Over the past few years, the term blockchain has become one of the regularly used words in the Fintech space. Today, Africa is witnessing advancing socio-economic growth through the adoption of blockchain technologies for e-commerce and entrepreneurship frameworks.
Blockchain technology is defined as an open and distributed ledger system that can document transactions between several parties. without full control of a single entity.
I recently had a chat with Obinna Iwuno, Founder, Crypto Bootcamp, and Executive Secretary of Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria where discusses how the blockchain ecosystem can contribute to the development of our digital economy.
CFA: Obinna, glad to have you on the Tech Trends show today.
Obinna: Yeah, thank you. I’m glad to be here with you.
CFA: Okay, what is blockchain? For those who are just getting to understand the industry, what does it really mean?
Obinna: It’s very simple. Blockchain is a record of transactions that is open for everyone to see. So you can say that blockchain is a public distributed ledger because what you have on a ledger is a record of transactions which is actually what blockchain does.
Because it keeps records of transactions, it’s rightly called a ledger which is public and is distributed so that everyone who comes into the blockchain network can actually see it.
Basically, that is what the blockchain is without all of the technical terminologies that can confuse the ordinary man on the streets.
CFA: Take us through the evolution of this technology, where it was, where it is now where it’s going to.
Obinna: It would interest you to know that blockchain technology has been existing as far back as 1991 but it was never implemented. From an idea stage, it saw an improvement in 1994 and was never implemented.
But then in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper where he detailed how he has invented or would invent a system of cash, a system of financial transaction that is a peer-to-peer, digital money which will be powered by a technology called a blockchain. So, it was Satoshi Nakamoto, who actually implemented the blockchain.
Blockchain is no longer where it used to be. It has metamorphosed over the years into something bigger and better. We are seeing a future where people will use blockchain to operate almost all the systems in the world.
Currently, there are organizations that are already using blockchain to solve problems, to make their services more efficient, and to enhance their products. So,
CFA: I know that outside Nigeria, a lot of legacy organizations are also now setting up, blockchain data departments. Are you seeing that in Nigeria as well?
Obinna: We are hopeful that such will be done. Last year, we received an invitation from NITDA right to help Nigeria to design a logo, a framework for blockchain adoption strategy. The Nigerian government says it’s aiming to generate $30 billion from blockchain technology.
You may watch the full interview here.
