Private companies, as well as national and local governments, have all caught media attention for announcing some kind of investigation or at least interest in the blockchain. Of course, one of the most notorious examples of this was Long Island Iced Tea Corporation’s pivot to Long Island Blockchain Corporation.
On February 28, 2018, the Kenyan government announced it will appoint a task force to explore the use of distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence over the course of a three-month tenure. Led by Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the 11-member task force has three months to produce a road map that will detail how these technologies can be applied at a local level. The task force includes Steve Chege, Safaricom’s head of corporate affairs, John Gitou, Michael Onyango, Dr. Charity Wayua, Fred Michuki and Juliana Rotich, a serial tech entrepreneur who co-founded BRCK and Ushahidi.
The announcement came from Kenyan ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, who explained that, if implemented correctly, blockchain technology could be used to reduce corruption in education and land title registry.
The news comes after the Central Bank of Kenya cautioned investors against the use of cryptocurrencies though they are still very much unregulated within the country.
“We cannot ignore it [blockchain technology] as a country but we also cannot rush into it. We don’t have to be first mover, but definitely not last mover.”
Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution
Poor infrastructure is the main detriment to Kenya’s ability to address its high poverty and unemployment rates (unemployment could be as high as 40 percent). International financial institutions and donors are critical to the country’s economic development.
More than anything else, this announcement appears to represent a critical assurance that Kenya is taking actions with regard to global technology trends. The country averaged over 5 percent GDP growth for the last eight years.
“It is true that previous industrial revolutions have passed us by … this time, however, it is my hope that the fourth industrial revolution, driven by digital transformation, will not leave Africa behind,” said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Kenya CitizenTV,
speaking
at a University Symposium on Digital Technology.
Kenyatta’s point sheds light on how blockchain technology is now perceived throughout the world. Nations are beginning to pay attention to the work happening in cryptocurrency and blockchain-based data infrastructures. Dozens of countries are starting to
place regulations
on the technology in some way.
For example, Estonia has
built
a virtual citizenship program using the blockchain. Venezuela’s love-hate relationship with cryptocurrency seems to have solidified since launching Petro, the first government-backed cryptocurrency, as a way for the country to save itself from economic collapse. And the Marshall Islands have
issued
the first cryptocurrency that will serve as a sovereign nation’s legal tender.
“There has been a thaw in the regulatory stalemate in Kenya in regards to blockchain. It is a big step forward,” said Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO of the digital
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