When it comes to Africa, it is fair to say that the establishment of blockchain technology has been a definitive boon for the financial sector in the continent. Besides the apparent benefits that come with blockchain technology, there are quite a few acute reasons as to why the financial segment in Africa is benefiting.
Africa, besides having one of the fastest-growing populations in the world, also has one of the largest unbanked and underbanked populations. Another factor is the boom of microbusinesses in the continent.
When mobile currency exchange was introduced globally in the last decade, Africa turned out to be one of the largest adopters of the technology. More than half of operators dealing with online currency exchange are situated in the sub-Saharan region.
And now the case is the same with blockchain technology. Startups across the African region are making use of blockchain to reduce processing costs for payments, increase community currency-based profit, and develop various lending solutions.
Primary Segments Developing Blockchain Solutions
The banking and finance sector is finding many uses of blockchain technology for everyday activities. Be it banking transactions or sharing secure financial information, blockchain is providing an added layer of security and increasing the speed of these processes.
The healthcare sector is also able to access the security aspect of ledger-based information storage. Secure information sharing and storage had become one of the primary needs of the healthcare sector and with the help of blockchain, this is now a possibility across the sector.
For the education sector in Africa, false records were becoming a major crisis. But with blockchain, verification of information became a relatively easier process, and any records can now be globally verified with the click of a button. Similarly, authenticity issues in the food industry were largely solved and counterfeit products can now be easily identified.
Final Thoughts
While blockchain is still being considered a ‘risky’ technology in many parts of the progressive world, Africa is at the forefront of this revolution. The innovative minds of financial drivers in the continent have allowed for the full potential of this technology to be recognized. Africa in the 21st century has a unified economic vision, and blockchain is playing a major role in this process. However, there are still issues that prove to be hindrances towards the development of this technology, such as internet access, and regulatory frameworks.
