Polygon Partners with Niger to Build Billion-Dollar Blockchain

• Polygon is partnering with Niger to develop a blockchain ecosystem for the future of the country.
• Niger believes blockchain could boost its economic standing despite a low adoption rate.

Polygon has announced its partnership with the landlocked West African country Niger to facilitate the development of the region’s blockchain ecosystem. As a country that ranked 189 out of 191 in the United Nations Human Development Report, Niger seems to have been relegated to the background by its counterparts in the Sahel region. It is one of the countries described to have a poorly diversified economy.

The Polygon Impact

The Polygon blockchain platform believes that Niger has great prospects which are somewhat connected to the younger generation in the country. As per a tweet made by Polygon about Niger, the protocol said it “believes in its tremendous potential, sustained by its dynamic youth.” 

While the country has not had a significant rate of blockchain technology adoption so far, Jordi Baylina, the technical lead and co-founder of Polygon led a team in 2018 to organize a regional hackathon in Niamey, the capital of Niger. The Sahel hackathon was focused on addressing gender inequality. It was during that time that it was discovered that only one-fifth of developers in Africa are females.

.@0xPolygon Co-Founder @jbaylina leading Sahel’s hackathon to address gender inequality in Niamey back in 2018. It’s estimated that only 1/5 developers in Africa are female. pic.twitter.com/IGwed32RjM

— Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) May 5, 2023

The discovery led to the decision to promote inclusion and female participation in blockchain and Web 3.0-based events. So far, Polygon has inked strategic collaborations with Impact Plus and GeoAnalytics Center, a technology-focused non-governmental organization in Niamey. In the meantime, the trio is focused on three activities which they plan to achieve with outstanding results to show for it.

For a start, they have begun to map out blockchain ecosystems with the aim of identifying local projects to embark on. 

Once these grassroots projects have been identified as a fit for the most appropriate blockchain technology, discussions with stakeholders including the government, youths, tertiary institutions, startups, and indicators will commence to gain their support towards the potential policy.

In this roundtable meeting, Polygon would welcome different innovative perspectives to boost the projects that have already been identified. Next would be a debate with the community to discuss and expound their findings. Ultimately, Polygon is seeking strategies to promote diversity and inclusion of Web 3.0 in Niger.

Africa Slowly Adopting Blockchain Technology 

Generally, countries in Africa have been slow to adopt blockchain technology, however, a handful of nations like Nigeria are gradually seeing growth in this regard. A few months ago, the Unstoppable Women of Web3 celebrated the last International Women’s Day by pledging to educate over six million women in Africa on Web 3.0 and the metaverse. 

Sandy Carter, Founder of Unstoppable Women of Web3 and COO and Head of Business Development at Unstoppable Domains explained that;

Africa has one of the most rapidly growing Web3 sectors today, but it’s not exempt from the gender equality issues we see across the globe, and we need to make sure everyone has a seat at the table.

Currently, Nigeria is the first African country to launch its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) dubbed e-Naira. Although, this same country had earlier placed a ban on the active use of cryptocurrency, showing a somewhat lack of clarity on its blockchain adoption policies.

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