Africa is a continent on the precipice of major change, and cryptocurrency is expected to play a huge role in this revolution. To get some insight into exactly how these changes are occurring and affecting life in Africa, I spoke to John Kanyiri, an active member and thought leader in the . Free TON African subgovernance "Hey John, great to finally speak with you. So, how did you first discover FreeTON, and what led you to get so actively involved with the project? " "Hi Ben, thank you for giving me this opportunity and glad to participate! I joined Free Ton at the beginning, in May 2020 and attended the launch zoom meetup. I found out about Free Ton by reading about the struggles of Durov with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The developer community had decided to carry on with the project and that's how I joined Free Ton. After joining Free Ton, I proceeded to engage with the community and especially loved the philosophy and ideals of the network. With a decentralized model of the blockchain I knew I was home. As a frequent traveller too I knew what the African continent was lacking and endeavoured to enlighten the African communities to the new technologies that were upcoming." "Why do you feel Free TON can have such an impact in regards to driving crypto and blockhain adoption in the African continent?" "The FreeTon beginning was characterized by suppression of the individual and control of creative methods of the same in realising a better environment and income by the powers that be. This has been the norm when Africa engages with outside / external powers. Free Ton has led the way in charting its own course and helping the Global communities along. This is being done without any discrimination, favouritism nor racism. The open source OS and freely available utilities in the network are a sure recipe for success to the African people and the network. The Academy too has come at the right time, engaging the continent in educating the masses on blockchain matters shall greatly endear Free Ton to the continent. This might not bring instant results but gradual adoption as we extend the program." "Are there any issues specific to Africa which you feel are different to other areas of the world?" "Africa has many issues but none stands out more than civil strife. A big part of the African countries are involved in wars or just come out from civil wars. This situation impacts a major population of the continent by denying young people infrastructure and an education. Secondly, lack of electricity and internet coverage to a big portion of the continent’s dwellers affects acquisition of knowledge in general and adoption of blockchain solutions too. In countries with electricity and internet, the costs of the 2 components is prohibitive hence hindering access to information and knowledge as well. These above are the main differences between Africa and other global areas." "So what are doing which you are most excited about at the moment?" "Building a Free Ton Africa Community is the most exciting part of the African SG. We look forward to bringing the developers, marketers, opinion leaders, bloggers, and all other disciplines under one roof. Our aim is to bring African solutions to African challenges in the Free Ton network." "And I understand there is a great amount of co-operation between yourselves and the Free TON academy . Could you tell me more about that?" "It's a good start. offers the necessary technical training to our continent and in exchange we provide the human resource that is beneficial to the network. This is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both the Free Ton network and the communities in Africa. A powerful tool that Free Ton will have at its disposal ahead of other chains in the continent. The Academy Many in the continent do not differentiate between bitcoin and blockchain. Wallet creation and cryptocurrencies are quite new to the African populace and as such the first to educate them will have a head start in Africa as far as blockchain adoption is concerned." "One of the newer proposals I can see on the forum is an Esports tournament with Apex Legends . Sounds pretty exciting! Are you a gamer yourself? I try to get involved but, to be honest, I suck at most games nowadays!" "Aha, not anymore. What I do is engage with the young people most of my free time. They brought the idea about tournaments they were engaged with elsewhere into Free Ton. These are existing gaming communities in Africa and we decided that we shall follow the people where they were and participate as well. We plan to bring more gamers onboard as one way to grow our FreeTon Africa community." " And could you give us a taste of some upcoming proposals, contests, and other work being done in the Free TON African SG?" "Sure. A farmers integration program with solutions in agriculture are on the pipeline. A savings and credit platform, more like what is known as DeFi globally but this one with the African model of finance, is also in the development stages. DID (Identity storage interface) project meant to store personal data and certifications immutably and safely. Giving control and privacy to clients and institutions alike. All this shall be through contests, of course." "And I know you've also been active in making Free TON a part of the African Blockchain Week event happening in Morocco. Could you give a few more details about this?" "Yes I'm very excited about this! Free TON being gold sponsor at such a prestigious event is really big for us. It is all through the African subgovernance, but we'll also have a booth for other subgovernances to make presentations. There are lots of guests speakers from all around the world attending, and we'll be doing lots of handling of branding media relations, event hosting and we have a speaking spot which we'' use to showcase continental projects, use cases for adoption and the decentralised governance model. I can't wait!" "Fantastic. Anything else you’d like to add to wrap up, buddy?" "We look forward to making FreeTon great in Africa step by step. The journey started early this year after commissioning our SG, and so far it has been a learning curve. As we roll out more programs, so is our relevance to the communities we represent. We look forward to more engagement with the FreeTon network in future, and thanks for having me."
