Cardano announces big partnership with two African countries, and assures there’s more to come with the deals.
In late April, the developer of Cardano Input-Output Global (IOG) announced an important partnership with the Ethiopian and Tanzanian governments.
However, according to John O’Connor, IOG’s head of African operations, another important agreement is under development. Like the Tanzania transaction, this may be a cooperation between the local government and the private sector, and IOG’s technology will serve as a bridge for cooperation.
The focus of the Tanzania Agreement is to build a scalable infrastructure with World Mobile. The project aims to provide Tanzania with mobile Internet access and digital identity to form the basis of social and economic development.
Although O’Connor remained silent on the details of the new transaction, he blurted out that it was related to payment.
Earlier this month, O’Connor tweeted about adding 1 million users to the Cardano ecosystem.
Today I wrote a letter to a president, found a million users to bring onto #Cardano, and had a damned good cup of coffee. It’s only midday, looking forwards to the afternoon. ♥️ being a part of the @InputOutputHK gang.
— John O’Connor (@jjtoconnor) June 9, 2021
Although O’Connor did mention the smart contract that Alonzo hopes to launch and how the transaction will take advantage of this feature. He went on to say that this is especially related to small loans and collateralized loans.
“What I will say though is that with smart contracts finally coming out, very, very, very interested in making sure we’re building the right tooling for applications around remittances and applications around open finance,” he said.
KPMG believes that open finance has the potential to change the financial service industry. They stated that it provides several advantages by expanding access to advice and support in the decision-making process. In turn, this can stimulate innovation, develop new services, increase demand, and at the same time help improve business efficiency.
O’Connor mentioned the common belief about the mass adoption of blockchain technology. I mean, when people don’t even realize they are using it, the tipping point will come.
“A year down the line, you not even realize it, but Cardano could be the back-end financial rails for these huge businesses, and the customer won’t even know.”
When O’Connor further talked about the new African deal, he revealed that it is still too early and the actual aspects of the deal are in the research stage.
“A lot of my deal flow is around trying to make sure we that we understand these setters and these industries by working with top-tier marque partners who we can do a pilot with, learn the ropes, learn what’s missing from the Cardano solution at the moment and bake it in.”
In any case, this news is undoubtedly another important step in the expansion of Cardano as a global blockchain network, because there are more and more speculations about which country this is related to, and more details on how to use smart contracts. Currently, the wider community is waiting for more information.