Africa’s leading blockchain and cryptocurrency event, the Blockchain Africa Conference 2021, has once again assembled an impressive list of keynote speakers.
Charles Hoskinson, Founder and CEO of IOHK, Founder of Cardano and Director of The Bitcoin Project, will be speaking about Cardano’s projects on the African continent. Charles has several times spoken of the enormous opportunities offered by the African continent for the implementation of blockchain technology.
He recently announced that IOHK is in the final stages of a large African government contract which would have multi-million users being onboarded onto the Cardano platform for a real-world blockchain implementation. The company’s focus countries include South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.
Sandro Ro, CEO at the Global Blockchain Business Council, will be providing an overview of the blockchain landscape.
Sandra says, “As blockchain technology and digital assets, driven by waves of meaningful use cases, continue to enter the mainstream, the continent of Africa is primed to reap the benefits of this groundbreaking technology and lead in categories like payments, mobile money, and track and trace, particularly as it applies to agriculture.
Working together, the private and public sectors stand to leapfrog existing infrastructure and benefit from increased information transparency, accessibility, and most importantly, opportunities for many to participate and grow economies.”
Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder at Alameda Research and CEO and Founder at FTX, the fifth-largest crypto derivatives exchange in the world by trading volume, will discuss the decentralised financial ecosystem of the future. Sam’s keynote will focus on the Serum project, the world’s first fully fledged decentralised spot and derivatives exchange operating on a centralised limit order book (CLOB) on the Solana network, compatible with Ethereum.
Ben Zhou, Co-founder and CEO at Bybit, one of the world’s top five crypto derivative exchanges, will participate in a fireside chat hosted by Peter McCormack on institutional and retail investment in crypto.
Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave, will introduce the Aave protocol, an open-source and non-custodial money market protocol enabling users to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets.
Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that supports the growth and development of Stellar. Her keynote will explore how the Stellar Network, an open-source blockchain network for money transfers from digital currency to fiat, is connecting the global financial infrastructure.
Yele Bademosi, CEO at Bundle Africa and Founding Partner at Microtraction, will discuss the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies in Africa.
Yele says, “The blockchain revolution is happening in Africa, not in the future but now. We are seeing more decentralisation driven by regulation across the continent and continued adoption. Blockchain Africa Conference is one of the longest-running conferences on blockchain on the continent and is the best place to get up to speed about what’s happening in Africa and where you can get involved.”
Henri Arslanian, Global Crypto Leader, Asia FinTech Leader and Partner at PwC, will discuss the latest global crypto institutional trends. Market adoption of cryptocurrencies has accelerated greatly over the last year, with tech and digital payment companies like PayPal offering new services to customers, and companies such as MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Square investing significant capital in cryptocurrency.
The Masterclass
The Masterclass, titled “Introduction to CBDCs: To CBDC or Not to CBDC”, will be hosted in partnership with the Global Policy House on the second day of the conference.
The Masterclass will explore the opportunities of CBDCs to revamp payments in Africa, support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), examine why central banks may introduce digital currencies, and outline the challenges of CBDC implementation.
Tickets for the Central Bank Digital Currency Masterclass can be purchased here.
Event topics
Topics throughout the event cover the full breadth of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and decentralised finance (DeFi).
Over two days, the event will feature multiple networking sessions, one-to-one connection opportunities, panel and keynote discussions, and a wide variety of exhibitors. The conference will bring together 1,500+ attendees from 45+ countries to discuss the hottest topics in the industry.
For further information and to register for a free ticket, visit www.blockchainafrica.co.
About Bitcoin Events
Bitcoin Events is Africa’s leading blockchain and cryptocurrency event coordinator since 2015, attracting over 280 global speakers and 5,000 delegates from 85 countries.
Bitcoin Events organises Africa’s premier blockchain and cryptocurrency conferences, including the Blockchain Africa Conference, Crypto Fest, and the DeFi Conference.