The Ethiopian government has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with cryptocurrency[1] startup Cardano[2] (ADA), The Next Web[3] reports May 3. The agreement will see Ethiopian developers apply blockchain technology to the country’s agritech[4] industry.
CEO and founder of Cardano Charles Hoskinson confirmed the move in a tweet. Hoskinson stated that the agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Technology includes training local developers to use blockchain[5] technology.
Just signed an MOU with the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Technology to explore training blockchain developers and use Cardano in the Agritech Industry pic.twitter.com/r06W0RSZye[6]
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles)
John O’Connor, Director of African Operations at Cordano’s parent company IOHK, said that Ethiopian developers expect to start using an agritech platform based on Cardano’s blockchain by the end of 2018.
While MOUs can be used to show intention for action from certain parties, they do not contain any binding obligations. A start date for the project has not been announced.
Launched[8] in late September 2017, Cardano is one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization with a volume of $9.4 bln. The altcoin[9] uses a Proof-of-Stake[10] (PoS) system instead of a Proof-of-Work[11] (PoW) protocol, which purportedly is more energy efficient. ADA is trading at $0.36[12] at press time.
Last week, leading global cryptocurrency exchange[13] Binance[14] partnered with Ugandan[15] blockchain organization Crypto Savannah to support economic development in the East African country.
References
- ^ cryptocurrency (cointelegraph.com)
- ^ Cardano (cointelegraph.com)
- ^ The Next Web
