In an industry consultative and advocacy forum on Blockchain Technology, the Belfrics Global team visited the Fintech Association of Nigeria on Wednesday, 25th July 2018 in Lagos.
Isa Alade, the Secretary of the Association while welcoming the Belfrics team and the representatives of member institutions to the meeting stated that the forum was an exchange between the visitors and the Association on the state of Blockchain and to advocate further on its adoption in Nigeria. He narrated the various engagements the Association has been having with the regulators, government agencies and the international community such as IMF, DFID, NITDA, CBN, SEC, NAICOM, NCC, NSE, the Senate, Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communication amongst others in a bid to creating an enabling regulatory and investment environment for innovation.
According to him “ the Association has become a rallying point for Fintech in Nigeria as our members come from various sectors of the economy as well as internationally renowned organisations, making the Association the thought leaders in any Fintech related matters in the country”
Santhosh Palavest, the Global Chief Innovation and Digital Officer of Belfrics made a presentation on the Belfrics Blockchain activities which include cryptocurrency trading, exchange, and mining as well as training of Developers in Blockchain. According to him “ the Blockchain Developers are scarce commodity while the demand for them is increasing per day globally, a problem the Belfrics Blockchain Academy was created to solve”
L-R : Chris Oyeniyi, Director, Accounts & Audit, Santhosh Palavest, Global Chief Innovation & Digital Officer & Victor Evoh, Director, Operations & Marketing of Belfrics at the Forum.
He equally stated that poor understanding of the Blockchain Technology makes it difficult for Regulators in many countries of the world to regulate it. He then zeroes in on a particular Blockchain Technology the Belfrics had developed called Belrium stating that Belrium could be used for secure, fast, efficient and cost-effective identity verification and management in mobile payments, banking activities, land registry, tax collection and others. He said the Belrium platform if integrated into the digital activities of government agencies could be used for quick and seamless identity verification across the board.
The meeting then went into an interactive and discussion session where it was concluded that to fast-track the adoption of Blockchain Technology in Nigeria, more advocacy and hand-holding needs to be done with the regulators and government apparatus to enable them to come up with the policy for its adoption.
In attendance were representatives of Fintech Associates Ltd, Alliance LP, Fast Credit Ltd, G. Elias & Co, Spa Ajibade & Co, Bitpesa, Esusu Planet, and Chris Oyeniyi, Director, Accounts & Audit, Santhosh Palavest, Global Chief Innovation & Digital Officer & Victor Evoh, Director, Operations & Marketing of Belfrics.
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