Business rationale: make “community money groups” core Cardano infrastructure

Governance General Governance Conversation
1

Business rationale: build open DAO rails for community money groups on Cardano — as public infrastructure

Plain idea: Around the world, people already run community money clubs—Iddir/Equb (Ethiopia), stokvels (South Africa), chamas (Kenya), Self-Help Groups (India), arisan (Indonesia). These are real DAOs in practice: they follow rules, vote, keep a shared treasury, and pay out to members.
If we build simple, cheap, secure DAO rails on Cardano, they will adopt them—because the behavior already exists.

What these organizations are!

Trusted, rules-based community DAOs that collect regular contributions and pay out by rotation, small loans, or emergency benefits—run by elected roles and community decisions.

Why Cardano

  • Secure & predictable: eUTXO fits clear money rules (rotations, penalties, quorums).
  • Low fees, real scale: instant, near-free activity off-chain (Hydra or equivalent) with periodic L1 settlement for security and audit.
  • Phone-first: light wallets, USSD and chat bots work on basic phones and low bandwidth.

Who could use it (examples, not limits)

Illustrative only—no targeted marketing implied.

  • India (SHGs): ~80–120M active members
  • Indonesia (arisan): ~40–50M
  • Nigeria (esusu/ajo/adashe): ~20–35M
  • Ethiopia (iddir/equb): ~40–60M adults
  • Pakistan (committees): ~7–10M

Global potential: ~500–800M adults already use savings clubs or similar. Rails should be open so any country can plug in.

What is needed (community proposal)

Goal: A shared, open DAO rail on Cardano so these groups can save, lend, govern, and pay out safely, cheaply, and on any phone.

1) Core rails (smart-contract primitives)

  • Group vault with quorum/multisig
  • ROSCA/ASCA logic (rotation, loans, penalties, defaults)
  • Benefit/claim pool (fast, rule-based funeral/emergency payouts)
  • Membership & roles (member, treasurer, verifier), configurable parameters
  • Fee-sponsorship/batching; stablecoin-first flows

2) Governance & DAO tools

  • Proposals and voting (thresholds/quorums; one-member-one-vote or role-weighted)
  • Treasury controls (spending limits, timelocks, emergency pause)
  • Sub-DAOs for chapters/branches; federation of many groups
  • Dispute & recovery (missed rotations, officer loss, key recovery)
  • Audit trail (human-readable events)

3) Reputation & trust

  • DIDs & Verifiable Credentials for members/roles
  • Attestation oracle (e.g., death verification) via quorum of bonded verifiers
  • Reputation hooks (on-time payments, trusted roles, dispute history)
  • Basic Sybil resistance; optional external KYC where required
  • Privacy options (pseudonymous views; reveal-on-quorum)

4) Payments, remittances & P2P marketplace

  • Instant group activity (Hydra or equivalent) with periodic L1 settlement
  • Recurring dues / standing orders
  • Remittance connectors (corridor adapters, proof of receipt)
  • P2P on/off-ramp marketplace (escrow, reputation, dispute mediation) so diaspora and local agents can trade safely

5) Access & UX (works on any phone)

  • Light Android wallet
  • USSD for feature phones; WhatsApp/Telegram/SMS bots
  • Organizer dashboard (ledger, attendance, payouts, proposals)
  • Simple localization: string files, basic number/currency/date formats, RTL support, one-tap language switch

6) Data & integrations

  • Indexer + GraphQL/REST APIs; webhooks for banks/NGOs/telcos
  • Bank/mobile-money/agent ramps
  • Compliance at the edges (KYC/AML where required)

7) Operations & security

  • Monitoring/alerts, role-based keys, social recovery
  • Independent security reviews and a public disclosure path
  • Clear docs, training kits, organizer playbooks

Why this must be treated as Cardano public infrastructure

  • Public-goods problem: The benefits (users, liquidity, daily activity, developer reuse) spread across the whole ecosystem. A single company cannot capture enough revenue to justify building and maintaining these rails alone.
  • Network-effect unlock: Once rails exist, adoption happens group-by-group (they already meet and move money). This is the largest real-economy on-ramp Cardano can enable—precisely the thing a public treasury should seed.
  • Cross-ecosystem coordination: Success requires wallets, SPOs, stablecoin teams, ramps, NGOs/telcos, and corridor partners. Neutral, open infrastructure ensures everyone can plug in without vendor lock-in.
  • Long payback, high resilience: These rails create durable usage rather than short-term hype. Treasury coordination aligns incentives and keeps stewardship in the community.
  • Evidence of under-investment: Despite obvious upside, nobody has shipped this end-to-end. That gap itself proves it needs treasury-backed, vendor-neutral delivery with founding members involved.

