Cardano’s IOHK, Ethiopia Partner Over Blockchain-Based ID System

In another big move for the blockchain industry, IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong), the technology firm behind Cardano, has announced a groundbreaking partnership with the Ethiopian government to create a blockchain-based national ID and attainment recording system.

IOHK, via its official Twitter account, announced the new collaboration between the blockchain firm and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education. IOHK noted that the initiative would result in the establishment of the “world’s largest blockchain deployment.”

We couldn't make you wait until Thursday! We're announcing our partnership with Ethiopia's Ministry of Education to create a blockchain-based national ID and attainment recording system. Rolling out to 5M students, this is the world’s largest blockchain deployment #CardanoAfrica

— IOHK Media (@IOHKMedia) April 27, 2021

Although the full details of the collaboration haven’t been released, IOHK stated that the new blockchain initiative would entail Atala PRISM, a Cardano-based decentralized ID solution, to be initially deployed in Ethiopia’s schools.

According to reports, utilizing Atala PRISM, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education would be able to establish a secured database of educational performance for 3,500 schools, five million students and 750,000 teachers in the country. This initiative provides every pupil with verifiable digital qualifications, which would invariably increase social mobility and reduce fraudulent job and university applications. The program also allows remote monitoring of school performance and verifying grades digitally.

John O’Connor, IOHK’s director of Africa operations, expressed his delight with the partnership. He tweeted, “The good things in life take time. Super excited that our tech is now mature enough to do these kinds of nation-state deployments.”

About Atala Framework 

It’s worth noting that Atala was launched to serve as a solutions provider for governments, developers, and companies that want to implement new products.

Atala was built from the ground up for real-life use cases, which include voting systems, supply chain management, property registration, among others. Also, the blockchain framework concentrates on cryptocurrency adoption.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and CEO of IOHK, says, “Atala is an enterprise framework similar to Hyperledger Fabric. However, the point is to be a solutions provider for governments in need of a municipal currency or a supply chain management system. This requires a type of framework that serves as libraries and modules that would allow governments to rapidly build a product for end users.”

Ethiopian Education Minister Getahun Mekuria noted that the collaboration will help facilitate the country’s shift toward digitalization. He says, “This forms a key plank of our National Digital Transformation Strategy and will underpin a uniquely transparent, data-driven education system based on a dynamic curriculum. We believe blockchain offers a key opportunity to end digital exclusion and widen access to higher education and employment.”

Partnership Forms Part of Ethiopia’s Digital Transformation

Teferi Melesse Desta, Ethiopian ambassador to the United Kingdom, addressed the new collaboration between the government and IOHK. He also noted that the partnership was in line with the Ethiopian government’s Digital Transformation Strategy.

Also, Twitter user @Yemigraphy noted that the collaboration was “a great achievement for the African continent and the Cardano ecosystem.”

Popular crypto enthusiast Derek Ross also took to his official Twitter account to express his delight with the new development. He said, “Amazing. Being able to tout the world’s largest blockchain deployment is extremely exciting for the entire blockchain space. Congratulations to everyone involved. The future is now.”

Amazing. Being able to tout the "world's largest blockchain deployment" is extremely exciting for the entire blockchain space. Congratulations to everyone involved. The future is now.

— Derek Ross+ (@derekmross) April 27, 2021

ADA Price

Cardano (ADA), which is currently the sixth-largest cryptocurrency project, was trading at $1.31 at the time of publication. ADA has a 24-hour trading volume of $2,920,118,554 and a market cap of $42,047,934,822.

ADA price also went up by 5.1% over the last 24 hours. It currently has a circulating supply of 32 billion coins and a max supply of 45 billion. Binance is the current most active market trading ADA.

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