Top 10 African Blockchain Projects

You don’t have to look far to see that the African blockchain revolution is in full swing. The continent's unique challenges have made it a hub for blockchain integration. Today, Africa is home to many popular crypto projects and continues to inspire innovation that improves the lives of its residents.

Understanding the top 10 African blockchain projects is a great way to gain more insight into how this game-changing technology continues to reshape the African economy. Here are just a few African blockchain projects that you should know about.

1. Stellar

Stellar is an advanced-generation blockchain that has been operating since 2014. The founder of this popular network, Jed McCaleb, may sound familiar to you because he also founded Ripple and the Mt.Gox exchange. Like Ripple, Stellar operates as an open-source, decentralized network designed to transfer value internationally.

This designation makes the network ideal for Africa as certain regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, are currently the most expensive to send value to. Sadly, remittance payments to this region can see fees as high as 12%. Stellar helps to alleviate these concerns by providing low-cost value transfer services to the region.

Additionally, Stellar has found a home as a top-end infrastructure provider for various popular African blockchain networks. Stellar provides fast and low-cost international transactions, can support Dapp creation and deployment, and supports the use of APIs.

Stellar has proven to be a pioneering effort in the African Fintech movement. The developer's focus on the underserved African market has enabled the platform to gain a foothold. Today, Stellar is one of the premier options for those seeking to launch high-performance blockchain dapps in Africa.

2. Akoin

Akoin is an all-inclusive blockchain ecosystem that seeks to drive innovation and collaboration across the African continent. The platform leverages Stellar's high performance to provide secure access to decentralized options. These features include an advanced marketplace, atomic swap features, an accelerator, and educational options.

Akoin focuses on the unification of the African economy to improve results. Africa currently has 40+ different currencies across 54 nations competing against each other. According to Akoin's founder, recording artist Akon, this competition has led to unneeded suffering.

Another unique aspect of the Akoin project is the launch of a crypto-friendly community called Akon City. This futuristic hub is located in Senegal, Africa, and will support the use of digital currencies and other advanced technology in the region.

Akoin focuses on helping to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, and the project interconnects with a few other exciting ventures that Akon has been involved with, including providing solar electricity to thousands of residents of sub-Saharan Africa.

3. Megatech

Megatech is a solar blockchain initiative that continues to gain momentum. The project recently migrated from Apollo to Binance Smart Chains as part of its commitment to providing high-performance energy services to the African market.

Megatech is an alternative energy supply company that combines solar power with blockchain technology to create new energy markets. The project empowers solar power users to save energy and secure rewards by sharing their unused energy with others. This structure has proven to be effective in the African market, where solar power is an ideal option.

The goal is to create a variety of decentralized solar power plants across the continent. These power plants will be able to provide much-needed electricity to parts of the country where it's a luxury. Additionally, they will be designed from the ground up to address Africa's unique issues.

Also, artificial intelligence helps lower monitoring and security costs across the network. Notably, it also provides real-time data, which improves the ecosystem's transparency. To date, the project has been well received and continues to make strategic partnerships.

4. Cardano

Cardano is another established blockchain network that has focused a lot of attention on the African markets. The project's founder, Charles Hoskinson, has spoken on several occasions about how Africa will one day have a flourishing decentralized economy, and Cardano intends to help.

Cardano raised eyebrows when it inked a deal with the Ethiopian government to help revamp their educational system. All students would be issued a blockchain ID as part of the upgraded strategy. This ID would replace their permanent record.

The digital ID will hold valuable academic and personal information about the students, which will streamline several processes moving forward. Specifically, Cardano worked with Atala Prism to make the project a success.

The goal of the project is to provide more opportunities to students by giving academics a better picture of their performance. This maneuver helps the system move away from a purely test-ranked structure to a more inclusive and in-depth review process.

5. BitPesa

BitPesa entered the African market in 2013, intending to provide low-cost currency exchange and value transfer services. The project, based out of Kenya, combines the convenience of mobile payments with the transparency and security of blockchain solutions.

