The Money Is Not Actually Moving

Economic Growth and the Production Possibility Curve (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If all money is digital, and if M-Pesa is the future, not just in Kenya but also in the rich world, and if the blockchain technology does to money moving what the Internet did to information moving, as in bring the costs down to pretty much zero, then the money is not actually moving, is it? You are just managing accounts, you are adding and subtracting.

And that digitization allows for a potentially massive increase in the velocity of money. If the same dollar exchanges hands 200 times instead of 20, that is a ten times increase in economic activity and hence economic growth. Moving money should be instantaneous and free globally. Just like when you send email, there is no lag. In the old fashioned ways, it can take days for money to move. There is no reason why it should be that way. That "lag" is a tremendous drag on economic activity.

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Superfluidity

Image by markchadwickart via Flickr

CNN: 4 trends shaping the emerging "superfluid" economy: A new paradigm is emerging, where everything is increasingly connected and the nature of collaboration, business and work are all being reshaped. ..... Transactions and interactions are growing faster and more frictionless, giving birth to what I call a "superfluid" economy. ...... Our devices are becoming smaller yet more powerful. Cost continues to drop. ..... Whereas a guru might advise “Know thyself,” a technologist might suggest “Quantify thyself.” ....... Technology tackles the challenge of self knowledge through the pursuit of full-systems quantification - creating a simulation and map of everything. ...... our preferences, buying behaviors and social connections .... financial histories and medical records. ...... making previously invisible information transparent means it can be quantified and measured, so economic value can be tied to it. ..... data can be converted to become a useful tool for crisis mapping and visualizing real-time information ..... Supply chains can be mapped to help us assess the carbon footprint of the products we purchase ...... an initiative to map the real-time statistics of the entire planet, dubbed the Earth Dashboard. .... close to a billion smart phones will be shipped worldwide by 2015. ...... the financial and infrastructural challenges of laying down cables will be leapfrogged as these places transition directly to a wireless web via mobile devices ...... the ‘unbanked’ are being brought into financial inclusion through innovative services like M-PESA that enable the transfer of money via mobile phones. ..... within a few short years, we may see billions more people connected to the internet and capable of participating in economic transactions ...... Comments, Facebook likes, recommendations, and reviews all contribute to the growing layer of social metrics that reveal general perception around brands, people, events, issues and topics of interest. Not only could this alter the way democracy works by gathering real-time sentiment and developing positive feedback loops for improving civil society, it also shifts the way people make decisions about purchases or lifestyle behaviors. ....... hundreds of peer-to-peer marketplaces that are springing up around the world ...... As money and exchange increasingly go digital, our assumptions about what “currency” means are also being challenged. ...... When the tools are in place to allow individuals or groups within a local area to easily exchange value without using traditional/centralized currency, it’s reasonable to expect a serious challenge to the ingrained public perception of money. ...... It is not necessary to abandon every time-tested practice and jump headfirst into something radically new. But, it is wise to integrate new approaches as a sort of hybrid “coopetition” - going from push to pull, defining a new capitalism, and welcoming “social” as a 21st century strategy. ...... Wealth is not just a number on a financial statement, but rather a celebration of sustainable and resilient communities, a clean environment and an educated and informed society.

A Social Graph For When Everyone Is Connected

Mobile Phone Banking: Major Boon To The Last Mile Of Microfinance

Image via WikipediaOf all the technologies that I see that can be put to use for microfinance - and I see a lot - the one that most stands out is mobile phone banking, the m-Pesa kind like has spread like wildfire across Kenya.

It is because the last mile is the most complex in the business. And mobile phone banking comes across as this gold standard that can help cut through the thick of all sorts of social, cultural, and bureaucratic issues. This is a case of simple technology beating human flailings to the dust.

Mobile phone banking reduces banking to simple transactions. You do it one simple transaction at a time. And the chips fall in place just fine. Mobile phone banking is like a machete with which you cut through the green thicks as you wade through a tropical forest.

The mobile phone is in a unique position to deliver all sorts of other goodies that will help transform the business. This decade belongs to the mobile phone.