Universal Basic Unit - A South African blockchain project for universal benefit?
At the get-go, let me reiterate two things:
- Two years (nearly) on Steemit, and I still don’t really get more than just the principles of crypto currency and the blockchain technology. I’m beginning to think that tokens are little more than loyalty clubs that benefit only those that are “in”. Going back to crypto, I do know that folk have (are) cashing in and converting to fiat (now that I actually know what that means: I used to have a Fiat, and we recently had diners for Sunday Supper who live in Fiat, Italy).
What I like about the blockchain is the decentralisation and, for the moment, the lack of regulation. Yes, I get that there are moves afoot to regulate things and that moving between the crypto economy(s) and the “real” economy brings one into the realm of regulation. However, having spent (as I keep saying, ad nauseum) the best part of my life working in a highly regulated and regulating environment, I’ve had enough. Yes, I was involved in creating systems to enforce compliance (in education and training), but in so doing, I was working in a sector where the regulatory barriers to have risen in increments that have made it virtually impossible for an independent contractor to bid for work. I closed my business partly because the regulatory compliance was costing me more than I could make, which costs were both in fees for tenders, registrations, professionals as well as in the time it took to administer what was, effectively a one woman business. I went from spending half a day a month on administering the business and doing the work, to two to three days, plus fees for professionals more conversant than I. This before client-related administration not to mention actually doing and delivering the work.
I do know that some of the reason for the levels of compliance and regulation was a measure on the part of some, to stop corruption, which is now being seen in technicolour through the work of the State Capture Commission, as well as the PIC and Nugent enquiries.
Going back to my situation: clearly the numbers no longer jived.
From that digression, to my next point:
- I am a bit of an idealistic salmon (oh, and a Piscean) to boot, so flapping about in favour of good causes - often to my detriment - is second nature. I can “buy” into most good causes, well less so now, as I’ve become a bit more jaded. Then I heard this interview.
I investigated and discovered a new (launched late 2018), South African blockchain project which has, as a premise that Everyone has value and where the core of is a group of diverse people, united by a common purpose: to create a connected economy where everyone has value. The challenge was to develop a cost-free, self-sustaining, universal basic income source. Another review summarises the Ubu goal as the world’s first fully fledged decentralised cryptocurrency that delivers free and guaranteed income to all citizens without relying on taxation.
On registering you get 500 bonus tokens and 100 each day to spend at participating vendors - anyone can register as a vendor and already some of the big South African brands are there. Yes, there seems to be a catch in that this currency doesn’t inflate on the blockchain, but rather decays. So you must spend it: your wallet decays at 1% a day and this goes back into the community.
I registered today, and already there is decay - here is a screenshot of my wallet
I figure, though, that if I get something every day, and don’t spend, I’m still gaining. And I can register as a vendor. Something I’m going to investigate. All I have to lose is the time.
If you are interested in both earning and using Universal Basic Unit of income, follow this link
I would be interested to hear the views of our local and not-so-local crypto experts: @jaynie, @joanstewart, @julianhorack, @craigcryptoking, @quillfire, @blockurator
Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa
Photo: Selma
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Interesting idea to "decay" the wallet rather than put interest on it. That may well prevent people just setting up the account and leaving it (although a lot will probably do that still as it's "free money").
I didn't listen to the interview and Quilldiva seems to have made some dramatic comments in his award winning ways.
Going back to your first point about not understanding cryptocurrencies, I may revisit my Bluffer's Guide to Cryptocurrency and start going through the whole of it again with updated notes to help newcomers or those still struggling with the basics. And it doesn't use complex terminology.
Anyway, hope the UBU works out for you.
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Thanks, @nickyhavey. It seems that Block and Quill agree. Your point
I don't know because as you say, it's
That appeals to a lot of folk and, in principle, if it were genuinely accessible to the people who really need it, an excellent idea. That said, it appeals to milennials and with our huge youth unemployment problem, perhaps they are the target market. My reservations, however, remain about accessibility for folk in rual areas. Although I'm not a melennial, I want in, and I live in a rural area. It took me nearly 3 days to register because of a poor signal. And then, the platform is confusing because the OTP came on some occasions to my email address (WiFi on my phone) and on others to my phone via text (no / limited signal) and, and, and....
That would be very, very helpful.
I will go back to the site when I've got a moment and do some more digging.
Well it might prevent inactivity if the penalty for inaction would be more but you need people to sign up and give them an offer they can't refuse yada yada yada....
