Blog
Kenyan Government Signs Up to Blockchain Innovation
May 23, 2023
The promise of blockchain’s potential continues to spread beyond simple financial applications and the latest evidence of this can be found in a recent announcement from the Venom Foundation - the company developing and launching the Venom blockchain - which indicated it had partnered with the Government of Kenya to create a state-of-the-art blockchain hub in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
In a press release, Venom Foundation revealed it will be developing web3 and blockchain technology apps to drive innovation in a variety of sectors, including financial, supply chain, agriculture, land registry, voting, SMEs and cross-border trading. In addition to leveraging blockchain’s benefits to improve such services, its implementation is also devised to boost the growth of local economies, improve the status quo for Kenya’s population, and promote trade and efficient business with other African countries.
The Venom blockchain is a layer 0 blockchain which features dynamic sharding. Its goal is to be the main infrastructure for a global ecosystem of Web3 applications and facilitate ultra-fast transaction speeds and infinite scalability. The Venom ecosystem features the Venom Wallet, interchain transactions and a NFT marketplace amongst other opportunities. Licensed under the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) framework, Venom has a strong focus on regulation as it enables projects such as DAOs, DeFi, SocialFi, CBDCs, DIDs and GameFi.
Through the development of this hub, some of the key factors of blockchain technology that were picked out as benefits that would be applied to the services included:
- minimizing transaction costs,
- enhancing security and transparency,
- increasing access to financial services,
- expediting settlement times,
- creating new investment opportunities through tokenization.
Tweeting about the partnership, Moses Kuria, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry said: “This partnership with @VenomFoundation through @venomafrica signifies Kenya's stance towards next-gen technology, financial and technological developments, and will catalyze further innovations in various industries, benefitting people both nationally and globally. The hub will supply tools and resources to support African countries in establishing a solid foundation for digital transformation. Blockchain-based solutions will be made available, promoting transparency, efficiency, and trust.”
The news of the development of this Kenyan blockchain hub came shortly after an announcement from the Government of Nigeria that indicated it would be applying blockchain solutions throughout the country. That blockchain’s potential is being increasingly seen beyond what it can offer to financial services is heartening and could indicate a change in pace for blockchain adoption is coming on a larger scale. Similarly, although seeing that regulation is very much at the heart of the development of the Kenyan blockchain hub may not be surprising given that it is a government-based initiative, it is comforting as it suggests that the potential of compliant solutions to protect users from fraud and malicious actors will be a key facet of global blockchain development as it continues.
Compliance measures are applicable in all Fintech and DeFi solutions and for many other applications; meeting regulations should be the goal of every developer in order to build a safe ecosystem which can be adopted en-masse to bring the benefits of blockchain to as wide an audience as possible. To help those seeking solutions which are comprehensive, affordable and user-friendly, Blockpass provides a range of services, including KYC and AML, which not only enable adherence to the latest regulatory standards before they come in but also have a focus on data privacy and user control.
The Blockpass platform is fully automated and hosted in the cloud, with no integration or setup fee. Businesses can sign up to the KYC Connect console in a matter of minutes, test out the service, and start conducting identity documents verification, KYC and AML checks. Take a look at Blockpass' groundbreaking crypto compliance solutions:
KYC CONNECT®
- Built-for-Crypto, centralized off-chain KYC platform
- Bank-grade KYC/AML
- No integration necessary, no setup cost
- Self-service and managed SaaS plans
ON-CHAIN KYC®
- On-chain, zero-knowledge verification KYC platform
- Customers complete KYCin an anonymous, data-free way
- Verification results delivered by API KYC / ID data oracle across multiple blockchains
UNHOSTED WALLET KYC™
- Only KYC solution for unhosted (or non-custodial) wallets in the market
- Adheres to the Crypto Travel Rule laws being adopted, reduces regulatory risk of transactions
- Verifies users own/control their crypto addresses
By Matthew Warner