An open-source map to the Pan-African blockchain ecosystem
Over 100 companies are building distributed ledger technology solutions on the African continent. See the open-sourced map here.
Written by Yele Bademosi and Marvin H. Coleby (@seathemc).
The ecosystem is growing
The growth of the Pan-African distributed ledger technology (or, blockchain) is indisputable. Only 34 initiatives were recorded in Africa towards late 2017 in a research report released by Emerge. Today, we’re proud to announce that there are dozens of initiatives and fully-fledged companies building Pan-African distributed ledger technology solutions. This represents a growth in the amount of companies on the continent by over 120% per year since 2017.
That’s a lot of growth in a short time, and it’s a lot of companies to manually collect data on. To build this map, representatives came together from the Africa Blockchain Alliance, African Digital Asset Framework, Binance Labs, BitcoinKE, CryptoTV Plus, EOS Nairobi, Microtraction and Raise. In addition to these companies, countless other communities and members participated in the search and refined data.
We all learned of interesting applications of this technology across the continent: like supply chain tracking in Tunisia, credit scoring in South Africa, Stellar engineering education in Ethiopia and USSD-crypto gateways in Ghana.
What’s next?
This map is open source and live, and can be updated and released regularly. We are therefore making the research behind the map entirely open source.
Each of our organizations believe in the solidarity and strength of open source movements. In true open source style, we all call on anyone to participate in updating this data over time. We are a community, a community of people building technologies for Africans.
We are here to identify and recognize solutions built by Africans, for Africans.
It is in all of our interests to maintain a clear database of companies building the Pan-African distributed ledger and blockchain ecosystems across the continent and diaspora.
We know this list isn’t exhaustive and that’s why we open-sourced this ecosystem map and calling on the community to make it more comprehensive.
At this link, you’ll find the Googles Sheet containing the list of companies, descriptions, countries and websites.
Rules for editing
The Googles Sheet document above is entirely open. Feel free to add new companies and keep the sheet and data clean.
About the contributors to the map
A special thank you to the incredible organizations and supporters that came together across different time zones and companies to create this map. Hours of time, dedication and communication went into building this initiative.
Africa Blockchain Alliance — A Pan-African organization on a mission to equip stakeholders on the African continent and beyond with the best blockchain education, acumen and tools to shape Africa’s future through educational programs, partnerships, policy advocacy and a thriving community within Africa and the diaspora.
African Digital Asset Framework — A platform for creating open and accessible standards for digital trade between the Pan-African continent and its diaspora.
Binance Labs — Binance Labs is the venture arm of Binance and an initiative to incubate, invest, and empower blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, projects, and communities.
BitcoinKE — An educational, media, and publishing company supporting, growing, and building the blockchain and crypto ecosystem on the African continent.
CryptoTVPlus — Africa’s topmost blockchain and cryptocurrency media house dedicated at giving Startups employing blockchain technology adequate media and advocacy exposure at the least possible cost.
EOS Nairobi — An African Blockchain community focused on education and training of developers building Decentralised Applications on EOSIO-based blockchains, and supporting businesses and real-world applications on the blockchain.
Microtraction — An early-stage angel investment fund supporting and backing remarkable African tech entrepreneurs.
Raise — A platform and suite of digital tools that simplify the fundraising process for founders and their investors.
