Indonesia- The heart of our operations and a region well poised to leverage on blockchain technology
A round up of our trip to Indonesia for the SWIPE hackathon and insights on why Indonesia is ripe for blockchain technology disruption.
In the history of technological advancement, it is those that served real pressing needs that flourish most vibrantly and Indonesia, the 4th largest populated country in the world, is in real need of blockchain technology. They have an astonishing amount of unbanked citizens, with up to 80% of them not having any access to financial services.
The silver lining is that, according to PwC, Indonesia has the third largest smartphone growth in Asia, only behind China and India. This is setting the stage for mass adoption of blockchain technology as a way for them to gain access to digital services and financial inclusion without necessarily needing a bank account.
In terms of regulations, Bank Indonesia (BI) is very open to the implementation of blockchain technology. Quoted from Tempo.co, BI Executive Director for Payment System Policy Department, Eny V. Panggabean said that the blockchain technology should be developed further. And it looks like the Indonesian government is also on board because the Minister of Communication and Informatics (Menkominfo) Rudiantara openly supports blockhain technology. Quoted from the Kominfo’s website page, Rudiantara said that blockchain is something that is just unavoidable. He personally supports blockchain since it gives transparency in every transaction. [1]
“We are betting which groups of the world will be upgrading their financial system and have the biggest shot to participate, and I‘m betting on Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Korea and China biting the bullet long before the UK and USA.” — Charles Hoskinson, Founder of Cardano
SWIPE has deep roots in Indonesia and is the team behind Cepatswipe, Indonesia’s leading lock screen mobile rewards app and the founders of Ethereum Indonesia. We specialize in AdTech, Analytics & AI, blockchain R&D and aims to create an ecosystem of app developers, connected via our SWIPE SDK which gives them the marketing tools needed to engage and retain their users effectively and a way to monetize the anonymized data collected.
The anonymized data collect can then be monetized in our decentralized data marketplace to data buyers directly and makes it possible to track the number of sales in a transparent and trustless way, creating a fair, extra revenue stream for app developers and a way to identify and share the profits back to the users that contributed their data. This is also a huge benefit to data buyers because they can audit the anonymized data collected and trace its origins.
The problem is that right now, the data that app developers collect is not very valuable because it only tells one part of story that data buyers are interested in, forcing them to work with a 3rd party data intermediary that collects data from various sources to mash it up and monetize it. Once the 3rd party data intermediary mashes up the data, they can monetize it to as many data buyers as they want, making far more than the little that was paid to the app developers as there is no way for the app developers to track the sales. Data buyers are then forced to believe what was compiled by the 3rd party data intermediary, without having much insight to where the data came from and unable to audit the mash-up process. In the end, the users are the biggest losers, being left out completely in this monetization process.
In summary, what if there was a way app developers could join forces in a ecosystem that provides the tools for marketing and data collection, and is able to mash-up the data and monetize it directly to data buyers and get paid fairly based on amount of sales in a decentralized marketplace, and provides a way to track and reward users? That is what SWIPE wants to achieve.
The SWIPE hackathon was extremely productive and successful, bringing us closer to our ICO launch. Our team in Indonesia is very committed to make SWIPE’s mission a reality and it was a real joy working with them. We spent three full days together from Monday to Wednesday, churning out as many codes and polishing as many UI/UX experiences as we could. Even with very little sleep, the whole team was really motivated to make the most of the time we had together!
As the leading mobile rewards platform in South East Asia with over 1 million users in Indonesia and the Philippines, and together with global business and blockchain partners, we are in a strong position to bring positive change to this industry. By developing our SWIPE SDK that can be used by everyone and decentralizing the data monetization process, we can create a way to reward users and app developers fairly and making it transparent and auditable for everyone.
To find out more about SWIPE, check out our website and follow us!
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