Kurt Kelley Takes Key Role to Put Dallas on Blockchain
Our very own VP of Board, Kurt Kelley, has joined forces with DigitalTown to empower Dallas to succeed as a Smart City. Last week, Kurt announced his new role with DitigalTown as the new General Manager of Dallas.city. He envisions the Dallas.city platform as, “as a key to exponentially increase the quality of life throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.”
The DigitalTown platform is an initiative to power the Digital Economy in Texas, something the Smart Texas Alliance can definitely get behind. DigitalTown has recently launched in Austin and San Antonio, and has been garnering quite a bit of attention. Overall, when considering the continuous advancement towards an increasingly globalized society and our reliance upon digital services, the DigitalTown marketplace makes a lot of sense, and could serve as an enabler for expanded Smart City/Smart Health services moving forward.
What Is It?
DigitalTown’s Dallas.city is a people-centric Smart City “cooperative where residents and visitors improve quality of life in Dallas as they search, connect, share and shop locally, transacting directly with local merchants.”
To quote Rob Monster, CEO of DigitalTown: “AirBnB and Uber have shown the world the power of the Sharing Economy to tap the productive capacity of individual citizens in a community. Blockchain, and in particular Bitcoin, has shown the world the power of distributed ledgers as an efficient medium of exchange. With Dallas.city we are making it easier than ever for residents and visitors to search local, shop local and think local.”
How It Works
With the launch of Dallas.city, residents of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have their very own personal alternative to Google, Expedia, AirBnB, OpenTable, PayPal and Bitcoin, all in one, accessible 24/7 via the Dallas.city web portal and mobile application. Best of all, Dallas.city can be owned by residents through the distribution and sale of CityShares, a Blockchain-based solution for managing shared ownership of city cooperatives.
Dallas.city allows for Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex residents to have 24/7 access via the Dallas.city web portal and mobile application and is an alternative for a variety of services, including: Google, Expedia, AirBnB, Paypal and Bitcoin. Residents can also own, distribute, and sell CityShares, a Blockchain-based solution for shared ownership of city cooperatives. Essentially from now until February 28th, residents can claim up to 10 free CityShares through the Dallas.city platform. Once this initial sign-up period closes, unclaimed CityShares will be available for purchase until they are all distributed/sold—only a finite amount of shares will ever be available.
DFW area merchants can sign up for a free storefront. There are No service or setup fees, and no requirement for a conventional bank/merchant account. There’s a low-commission on actual sales, creating a platform that is more accessible for merchants of all sizes.
Final Thoughts
It is an exciting time to be alive as more awesome and amazing opportunities are being generated out of and are coming into Texas, and it is a real treat to see wonderful people like Kurt take the bull by the horns. As adoption of the DigitalTown platform increases throughout our state and beyond, it will be fascinating to see how other innovators in the Smart City space plug in and create a rich digital ecosystem.
For more information about DigitalTown and how you can get involved, you can visit the site or download the DigitalTown app (Android/iOS) or contact Rob and Kurt directly at:
Rob Monster, CEO
(425) 295-4564; rob@digitaltown.com
Kurt Kelley, Dallas.city – General Manager
(214) 425-1062; kurt@dallas.city
