A couple of years ago, Akon announced his Lighting Africa Initiative, which he said would bring electricity to 600 million people across the African continent with the use of solar power.
Reportedly, he’s already started rolling out the project in 18 countries there.
But now, Akon said he’ll use another money source to fund the initiative, his own cryptocurrency called Akoin, which will be launched in about two weeks time.
The 45-year-old recently spoke about it at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and stated that Akoin won’t only help bankroll his lighting project, it’ll also be available for those on the continent to use on their computers or mobile devices.
In fact, he wants to create an entire community where Akoin is used, and he’ll call it Akon Crypto City, which he feels will allow users to earn, spend and save without the government interfering.
More specifically, the singer called Akon Crypto City “the real-life Wakanda” for the way it’ll allow its citizens to establish independence.
“I think that blockchain and crypto could be the savior for Africa in many ways because it brings the power back to the people and brings the security back into the currency system and also allows the people to utilize it in ways where they can advance themselves and not allow government to do those things that are keeping them down,” said Akon at Cannes Lions.
In addition, Akon Crypto City will be developed on 2,000 acres of land that was given to the singer by the president of Senegal, the singer’s home country.
As far as how the real-life Wakanda will be built, Akon said he’s not completely sure, he just comes up with the concepts and lets “the geeks figure it out” from there.
Meanwhile, the “Konvicted” creator talked about running for President and taking on Donald Trump in 2020, as well as Kanye West, who also talked about throwing his hat into the political ring.
In fact, Akon said he already has his debate strategy figured out and anticipated how things will play out.
“It’s gonna be entertaining, it’s gonna be something worth watching,” he said. “I’m going to go after Trump, and Kanye will get offended because he likes Trump, and he’s going to go after me. Then I’m going to go after Kanye, and then Trump’s going to get offended because he likes Kanye, and he’s going to go after me. And the debate stage will be set where it’s all about me. It’s perfect, a masterplan.”
“I’m going to come in with a team so crazy, man, it’s all going down,” added Akon. “I’m not holding my tongue. The way I look at it, win or lose, at least I get the movement going, I get the conversation going. Someone has to tell [Trump] to his face what it really is, no political conversation, no language that we don’t understand. Like ‘No motherf–ker, you’re a liar.’”
