Blockchain Technology Receives Presidential Endorsement

Kampala – Uganda: In May, the Africa Blockchain Conference 2018 drew over 700 delegates and 60 speakers and panelists from over 23 different countries, making the two-day (May 23^rd – 24^th) conference the largest Blockchain conference on the African continent.¹ Organized to include a series of keynote addresses, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities, the inaugural Africa Blockchain Conference brought together both leading figures and blockchain experts and enthusiasts from a plethora of industries including finance and banking, business, government, development, technology, and academia.

While addressing the broad array of attendees in his welcome speech, the chairman of the Africa Blockchain conference, Mr. Kwame Rugunda, clearly spelled out the conference’s key theme: The Role of Blockchain Technology in Africa’s Transformation. “This conference will address blockchain in its various facets, including how it works at a technology level, its use in cases around the world, and most importantly, the role of blockchain in Africa’s transformation,” Kwame informed the captivated audience.

Some of the opening keynote speakers included Euvin Naidoo, Thomson Reuters’ Head of Financial Institutions, and the Kenyan Blockchain Taskforce Chairman Dr. Bitange Ndemo. Other notable attendees of the conference were the President and Prime Minister of Uganda, the Governor of the Bank of Uganda, the Minister of ICT, and Her Excellency, the sixth president of Mauritius Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim.

In his address titled “Blockchain and the #4IR disruption – The time for Africa is now,” Mr. Naidoo reviewed the past three industrial revolutions—from the railroad and the steam engine, the Assembly line and mass production, to the era of electronics and computers—that have led us to this new era of the fourth industrial revolution. According to Naidoo, this fourth industrial revolution is characterized by the fusion of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data, and now the blockchain. He also noted three  fundamental changes driving and powering digital change in this era—a  reduction in the cost of computing power, increased connectivity, and the plummeting cost of storage—each of which have led to the mass democratization and decentralization of technological power in the digital world. While fully admitting that the blockchain isn’t a panacea, Naidoo concluded that the blockchain is ushering us into an age of agile adopters, thinkers, and companies who believe that trust is equal to speed, “know your customer” (KYC) is morphing into “know your machine”, and the old world where the big fish ate the small fish is now being replaced by the new world in which leadership is all about the fast beating the slow.

Kenya’s Blockchain Taskforce chairman then engaged a room full of blockchain enthusiasts on the role of Blockchain Technology in Africa’s transformation, exploring the motivations for embracing the new technology, the need to act accordingly, and a few practical cases of the technology’s use across the continent. These motivations include unacceptable poverty levels, as manifested in the dire quest for greener pastures by Africa’s youth and characterized by several deaths in the Mediterranean, and unemployment despite improved productivity and increased education levels among Africa’s youth. The urgent quest to address these challenges has created the need to act drastically. Solutions include leveraging emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI, IoT, and Big Data, strengthening supply chains to address food distribution issues, building vibrant creative economies and creating wealth across the continent, making governments more efficient, and increasing tax collection while lowering rates to increase foreign direct investment. Dr. Bitange also proposed the need to establish both a continental digital asset framework and the development of a regulatory sandbox to enable policy makers to think of innovation across Africa, reiterating the famous African gospel “Nobody will develop Africa but Africans.”

Tensions rose in the conference room as the Governor of the Bank of Uganda, Prof. Mutebile focused every iota of his address on Cryptocurrencies. The Central Bank Governor lectured the audience on the functions of a currency and the requirements needed to perform those functions, and then poured his passionate wrath on cryptocurrencies with such a bang that made him a distinct devil's advocate. “Cryptocurrencies can’t match tender currencies; they have high volatility and thus do not perform the functions of currency as a reliable store of value and unit of account, hence not supported by Central Banks. They are an avenue for speculations and have no intrinsic value,” expressed the concerned Governor. “Those who’ve invested in crypto risk being banged when the bubble bursts and the value of Cryptocurrencies fall to zero” he cautioned. Nevertheless, the aged governor assured the attendees that he was aware the gathering was on Blockchain Technology and not just one of its applications. “Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies are distinctively different. The technology has so much potential and offers several opportunities.”

In what seemed like a response to the Governor’s skepticism, the chief guest at the groundbreaking conference,  President of the Republic of Uganda H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, highlighted the potency of the ICT sector in Uganda’s economy as an enabler that speeds up several processes such as service delivery and access to valuable information. He also urged the governor “to be more inquisitive and not dogmatic,” revisiting how forms of currency have evolved over time. This was very reassuring to the hundreds of Cryptocurrency fanatics in the room, who joyously and refreshingly applauded the president. The Ugandan president - who is serving his third decade in office - particularly stood out for explaining Blockchain Technology in a fashion that both his peers and the common man could understand and tactically using the local languages to explain key terms like ledgers and immutability. He went on to become the first head of state to officially endorse the Blockchain Technology.

The conference concluded on a highly successful note with Binance, one of the world’s largest Blockchain and crypto asset exchanges and the main sponsor of the conference, announcing plans to open a branch in Uganda. In addition to the presidential endorsement, the Ugandan government also announced plans to immediately form a Blockchain Taskforce at the Ministry of ICT, establish a regulatory sandbox, and work towards offering relevant training for Ugandans in the Blockchain sphere. Registration for the Africa Blockcain Conference 2019 was also opened.

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¹ The Africa Blockchain Conference 2018 was hosted by the Blockchain Association of Uganda in partnership with the government of Uganda. Sponsors included Binance, Standbic Bank Uganda, and St. Augustine International University (Kenya).