Blockchain-based cities are on the horizon

Most cities add technology as an afterthought; weaving new innovations into the existing urban fabric. But some new development projects can get ahead of the curve by building smart tech into the city from the ground up.

These cities of the future will feature charging stations for electric vehicles, clever waste collection systems, and sensors that feed data to smart city algorithms. Some proposals are powered by cryptocurrency, and could serve as a testbed for blockchain adoption.

Hip-hop star Akon tweeted earlier this month that plans have been finalized for a ‘crypto city’ just outside of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. The whitepaper is expected in February, and the project has been described by the tourism ministry as a "sustainable ecotourism village" that will run entirely on renewable energy and revolve around the use of Akon’s cryptocurrency: Akoin.

Consumers will buy goods with Akoin from their smartphones, which will theoretically encourage financial stability and stimulate the local economy. The idea is similar to Bancor, which launched a network of blockchain-based community currencies in Kenya in 2018.

"We want to make it a free zone and cryptocurrency-driven as a test market," said Akon to Newsweek in 2018. “If it works, we will scale it out to all the other countries in Africa."

Elsewhere, more detailed plans have emerged for another new city which could promote blockchain adoption. Toyota’s ‘Woven City‘ concept is to be built on the site of a former production facility at the base of Mt Fuji, and will serve as a showcase for self-driving cars, sensor-based artificial intelligence (AI), and sustainable living.

Blockchain is not explicitly referenced in the plans, but the Japanese carmaker is a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and is known to be exploring two blockchain-based projects: a system of communication between cars and road networks, and a network for trading electricity between individuals, businesses, and solar panels.

Progress has been slow, however, for the “blockchain-based smart city” which hit the headlines in 2018 when Ethereum millionaire Jeffrey Berns bought 67,000 acres of desert land just outside Nevada with the goal of mixing "theoretical uses of blockchain technology with real-world applications."

It appears that the future is slowly coming into view, it just won’t be evenly distributed.