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[Kora](https://kora.network/) is a popular musical instrument in the Western/Eastern region of Africa which every time being played, sends a message of hope to other people. The name of Kora platform is taken from the meaning of this instrument. By using this name, Kora wants to bring the same hope for people and communities, especially the ones living in rural or remote ares.

## Why Do We Need Kora

[Kora](https://kora.network/) could see that our existing financial system is just unfair and inefficient in giving services to people. In order to make this unfairness clearer, Kora revealed 5 barriers between our current financial system and the commoners.

The first barrier is coming from banks located in remote or rural areas. They set some high fees of account maintenance, ATM withdrawals and money transfers in order to cover large amounts of money have been spent for property fees, staff headcount, and IT infrastructure.

Misconception that the underserved have little value is the next barrier. Most banks and other financial institutions ignore the people who need the most. Since they believe that underserved customers would be transacting in “small” amounts.

Another barrier is people who live in remote areas lack or even have no identification documents at all. Since banks’ requirement for opening an account need a valid ID, many people end in being unbanked. So they cannot access the financial services.

The fourth barrier is people’s judgement toward banks and other financial institutions. They think that banks and others are unsafe, and they do not trust the financial technologies such as ATM or online banking.

The last barrier is the disadvantages people get because of they do not really understand about the financial services. Since only a limited number of financial literacy is available, people potentially make poor financial decisions.

Unfortunately, the no matter how hard banks and financial institutions try to fix this current condition, they cannot completely break the barriers.

## Kora Giving Hope, Giving Easier Access to Financial Services

Kora will break the barriers by enabling an universal access so that not only the ones who have smartphones and internet access will get the services. But also the ones who live in rural or remote areas and do not have internet access. If they cannot access the Kora mobile app, the users still can do any transaction via SMS or USSD even with their cheapest feature phones.

Kora ecosystem also consists of common users, communities, financial providers, merchants and agents. These parts of an ecosystem will create a cycle of a financial ecosystem which will enable the easier and more comfortable access to financial activities and services. The financial services available in Kora ecosystem include money transfers, payments, lending and loaning etc.

Kora network will simplify the operation system, so it will lower the operational costs. Regarding the identity issue, Kora will let the users create their own “identity”. Users will build their reputation scores based on their actions in doing financial activities within the ecosystem. The user’s transaction limits and access to services will increase as they add more documentation and prove themselves to be honest and credible actors.

## Token Sale Information

Kora Network Token (KNT) is an ERC20 token and contributors who want to support the development of this project can do so by sending Bitcoin or Ether to the designated address.

Since the detail information about the token sale will be released online, you should sign up on Kora website to stay up to date.

#### Link:

* [Website](https://kora.network/)
* [Blog](https://medium.com/kora-network)
* [Whitepaper](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HswzKWVLFOR6cnhO81uP4u7W92xDSZjB/view?usp=sharing)
* [ANN Thread](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2876521.0)
* [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Kora_Network)
* [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/thekoranetwork)
* [Telegram](https://t.me/kora_network)
* [Bountyhive](bountyhive.io/r/Maiyah)

#### Author:

* Maiyah
* [Maiyah Link](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1042006)