ROI (network-level, no funding ask)

Groups only (no remittances yet):

  • With modest early reach (~8M users via existing groups), weekly settlements produce about $4M/year in base-layer fees.

Add remittances (diaspora → groups):

  • At 0.5–1.0% of developing-world remittances routed:

    • +70k–140k extra daily L1 transactions
    • +$2.6–$5.1M/year additional L1 fees
    • $1.7–$3.4B/year on-chain payment flow
    • $14–$28M average stablecoin float during clearing
    • Families save ~4–5% per transfer vs. legacy rails

Combined: roughly $6.7–$9.2M/year in base-layer fees at conservative adoption, plus steady float and $B-scale yearly flow that powers wallets, DEX/FX, and partners.

Governance & transparency (lightweight)

Open, vendor-neutral process; simple monthly pilot metrics (active groups/members, daily settlements, uptime/incidents). Full detail can follow in an RFP/pilot plan.

Outcome to aim for

A shared, open DAO rail any wallet, NGO, telco, or fintech can plug into—bringing everyday community finance on-chain with low fees, fast payouts, real governance, reputation, and safe P2P ramps. Result: millions of users, billions in annual flow, real savings for families, and compounding ROI for the Cardano ecosystem and ADA holders.

How ambassadors & community members can help (from workshops → working rails)

Many of us run meetups and theory workshops. With these tools, we can turn that energy into live usage—without “marketing” to any country. The goal is simple: help existing groups self-onboard.

What changes

  • From presentations → to hands-on pilots with real groups (Iddir/Equb, stokvels, chamas, SHGs, arisan, committees).
  • From “learning about Cardano” → to proof of payout: a group collects dues and makes a real payout, end-to-end.
3 Likes
2

Wow. I agree with the rationale and the conclusions re pilots and action. The bits in the middle are new for me as I am not experienced with blockchain or cryptocurrencies but they make sense based on 35 years work in rural development. I suggest a pilot with women groups first. I’ve had a similar thought for agric coops and discussed with an Ethiopian colleague.

1 Like
3

@Dustyjulian
Thank you for the thoughtful endorsement.

Here’s why I’m pushing for open, reusable “DAO rails” as public infrastructure on Cardano:

  • Scattered, one-off tools won’t move the needle. No government, business, or startup has strong incentives to fund and maintain the full stack for community money at scale. Fragmented pilots can’t be reused, don’t interoperate, and fade with grant cycles.

  • If Cardano isn’t solving everyday challenges, it won’t be adopted. That’s a loss for the whole ecosystem. Adoption follows utility; utility requires common rails that anyone can pick up and run with.

  • Build once, reuse everywhere. The proposal is to create shared modules—onboarding, contributions, payouts, simple governance, dispute rules, and cash-in/cash-out bridges—so communities can configure rather than code.

  • Right now Cardano is usable for experts and funded teams—not ordinary people. This is a UX/access gap, not a protocol gap. Standardizing the repeatable parts lets local groups self-start without hiring developers.

  • It’s cheaper than what we’re already spending. Redirecting a fraction of bespoke, top-down budgets into shared rails lowers costs for everyone and unlocks many bottom-up experiments at once.

On strategy: At the moment, most resources aimed at “real-world use” are directed top-down—governments, large businesses, etc. This hasn’t produced results, and it’s unlikely to, because the very actors expected to implement blockchain solutions are also the ones who may lose influence when those solutions succeed. The ask here is a campaign to stop pouring resources into approaches that won’t deliver and instead fund the tools and infrastructure for a bottom-up path—so individuals and communities can solve their own problems on Cardano.

3 Likes
4

I fully share this vision, and my field experience within Francophone communities in the DRC confirms the same conclusion: without common, reusable, and accessible infrastructure, Cardano will remain a technology for experts only, even though its true potential lies in adoption by local populations, youth, entrepreneurs, and community organizations.

1. Field Experience: the Lack of Standardized Tools Blocks Adoption

In my initiatives across Goma, Nyiragongo, Beni, and beyond, I see the same problem everywhere: communities want to use Cardano, but they lack the technical capacity, the right tools, and the proper support.

This is inefficient, expensive, and discouraging for beginners and non-technical users yet they represent the majority of local communities.
Every new project must rebuild everything from scratch:

  1. Wallet setup,

  2. Contribution management,

  3. Local governance mechanisms,

  4. Payment systems,

  5. Dispute resolution,

  6. Training and onboarding…

2. Build Once, Reuse Everywhere: a Vital Need for Francophone Africa

As you rightly said, “design once, reuse everywhere” is exactly what local hubs need.

Preconfigured DAO modules, ready for simple and practical use, would allow:

  • Students to build community projects without writing code,
  • Local associations to use Cardano for transparency and reporting,
  • Youth groups to launch micro-projects quickly,
  • Small economic operators (e.g., mobile money kiosks) to test ADA without technical barriers,
  • Schools and universities to integrate Cardano into their internal operations.

