What is WorldCoin?
WorldCoin is a financial services blockchain project. WorldCoin was created to address the integration problems that local banks have.
Through WorldCoin, banks should be able to introduce the WorldCoin Network tokens and the subsequent infrastructure into the banking system. This is a process that will, in the long run, help to open up the ATMs and local bank branches.
Through this, users are able to visit the bank or the ATM machines and exchange their WorldCoin tokens for the local currency that they prefer.
In light of the strategic partnerships that will be formed between WorldCoin and the local banks, there is a lot of promise for the growth of the Middle East economy.
WorldCoin further promises to donate 20% of their proceeds from transaction fees to non-profit education facilities within the Middle East.
The rest of the proceeds received as profits are reinvested into the coin or stored in cash reserves, in line with Sharia compliance.
Instead of paying the WorldCoin employees salaries, they will earn tokens. This explains why the biggest allocation of tokens was set aside for members of staff.
This is a plan that would see employees become not just an important part of seeing this project succeed, but become owners. As the WorldCoin succeeds, so does their compensation, and their stake in the project.
What is the problem that WorldCoin Solves?
A lot of people know the Middle East to be a hub for international trade. However, even though this might be true, there have been challenges facing trade in the Middle East for a very long time.
One of these is the difficulty in moving money from one place to another.
The idea behind WorldCoin is to solve the issue of cash transfer, while at the same time making sure that cash-backed securities are used in the process. Upon implementation, it will be possible for users to redeem their coins for local currency, or whichever acceptable currency in the same way that people often check cashing in the US.
The currencies used in the Middle East should help this process by creating a dynamic equilibrium for trade, thereby encouraging growth in the region, which has for the longest time possible, been hindered by monetary infrastructure concerns.
While cryptocurrencies are currently booming and opening new uses that most people might never have thought possible in the past, there is still a lot of room for improvement.
There are so many coins currently available on the blockchain platform. However, the challenge is that most of these still lock out a huge chunk of the community, hence a lot of underserved markets. This is what WorldCoin is trying to solve.
The banking infrastructure in the Middle East is limited. As a result, online transactions depend on the goodwill of foreign banks, which come with very high costs of operation, and in the long run have a negative impact on the economies.
Growth in this region is also challenged by the fact that there are limitations to the banking infrastructure, and given that the reliance of the world on oil keeps slowing down, the economic outlook for the future of economies that rely heavily on oil remains bleak.
Other than that, there are also several challenges in the Middle East that inhibit cultural or religious integration that would spur progress. As a result, the financial institutions here often struggle to compete with their peers in markets abroad.
Most of these restrictions come as a result of Sharia Law, which prohibits profit taking in the banking sector, through normal practices like earning interest or charging late payments.
In light of all these challenges, what is needed is a trustless system which can be adopted by the Middle Eastern economies.
This will greatly help to solve the problem of having to engage in physical cash transactions which is very risky for traders.
How does WorldCoin Solve the problem?
WorldCoin is coming in provide a solution to the underserved segments of the market. In so doing, WorldCoin will create a level playing field, bringing the Islamic world into the new digital space, bringing it up to speed with the modern standards and practices of the financial and technological markets.
Of course, WorldCoin will still be in operation under the confines of Sharia law. However, the idea here is to cultivate one of the most useful marketplaces that the Middle Eastern economy has ever seen in more than 5 decades.
The Middle East is a trade-hungry environment. For this reason, it is the kind of environment that would greatly appreciate the presence of hundreds of billion dollars industry like the crypto ecosystem.
Through WorldCoin, the Middle East is not trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they are working with amicable partners (Kyber Network) to create a trustless exchange which eliminates the need for middlemen in transactions, making them more affordable.
This will also increase the level of accountability and security in the platform, which is a step in the right direction, with respect to the financial revolution in the Middle East.
WorldCoin acts as a digital representation of physical cash transactions. The financial system is Sharia-compliant and runs on a decentralized blockchain network, sharing risks among the users on the network.
All transactions are recorded online on a ledger and stored in a distributed ledger system.
Therefore, they can be audited at any given time. In realization of the fact that most people in the Middle East have very poor access to the internet, WorldCoin will open up physical branches in the countries where they are operating.
This means that even without access to the internet, users will still be able to exchange tokens for whichever local currency they prefer.
What makes WorldCoin better than the competitors?
Most of the problems that exist in the Middle Eastern economy are associated with the fact that fiat currencies that are in use are either unstable or issued by authoritarian governments.
A better explanation of this can be derived from the rampant currency devaluation in the Middle East, where in some cases, the rates are as high as 90%.
To combat this, WorldCoin plans to empower the masses, and through asset protection, facilitate the growth of economies in the Middle East through a digital currency that everyone can trust. This can be done in the following ways:
- Common currency
First, the idea of creating WorldCoin is to create a common currency that will be acceptable and used in all the Middle Eastern countries. This makes it easy to do business and to engage in any other transaction.
