By Prarthana Mitra
To account for the oversight in incorporating blockchain literacy for children, London-based startup Pigzbe, has launched an interactive app that disseminates informative facts about cryptocurrency, and doubles as a hardware wallet, powered by the family-friendly token Wollo.
Pigzbe was founded by Forbes 30-under-30 alum Filippo Yacob. A company whitepaper claims to “teach children the principles of 21st century finance while enabling families as microfinancing networks to operate globally.” Children above the age of six can now get a hands-on experience in learning the rungs of the constantly evolving world of blockchain.
Here’s what happened
Pigzbe claims to be a “part-physical part-digital piggy wallet”, and markets itself as “a frictionless gateway for the sale, purchase, and transfer of Wollo.” Purchase of a Pigzbe device earmarks a certain number of “earnable tokens,” which are redeemable when the family refers others to the service. Wollo tokens can also be purchased on an exchange, but the company has set up a cap of 675 million Wollo tokens already.
According to Futurism, families can also apply for a spending card to use their Wollo with participating retailers. Even children can pay for products in the real world with the Wollo card, which converts the tokens to fiat currencies.
Wollo is a cryptocurrency that is based on Stellar (a payment protocol similar in concept to Ripple), which will gain its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in June. However, it differs from other popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of its valuation, and comparatively negligible transaction fees. This makes placing it in the hands of impressionable children a less risky venture, besides allowing parents to send their kids a nominal amount, without paying a lump-sum fee.
Why you should care
Although it may sound like it belongs on some dystopian TV show such as Black Mirror or a novel by George Orwell, Pigzbe’s Wollo is essentially an upgrade to the classic piggy bank. It has been designed in efforts to educate children about saving, and spending digital money—also a good way to corner a part of the market that is currently largely ignored.
However, contrary to concerns voiced by sociologists and tech-skeptics, there is objectively nothing wrong with children dabbling in futuristic economics at an early age. Some parents are thrilled at the prospect of creating a micro-economic network, by tying their child’s education to a volatile market of digital tokens.
With the rise in popularity and usage of blockchain, digital coins may soon be the currency of the future. Pigzbe likely intends to capitalise on the blockchain’s decentralised nature, to encourage a culture in which parents reward their children, and inculcate good financial habits by purchasing, and trading Wollo tokens. In other words, Wollo could become the next-gen pocket money for generation Z.
“Every week you learn saving, modeling, exchanging, and spending,” says the proud founder of Pigzbe. Speaking to Motherboard, Yacob said that it “encourages a different type of responsibility when you create something real.”
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