This level of standardization would allow our Francophone hubs to transition from isolated experimentation to large-scale adoption.

3. Cardano Must Solve Everyday Problems

On the ground, people’s needs are concrete:

  • transparency in community projects,
  • local micro-financing,
  • simple contribution management,
  • reliable and affordable payments,
  • accessible community governance,
  • standardized educational tools.

If Cardano does not answer these everyday realities, adoption will remain marginal.
The technology is not the problem accessibility and user experience are.

4. Top-Down Approaches Do Not Work

From my own experience with Web3 and blockchain projects in the DRC, I see the same pattern:
top-down strategies (governments, large corporations) produce almost no meaningful results.

These actors have little incentive to accelerate a technology that brings transparency, shared governance, and redistribution of power.

In contrast, youth, local associations, creators, and small economic actors are ready to adopt Cardano
but they need simple, reusable, open tools.

5. A Bottom-Up Approach Powered by Shared Infrastructure

Redirecting part of Catalyst funding toward:

  1. “DAO rails,”
  2. Integration modules,
  3. Plug-and-play governance tools,
  4. ADA payment systems designed for non-tech users,
  5. Eusable standards for local communities,

would trigger an explosion of grassroots initiatives, with very low startup costs, while strengthening the global ecosystem.

From my experience as an educator, mentor, and leader of Cardano hubs in the DRC, I am convinced that:

empowering local communities and non-technical users is the only way to make Cardano a daily-life tool rather than a concept reserved for developers.

Bref: Sustainable Adoption Requires Standardization + Education + Local Autonomy

For Francophone Africa and especially for the DRC the vision you describe is exactly what we need:

open tools,
reusable by anyone,
stable and maintained over time,
simple enough for non-technical communities,

  • adapted to local realities and languages (French, Swahili).

This is how Cardano will solve real problems, spark micro-innovation, strengthen community autonomy, and create massive, organic, long-term adoption.

:handshake:

1 Like
5

I agree with what you describe as the requirements for applications. I am new to the Cardano community but have had a career as an agricultural market systems adviser for the last 30 years in Africa and Asia. So, I came to Cardano with some expectations that it would understand the reality that you describe. Do you know why it is not aligned, why its strategy is wrong? I don’t know. And other than posting here, is there anything else we can do to get it to change? btw, what do you think of RealFi? Is that more suitable for the interventions you described?

1 Like
6

@tefera Is RealFi more aligned to what you describe? Is it ready to be used?

7

Thank you for your feedback. Your thirty years of experience in agricultural market systems are a real asset to the community. I understand your concern. Many newcomers notice the same issue: Cardano is not always aligned with on-the-ground realities, especially in regions where needs are immediate and very concrete. There are several reasons for this: technical priorities, an academic culture, a young governance structure, and limited representation of actors from the Global South in decision-making. None of this is irreversible, but it requires a deliberate effort.

Are you familiar with Project Catalyst? It is one of the main avenues to influence Cardano’s strategy, since it directly funds community-proposed initiatives. If you are not yet familiar with it, I strongly encourage you to explore it.

Beyond posting on the forum, there are practical ways to contribute. We can work together on a RealFi-oriented proposal that we could submit to Fund 15, which is already open. RealFi is meant to bridge blockchain technology with real economic and social needs, which fits perfectly with the kind of interventions you described. This would be a concrete way to support Cardano’s sustainable adoption in the contexts you know well.

In the meantime, I’m sharing the Fund 15 launch guide with you so you can get familiar with the new parameters.
:backhand_index_pointing_down:

2 Likes
8

I’ve thought that working with these groups is one of the best uses for blockchain, especially Cardano. With the security and trust the Cardano network brings, this is a great solution. I know many have thought about implementing this in the past on chain, including myself, but there has been almost no traction I’ve seen in development. The plans are simple, open and available. There is one project on the Celo Blockchain called Sarafu that does this. They also love beyond just cash as savings, but to allow for other types of commitments, such as work, time, physical product, etc.

Check out Grassroots Economics. They are the creators of Sarafu. Would be great to engage with them to see if we can incentivize a cross chain collaboration to bring Sarafu to Cardano.

1 Like
9

Bottom-up rails as core Cardano infrastructure

Appreciate the discussion. I want to sharpen three points that, in my view, are essential if Cardano is serious about onboarding millions of everyday users through community money groups (Iddir/ROSCA/SACCO, etc.).

1) RealFi: be clear on incentives (investment vs. aid)

RealFi, as framed by IOG, largely takes a top-down route—through governments, NGOs, or investee firms. That’s fine if we call it what it is: an investment track with risk/return goals. Mixing “aid” language with investment creates a credibility problem and muddles incentives.