Teething problems with a new platform aren't unheard of, especially when there's a combination of other things going on as well with Internet signal (and other animals).
I saw you got a tweet but they obviously didn't read your reservations haha!
Hope you find what you're looking for with your research.
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Hahaha! Nope, nobody reads properly these days.
Now the support peeps are taking notice.... Let's see
Happy travels....
Haha! Why read when you can just assume and be done with it? 😂
Clearly. LOL. How to win friends and influence people. NOT!
Hi Fiona, sorry been a busy day offline today, with very little internet connection.
Both @quillfire and @blockurator have replied superbly.
About 4 years ago I asked the same question in a Forum, how is blockchain technology going to assist the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa, alas no replies.
Lack of education, poverty and all the things on the table, tokens would be wonderful, will work once adopted. I think more along the lines of the old train ticket system, a daily ticket worked out more expensive to a monthly, more purchased monthly ticket since they travel every day, the ticket is a token system, the more demand the greater the value.
Will take a more in-depth look tomorrow since I have not heard about this token before, so many have launched in the past year it is astounding.
Thanks @joanstewart - when you have a moment, I would appreciate your thoughts. I will also tweet this and tag them and the CEO at some point
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For any token to work on blockchain technology country wide.
An idea that has stuck in my mind over the past five or more years - http://www.no-straight-lines.com/
1(a) Each and every person does have value, what value do you have to offer to another, take it back to barter and trade, one person grows vegetables another bakes bread, they are able to trade in food value.
2(a) Impoverished do not need tokens, they need a helping hand to invest into their future, slowly helping others to grow. Hidden agendas of possibility via taking from those who have and giving it to the have not's, a lovely idea how do you convince the rich it is the right thing to do.
In a country like South Africa (my opinion only), if government decided to introduce a small token to avoid carrying cash could be used for transport, rent, electricity, food:-
1(b) Starting with the local "Grant" system where blockchain technology would be more transparent in receiving and spending at stores where "Grant" is paid out, would entice buying/selling moving token into real world and educating at the same time.
2(b) Where the full Grant amount is not used the monthly balance could earn 1% interest, teaching savings. Implement through corporate and government PnP, Spar, Post Office, Taxi Services all using one token, able to "swipe" a QR code screen when funds are needed.
Whole reason why the original bitcoin project introduced a large decimal system is for supply and demand, ease of use, small amounts could be used daily. Greater value of coin would mean smaller decimal of coin would be used. Once proper control on costing vs expense and security in place, digital money will become a way forward.
Very good business plan has to be introduced, all these small coins at the moment are feeling their way around IMHO. Long answer, jotting down my thought!
Well said, @joanstewart - better articulated than my churning thoughts.
This, for me, is where the dilemma begins - and ends. I live in a village where cash is still king. And not all (in fact a lot of it) is in the formal economy. There is an expression in the village to the effect that you can watch the same R10 note go round and round the village time and time again. That said, there are folk (lots) who get social grants and who have them deposited into their bank accounts. The young people - many unemployed and unskilled - even with matric - all have smart phones but data is expensive and patchy here. One of the big providers is in the process of putting up a tower, but that only means that signal will be less patchy - for mobile phone data. The price doesn't change.
Then, there is the very real issues of crime and drugs. We know through folk who work for us that there are mothers who, until the family stepped in, with help from SASSA, were getting their child grants and frittering every cent on tik.
One of the things that is evident from my looking at the website is that the UBU is to be spent - it says so - but with vendors that are registered. So that also means that vendors have to be tech savvy and her I also see issues for rural areas: we have at least three stores (very small), not to mention the garage and the post office that have no connectivity at all. Two of them are run by foreigners and the other by an ouma who probably has never touched a computer and still has an old fashioned till.
And our village, by comparison with some of the hamlets you find in the poorer parts of the country, is well-resourced. So...
I do think the principle is a good one, but I agree with you that there is a great deal that needs thinking through in the implementation.
@joanstewart I appreciate your considered reply.
Fiona
This looks to be an interesting program. My red flag monitors usually go up when people start talking bout universal basic income. My first thought is, who's making money on this? I echo @quillfire's two cents. It looks like a clever coupon scheme. It's probably more cost efficient for the business owner than printed coupons, and it incentivizes patronage. Not a bad idea.
@blockurator
This is something we do not need in South Africa where the state capture project is largely a consequence of patronage. And as I outlined in my post, we are dealing with the fall-out.
Again thank you
Fiona
@fionasfavourites,
OK, I listened to the linked interview and there's a lot of buzz words being tossed about. I'll translate.
