Title:
Ethiopia's blockchain deal is a watershed moment - for the technology, and for Africa
Author:
Iwa Salami
Senior Lecturer in Financial Law and Regulation, University of East London
Published:
The Conversation, 20 May 2021
From the article:
A few companies have begun showcasing blockchain capabilities to various African countries. Unlike most other cryptocurrency blockchains which focus on private sector use in developed regions like Europe and North America, their approach has been to target the governments and public institutions in the developing world.
In April the Ethiopian government confirmed that it had signed a deal to create a national database of student and teacher IDs using a decentralised digital identity solution. The deal involves providing IDs for 5 million students across 3,500 schools which will be used to store educational records.