If you think you’ve seen it all in crypto, think again. Or at least, the project BABB will make you think again. Traditionally, crypto is viewed as a way to bypass the traditional financial industry. That was essentially the origin story of Bitcoin. But what if the crypto industry can work with, instead of work against, the traditional banking system, while still retaining the main decentralized, and peer-to-peer payments ethos? Well, that’s the goal of an ambitious London-based project called BABB, which stands for Bank Account Based Blockchain (i.e. a blockchain based on bank accounts).

The goal of the BABB project is to  create a decentralized banking platform. To that end, the use of crypto and blockchain is only one part of the equation. The team leverages blockchain, sure, but also other nascent and emerging technologies like AI and biometrics.

We tend to like business-driven projects that use technology to achieve their goals and not the other way around.

The methodology of going about this is quite interesting as well. The team wants to give global and universal access to UK bank accounts, but in a compliant way. The product is specifically geared towards peer-to-peer commerce, a fast emerging branch in the world today.

Let the gravity of the project sink in though – the ability for anyone in the world to have access to UK banking is pretty new and revolutionary. This would greatly help people in the emerging economies, especially those in the informal sectors of the economy, and the ‘gig economy’. They would now be in full control of their finances, and be able to participate in markets that are global as opposed to local.

Business would benefit from this as well, because they can now integrate BABB’s technology stack into their own payment workflows, and all of a sudden, it is as simple to hire and pay someone from halfway around the world than it is to pay the employees in your office.

An interesting product that the team is also building is the Black Card. It is a card that allows you to pay for goods and services anywhere in the world, in both fiat and cryptocurrencies. Essentially, it is like a bank in your wallet, but it does more than simple money transfers by being compatible with a variety of different forms of payment, including fiat.

This is therefore different from the more traditional approach some crypto ‘debit card’ companies are using, which is to use a via or mastercard network to transfer payment while selling cyrpto on the backend. With the Black Card, the existing payment rails completely go out the window, so you’re never relying on that network at all. Pretty cool if you ask me.

BABB is having an ICO. Check out their website for more details.