Akon, the Grammy-winning singer and artist, has recently said that he wants to build a futuristic city in his home town of Senegal, similar to the fictional city of Wakanda from the movie Black Panther. He says he plans to build the city by basing its economy around AKoin, the new crypto-currency that he named after himself.
Akon unveiled his ambitious project at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. He spoke at a panel named: “Branding Africa: Blockchain, Entrepreneurship and Empowering the Future”. He told the audience that his cypto-currency, named AKoin, could be the savior of Africa in many ways because of how secure it is. It would be based on a mobile app, and could be used in his city. Citizens of Akon city could “utilize it in ways where they can advance themselves and not allow government to do those things that are keeping them down”.
According to the official AKoin website, they already have founded two successful labels for capital, and they already have 2,000 square-acres of land as a gift by Senegalese President Macky Sall. Akon admits that he is only involved in the envisioning of the project, and he is happy to let experts figure things out on how to make the dream a reality.
The website itself describes the proposed city as a “real life Wakanda”. The fictional city is an African Nation with unparalleled technological advances. It was the backdrop of the blockbuster Marvel movie “Black Panther”. Akon is also hoping to go after high profile names such as Donald Trump and Kanye West to help fund his dream city.