Hiphop icon Akon becomes one among the many other celebrities who have come out openly in the support of Bitcoin. While engaging in an interview with a local radio station, the Grammy winner criticized the common perception that cryptocurrencies are vulnerable.
While conversing with Angela Yee and DJ Envy, Akon compared Bitcoin with the US dollar and mentioned,” “Who says that the actual dollar is worth anything? Yes, the government, but nothing backs the dollar. The U.S. doesn’t have natural resources that back the dollar. What they do have is the military.”
He also expressed the idea that cryptocurrencies are based on people’s trust rather than on any financial system imposed by the government, which makes them more reliable than standard currencies. When questioned about Bitcoin’s price volatility, he said that even though fiat currencies like the dollar have no intrinsic value and they are used by people only because the government forces them do it through the military. “What they do have is the military. That’s who backs the dollar,” Akon said.
According to Akon, fiat currencies can be impacted by policies framed by a government but currencies like Bitcoin, backed by trust offers more stability. “It boils down to trust. What you trust is the value it gives you, “he stated.
The musician’s comments comes in the background of him having launched a cryptocurrency named AKoin in Africa. In June 2018, he revealed his initiative to set up a smart city in Senegal which will ““blend leading Smart City designs with a blank canvas for cryptonizing our daily human and business exchanges.”
An initiative from the Senegal government has helped Akon in securing a 200-acre segment of land just 5 minutes away from Senegal’s new international airport in the capital city of Dakar, to build this crypto-city. In future, Akon wants to expand the reach of this project to 18 other African nations. The Akoin ecosystem is being marked as the technology that will to unleash the growing economic potential of African nations under the “One Africa. One Coin,” initiative.
Senegal is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and having digitized its currency back in 2017, it is the perfect launching pad for Akon’s ambitious project.
In an earlier statement, Akon mentioned that “I think that blockchain and crypto could be the savior for Africa in many ways because it brings the power back to the people and brings the security back into the currency system.“
Akon is not the first celebrity to come out in support of Bitcoin. Movie stars like Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, Johnny Depp, Jennifer Lopez and artists like Madonna, Pitbull and Snoop Dogg have declared their affection for Bitcoin in the past.
