Crypto in Africa: Blockchain graduates and Ethiopia’s new framework

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Kenya is building a robust blockchain and crypto industries. This involves training people on the benefits of these technologies. Others countries in Africa, like Ethiopia, are now opening their doors to these new technologies.

Kenya’s first class blockchain graduates

Kenya’s first blockchain class graduated on April 4. The graduation was held at Betty’s Place Restaurant, the first business in the country to accept cryptocurrencies.

Reportedly, the graduates completed the DLBRT Blockchain for Business Course held at Strathmore Business School. The class started on March 9 and ended on March 30.

The DLBRT Blockchain for Business Course resulted from an MOU signed by Kenbright Actuarial & Financial Services (KAFS) and Strathmore Risk Management Centre on blockchain research.

This course was aimed at allowing students to learn real use cases of cryptocurrencies in the business world. The program also aims at helping business understand how they can transform their entire operation using blockchain. Beatrice Wanjiku, the owner of Betty Place restaurant, was among the graduates.

During the course, graduates had to go through four parts of training. The first two were Introduction to “Distributed Ledgers and Blockchain Technologies (DLBRT)”, and “Blockchain Architecture: Components of a Smart Contract and the Ethereum Virtual Machine”. The last parts included the “Intersection of Smart Contracts with human readable content to form Smart Contract Templates” and “Cryptocurrency Formation using ERC-20 Standards as a basis for Token Economics.”

While commentating on the graduation, Jacqui Kiruki, a crypto trader, miner, and enthusiast stated:

“This is the equivalent of a TVET course. It is a hands-on course that equips one with essential skills. It is now available as a two-day course making it even more attractive, and one receives a certificate at the end of the course!

“I’d like to see this course evolve more by providing additional in-depth knowledge to those who’d like to pursue it further and thus create more experts in this field of blockchain. The surface is yet to be scratched!”

Reportedly, during the graduation ceremony, some of the participants used cryptocurrency to pay for their meals. One of the grandaunts, Philip Kiagara, said the class has helped provide fundamental knowledge for understanding various distributed ledgers.

There is an May class is ongoing with more people expected to graduate from this course in the coming days.

Ethiopia gets a new blockchain framework while developing a new cryptocurrency

Ethiopia recently received a new enterprise blockchain framework, Atala, aimed at helping companies and governments implement new products.

According to reports, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano (ADA) and the CEO of IOHK, recently announced the launch of Atala and plans for a cryptocurrency in collaboration with the Ethiopian government.

The enterprise blockchain framework is similar to IBM Blockchain framework Hyperledger Fabric. However, Atala takes a different approach by taking its focus on governments in developing countries. While speaking to Forbes, Hoskinson said, “However, the point is to be a solutions provider for governments in need of a municipal currency or a supply chain management system.”

The framework has already been built and is ready for real-world use cases. This could include being used for voting system, property registration, and supply chain management. In addition, the system could increase crypto adoption in these areas.

Ethiopia will be the first use case for this framework. The framework will be used in collaboration with the Ethiopian government to create a new cryptocurrency that will “provide a secure and dependable means of payment for the nation’s capital.” Hoskinson added:

“We are working with the Ethiopian government to create a new digital payments system that will allow six million users to pay their power and electric bills with cryptocurrency. We want to combine this with an identity card eventually.”

Ethiopia has been dormant when it comes to cryptocurrency and blockchain. However, his new developments will hopefully increase innovation around the space. Once the project completes creating various systems in Ethiopia, Hoskinson hopes to introduce it to other countries in Africa.