Kenyans use over Sh.160 billion (USD1.6b) in buying Kryptos without understanding its utility.
Kryptos run on a technology called block chain, a ledger of blocks of information, such as transactions or agreements, that are stored across a network of computers.
Speaking on Tuesday during an East Africa Com two -day conference in Nairobi, the Chairman of the Block Chain and Artificial Intelligence task force in the government, Dr. Bitange Ndemo said there is therefore need to create local investment where one can be able to see the utility.
“It is good for one to invest in a local Krypto which is tied to an organisation that one can tell which utility is
coming from,” he said
He explained that that there are more than 2000Kryptos in the country and added if one is buying something from somewhere and he does not know the utility then they would lose money.
“Most people have lost money especially when bitcoin recently went up by 40 percent but what they needed to know is the utility of the coin they are buying “, he emphasised
Dr. Ndemo said they are beginning to see the application in industrial revolution technologies and Internet of Things (IOT) which has been working for so many areas.
He named areas such as health, education where we are seeing application for IOT in the supply chain sectors, saying there were many opportunities to leverage on the technology.
Data analytics , he added is big time thus the need to also leverage and begin to improve the efficiencies in this
country.
“We have made recommendations to develop what is called a digital asset digital frame work that is very key and through this we can raise or crowd source funds locally using digital assets framework”, he said.
Crowd sourcing is a sourcing model in which individuals or organizations obtain goods and services, including ideas and finances, from a large, relatively open and often rapidly-evolving group of internet users
For the foreigners, Dr. Ndemo explained that a legal sand box that is going to support raising resources through crowd sourcing can be found in the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) Website.
Sand box is a security mechanism for separating running programs, usually in an effort to mitigate system failures or software.
He explained that although Central Bank has been trying to warn Kenyans on the volatility of the emerging Krypto
currencies tokens, they are now softening their hearts and have not rejected the innovation completely hence the more reason to tokenize a lot of resources.
“We are looking forward to have several legal sandboxes in areas that don’t have regulatory frame work but it is the only way to move forward because most people want regulation but regulation can’t go ahead of innovation”, he said.
Dr. Ndemo said there are many products which don’t have proper regulatory mechanism but which he added will be protected by the legal sand boxes saying this is the only way the country can begin to disrupt the future by using block chains in some areas of government.
He named areas such as the cooperative sector which has been having problems in terms of governance saying that the block chain which is designed like a cooperative will be able to trace if one took money and for what purpose.
“We have a technology that can minimise this governance issues in the cooperative sector”, he said.
Dr. Ndemo further noted that Artificial Intelligence is a new technology and termed it as the fourth industrial revolution technology meant for Africa because of the many inefficiencies.
“The narrative has been that AI will actually kill jobs but if one understands the geek economy, there are many jobs
created”, he said.
He named Microsoft which on Monday moved to Nairobi saying they use AI and since they will enlist over 600 software engineers and there are many young graduates in computer science in the country, the company will wipe everything, leaving companies to test new areas.
“We therefore need to build capacities in this new area and take advantage of the population knowing this is a sure way of creating jobs and move forward”, he added.
The government, he said is already using block chain, AI and data analytics but it will be intensified and despite a
few Kenyans working in that space there is need to develop more capacity.
With cybercrime becoming more common, Dr. Ndemo said there is need to use Biometric technology, noting that the current biometric data being captured in the country which is about 70 percent is a way to go.
The Cannon Sales Manager, Parag Kaungal, who is an exhibitor at the two day conference said the strategic event for the telecoms, media, broadcasting and technology leaders in East Africa will see Cannon display innovative projects .
“We are focused on telecom, broadcast industry security and lots of professional work with a key strategy to get close to customers, understand their requirements especially in a digital environment and an evolving industry,” Kaungal said.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), block chain has become one the foundation technologies of future competitiveness.
By Wangari Ndirangu
