The country’s Ministry of Science and Technology has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with fledgling cryptocurrency startup Cardano.
Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Cardano, tweeted that the agreement would provide Ethiopian developers with access to Cardano’s blockchain in the domestic agriculture industry.
Just signed an MOU with the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Technology to explore training blockchain developers and use Cardano in the Agritech Industry pic.twitter.com/r06W0RSZye
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 3, 2018
It is worth noting that the memorandum only confirms the parties’ intentions of helping each other. The MOU does not have a date for the commencement of obligations. John O’Connor, Director of African Operations at IOHK (Cardano’s parent company), says Ethiopian developers are expected to begin using the platform by the end of 2018.
“If the opportunities that are now arising for blockchain trials in sub-Saharan Africa are to be maximised, then they should be built on robust and open-source technology. Our aim with Cardano was to build a blockchain based on peer-reviewed academic research by some of the world’s foremost researchers and engineers We have started down this road, and now is the time to begin planning trial projects across countries in the African subcontinent. We aim to make Cardano the blockchain used to build land registries and much more,” he said.
More information about the collaboration between Cardano and Ethiopia can be found on the official website of the Ethiopian government.
Cardano is one of the ten largest cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. Altcoin uses PoS instead of the PoW protocol, which makes it more energy efficient.
By Ekaterina Ulyanova