Yele Bademosi is the 29-year-old director of a venture capital firm known as Bundle. A division of Binance – the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume – the venture is based in Africa, which appears to be a growing hub for cryptocurrency activity.
Bademosi: Using Blockchain to Help Others
Among the most recent “African adventurers” touting crypto include Jack Dorsey, who stated a few months ago that he would spend anywhere between three and six months living in Africa in the year 2020 as a means of bringing bitcoin and its many special qualities to thepeople that called the continent home. Of course, with the stay-at-home orders issued following the growth of the coronavirus pandemic, it wouldn’t be surprising if Dorsey called this trip off or delayed his plans for the time being.
Bademosi says that Binance is looking to begin as many as five new African crypto or blockchain startups within the next year. As a kid, he and his five sisters (he was the only boy in his family) lived in Nigeria and would often help their parents deliver bibles to nearby tribes in the forest town he grew up in. He states:
This is my earliest memory in terms of thinking about how tot give back, but as I grew older, I changed my views to thinking about ‘how do you actually help people at scale?’
He’s convinced that the power of blockchain can do wonders for society, particularly unbanked societies, which are prominent throughout Africa. He looks at Bundle as something that’s much more than an investment vehicle. He believes it can ultimately become a global means of trade and exchange for those who do not have access to standard financial tools and services.
At the time of writing, Bundle boasts an app that is similar with Venmo or Square’s Cash app. In addition, it allows users to send and receive Ethereum, bitcoin and Binance Coin (BNB). He also says that the company is looking to add more stable coins in the coming months.
It Shouldn’t Matter Where You Live
Oddly, one of the major things that appear to be getting in the way of individuals’ financial futures is their locations. Bademosi explains:
Regardless of your geography, you should have access to the best financial services, and unfortunately, your geography today defines the quality of financial services that you have. The same way the internet created freedom of information I think blockchains create freedom of quality of financial services.
The fact is that banks and traditional monetary institutions can turn down customers or deny them access to the tools they need to survive. However, blockchains, for the most part, are completely decentralized, and are designed to give people control over their finances and bring them the independence they need and crave.
