Financial exclusion is a pain for many countries. A lot of brilliant work has been done to ease the pain. At KickAds, we had a go at the problem & we came up with an idea that is either extremely brilliant OR economically naive.

Cashland, a fictional country, suffers from a high level of financial exclusion, where poverty & cash culture created a mostly informal economy. 

How can you get every penny in cash, into the banking system & convert the informal economy of Cashland, into a formal economy?

Our Idea is to launch a new currency that only exists in electronic form- THE ELECTRONIC PENNY.

The electronic penny has the exact purchasing power of a real penny. However, it has an exchange rate higher than a real penny (eg. ePenny= 1.10 Penny).

When a real penny is deposited into the banking system, it’s converted into 1.10 electronic penny & every time a real penny is withdrawn from the banking system, 1.10 electronic penny is deducted.

So as long as your pennies are in the bank, you can use them for electronic purchases at a higher purchase power. The minute you withdraw them out of the banking system, it loses purchase power. This makes it tempting for everyone to put all their cash, as little as it may be, into the banking system. Hence, all consumers & retailers convert into electronic transactions rather than cash transactions

This idea means that the Central Bank of Cashland will finance 0.10 penny for every penny in its economy. This might sound insane, but not compared to years of money printing, tax evasion, money crimes, & the compromised financial rating of Cashland. Not to mention, the cost of communication for many years, to achieve the same purpose.

Is this an Idea Worth Millions or Nothing?

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