Bancor Launches Community Token Network to Combat Poverty in Kenya

Bancor is launching a network of blockchain-based community currencies in Kenya aimed at combating poverty, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph June 18.

Bancor, self-described as a "Decentralized liquidity network," secured a then-unprecedented $153 million in under three hours in an Initial Coin Offering June 2017.

To oversee the launch, Bancor has partnered with a non-profit foundation, Grassroots Economics, which currently runs community currency programs in six locations across Kenya, and serves over 20 schools and 1,000 local businesses.

Grassroots will use the Bancor Protocol to expand its existing paper currency system into a blockchain-based network.

The new tokens will be tradable using fiat or crypto on the Bancor platform, which the organization hopes will allow global users to support local communities from afar.

A balance in a stabilized "Parent" token is under development and will be initially pegged to the Kenyan Shilling to enable convertibility between the network of local currencies.

Decentralized exchanges such as Bancor exclude a middleman and the need to rely on a third party service to hold customers' funds.

In Bancor's case, its protocol is implemented using multiple contracts involving a token converter and an ERC-20 compliant SmartToken.

Bancor is seeding the initial currencies by contributing capital generated from its $153 mln token sale in June 2017.

As of press time, Bancor is trading at $3.27, slightly down from the time of its ICO sale price of $3.92.