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If you have been following current events, or even the crypto chatter across Twitter over the last few weeks, you might have heard some talk about crypto's energy use and the accompanying fud about Bitcoin single-handedly setting the polar ice caps on fire. Jokes aside, I am all in favor of eco friendly and renewable energy sources powering crypto. It's one of the primary reasons I chose my current portfolio of assets carefully, and only invested into coins heavily that were drastically different when it comes to energy consumption. If something isn't considered energy efficient in today's environment it's obvious to me, it won't make it too far, and blockchain is no different. In my research to find coins and projects that I believe will fit the global demand for lower energy consumption while having a large use case, I stumbled on World Mobile, and its ambitions to change Africa with its renewable powered 6G Network built on Cardano.
World Mobiles plans to bring 6G telecommunications to Africa
World Mobile's mission is a simple one. Connect the unconnected in Africa. Through partnerships with Cardano, IOG, and the Ethiopian government, World Mobile will look to become the infrastructure that unleashes the potential of the Cardano blockchain and it's Atala Prism identification system, to 5 million people across Ethiopia, utilizing it's 6G technology. With boots on the ground, and telecommunications infrastructure already being put in place, World mobile looks to be poised to be a first mover on not only a burgeoning crypto ecosystem, but on a very real world 2+ trillion dollar market that is ever expanding.
IOG, Cardano's Engineering and blockchain company, took a 10% stake in World Mobile. IOG is owned by Charles Hoskinson, so I would Imagine this is a huge nod from Charles himself moving forward for World Mobile. He had this to say:
“Taking a stakeholding in World Mobile Group is a further demonstration of our long-term commitment to the African continent,” IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson said. “We see blockchain as a powerful force for social good. Through our digital ID solution, Atala PRISM, people who were previously unable to verify their identity, complicating and often preventing access to vital services like healthcare will now be able to do so. Atala PRISM will also allow citizens to provide backup copies of important documents like qualifications or property ownership documents, which can allow returning refugees to reclaim their homes. Ultimately, we want to create a global marketplace where everyone has equal access, irrespective of geographical location, culture, or background.
What? 6G?
Correct. 6G, or Generation 6 communications will be those that are energy efficient and sourced from renewables. Renewable powered communications systems are starting to be implemented into blockchains across all ecosystems through the use of low powered LoRa wifi technology and mesh networks (which have existed for a long time but conveniently not publicized ??). Take the Helium Network for example. It's very energy efficient IOT network/nodes/miners are powered by 5W Raspberry Pi's and LoRa hats, consuming about as much energy as, and costing you as much as charging your cell phone does each year. All while leaving the node on 24/7. This leaves a world of possibilities open to powering these amazing and cheap Raspberry Pi's and LoRa boards with even the most basic consumer grade solar setups, and allowing those who don't have government or industry oversight on infrastructure to set up their own communications netwoks via mesh networks.
A mesh network (or simply meshnet) is a local network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate with one another to efficiently route data from/to clients. This lack of dependency on one node allows for every node to participate in the relay of information. Mesh networks dynamically self-organize and self-configure, which can reduce installation overhead. The ability to self-configure enables dynamic distribution of workloads, particularly in the event a few nodes should fail. This in turn contributes to fault-tolerance and reduced maintenance costs.
Mesh networks and why they are the future of Cryptocurrency
As well as being energy efficient, mesh networks are cheaply produced with open source hardware, and are quite efficient at transferring data over long distances without relying on centralized hubs and expensive Telecommunications infrastructure. Mesh Networks rely on a connection to other surrounding nodes to relay and fetch data, while having have signal range of up to 10 miles with a basic 5-12 dbi antenna depending on topography. It is ideal for transferring data in situations where nodes may be miles apart as well as covering large urban environments with many people.
With cheap open source hardware readily available on Amazon powering most mesh networks, I believe this not only gives an easy and open door for future projects to build energy and cost efficient blockchain solutions fast, but also gives projects that have already released products an opportunity to switch to more environmentally favorable hardware before they get sacked in favor of their energy efficient competitors. Companies who want to run their own dedicated node hardware, will be able to save money on research & development using open source, and the net product is a network with equality of nodes with no specialized hardware, all while remaining energy conscientious and cheap. Anther benefit is the wide range of LoRa boards to pair along with your favorite single board computers like the Raspberry Pi series, Odroid, ATmega etc.
Conclusion
With all of the talk of recessions and energy conservation going on around the world, cheap and power-efficient solutions to our daily needs are going to become a popular go-to for mainstream crypto projects soon. It might wind up being an "adapt or get relegated to history" situation for a lot of blockchains soon, depending on how far politicians want to push the agenda. World Mobile, with the backing of Charles Hoskinson, IOG, and the African governments of Zanzibar and greater Tanzania, is poised to take a large chunk of not only telecommunications in Africa, but should have massive support from the Cardano ecosystem, all while being powered by renewable energy and cheap hardware. World Mobile's token pre-sale registration is going on now. That being said, this is by no means advice to invest in this company or "ape" into the coin's pre-sale without doing your own research ??
Please check out some of my other posts:
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CHARLI3, Cardano's Chainlink? IDO COMPLETED
Mesh networking. (21–04-30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh_networking#:~:text=A%20mesh%20network%20(or%20simply,route%20data%20from%2Fto%20clients.
Staff Writer, S. W. (2021, April 29). IOHK, World Mobile Group to Bring Wireless Internet to Africa. Bankless Times. https://www.banklesstimes.com/2021/04/29/iohk-world-mobile-group-to-bring-wireless-internet-to-africa/
