COMMENT
Blockchain’s
powers go way
beyond Africa’s
wheel of finance
Blockchain is no
longer just about
finance, it has the
power to kickstart
a whole new era of
inclusive growth,
says Mark McCallum,
Country Manager
for SA at Orange
Business Services.
B
lockchain, the digital ledger that
underpins cryptocurrency bitcoin,
is a software platform for digital
assets; a clever piece of distributed
database technology, which is waging
a silent revolution that could take it way
beyond its financial roots to radically
change the way our society works.
“Where blockchain technology is
concerned, it has the potential to
create a whole new revolution in digital
money, and this trend is expected to
grow widely in the African region as
companies and consumers adopt new
methods of transacting,” says Mark
McCallum, Country Manager, South
Africa, at Orange Business Services.
Visualising blockchain
Imagine a gargantuan, open-source
spreadsheet, which no one owns and
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INTELLIGENTCIO
everyone in its network can access – but
once a transaction is made it can’t be
erased or altered. This is the essence of
blockchain. The first major blockchain
innovation was implemented as a key
component of bitcoin, acting as a public
ledger for all transactions. Organisations
then realised blockchain technology
could be separated from the bitcoin
currency and used for other financial
tasks. Many multinational banks are
already looking at potential applications
for blockchain throughout the financial
services value chain.
“In addition to the financial services
businesses, other African businesses
and start-ups have found their niche in
alternative technology – provided by
the power of digitalisation – in closing
geographical gaps between rural
communities and the formal economies,”
comments McCallum.
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