Crucially, tools born inside that model rarely become universally usable rails. Entities with capital and know-how can leverage them; the vast majority of grassroots groups cannot. If the goal is mass participation, we need simple, permissionless, protocol-level primitives that do not presume sophisticated intermediaries.

Separate the RealFi venture track from a public-goods track. Let RealFi invest; let the protocol fund open rails.

2) “Collaboration” alone won’t fix misaligned incentives

Ad-hoc partnerships across companies/NGOs typically converge on the lowest common denominator and fall apart when interests diverge. That’s not a people problem—it’s an incentives problem.

3) Make it a permanent treasury line item (public goods)

The only actor with a truly permanent incentive to onboard millions is the protocol itself. Not a company, not a consortium. Therefore Cardano should treat community-money rails like it treats consensus or Aiken: public infrastructure with a standing budget.

Why this matters

Top-down initiatives can showcase pilots; they rarely compound into systems millions can use. Bottom-up groups already exist and already move money daily. Give them rails that are:

  • Simple (UX first, local-language kits)
  • Cheap (predictable sub-cent fees at scale)
  • Offline-tolerant (light clients, vouchers, social recovery)
  • Composable (so local solutions don’t fork away)
10

Thank you. This is new for me and interesting. I am willing to work with you to propose to Fund 15. How about we work on your ideas as you are in DRC and I am not even in Africa. Your ideas are likely to be better than mine. If it can be related to agriculture or agribusiness then I will be more able to assist.

btw, the links in the site to joining project catalyst or becoming a reviewer don’t work.

I was surprised to see that richer people (more ADA) have more voting power. That does not seem very new. Most of the world operates like that already. Is a vote a commitment of the ADA that the person has (an investment) to the proposal? If so, that is understandable, but it still means that the rich in the ADA community determine which projects are funded, which is just like the way a shareholder meeting works when voting on future o for a business.

1 Like
11

Thank you for your points which are important. Intermediaries are a natural part of many markets. So, even in RealFi applications, an intermediary may be needed. For example, to verify that person A, who wants to receive finance from person B, is a low credit risk. The intermediary may have been trading with person B or has trained them on a skill or supplied them with a technology. As a result, the intermediary has data from interactions with person A that can inform person A on the credit risk.

1 Like
12

Thank you. I looked at the site and watched the video. Does anyone know how big this pool of community credit has become in Kilifi or globally? And also, how significant is it to the people in the community? For example, do the people use the community currency for most of their economic exchanges? I have lots of questions to learn more, but I will stop there. Overall, I need to learn more about examples where the use of decentralised currency has made poor people richer than if they used centralised (fiat, issued by government) currency.

13

The community-currency projects in Kenya, especially the Sarafu system used in places like Kilifi, have grown to tens of thousands of users and have moved a few hundred million units of local credit over the past few years. People mainly use it for small, local transactions like market purchases and community savings groups, not as a full replacement for regular money. For low-income households, the biggest benefit is extra liquidity: it helps people trade even when cash is tight, keeps value circulating locally, and sometimes works like a small basic-income boost during tough periods. It doesn’t generally make people richer than using government currency overall, but in the right communities it does give them more stability, more trading power, and more ways to support each other.

2 Likes
14

Thank you for this information. Clearly, there is some value to this initiative. Thanks again.

15

Thanks for bringing Kenya’s community-currency experience into the discussion—it’s exactly the kind of evidence we need for bottom-up rails.

Two quick points.
First, systems like Sarafu have indeed reached tens of thousands of users and moved hundreds of millions of units of local credit—primarily for small market purchases and chamas (savings/lending groups). The main benefit isn’t “making people richer” overnight; it’s relieving cash bottlenecks, so value keeps circulating locally and households gain trading stability when cash is tight.

Second, where past attempts struggled was cost and operational lift: bootstrapping, running ledgers, and providing simple UX (often USSD/feature-phone) is hard for communities by themselves. That’s precisely where Cardano can help if we treat community-money rails as core public infrastructure. With Hydra—Cardano’s L2 state-channels—communities get near-instant, ultra-low-fee local transactions with on-chain security for settlement. Builders already have mainnet-ready components (e.g., hydra-pay) to stand up payment channels for micro-transactions.

In other words: the goal of a community currency isn’t personal enrichment; it’s a visible account of local liquidity that strengthens mutual-aid, savings, and everyday trade. If Cardano funds and standardizes these rails (wallet UX incl. feature-phone flows, one-click Hydra Heads for groups, governance primitives, and safe on/off-ramps), we can lower the barrier for thousands of real-world communities to do what Sarafu proved works—only cheaper, more secure, and composable with the wider Cardano ecosystem.

That’s why the proposal matters: it moves Cardano from “top-down pilots” to production-grade bottom-up infrastructure communities can actually run.