In an announcement that most people had initially dismissed as the whim of a typical entitled celebrity, Senegalese rapper, Akon, in June 2018 unveiled plans to create his own cryptocurrency called ‘AKoin’. Not only that, he also announced that he is building his own ‘Crypto City’ in his native Senegal on 2,000 acres of land gifted to him by the country’s President, Macky Sall. As it turns out, you can’t accuse him of not being a man of his words.
Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future pic.twitter.com/dsoYpmjnpf
At the original announcement back in 2018, Akon claimed that the proposed development will be “a first of its kind 100% crypto-based city with AKoin at the center of transactional life”. According to the official Akoin website, the upcoming city is just a short 5-minute drive from the new Dakar international airport, and is close to the coast. Describing the crypto city as a ‘Real-life Wakanda’, the website also claims that the ‘master-planned city’ will have “everything from residential to retail, parks, stadium, light manufacturing, universities, and schools”.
