Nurucoin, African Cryptocurrency Set to Spur Intra-Africa Trade

By David Indeje / Published February 3, 2018 | 6:07 am

The Internet currency Bitcoin is surrounded by uncertainty, many have termed it ‘a speculative bubble, ponzi scheme’ making them susceptible to abuse by criminals in money laundering and financing of terrorism.

As the financial sector grapples with the new paradigm shift, technologies are disrupting every aspect of financial intermediation.

Frank Deya, CEO at Bitsoko during the launch of DataHack for Financial Inclusion (DataHack4FI Kenya) he noted that “Blockchain is going to disrupt so many sectors specifically finance.”

“Forget bitcoin, think beyond bitcoin,” he said in reference to how it will impact positively other sectors too.

DataHack4FI Kenya is an African innovation competition that encourages finance, tech and data enthusiasts to collaborate in using data and analytics to solve business challenges and extend financial services to underserved communities.

As a result of this, Isaac Muthui, a computer science graduate has launched a cryptocurrency named nurucoin aimed at increasing trade among Africans.

Nurucoin, African Cryptocurrency Set to Spur Intra-Africa Trade
Nurucoin is a Ksh 15 Million investment developed using ethereum’s blockchain.

“Nuru coin offers a comprehensive Intra-African trading platform complete with its own integrated payment system,” reads its website. It is powered by Blazebay, currently in pilot phase and moving to the blockchain.

Muthui is in agreement with other industry players that “The world is currently gravitating towards blockchain technology. We have come a long way from the internet of information where we exchanged information, and then we went to the internet of things where people could use the internet to exchange things. We are currently in the internet of finding which is characterized by block chains – storing information in a decentralized format.”

As of Saturday, the platform had 5,664 investors (150 Registered Merchants and 100,343 Community Members) ahead of its official launch on Feb. 12.

Muthui says their goal is to handle transparent intra-Africa trade. It is also meant to encourage Africans to trade among themselves instead of over-relying trading with other regions. Currently, Africa trades with the rest of the world at 66 percent but only trades with itself at 11 percent. This needs to change.

Thus, “Nurucoin is positioned to help the SME market in Africa achieve an active part of this growing cross-border trade by solving some of the cross-border payment issues hampering our growth.”

He adds that “Nurucoin will be the first currency aimed at giving value back to the producer or originator of the goods or services by removing the high cost of middlemen in the payment ecosystem in Africa.”

The platform’s website notes “Although Nuru coin will participate at the various global exchange markets alongside other trading currencies and assets as a commodity, it’s main value will be derived from its wider access, acceptability, and usage in the Pan-African trade and payment ecosystem.”

Initial Coin Offer (ICO)

Currently, one Nurucoin is being sold at Ksh Sh10 on presale which is targeting global joint ventures, but the price for the cloud sale will begin later in February with a price to be announced then.

Visa and Paypal are the best suited to aid in the purchase of Nurucoins.

https://t.co/uJqBUSFqmg – Isaac (Founder/CEO Nurucoin Inc) talks about the reason why Africa needs to embrace technology. Nurucoin comes to address the root causes of the perennial imbalance of Intra-African trade currently at only 11% compared to Africa-Europe trade at 66%. pic.twitter.com/JPAeR04AZ3
— Nurucoin Cryptocurrency (@nurucoin_crypto) January 30, 2018

About David Indeje

David Indeje is a writer and editor, with interests on how technology is changing journalism, government, Health, and Gender Development stories are his passion. Follow on Twitter @David_IndejeDavid can be reached on: (020) 528 0222 / Email: info@sokodirectory.com

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