The African Digital Asset Framework (ADAF), announced in July at the United Nations, has officially launched.
It has released a research and development paper outlining the opportunities presented by distributed ledger technologies and digital assets to open borders for commerce within the African continent and between its diaspora.
The ADAF says digital assets create a secure way for people to trade, peer-to-peer, across borders, enabling people to securely access and transfer items like currency, identities, land titles and votes over the Internet.
It adds that this presents an opportunity to create trade networks for commerce throughout the continent and among its diaspora. ADAF exists to create standards to enable these opportunities for Pan-African trade.
Says ADAF co-trustee, Marvin H Coleby: "Digital assets are secure, borderless and do not require expensive infrastructure; they can be sent anywhere, anytime, inexpensively and by anyone.
"There is an opportunity to build digital bridges for trade and commerce among Pan-African communities in the diaspora and within the continent. Currently, only 11% of Africa's GDP [gross domestic product] comes from Pan-African trade."
However, Coleby adds, there is a need for strong legal and technological standards to support these technologies.
"ADAF works together with ecosystem partners across the continent and its diaspora to create standards that can be adopted and customised by companies and regulators."
ADAF claims it is the first open source software platform to create transnational standards for digital assets and distributed ledger technologies in line with Pan-African development objectives.
It says it complements the African Union's Single African Digital Market initiative, which seeks to leverage technology to stimulate digitised Pan-African economic integration.
ADAF is supported by ambassadors from organisations like the African Union, its member states and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Ambassadors include Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, sixth president of the Republic of Mauritius; Adewale Iyanda, chief of corporate governance and shareholder relations at the AfDB and previous senior legal officer at the AU; Moctar Yedaly, the AU's head of Internet society and ICT infrastructure; Dr Bitange Ndemo, former ICT permanent secretary of Kenya, member of the Safaricom board of directors and chairman of the Kenya Blockchain and AI Taskforce; and Queen Diambi Kabatusuila Tshiyoyo Muata, Her Royal Highness Queen of the Bakwa Indu at Kasai Kingdom, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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