Singer Akon is all set to build a ‘crypto city’ called Akon City in Senegal in West Africa. Trust us when we say our jaws dropped too, on hearing this news. By Amitha Ameen
The Sengalese-American singer is all set to land another hit with his self-named city and cryptocurrency named Akoin. “Just finalised the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future” — read the singer’s tweet from his official Twitter handle.
Reports of the rapper’s plans first surfaced in 2018, after the singer unveiled plans for the city and his currency at the Cannes Lions festival of creativity. What seemed to be in the works for a while was finally made official, after the singer signed the paperwork and posed with Senegalian officials for a photo-op.
With an official website for Akoin already live, it seems like everything has been in the works much in advance and the paperwork was just the last straw in the hat. The tagline of the website reads, ‘One Africa.One Coin.’ The website also states that the Akoin cryptocurrency will be available across all 52 African countries and that the crypto ecosystem will empower Africa.
But this isn’t the first time that the Grammy-nominated artist has hit the headlines for something other than his music. The multi-platinum selling artist and entrepreneur founded and grew, Akon Lighting Africa, through which the singer has already brought solar power to 18 countries in Africa, creating safety, health and well-being for over 100M of the 600M Africans who lack electricity.
While Akon City is still under development, reports suggest that the cryptocurrency is expected to launch in early July.
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