In early March of this year, elites from the blockchain industry, financial industry, legal industry, and global technology industry gathered to discuss the application of blockchain technology. However, this event did not take place at the Financial Technology Center in London or in San Francisco, USA. Silicon Valley held. The conference was held at the Microsoft headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was the fourth meeting of Blockchain Africa.
At present, most African countries are still regarded as developing countries. There are widespread social problems such as armed conflicts, corruption, and poverty. However, blockchain ecosystems in many places have already begun to gather strength, and it is possible for the African economy and society. make a large impact.
Although the scientific and technological ecosystem in Africa may not receive due attention, there are many emerging blockchain and digital currency communities in the region. Local companies are using blockchain technology to solve social, economic and political issues, and use it as a global player. Market launch platform.
Emerging Blockchain Center
Compared with the digital currency centers in central and eastern Europe and Switzerland, the blockchain industry in Africa is still at an early stage of development, but the related communities in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Sudan are developing steadily.
BitHub Africa, headquartered in Nairobi, was established in December 2015 as a blockchain incubator for local start-up companies. The organization provides consulting services to companies interested in deploying blockchain solutions in Africa and the Middle East. It also helps local blockchain start-ups to conduct business. The organization is highly concerned with how to incubate microfinance startups. It also cooperates with local regulators to support the adoption of blockchains in Kenyan technology policies and for the issuance of the first loan (ICO ) and digital currency introduced favorable regulations.
In South Africa, Capechain Africa, Cape Town, provides local start-ups and entrepreneurs with training in digital currency and blockchain technology, and how local companies apply blockchain technology to their business models. Provide advice. The organization also conducts training services at the AlphaCode Club in Johannesburg.
The Blockchain Academy works closely with local financial institutions and recruits representatives from Barclays Africa, Standard Bank and the Central Bank of Swaziland as former alumni. The blockchain is particularly attracting attention in the financial sector in South Africa because of the Central South Africa Bank South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and digital currency startup ConsenSys have launched a new fintech project based on the company blockchain Quorum.
Many smaller groups have also emerged in the Sudan. In 2015, some meetings and activities on digital currency began to appear in the region. With the promotion of social media, many groups have developed into larger, more active communities. Business related to the blockchain has also begun to take root in the country, including blockchain development company Codexi and blockchain gold mining company SG Mining, which uses gold assets as its digital currency endorsement.
In Lagos, Nigeria, the first Nigeria Blockchain Alliance meeting took place in November 2017. According to Bitcoin Africa.io, Nigeria's blockchain community has grown quite fast in the past two years, and many new ones have been established. Blockchain startups, also known as CDIN, plan to promote the potential benefits of blockchain and digital currency to Nigerians. Most importantly, Nigerian blockchain startup SureRemit has just completed the largest ever in Africa With the issuance of tokens, the total amount of non-cash remittance platforms reached 8 million US dollars.
solve the real problem
So far, the application of blockchain technology in Africa has been sporadic, but some emerging applications are dealing with the real social, economic and political issues that affect hundreds of millions of people every day:
Cracking down on corruption. One of the driving forces behind the development of blockchain technology is that it is a distributed transparent technology that can generate many possible use cases based on the voting system.
In a recent election ballot in Sierra Leone, the Swiss company Agora used blockchain technology to ensure fair and equitable voting. At polling stations, trustworthy representatives counted the ballots, and then saved the results on the Agora blockchain. Technology achieved its purpose, but the point was that the project was only applied in the western part of the country, and the unofficial results collected by Agora still differed from the official results announced by the government. The government of Sierra Leone subsequently downplayed the Agora blockchain during the election. The role played, claiming that company representatives were allowed to participate in the counting process as 'observers' but did not participate in the election.
However, Agora CEO Leonardo Gannar stated that this project is only a test and does not represent the full functionality of blockchain technology. The ultimate blockchain allows remote electronic voting and can combat the issue of buying ballots. Agora expects that its technology will The entire African continent is widely used for future elections.
In Ghana, the project named Bitland has been dedicated to resolving land disputes since 2016. The project uses a self-developed blockchain Bitland network to store land registration information. To date, the project has 28 in Kumasi. The community conducted a trial and the organizers hoped to reduce the illegal land transfer and corruption in the area by allowing citizens to record their own land ownership in a manner that cannot be deleted or changed by third parties.
Combating Inflation. Digital currencies are particularly useful in cash-controlled African economies. In these African economies, there are few public access to mainstream banking services, or the local economy is flooded with severe inflation. Zimbabwe's currency in recent years The expansion rate is very high, and the local people's trade volume caused by the devaluation of the currency caused Bitcoin's transaction volume to soar.
Thanks to the rapid growth in the number of smartphones in Africa - which has doubled in just two years - tech-savvy users can now download digital currency wallets to secure funds. Smartphone-based financial transactions are like those in Kenya. The country is not new, and Kenya is now a global leader in mobile P2P lending.
In addition, many African countries have shown the trend of 'jumping' technologies, such as mobile Internet applications, and mobile-based P2P lending services, whose customers are often those who cannot use the Internet or traditional banking services. Experts believe that the lack of Traditional systems can promote faster and smoother adoption of emerging technologies such as blockchain.
Digital currency mining business surged
Because of its distributed nature, digital currency can be traded almost anywhere in the world, with less intervention. Kenyan bitcoin miner and trader Eugene Mutai believes that this 'fairly competing global The market will not cause harm to people like him.'
Bitcoin miners such as Mutai are using homemade computers to mine bitcoins. Although this mining process is complicated – and costly – equipment is expensive and uses a lot of energy, they are capable of investing. People who have the necessary equipment and can afford the electricity bill provide an important source of income.
In Egypt, Bitcoin has been closely supervised (the Central Bank of Egypt refuses to accept digital currency), but secret miner communities have emerged. Although mining is not an official illegal act, community members are afraid of being accused of other crimes such as harboring illegal foreign currency. , Trading in secret. According to Bitcoin Africa.io, large Egyptian cities like Cairo have multiple secret Bitcoin mines and a large community of miners who exchange mining through social media and messaging applications. Tips, advice and information.
In Africa, computer parts and graphics cards required for digital currency are harder to obtain, but a significant advantage for African miners is that electricity costs are relatively cheap. Bitcoin Africa.io reports that many bitcoin miners have already been transferred to places like Egypt. Countries to take advantage of cheap energy supplies.
With the arrival of the solar energy era, Morocco, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have developed huge solar farms. These power plants are the largest in the world, creating a large number of jobs and a lot of energy. The owners hope that they will soon be able to export energy to Europe.
Experts believe that the intersection between solar energy and bitcoin mining may be very beneficial to African countries.
With the increasing regulation of blockchain startups in other regions, there is a growing possibility of leading local startups in Africa. This is not just limited to digital currencies, but also includes other applications that can solve practical social issues.