Cardano Announces The Largest Blockchain Deal Ever

pLast Thursday marked a landmark achievement for the cryptocurrency industry IOHK the development company behind Cardano announced the biggest blockchain deal in history with thenbspa hrefhttpsafricacardanoorg targetblankEthiopian governmenta The deal will deliver blockchainbased identities for overnbsp millionnbspstudents andnbsp thousandnbspsecondary school teachers in the countryppThis deal was the culmination of nearly four years of negotiations between IOHK and the Ethiopian government The Cardanobased identity systemnbspa hrefhttpsatalaprismioapp targetblankAtala PRISMa build by IOHK will provide decentralized identifies DID for each postsecondary student in Ethiopia These DIDs will track students performance attendance and extracurricular engagement while also tracking the performance of their teachersppMany in the western world take the concept of governmentissued identity for granted Having a passport and access to our traditional financial system seem to many as a human right however there are many in the emerging world who do not have this luxury Statesponsored cryptographic identity will create an explosion of economic activity in Ethiopia allowing for financial inclusion financing land ownership and reputation systems to emergeppWhile the announcement of the million person deal was a major milestone in the advancement of the crypto industry IOHKs work is far from done in Africa They are already in talks with over other African countries and plan to roll out their Ethiopian partnership to elementary students and later other sectors of the Ethiopian economyppnbspppstrongWhat This Means for the Crypto IndustrystrongppWhile many of the emerging DeFi applications on Ethereum show tremendous potential many of them are focused on the North American market a market that is not in dire need of the innovations that blockchain can bring By focusing its attention on Africa Cardano is targeting a market that is in dire need of progress Similar to how many third world countries leapfrogged coal and went straight to solar power or how they skipped the landline and went straight to mobile blockchain will allow the opportunity for many of these emerging countries to leapfrog much of the traditional financial system and move straight into the world of blockchainppWithin the next few years Africa may be one of the leading continents when it comes to blockchain adoption and development This will steam from the tremendous need for the technology it provides as well as the tireless work done by the IOHK team in driving its adoptionp