It’s a combination of crypto currency and crowd funding.
Banana coin was set up by a team that includes Russian entrepreneurs and philanthropists, as well as a Thai agronomist. They are all experienced at growing bananas and have been doing so in Laos for the past three years, together with software development experts and legal experts. The banana coin’s White Paper states that “ the Banana Coin project was established in order to take advantage of block chain technology in addressing real business objectives.”
Banana coin will, according to the White Paper, “create tokens using block chain and Ethereum.
Tokens will be emitted based on the export price of 1 kilogram of bananas.” This means that each banana coin is a type of future speculation and /or investment in banana production: each coin represents “just over two pounds of bananas that will be grown on an ever-expanding plantation in Laos.”
Bananas import increase strongly thanks to China
The banana coin team currently farm about 100 hectares of land in Laos, and are hoping to raise enough money to increase their size land to 360 hectares within two years. Bananas are one of Laos main export crops. Export incomes from bananas tripled, from 2010 to 2016, with China becoming the biggest customer. In 2011-2012, China accounted for 42% of banana imports from Laos, and this figure grew to 88% in 2014-2015. The Chinese demand for bananas is expected to keep increasing.
The banana coin project grows the Lady Finger banana variety, which is valuable for three reasons: It is the world’s most profitable type of banana, Chinese demand is already strong and always increasing for this particular type and last but not least, the Cavendish varietal of banana ( the one very popular in western countries, which currently constitutes almost all the current type of banana exported and sold in the West), is under threat of extinction from a fungus called Panama disease ( how sad, I really loved them !!).
Uber, Upwork and Bananacoin
The banana coin team hopes to “achieve a core modification of the global banana production industry, similar to how Uber has revolutionized the taxi industry or Upwork has brought freelancing to a new level.”. “Backers” invest in expansion of production and become holders of Bananacoin tokens (BCO), which can be exchanged after product launch for goods or funds and are expected to more than double in value in 18 months’ time.”
The goal of the project
In addition to expanding land under banana production, is to achieve “over 360 % growth in product sales on the Chinese market.”
Once the project has been realized, Bananacoin holders can exchange their tokens, either for Lady Fingers bananas or “equivalent monetary compensation”. Because the demand for bananas is constant and rising and, “because the token is backed by the market value of 1 kg of bananas, participants can be certain of the success of the project.” According to the White Paper.
The fact that the Bananacoin crop is grown organically is sure to appeal strongly to a Chinese market that is keen for food security and a guarantee of farm-to-store transparency, after the food adulteration and contamination issues that have rocked China over the past few years.
