In Sierra Leone, New Kiva Protocol Uses Blockchain to Benefit Unbanked
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
By Catherine Cheney
On Wednesday, the government of Sierra Leone launched its new national digital identity platform.
The project the government is calling “Africa’s first blockchain and decentralized digital identity implementation,” is designed to provide its citizens with formal identity, control over their credit information, and access to digital financial services.
The platform runs on the Kiva Protocol, a digital identification system that uses blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, to address two major barriers to accessing financial services: a lack of formal identification and a lack of verifiable credit history.
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio, who first announced this initiative at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018, spoke at the launch event in Freetown, the capital of the West African nation.
Photo courtesy of bobthemagicdragon.
Source: Devex (link opens in a new window)
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