Charles Hoskinson’s Cardano has certainly been making headlines as of late, as the world’s 6th largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization recently experienced an increase of 11% in its price within the past 24 hours. As of the time of this writing, Cardano’s ADA token is priced at $1.40, and the cryptocurrency has an overall market capitalization of $44,783,096,974. Most recently, Shopify, WooCommerce and several other plugins had added the option to pay in crypto for their respective products and services, and ADA had also been included on that list.
Now though, Cardano has expanded its influence even further when IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong), which is a Cardano developer and blockchain firm, announced the formation of a partnership not with another company or firm but with the government of Ethiopia itself. The primary goal of the partnership is to help digitize the nation’s education sector and provide improved verification methods.
Qualifications in Ethiopia can now be assessed and verified through blockchain technology.
John O’Connor, the director acting on behalf of IOHK and the one responsible for operations in Africa, stated that the firm should be deploying a solution centred around identity, which will also be decentralized in nature. The solution in question is known as ‘Atala PRISM’, and it will be deployed to over a thousand different schools in Ethiopia, which is also the 2nd most populous nation in Africa.
The abovementioned Cardano-built solution shall be used for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to the digital verification of grades, monitoring of school and academic performance in a remote manner, and the general bolstering of education as well as the overall employment rate across the country.
O’Connor had stated, “the solution shall enable every student to have their digital qualifications verified via blockchain, which will in turn help reduce fake and fraudulent job and university applications. It will also assist in increasing social mobility by granting the ability to employers to check and cross-reference grades without the need of a third-party agency”.
IOHK looking to expand in Africa
The national identity verification system shall be made available to both students as well as teachers. Additionally, tertiary education could also derive benefit from it as well in the near future.
Hoskinson had also hinted towards establishing future business-related opportunities within Africa in an effort to have IOHK further expand its influence in the region. Cardano investors will be delighted to know that their patience is finally being rewarded, and the future does look bright for Hoskinson’s project indeed.
