This archive report was first published on 18 September 2019.
As the world continues to grapple with the potential of blockchain technology, Africa finds itself at a crossroads. With a young population and access to knowledge through the internet, the continent has a unique opportunity to leapfrog legacy systems and harness the power of blockchain for economic development and greater prosperity.
However, this window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Since 2018, when the World Economic Forum declared blockchain as one of the technologies defining the emerging revolution, there has been a lot of skepticism around its potential. Academics have argued that there isn't a problem that blockchain is solving, with Stefaan Verhulst, co-founder of the Governance Laboratory (GovLab) at New York University, stating that some of the technology's challenges are a 'lack of governance and ethical frameworks that can help scale the use of blockchain' and that it is 'still being promoted as a solution in search of a problem.'
But what has not happened is the articulation of policy and regulatory frameworks that will guide further development of the technology. This is perhaps what has triggered a series of high-level policy engagements across the world to chart the way forward.
One such engagement was the Global Blockchain Policy Forum hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris last week. The forum sought to assess the development of blockchain in the past 12 months and delve into some of the specific challenges to implementation and adoption, discuss the emerging policy responses, and share the best practices.
As a panelist at the forum, I had the opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities of blockchain in emerging markets. Some of the specific issues included lack of ICT infrastructure to support emerging technologies, bureaucratic governments that do not tolerate innovations that seem to undermine their grip of power on citizens, and lack of policies to govern blockchain applications.
However, it was noted that most emerging markets have found the lack of 20th century legacy systems an advantage to leapfrog. The tempo for policy engagements around blockchain is gaining momentum especially in Europe.
On the application side, the revelation by Coindesk that the government of Catalonia in Spain is developing a Digital Ledger Technology-based identity platform that seeks to 'give citizens control of their own data when interacting with online services,' heralds the beginning of dealing with the problem of privacy breaches by organisations that hold individual data.
As the world continues to move forward with blockchain technology, Africa cannot afford to be left behind. The continent must lead the way in dynamic policy formulation, individual countries must make right decisions to invest in ICTS and facilitate its accessibility and affordability.
There is no doubt that blockchain and other exponential technologies are gaining acceptance across the world. We cannot be left behind once more.
