The funding will help the Kenyan startup build a community of blockchain stakeholders for knowledge sharing and best practice guidelines.

Irene Kiwia, founder of the African Blockchain Centre, told the media, “We understand the potential that blockchain has in solving some of the challenges that are facing Africa and we believe that we can use our disruptive nature as a continent to create value for ourselves through the adoption of the technology.

“However, there is a massive capacity gap that we must fill to accelerate this. We aim to train 10,000 blockchain programmers, 5000 business leaders and executives on blockchain readiness, incubate 50 blockchain startups and launch robust solutions for the market in the next 2 years.”

Earlier this month, African blockchain startup Bitmama raised $350,000 in a pre-seed funding round. According to Bitmama, the funds raised will help the startup grow its operational presence and at the same time, expand its team as well as penetrate new markets in Africa.

The funding round for Bitmama was led by Flori Ventures, with participation from Emergence Capital, Fedha Capital, and a host of VCs and angel investors.

Ruth Iselema, chief executive at Bitmama told the media, “The rate of crypto adoption in Africa has been surprisingly fast but anticipated. All over Africa, more than 3 million users now perform crypto transactions on the day-to-day.”

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The deal with Ripple will enable Egypt to receive remittances from Egyptians staying abroad in a faster and much cheaper way, by using RippleNet.

RippleNet is a global network with more than 300 international banks and financial institutions. By leveraging RippleNet’s network, the National Bank of Egypt will also access new markets and boost its remittances business.

The partnership with Ripple will also enable faster cross-border payments between Egypt and other countries.

Chief executive at Ripple Brad Garlinghouse told the media, “We are in a strong financial position to execute against our visions. As others in the blockchain space slowed their growth or even shut down, we have accelerated our momentum and industry leadership throughout 2019.”

It is noteworthy that Egypt is one of the highest remittance-receiving countries in the world. Reportedly, Egypt received remittances worth $26.4 billion in 2019.

According to the World Bank, the global remittance market will reach $597 billion in 2020.

The National Bank of Egypt chairman Hisham Okasha has revealed that the partnership with Ripple has come at the right time for the bank. The bank’s main focus as of late has been providing better solutions in terms of inward remittance payments and RippleNet will be implemented in this field.

He also pointed out that the National Bank of Egypt will be the first Egyptian bank to offer such a product.

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