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Ethiopian Education Minister Confirms Cardano Blockchain Partnership
Cardano builder IOHK said it is beginning to develop the code and does not expect to launch the project before 2022.
Ethiopia's Minister of Education confirmed the government is working with IOHK, the company behind the Cardano protocol, on a blockchain-based system to track student performance in the African country's schools.
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"This initiative is about bringing technology to improve the quality of education," said the minister, Getahun Mekuria, in a video conversation with John O’Connor, IOHK's director of African operations, livestreamed by the company Thursday. "It’s very practical to think of the blockchain technology [as a way] to improve the quality of education."
The much-touted project is still in its early stages. O'Connor told CoinDesk the company is only beginning to develop the code for this project, and does not expect to launch anything before January 2022.
Africa has been fertile ground for crypto experimentation lately. Nigeria is one of the largest peer-to-peer bitcoin markets in the world, according to data from Useful Tulips. Xend Finance in Nigeria is bringing decentralized finance (DeFi) to the world of credit unions. Hip-hop star Akon is looking to build a crypto-centric project in Senegal.
Five million Ethiopian students will receive a Cardano blockchain-based ID that will allow the ministry to track their academic performance, Mekuria said Thursday, and 750,000 teachers will get access to the system. According to the minister, the Ethiopian government struck a deal with a Chinese manufacturer of tablet computers, which will be distributed to the students.
Founded by Charles Hoskinson, who co-founded Ethereum, Cardano uses the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, to which Ethereum is now moving. Its native token, ADA, has jumped 9% since April 26, the day before IOHK announced the Ethiopia project. On a 24-hour basis, it was down 0.8% to $1.35 at press time.
Marc Hochstein
As Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Features, Opinion, Ethics and Standards, Marc oversees CoinDesk's long-form content, sets editorial policies and acts as the ombudsman for our industry-leading newsroom. He is also spearheading our nascent coverage of prediction markets and helps compile The Node, our daily email newsletter rounding up the biggest stories in crypto. From November 2022 to June 2024 Marc was the Executive Editor of Consensus, CoinDesk's flagship annual event. He joined CoinDesk in 2017 as a managing editor and has steadily added responsibilities over the years. Marc is a veteran journalist with more than 25 years' experience, including 17 years at the trade publication American Banker, the last three as editor-in-chief, where he was responsible for some of the earliest mainstream news coverage of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. DISCLOSURE: Marc holds BTC above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000; marginal amounts of ETH, SOL, XMR, ZEC, MATIC and EGIRL; an Urbit planet (~fodrex-malmev); two ENS domain names (MarcHochstein.eth and MarcusHNYC.eth); and NFTs from the Oekaki (pictured), Lil Skribblers, SSRWives, and Gwar collections.
Anna Baydakova
Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies. She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City. She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta. Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.
