Blockchain technology has been on a revolutionary trend, with the quest of building a smart efficient global community through innovative creations. Communication, information search, and other life-enabling tasks are made easier with the use of Artificial intelligence, search engines, and social platforms like Facebook amongst other things. Digital finance has also taken a disruptive turn from the traditional banking system, leading to a more sustainable living standard and an improved global economy. It is heartwarming to see that the African Continent has also taken a more welcoming approach to technological growth in most areas of living. This can be seen in the global participation of Africans in both contribution and adoption of technology in a global space.
However, there is still a lot to be done within the areas of governance and digital literacy to maximize the opportunities that could push African countries up the world ladder, making them more recognizable as other developed countries.
Blockchain, as one of the most popular technologies revolutionizing the world currently, has gained much adoption or recognition in African countries especially Nigeria. Recent statistics show that Nigerians have continuously sought and used cryptocurrencies regardless of regulatory limitations and other challenges. The cryptocurrency ban by the Central Bank of Nigeria was one of these limiting regulations. However, the use of blockchain technology continues to grow to record levels in the country.
The recent cash scarcity occurred in Nigeria when the Central Bank enacted a policy of withdrawing old Naira notes from circulation, which became the catalyst for launching the country’s native digital currency, the “eNaira”. The eNaira was rapidly adopted, pushing many ordinary citizens to adopt blockchain technology into their daily lives.
It is obvious that technology offers an innovative tool for business, e-commerce as well as government sectors. This is why governments around the world and recently the Nigerian government have taken a great step to adopt blockchain policy in Nigeria. As a threshold for building startups and other applications, blockchain technology creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to maximize their potential without any border restrictions or interference. Nigeria, for example, has a lot of fintech startups and companies creating value internationally and locally. Also, about 41 African blockchain startups in eight countries raised $127 million in 2021 with 96% of the funding going to Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and the Seychelles. This has caused significant speculation that Africa could be the next major crypto hub of the Global South.
Blockchain has the potential to improve economies as it is a perfect technology to build resourceful applications. It allows for a publicly available record of data transactions without a need for intermediaries or an imposing controlling entity. It is a completely trustless system where any recorded data can not be hacked or changed or removed. By incorporating smart contract programs, there would be an increase in economic growth, creating trust, security, transparency, and accountability among businesses. Foreign investments and funding can be transparent and traceable leading to resourcefulness and accountability. To this effect, the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved a National Blockchain Policy which is aimed at regulating blockchain technology, its types, and concepts within the country. This policy also allows the Security Council to work with the National Information Technology Development Agency to create regulatory instruments in all sectors. Regulation of blockchain and cryptocurrency transactions will mostly be handled by Nigeria’s Security & Exchange Commission (SEC). Going forward, more regulatory frameworks will be discussed by Nigerian lawmakers so as to effectively cover the field of blockchain technology.
Nigeria has taken crucial steps towards digital literacy and education of blockchain concepts through National Information Technology Development Agency. NITDA launched its Blockchain scholarship intending to train up to 30,000 Nigerians on blockchain technology to enable them to develop career skills for newer technologies.
Read more about the updates to crypto policy in Africa on VTRADER News.
Written By Anthonymark
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