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I've been following this project for a while in the BitShares community and the team have done great job thier first pre-ICO. I recommend we support this project because they really understand ground work and what it's needed to make this project successfull. The idea of having local center is so powerfull as locals can easily speak to somebody . In africa , good news can easily spread fast and other local area would be asking for a Bitland local center. Congratulation to the team!

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Im skeptical about this.

The history of land rights in some parts of africa is an outright horror show.... There was a post some time back about how code is not law, and it sums up a lot of my reservations for a project like this.

So, for example, Im assuming we're talking about a system where transfer of title is done through some sort of private key.

Now i have to ask, what happens when that private key is stolen. Is it like crypto currency, where you're just fucked? Worse, what happens is someone finds something like the DAO exploit, or that thing back in the day with bitcoin that allowed for double spending?

Do we hard fork? Because there are a lot of places in africa where a hardfork like that (which redistributed land ownership) wouldn't just spawn 2 separate competing blockchains. It would spawn 2 (or more) factions of real people, with real guns, really shooting each other.

None of that is an issue. We have been working on this project/protocol for 2 years. Unlike "traditional" crypto approach, having a single private key for something like a land title is simply stupid. We are working with government officials and agencies. If you are familiar with how nuclear codes work, you need a 2 key system, not one. One-key physical systems are completely flawed.

There is no "hard forking", and there will be nothing like the DAO exploit. These will be closed chains, not open ones. You know why? There is ABSOLUTELY no reason for a non-Ghanaian to be perusing the un-encrypted Ghana land ledger.

The "traditional" problems with crypto simply don't apply to us.

And as far as the "guns" issue...That is one of the FIRST things that we started focusing on.

There is a lot of explanation in our literature concerning these issues.

One of the things I learned while getting my second master's degree in cyber-security is that MOST organizations in crypto have no idea about enterprise scale security.

sounds interesting... am going to look more into the whitepaper etc.

excellent questions. these would be good for @chris-bates to answer...

Code is not law.

That is a dumb way to approach "law"

take it from a professional: most of the effective ways to approach law are pretty dumb

WOW! Thank you for putting this project on the map for us all here on Steemit. Absolutely amazing and, by the sound of it, a solid crew working behind this as well. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

I am a South African with my focus on teaching South Africans about bitcoin, I recently turned my sitting room into a class / conference room I will be giving steamit intros also, I have been silently watching bitland which is a awesome initiative

awesome!

Thank you for a wonderful post about the situation on the African continent and in particular in the cryptocurrency infrastructure.

your welcome. will be very interesting to watch how this one develops - and what other crypto projects bloom on the continent...

how can this project not be interpreted as Colonialism 2.0? What kind of democratic support is there for this project?

"While the thought of business in Africa might bring up stereotypes of Nigerian prince scams and such for some, there's good reason to look past such preconceptions."

Oh, that's funny. Because Belgian & French led genocide is what sprang to mine.

http://www.walkingbutterfly.com/2010/12/22/when-you-kill-ten-million-africans-you-arent-called-hitler/

lol...if you would PLEASE look into the project, we are literally talking about how we are FIGHTING neo-colonialism...

I am a black man from america...being called a "colonialist" is not only condescending, it's completely inaccurate.

Simply put, foreigners can only invest, they can't "own".

Does that make it clear enough why this can't turn into "colonialism"?

As well, please don't start calling black people colonialists.

Super-condescending.

I wasn't calling you personally a colonialist. I am talking about the broader implications of your project. I don't care if you're black, white, or purple: foreign "investment" in the Ivory coast has a very long, sordid, and heartbreaking history that can't be ignored.

Based on this response, it'd be safe to guess you neither watched thr Netexplo presentation nor listened to the Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast.

So easy to jump to false conclusions when one relies on preconceived notions rather than due diligence...

Very awesome .. Land registry is a huge deal where I live... And sometimes can lead to loss of lives...
I've heard of bitland before... Thanks for this indepth research... Will have to take my time with reading more about this...

your welcome.

from what I've gathered, this project has ALOT of potential. seems like there's been alot going on behind closed doors, and this could really take off to make a huge impact. of course, it comes down to a matter of execution and whether the obstacles that will naturally come up can be overcome. but any way it goes, this is all a huge step in a positive direction...

wow, how did I miss this new.....
probably because i just got involved with crypto currency and blockchain application some few months back....

but this is very good initiative nd application of blockchain