The project began in 2018 when Akon announced that he was working with the Senegalese government to build a city with a cryptocurrency-based economy.

Akon achieved fame and success as a singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He has sold over 35 million albums worldwide and received 5 Grammy nominations.

In January of this year, Akon tweeted that he had signed an agreement with the government of Senegal to build the city with a cryptocurrency-based economy.

Akon City will be located on the west coast of Senegal, about an hour’s drive south from the capital city of Dakar. When fully completed in 2030, it will have parks, universities, schools, a sports stadium, hotels, and a full industrial complex.

Akon says his city will resemble Wakanda from the Marvel hit movie Black Panther in more ways than just its futuristic appearance.

He has talked about how the idea of Wakanda helped him secure investment for the project from investors and partners.

“This movie literally made an idea of what Africa could really be,” Akon said. “It’s just ironic that I was already working on this before the movie came out, but it’s something that helped me a lot when I was trying to explain to people what I was trying to do.”

Phase 1 of Akon City is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2023.  The phase will include the construction of roads, a hospital campus, a mall, residences, hotels, a police station, a school, a waste facility, and a solar power plant.

In Phase 2, which is expected to take place from 2024 – 2029, it will see the implementation and full adoption of a cryptocurrency fueled economy that runs exclusively on Akoin.  Akoin is built on the Stellar payment network.  

An article from bitcoin.com reported that Akon participated in a Binance virtual conference last month, reiterating his stance that cryptocurrency “could be the savior for Africa in many ways,”

He believes a cryptocurrency economy will solve critical economic issues such as high inflation, government mismanagement of funds, and corruption.

The hope is that Akoin will be used as a common method of payment that allows for easy exchange all over Africa’s 54 countries.  Today, a large portion of Africa’s citizens are still unbanked, although smartphones are widely used.  Akon hopes that his coin will allow citizens and entrepreneurs to engage in a digital economy using just their phones.

We will continue to follow this incredible story as it develops, and closely follow Akon as he truly does, Make the Future Come Sooner!

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