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Embedding a Digital Wallet to Pay-with-a-Selfie, Defining the System Architecture as Blockchain Based

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Emerging Technologies for Developing Countries (AFRICATEK 2018)

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Abstract

The Pay-with-a-Group-Selfie (PGS) project, funded by the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation, has developed a micro-payment system that supports everyday small transactions by extending the reach of, rather than substituting, existing payment frameworks. PGS is designed to work with devices with limited computational power and when connectivity is patchy or not always available. Once the concept of PGS has been accepted as demonstrated by the experimentation, we move to integrating elements and tools intended to ease federation or incorporation of the large spectrum of stakeholders. Embedding a digital wallet is one step in that vision. We analysed the system architecture that will be needed and the requirements drive us to opting for blockchain based architecture. We are then presenting the applicability of a blockchain as platform.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.gartner.com/doc/3471559/top--strategic-technology-trends.

  2. 2.

    http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3415117.

  3. 3.

    https://www.android.com/pay/.

  4. 4.

    http://www.apple.com/apple-pay/.

  5. 5.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/payments.

  6. 6.

    http://www.samsung.com/us/samsung-pay/.

  7. 7.

    MasterCard’s new MasterPass program is an attempt to simplify further: it is a partnership with the major big players. That unifying approach may solve the issue of fragmentation in the marketplace. While consumers will operate one single account, merchants will access one single Application Programming Interface (API) to process transactions.

  8. 8.

    https://venmo.com/.

  9. 9.

    Regulator and supervisor of financial institutions, law enforcement, national security, etc.

  10. 10.

    https://tendermint.com/.

  11. 11.

    https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-microsoft-s-coco-framework-for-enterprise-blockchain-networks/.

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Acknowledgement

This work has been partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations under the grant n. OPP1139403.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Mathematiques et de Sciences Physiques, Avakpa, BP 613, Porto-Novo, Benin

    Perpetus Jacques Houngbo & Joel T. Hounsou

  2. EBTIC-Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi Campus, PO Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE

    Ernesto Damiani, Rasool Asal & Chan Yeob Yeun

  3. Università degli Studi di Milano, via Bramante 65, 26013, Crema, CR, Italy

    Ernesto Damiani, Stelvio Cimato & Fulvio Frati

Authors
  1. Perpetus Jacques Houngbo
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  2. Joel T. Hounsou
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  3. Ernesto Damiani
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  4. Rasool Asal
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  5. Stelvio Cimato
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  6. Fulvio Frati
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  7. Chan Yeob Yeun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Perpetus Jacques Houngbo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. ECE Paris, VEDECOM, Paris, France

    Rafik Zitouni

  2. ECE Paris, Paris, France

    Max Agueh

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© 2019 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Houngbo, P.J. et al. (2019). Embedding a Digital Wallet to Pay-with-a-Selfie, Defining the System Architecture as Blockchain Based. In: Zitouni, R., Agueh, M. (eds) Emerging Technologies for Developing Countries. AFRICATEK 2018. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 260. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05198-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05198-3_10

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05198-3

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