UPDATE

Welcome to the evolution of Kobocoin

Apologies for the delay but there's been a few things going on. Let's start with the topic at hand.

1. Current Wallets

First let me start by saying that all your funds are safe. @opticoin, I'm aware of the current syncing problems of the android wallet. PLEASE INSTALL, AND MOVE YOUR KOBO TO, THE COINOMI MULTIWALLET. The original android wallet will always be available but it will have the ocassional syncing crash which takes time to resolve. It means rebuilding the kobo blockchain and resyncing the ABE database. I will be doing this over the next few days and the android wallet will once again begin syncing. The current android wallet is no longer available on Google Play Store. Once I've looked at what direction our android wallet has to take, and updated it accordingly, it will be back on there. Having a wallet for your own coin is great, but nowadays it's all about multiple assets. So, if anything, a kobo multiwallet is needed.

For now, if you're using the current KOBO android wallet PLEASE INSTALL, AND MOVE YOUR KOBO TO, THE COINOMI MULTIWALLET. I'm happy for people to keep using the original android wallet (it will remain slow and clunky for now), but I can't see why anyone would want to remain with the old wallet given the advantages of the Coinomi wallet. Remember that Coinomi uses a seed phrase to keep your kobo safe, there's no syncing, and you can sweep paper wallets with it. Use it!

The desktop wallets will be updated along with the code update (see below). I will look into monthly bootstrap images being available from github to try and relieve the slow syncing issue. Unfortunately, slow desktop wallet syncing is an industry wide problems apart from projects using an electrum type backend. I'll investigate the desktop wallets properly after the code update is completed.

2. Code Update

The following code updates will take place before the demo website is migrated to live:
   - Segwit
   - CSV
   - CLTV
   - Strict DER Encoding
   - Other performance improvements

These updates will take the codebase to Bitcoin 0.13. This will mean that all future updates to Bitcoin codebase can be rolled into Kobocoin a lot more easily. It will really gear KOBO up for the future. This update has just recently been proven on another PoS coin with our codebase. It will involve more than one update possibly over a number of months. I'm in the process of getting dates. We cannot move forward without these code updates. That's how important they are.

3. Identity

We now have an evolved identity. Images below. Hope you like it. If you don't, don't worry, it'll grow on you, and KOBO is always evolving

Logo and Currency Symbol

Text

4. New Website

The new website is taking shape. I'm doing the work myself. I wasn't happy with what was being delivered so decided to do it myself, hence the delay.

It will not go live until the code update is done. In the meantime I've put up a demo site that I'll be updating as I go along. Please bear with me over the next few weeks (or even months). The demo website will be going through changes as new items are added and it becomes more consumer focused (there's a brand consultant helping me out in that department - I only know geek speak). It's also mobile ready. The mobile site is boring right now but I'll do something to make it look a bit more appealing.

This is just a demo, not a live site. Images are not optimised so it might be a dog on first load. There's a lot of work left to do but at least you can now see the direction of travel.

DEMO SITE - http://dev.kobocoin.com

Items to be added include:

- Paper wallets - This will include screenshots to encourage small businesses to print and sell paper wallets loaded with kobo.
- Team
- Tech
- Roadmap
- Whitepaper
- Block Explorer
- Forum

Once there's enough content on the new website I'll also be using it as the basis of a new KOBO thread. This current thread will become redundant. If the website forum starts being used then I might move all updates to the new forum (as blog entries), and just post a link here.

I welcome your comments, suggestions etc.

5. Marketing KOBO

Once the code is updated and the website switched over, Xtian Dela and other social media influencers will start the marketing process via social media and giveaways to encourage people to see what KOBO is all about.

One issue is that, at ground level, the people who want to buy kobo don't now how to get any, and yet, at the same time we have low trading volume on the crypto markets. Marketing should hopefully address this. The demand for kobo exists. Rather than trying to convince massive retailers to integrate us into their website, I would like to try a new more basic approach. The website will provide details and templates for creating paper wallets that can be loaded with kobo and sold to people who want to buy some.

It could be the basis of an extra income for small businesses, street traders, and anyone else who wants to do the same. Think LycaMobile (http://www.lycamobile.com/).

6. Exchanges

I would love to make promises, but I can't. Once the website goes live and we start marketing KOBO we'll have to see what happens. I'm speaking with Golix (https://golix.com/). If we can get a listing on Golix it would be a massive boost. People will then be able to buy KOBO in local fiat currencies.

7. PLAAS and PLAASIO

Over the last year or so I've been talking about the partnership with BitSoko. Well, that partnership has now flourished into a joint blockchain project. I'd like to introduce you all to:

Project Plaas - The Farmers Blockchain Platform.

I am working with:

- Alakanani Itireleng AKA bitcoinlady - http://www.satoshicentre.tech/ - Plaas is her baby
- Gibson Juma - CEO, Bitsoko - https://bitsoko.io/

We're working towards an ICO that should run early next year. I'll not say too much about it here. Please goto the following sites to learn more:

https://plaas.io/ - Project website
https://plaas.io/token.php - Token sale website (Goto Team page to see my ugly mug - I'll update that pic when the lenses stop breaking)

And finally...

It's now three and a half years since launch. I really want to thank the small but loyal KOBO community for your continued support of the project. It really is very greatly appreciated. KOBO has had it's ups and downs, but it's still here. It's purpose still exists in it's original form, and Kobocoin is now known all over Africa. It's time for the project to attempt to take that next step (and hope that the tech stands up to the hammering it might get!).

In conclusion, the future looks promising.

TT

tl;dr - That African coin. Still soldiering on.