Why Crypto currencies are called Digital Assets
I was invited to Speak at The University of Nairobi First Annual Development Finance Conference on 25th and 26th October 2019, in order to demystify Blockchain and Crypto currencies.
Since Bitcoin came into existence in 2008, there has been a lot of mixed reactions and opinions about its future and has had many people agree that the technology behind it is a great innovation but the crypto currencies which are a product of the technology are still raising different opinions especially from the regulators and policy makers.

So well, I was extremely excited about the opportunity to speak to these new learned friends of mine I had just acquired. I did a very simple (which I believe a grade six pupil can comprehend) explanation of Blockchain Technology and its usefulness on today’s, fast changing world which sparked alot of interest on the audience. Immediately after my speech, the Deputy VC asked us to converge at the main hall for a Special Guest. I was looking forward to meeting this special guest.
At the main hall, the special guest happened to be Dr. James Mwangi, Group CEO and MD of Equity Group. About Dr. James Mwangi, that guy is a visionary, why lie? And can someone write a book about this great leader? Anyways, Dr. Mwangi explained about the company future and its expansion strategies across the African Continent and how Equity is looking at becoming the biggest lender in the region. He explained how Equity has managed to stay on top of its game for 35 years and counting.
Dr. James Mwangi strategy is simple, and further advised businesses across the globe to pick up that strategy. Disrupting yourself (organization) every 10 years is key to staying afloat to the fast changing times. And embracing new technologies is key in putting your business ahead of the rest. He said.
After he finished giving his speech, a question popped from the crowd on his opinion about Blockchain and Crypto currencies. His response was extremely heartbreaking to anyone who is an enthusiast of crypto currencies and in the Blockchain space. He said, of course Blockchain is a great technology, and Equity as a bank is considering employing the tech to its operations especially on the identity aspect for refugees across the continent, he greatly believe that Crypto currencies are not going anywhere. My heart sunk.
Why Digital Assets?
Crypto currencies or you can also call them crypto tokens are issued as a certification of a complete transaction on Blockchain or on distributed digital ledger technology. When one does a transaction on Blockchain which requires one to be certified, there is an issue of a token to certify or stamp that transaction as complete, permanently stored and immutable and secured with cryptography. And so there is no other better way of doing that, other than issuing a secure token for that matter. The issued token can either be a token to gain value or not.
Take an example, if the Kenyan Land registry is to be put on a Blockchain, it basically means that the title deeds will be digitized and that basically means that the title deeds will have an immutable, secure token issued to every title deed, and since land is an asset that appreciates in value, its important that token have value on it. This specific token can be named as a Digital Asset since it represents a physical land somewhere. If say for example there happens to be floods and that particular land is affected by floods for say a week or so, do you think the value of the land will remain the same? Of course the value of the land during the time of flooding will drastically drop as a result
This is what crypto currencies, digital currencies, digital assets, crypto assets or crypto tokens are all about.
You can go further and take an example of the just concluded 2019 census. If census was done on a blockchain application, what will be needed is issuance of a digital asset or token for every person counted. So if the particular Blockchain issues 50,000,000 tokens and everytime one is counted, for lack of a better word, or fills in that digital tab they were using, the participant is issued with a token out of the 50M issued and so the number keeps on reducing as they issue more tokens to the participants. At the end of the excercise, they know exactly how many tokens they have issued and so, that’s the population. Simple, Fast Efficient and secure. The issued token can be attached to ones Huduma number since the number carries all the data of the individual, and incase of death the token is "burned" or destroyed from the Blockchain and when newborns come, they are issued with their token during birth as well as their Huduma numbers. Census at this point will not have to wait for 10 years to conduct a national census. With Blockchain its an on-going process. The Digital Asset for census which in this case represents individuals or citizens of a country does not need to be attached to any value since you can’t put value on a person. They will be valueless token, or valueless digital asset. These special tokens cannot be exchanged for anything else and therefore cannot be traded. For land registry tokens and other digital assets of value, the tokens can be traded in a Digital Assets trading platform like kubitx.com a pan African Digital Asset Trading platform, and exchange those assets for cash for day to day use.
So with this simple context, we realize that Crypto Assets, or Digital Assets or Crypto Tokens or Crypto currencies or whichever name you wanna call them are a very important part of the Blockchain tech itself. Its from creation of the first digital asset called Bitcoin in 2008 that brought about Blockchain or the digital ledger technology to where it is right now. I hope the explanation will help us have a broader understanding on how these digital assets are relevant and on why Crypto currencies are referred to us as Digital Assets.