- First mover advantage
Being the first blockchain platform that is offering these services, WorldCoin benefits from a first mover advantage. This will give the blockchain a competitive edge above any other competitors. WorldCoin will also be in a good position to venture into untapped markets, integrating systems accordingly.
- Strategic partnerships
WorldCoin is already forging partnerships with local and international businesses in the region. These are the businesses that will help to introduce WorldCoin into the Middle Eastern economy, using it as the premier currency for online transactions, or even in their local stores.
- Sharia Law
It goes without saying that WorldCoin will be a pioneer of sorts. This is the first project that is piloting a digital lending platform that is compliant with Sharia Law. This is a P2P lending platform where users can carry out transactions while at the same time still staying within the confines of Sharia Law.
It will be possible to create a partnership that is interest-free with businesses and business people and at the same time succeed in creating more jobs across the Middle East.
Through WorldCoin, it will also be possible to provide easy access to credit facilities, something that most people are not able to enjoy in the normal business environment.
- E-commerce champion
E-commerce in the Middle East has an unlikely champion in the form of WorldCoin. Through this project, it is possible to address some of the challenges that a lot of businesses have in the Middle East when it comes to doing business online.
One such problem is the low rate of penetration for credit cards. This is one challenge that has, in the recent past, led to a very low rate of innovation, job creation, and speed of online commerce. WorldCoin will create a community or a network of tens of thousands of merchants who will be using WorldCoin as their preferred token of trade. This will, in the long run, help to spur commerce and trade all through the region.
- Coin Exchange
In most of the countries in the Middle East, transactions are often cash based. Therefore, people have to visit local exchanges from time to time to get the currency they prefer. Through WorldCoin, however, it will be possible to create lasting partnerships with the exchanges, where they will start exchanging fiat currency for trusted and secure WorldCoin tokens. This is also a good way to empower the masses about WorldCoin.
How can WorldCoin be categorized?
WorldCoin is a financial services blockchain project that is designed to ease the way of doing business in the Middle East and beyond. It was established to tackle some of the traditional challenges that businesses and users encounter when transacting on a day to day basis.
What’s WorldCoin’s vision on Security?
WorldCoin uses cryptographic security protocols. All transactions are impossible to tamper with. This is one of the basic principles of blockchain technology.
Examples of WorldCoin use cases/applications
Philanthropy
One of the ideas behind the creation of WorldCoin is to use it as a champion for philanthropic reasons. The goal of WorldCoin is to be at the forefront of the struggle to create a prosperous and stable Middle Eastern economy. For this reason, WorldCoin will always allocate a part of the profits as Zakat (a charitable tradition in Islam).
WorldCoin proposes setting aside 20% of the transaction fees to non-profit education charities that are currently available in the Middle East. By helping those children who lack privilege, they should be able to get the education they do not have access to, and in the process, help to break the yoke of poverty that holds them from realizing their true potential in the world, and eventually dismantle the vicious cycle of poverty.
The decision to support the education sector comes from the fact that the Middle Eastern economy has often struggled through multiple conflicts. As a result, children are unable to get an education. Some of the factors that contribute to this include economic instability and lack of access to basic services in the affected areas.
According to UNICEF, more than 40% of children in the Middle East lack access to basic educational facilities. This is a region in crisis, especially since the governments have been overstretched in their resource limits.
WorldCoin is fully committed to investing in children and education because they understand that education is key to opening up future generations. For this reason, WorldCoin hopes to offer a helping hand to this generation, and help them get a bright future, and prevent the children from being collateral damage in an unending cycle of poverty.
Job Creation
One of the biggest challenges that economies in the Middle East struggle with is lack of jobs. WorldCoin will contribute towards changing this by setting aside some of the tokens for job creation. 15% of the tokens are held in a lending platform. This lending platform is supposed to help the underprivileged to start small businesses, either online or to open stores locally. Given that WorldCoin has plans of generating up to 100,000 tokens a year, loans can be given in the range of 100 to 10,000 tokens.
One of the reasons for this project is the realization of the fact that small loans have often been useful in helping and changing the lives of a lot of people. By investing in women, especially, it is possible to boost the economy of a community. Since more than 85% of the Middle East is unbanked, WorldCoin will be the ultimate bridge between the unbanked, the underbanked and the rest of the financial world.
Resources
https://coincheckup.com/coins/WorldCoin
https://medium.com/@keyboardbasic/worldcoin-whitepaper-review-f810e892449b
https://worldcoin.cash/charity.html
https://worldcoin.cash
https://worldcoin.cash/assets/V8-%20WCN-%20White%20Paper%20+%20Lending.pdf