The UBU is "securitizing coupons."
Lets say you're a restaurant owner and you sell a meal for $100 (in RAND). Of that, 10% is typically spent on advertising and promotions. So, your meal, net of advertising expense sells for $90.
Everyone who signs up gets 100 UBU per day ... but they lose 1% per day. This is a large incentive to spend it ASAP. Where? At participating retailers. So, they look at the list of particpating retailers in their area and they see your restaurant. And so, they make reservations.
Note though that each retailer determines what percentage of RAND/UBU it will accept. So, let's say your restaurant has a 90 RAND / 10 UBU split. Well, that's exacatly the same position you were in initially (with coupons) EXCEPT now you have 10 UBU which you can sell. Irrespective of the price, anything is better than zero (the initial condition).
Of course, other restaurants see their traffic declining while yours increases. And so, to re-establish a balance, they too start offering the UBU deal.
Over time, the UBU may itself acquire some "commodity value" although I strongly doubt that this is the intent as the erosion in it's value is too rapid to make it very useful as even a mid-term investment asset.
In essence, the UBU gets you to voluntarily "be marketed to" at a discount to the retailer. The UBU is striving to become a "universal coupon."
Quill
UBU erodes, but can be traded for UBX, which I assume is a stable investment? Perhaps?
I can't quite determiine at this point if UBU/UBX is a South African entitiy, or do they aim at worldwide adoption?
Those are good questions. There is a swiss address and a South African focus. It's so new that the jury must still be out
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@thekittygirl,
The UBU is designed very much like an "Option" (calls and puts) ... a contractual right to buy or sell something (like a stock) at a predetermined price during a specified timeframe. The value of such Option, however, erodes over time as the period in which it can be exercised gets shorter and shorter.
The "something" in question in this instance is the value of the coupon. You receive a $100 coupon today. Tomorrow it's only worth $99. The next day, $98. And so forth. So, it behooves you to cash it in now ... by buying something (with RAND or whatever other fiat currency is stipulated) so as to receive as much discount as possible.
But what if you don't want to buy something or you don't have the fiat to do so? Well, you could sell it but, because it's value is eroding so quickly, you'd have to accept a steep discount because whoever buys it will inherit its eroding properties. As a result, it can never be worth more than a fraction of its original face value.
There's nothing wrong with this. Indeed, it's an intriguing idea for retailers to consider. Calling it a "universal basic income" though is a bit misleading. If I gave you $100 per month, you could spend or save it as you liked with no constraints. With UBU, you need to spend substantial money (earned elsewhere) to receive its value (discount on a purchase).
Not sure.
Quill
Thank you for this, @quillfire and to @blockurator for taking the time to read and comment. As I was writing and subsequently ruminating on what I was seeing on the website after my kneejerk "this-is-a-great-concept" reaction I started beginning to think that it was a glorified loyalty/coupon scheme. And the website had multiple portals and they don't all recognise the same credentials and the support - well - let's just say it's not very....
I will do a little more digging as a user and potential vendor tomorrow.
There are two things that worry me:
The premise of universal basic income in a country where virtual vendors that offer real value, I.e. more than data and a cup of coffee from a major brand, to folk who live in poverty, is not realistic. Laudable idea but illustrates the extent to which educated techies are completely out of touch with reality - where survival which includes women knowing that they are safe at home - including in many instances from men and family members.
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I started getting excited at the concept of selling my products and books through a universal cryptocurrency. Then I read all the comments and now I am hesitant. lol. I will research this more a bit myself. Thanks for the info though.
@shadowolfdg
I don't think you should discount it all together - this is only one UBI token as I said in my post and in my comment to @joanstewart, my question is about the principle and the goal in the South African context. Her comment articulates, far better than I - because it's her business - the challenges associated with adoption to achieve the UBU goal, and not, I reiterate, the principle.
So don't chuck the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.
Thanks for stopping by!
Fiona
Any site using eCommerce software PayFast - https://www.payfast.co.za/payment-methods/ can accept Bitcoin @shadowolfdg
One tried and tested is TakeALot, you could sell off of their platform https://www.takealot.com/books/ebooks
All cryptocurrencies are able to be exchanged from token/coin into/from bitcoin on exchanges, if it cannot convert to either bitcoin (BTC) or etherium (ETH) do not invest.
Luno is the exchange I use and both BTC and ETH are able to be traded.
This sounds fantastic!! Makes me want to live in South Africa! (I am already used to the climate - same as here LOL)