In "Sei Wallets to Come Pre-Installed on Millions of Xiaomi Phones" Francisco Rodrigues informs us that the app will "enable peer-to-peer payments, access to decentralized apps, and Web3 exploration, as well as stablecoin payments in retail stores." This news caught my attention, as it could be another piece of the puzzle in building the Afrogoth fashion movement, where events and products can be tokenized and the tokens traded among Afrogothers. It reminded me of Kenya's Mpesa, the mobile money service that has revolutionized, well, almost everything in Kenya. When a brand becomes a verb (Google it, Fedex it then Mpesa me), I think that's a good metric to gauge its success.

I would say that community is at the heart of Mpesa's success. Every superhero/ine has an origin story. Today Africa shares Mpesa's origin story: "In 2005, Safaricom – Kenya’s largest mobile operator, part-owned by Vodafone – secured a grant...to pilot a mobile-based microfinance platform...discovered in early trials that rural Kenyans were using the system not for loans but for person-to-person transfers. They quickly pivoted the project to focus on remittances and simple payments. In March 2007...Safaricom formally launched M-PESA (short for “mobile pesa,” Swahili for money) as an SMS-based money-transfer service. Users could deposit cash with local “M-PESA agents,” send e-money via SMS, and withdraw cash at any other agent – all without a bank account. Safaricom had obtained a “letter of no objection” from the Central Bank of Kenya, creatively structuring M-PESA as an e-money vault in partnership with banks rather than a full banking license."

A quick search on crypto to mpesa reveals the following:

Binance, where you can buy bitcoin in Kenya via M-Pesa
How to Withdraw money from binance to M-pesa
Adam Rosen writes about the Crypto wallets that accept M-Pesa

In "Basic human values and the adoption of cryptocurrency" the authors note that: "challenges associated with a wide adoption of cryptocurrencies reflect issues that people face in general, namely, how to relate with others and the environment." They propose that "involvement with this new form of finance resonates with value motivational goals in people, which precede behavior" and refer to the Theory of Basic Human Values: "values are desirable goals that individuals pursue in coping with a finite set of existential needs regarding their biological nature, coordinated action and survival in groups. People across situations and societies must find ways to resolve these needs, which gives rise to a finite and universal set of values." In "Lesos, Pesos and Ethos: Swahili Sayings that make shillings and sense" I mention the importance of values and some sayings on the leso fabric that champion values. In "Ubuntu, Decentralized Finance and Decentralized Fashion" I mention the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which values community.

I will end with this quote from Nikita Goud's article posted on the "Money and Victory" website, titled "The Secret to Making your Brand Name a Verb (Like 'Google It')": "In the end, verb brands don’t sell a service or product; they redefine people doing something. When your brand becomes the default for an action, its name gains a life of its own — gaining a spot in the vernacular."

Afrogoth's motto is Remember. Resist. Redefine. So whatever you do today, Afrogoth it!