Akon City was a futuristic smart city project, promoted by the singer Akon. It would use the cryptocurrency Akoin.
Nobody reading this will be surprised to hear that Akoin was an ICO pump-and-dump which insiders offloaded the moment it was listed on an exchange. Akon was the sucker in the deal.
James Palmer from Foreign Policy heard about Akon City and thought it was a hoot. Fortunately, there’s been sufficient recent news to write it up — and smart city scams are common enough now to give it some geopolitical relevance. So my piece has just gone live. [Foreign Policy]
$5-and-up patrons got to read the draft of this a couple of weeks ago!
Smart city scams like Akon City or Bitcoin City have a name: “speculative urbanisation.” See also Pete Howson’s book on blockchains and social development.
Akon performing in Rio de Janeiro on 22 September.