Akon's Akoin Acropolis Accepted As Actual Area Of Africa

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Akon's Akoin Acropolis Accepted As Actual Area Of Africa

Hey, do y'all remember Akon? He sang a bunch of songs in the mid-to-late 2000s (the best of which was arguably "I Just Had Sex" with The Lonely Island). He has since branched out from music and gotten into acting, and like a whole bunch of other oddball celebrities over the past few years, even mulled an entry into politics. But here's the thing that sets him apart: Akon might actually be en route to doing some real good. Albeit in a very weird, roundabout way.

See, Akon has taken a serious interest in raising the prosperity of Africa, specifically his native Senegal. Senegal's President also gifted him a 2000 acre plot of land, located a stone's throw away from Dakar, with its brand spankin' new international airport. How is that relevant? Well, there's a bit of a housing crisis in Dakar, and a new settlement nearby might give the area a second borough of sorts, and some real breathing room. This all sounds pretty good, right? If Akon can help the area grow and get some housing built, he'd be a hero. And check it out: the plan's already been approved!

Here's where it gets weird, though. Akon wants this new city (that he's humbly calling Akon City) to be run on a cryptocurrency he's launching that's (very humbly) called Akoin. The idea is that, because so much of Senegal doesn't have bank access, this currency would grant them greater financial freedom. But Akoin transactions are done exclusively on smartphones at this point. And only about 1/3 of Senegalese people have a smartphone. So if Akon is trying to design a crypto-utopia (he's likened his vision to a real-world Wakanda), right now it would only be available to the upper classes of Senegal. Not exactly an ideal starting point -- if only 1/3 of the people in your city even have access to your city's money, that's gonna pose some problems.

Critics are calling it a frivolous dream, but small dreams don't change the world, you know? And Akon does have a record of making things happen: He's provided renewable energy to hundreds of thousands of people throughout Africa with his (super humbly named) Akon Lighting Africa project. So really, if anyone's going to make a crazy new crypto-city just happen, it's Akon. Seriously, even Pitbull hasn't done this much for Miami.

So the next logical step would be to try some of these ideas on an already-established city. Might we suggest...Akron?

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