In todays’ spotlight of speakers at The Converge event, we will share the thoughts of Obinna Iwuno the Founder of The Crypto Bootcamp and Executive Secretary of Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN).
In his opening statement, Obinna asserted that blockchain has opened up opportunities for financial inclusion in Africa, stating that the global index of financial inclusion indicates that the majority of the unbanked world’s population are in Africa and Asia.
This means that percentage of the population do not have access to the necessary financial services that should be easily assessed by people and this has created problems in the ecosystem, however, blockchain is around to solve the problem.
Stating further, Obinna described blockchain as web 3.0, the internet of value, “What we have with the internet that Facebook, Amazon and co were built on is the internet for information, you could transmit information. So the information is readily available at our fingertips, what is really needed now, for you to access this information is internet connectivity, and a device or gadgets, that can transmit these internet connectivities and connect you between the information that you are looking for, and where it is.”
However, according to him, people are not able to transmit value, so if information can be transmitted, why can’t value also get transmitted? So this is what blockchain has come to solve.
“And then blockchain, solve three very important problems, which are security, transparency, and trust, this is the thing that traditional financial institutions have not been able to deal with. So now, people can transact on the blockchain and they know that their transaction is secured and they do not have any issues of shady dealing.”
Illustrating this with an example, Obinna gave an instance of a crypto transaction he once had. Explaining the instance he said someone sent him Bitcoin worth $389, however, Obinna received $342.
To solve this issue, the transaction hatch on the blockchain was placed on Explorer and it revealed that the actual amount that was sent was $342 in contrast to the sender’s claim.
“The information is there for all of us to see, we didn’t need to go to the bank to stand in a queue to consult a customer service rep or anything no.
We did it right from the comfort of our homes in real-time, and the transaction showed you sent me $342 worth of Bitcoin? And that was what I paid for. So there was the transparency, there was the security and now this is the Trust”
Asides from being a crypto analyst, Obinna is also a blockchain educator and he shared his thought as well as an educationist.
Obinna sees blockchain and cryptocurrency as the one technology that has the greatest use case in Africa.
“And it’s an opportunity for Africa to leapfrog and level up with the rest of the world on it has missed in the past. We are talking about the fourth industrial revolution. Right now, Africa is a long way behind the West and Southeast Asia, who in quotes attempt the developed countries, so now Africa is the developing country.”
Obinna asserted that the blockchain sector is a 12-year-old industry and it means that Africa has an opportunity to take advantage of it.
According to Obinna, there is presently nobody in the blockchain industry that came from the blockchain industry.
“Every single person who is in the blockchain industry today came from some other field. Some of the people Who are developers in the blockchain industry were people who had ideas in tech. They have been software developers and web developers, all they needed to do was to learn how to build on blockchain. And so as presently blockchain is still a progress in motion, right, and innovation in progress. So if you’re getting in now you are getting into your early to the game.”
Obinna emphasized that it is high time, Africa takes advantage of blockchain so that the continent would become players and equal participators rather than trying to play catch
“And so how do we catch up with these things, education will play a key role. People need to be aware that this thing actually exists in the first place. Then when people are aware of the technology’s existence, then you teach them what this thing is all about.”
According to Obinna, blockchain presents to Africa, two huge opportunities; economic development and job creation.
“When we talk about job creation, we are looking at the young people of Africa. Africa’s population is made up of over 60% young people. And so it means that if Africa’s economy is going to be developed, is the larger percentage of our population, which is the young people that are going to do these developments.”
For the opportunities in employment that blockchain has created, Obinna asserted that cryptocurrency is the most famous use case of the blockchain because it was the first application of the technology, however, cryptocurrency is just one aspect of blockchain.
As stated by Obinna, it took 12 years for the crypto market to hit a trillion-dollar market capitalization ever since it was mined on January 3rd, 2009.
“That was 12 years, and the markets go to $1 trillion. But look at the interesting thing that happened in less than 90 days, the market hit $2 trillion. So in less than 90 days, the market did what it took 12 years to achieve. And, again, some weeks later, after hitting $2 trillion, the market was at 2.4 trillion.”
This according to Obinna is a huge opportunity that is available with cryptocurrency because as more money comes into the industry, there will be an increase in the number of organizations and startups leveraging the technology.
Obinna however stated his fear about the lack of the necessary skillset stating that blockchain is a new industry and most skills needed are in short supply.
“Imagine when we are able to train a large percentage of our youth on the skills that are needed in the blockchain and crypto industry, these jobs will be evenly distributed because there are 10s and 1000s of projects in the crypto space in the blockchain space, that do not have any form of representation in Africa, because there are no people to represent them or the people who are available do not have the necessary skills. So at crypto Bootcamp, our focus is education on blockchain and cryptocurrency, So we teach people crypto trading and investments”
“And then we talk about the global digital economy because that’s what the word is practicing. Currently. Now you have platforms like Uber and Airbnb, these people do not own any real physical assets, but they are valued in billions of dollars.
Then we talk about business technology because people need to know how to transform their tech ideas into business. And then lastly, we deal with the blockchain and crypto industry specialized skills training, because we want young people to acquire these skills and be employable in the blockchain and crypto industry.”
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