralised ledger technology.
Using BABB platform anyone in the world should be able to open a UK bank account, which will make banking services accessible to everyone.
BABB have an experienced team who have been working on the project for more than a year now and have already filled 5 patents.
Also, transactions on the platform are regulated by the FCA as an Authorized Payment Institution.They are extensively using advanced contemporary technologies to make the banking experience on the platform frictionless.
The added advantage of these technologies may help them get massive adoption and make the BAX token even more valuable.
Website: https://getbabb.com/
Whitepaper: https://getbabb.com/babb-whitepaper.pdf
Written by ollivander7
BTT Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1069616