NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

By Rachel McIntosh

Africa is often a forgotten continent in the tech world. However, blockchain is set to boom in a big way across the landscape; in fact, it has already begun to.

There is an increasing number of examples like this – NewsBTCreported that at least fifteen new trading ventures have sprouted up in South Africa over the past year. Additionally, Kenya-based payment platform and money transfer service bitPesa has developed working relationships with at least 60 banks and operates seven mobile wallets.

BitHub Africa, an organization based in Nairobi, is seeking to fund local startups to boost blockchain adoption. The Capetown-based Blockchain Academy has engaged in community initiatives to educate local business owners and residents about the advantages of using blockchain in financial procedures.

There have also been a rising number of blockchain firms who have taken social responsibility very seriously as their presence has grown stronger in the continent. Just last week, mobile blockchain financial services platform Wala formed a strategic partnership with several other blockchain firms to lend $10 million worth of crypto tokens to sub-Saharan farmers.

Photo courtesy of fsecart.