Behind SA cryptocurrency start-up Project Ubu

In this episode of the TechCentral podcast, Duncan McLeod chats to two of the directors behind Project Ubu, a South African start-up that's working to combine the idea of a universal basic income with a blockchain-housed cryptocurrency. Project Ubu chief technology officer Steve Sidley (formerly CTO at Altech) and marketing director Justin McCarthy explain how the concept will work in practice. "Its purpose is to apportion value to all humans, whether economically active or not, so that those trapped in poverty are provided access to the economy where they can create wealth," the company explains. It was established as a "mechanism to enable the free-market redistribution of inefficient resources with the objective being to promote growth-enabling economic access to billions of excluded people". The idea is to create a cryptocurrency that “unlocks dormant, inefficiently allocated and unrealised resources to create commercial and social value”. Founded by Bridge Capital director Dudley Baylis, the project has attracted some heavy hitters, including McCarthy, Sidley and former Vox Telecom CEO Douglas Reed. The advisory board includes former Wooltru CEO Colin Hall. In the podcast, Sidley and McCarthy talk about how the system will work and who will benefit. It's a fascinating idea. Its backers think it could change the world. This is a podcast you most certainly do not want to miss!