Business

So, it seems you woke up in an alternate universe & you’re the only one who doesn’t seem to speak the language. It sounds like English, but you just can’t seem to remember learning about this thing that seems to be on everyones lips & minds. All you hear is “crypto”, “Crypto”, “Cryptocurrency”… “Bitcoin!” Why is everyone so excited & should you even care to find out if it’s just a fad, or something to stay & change the way things are done, forever.

Well, it’s all of the above & more. But what’s important is the disruptive nature of not only Cryptocurrencies, but the technology behind where those Cryptos live & operate, the Blockchain. In today’s world, things move at increased speeds daily, and if you’re not “on top of your game”, you may just be giving your competitors an advantage, you’ll never be able to recover from. 

From ‘Low Fee’ payments with the ability to move around globe, instantaneously… to the ability to save ones entire ‘Educational, Health & Working Background’ onto a publicly accessible borderless ecosystem, thereby ensuring those who might befall situations where they may be refugees, don’t have to start over again because of lost, destroyed or detained paperwork, as it can all be uploaded onto a Blockchain. The use cases are endless, and that is why globally, there has been a major shift into the future of these technologies & what they bring into the lives of those who need & use them most.

Sounds cool right? But what are some of these Real World use-cases that exist, or is all this just theory? 

Well, here’s a peek at a couple of them;

The Covid-19 Pandemic has made it impossible for some to survive, Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have made it possible for Creatives, Content Creators, Writers, Designers, Accountants, Lawyers, etc… to be paid for their creations & services without having to pay huge fees or wait days on end from banks.

They have allowed for Towns like El Zonte in El Salvador to survive, save & thrive at a time where Covid had battered their economy & ability to live. People were able to pay for food, surfing lessons & even split bills in Bitcoin. So much so that the country announced that they will be adding Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador later this year, making it the First Nation in the world to do so.

Nice right? But, what about Namibia?  We’re not sitting this one out. Some Namibians have already altered their business models & marketing strategies to include Bitcoin & to educate others on the use cases they could benefit from. You can find out more on how I’ve been able to use the power of the Blockchain and the Lightning network to fund my podcast #FromTheJump in a recent Medium article.

About the Author: Namibian Podcaster & Creative Entrepreneur, Nikolai “OKIN” Tjongarero. okin@okinent.com www.okinent.com

What: Ees aka Eric Sell aka Mr Namflava hits us with the “Best Combination”. Not only did the Namibian musician recently premiere his new song and video “Best Combination” but the video was tied to a campaign where the lucky person or persons could win 0.75 Bitcoin (at the time of writing N$500k).

How: The music video very tastefully done in a game animation style features Ees as the hero character saving the Princess but that’s not the juicy part, neither is the catchy beat or the subtle not so subtle Wuma energy drink placement. No… the best part is the competition! The song and video premiered with the “Game Changer Hunt”, a treasure hunt to discover the 12 word password or Bitcoin wallet key where the prize is kept. In the video there are clues and codes that need to be deciphered that redirect participants to other websites to uncover more clues to find all 12 words. A massive undertaking for any individual and here’s where they managed to build in one of our favourite pieces of the campaign.

Collaboration! The treasure hunt team know that finding all the clues and deciphering them is a hard task, that’s why community collaboration is encouraged, doing so by funnelling participants to a dedicated Reddit thread. A channel currently unutilised by any of our brands but is centred around community, think of it as Facebook Groups but less toxic and more nerdy. In the Reddit thread those that have been smart enough have shared their progress and asked for other community members to verify and team up – a principle often adopted in the Crypto community.

Check the video below for a breakdown of the competition.

Why: There are a good few reasons why this campaign exists and this is also why we particularly love it. Video views of the music video are the first and most important factor for the musician, driving up the views as the primary entry point for any competition participant to find the first clue. In addition to that the competition also has a cause tied to it with a request for the winner(s) to donate 25% of the winnings to an environmental cause in Namibia. A cause that will be voted on by the Reddit community.

Results: At the time of writing the music video had 67k views and 140 comments, but we’re more excited about the Reddit community, currently at 427 members, to see the engagement there and ultimately to see which environmental cause gets the vote and how much the Reddit community ends up contributing. Look out for a post campaign synopsis, where we’ll try and get the man himself to tell us how it went.

Check out the full campaign here -> Ees Game Changer