Notably, BitPesa is one of only a few firms licensed by the FCA to provide currency exchanges and transfers across the continent. Its user-friendly interface removes any technical roadblocks to digital assets and streamlines the sending of remittance payments to remote regions.

The network leverages blockchain technology in multiple ways. For one, it uses it to tokenize value and transfer it efficiently. Additionally, the network leverages smart contracts to automate crucial business processes further.

BitPesa integrates a decentralized identification system provided by GBG ID3global. This system helps to prevent money laundering, funding of sanctioned individuals, and other concerns that financial institutions need to avoid. Notably, the system continually applies these checks to their clients to ensure compliance.

6. Yellow Card

Yellow Card remains an inspiring story for crypto developers and users alike. This popular CEX (centralized exchange) was created and launched by two 26-year-olds,  Chris Maurice and Justin Poiroux. The duo launched the platform out of their dorm room in Alabama, and now it's one of the top-performing CEXs in Africa.

Discussing the creation, the two have stated that their goal was to develop a platform that empowered users to convert fiat into crypto within 3 minutes. This strategy has paid off tremendously, as the platform is a hub for currency exchange and value transfer in the region.

Since its launch, Yellow Card has facilitated billions in transactions, which has helped it remain a powerful influence in the market. The developers have also done their part to help educate and drive crypto awareness in the region. These efforts include meeting with lawmakers and helping to structure legislation to support innovation.

Yellow Card's commitment to borderless transactions has helped it carve out a niche in the industry. Today, the exchange offers a variety of features and services, including a powerful API, yellow pay processing, and enterprise trading options.

7. Paxful

The exchange and crypto ecosystem Paxful has long been a strong contender in the African blockchain market. The platform makes it easy for anyone to purchase cryptocurrencies regardless of their technical skill or experience level. As part of this strategy, the platform introduces a flexible purchase window that accepts credit, debit, bank transfers, gift cards, cash, and other currencies.

The Bitcoin gift card buyback feature is unique in the market. It enables users with unused gift cards to trade them directly from Bitcoin. This option helps users unlock funds that would have been wasted while improving their crypto holdings.

You can also use goods and services to purchase Btiocin on the marketplace. This is another awesome feature that allows people to trade whatever they have for the world's premier cryptocurrency. Already, people have traded homes, boats, cars, and much more to increase their stash.

Paxful Pay feature is a Bitcoin merchant processing option that businesses can use to start accepting digital currency today. The platform streamlines integration and includes features such as low fees, easy tracking, and no chargebacks.

8. ImpactPPA

ImpactPPA seeks to drive energy independence and renewables in the African continent. The project has been at the forefront of distributed solar system integration since it secured $3M in 2018 to further its strategy.

ImpactPPA leverages smart contracts called Power Purchaser Agreements. These PPAs enable donors to vote on what renewable energy projects to fund. This structure eliminates the need for a centralized group to approve operations, which can often lead to delays and unnecessary red tape.

Users secure GEN credits for their unused energy that can be traded or sold on the marketplace. These tokens can also be purchased and used to fund exciting new projects that help to drive blockchain adoption and raise awareness around renewable energies.

Today, ImpactPPA operates as a  global energy marketplace that connects investors and projects securely and transparently. The network has also branched into digital identification systems, credit history, and many other services to support a more harmonious life for the average African.

9. Jambo

Jambo seeks to open the door for the average African to enjoy crypto-based income opportunities via its virtual offerings. The platform continues to draw the attention of investors and users alike due to its mix of unique features and business models. Notably, Jambo secured $7.5M from Coinbase to create their Dapp.

Jambo is unique because it enables users to secure rewards when participating in web2 or web3 activities. The platform empowers the average citizen not to leave anything on the table. For example, users can sell their unused data from their smartphone plans to others and much more.

Jambo also has partnerships with social media firms to enable the conversion of social tokens into other digital assets in real-time. This strategy helps improve earning opportunities for content creators and provides more options for their fans.

Another key point of Jambo's strategy is play-to-earn gaming. The development team sees this sector as one of the biggest opportunities to onboard new users to the decentralized economy. As such, Jambo seeks to create an infrastructure that streamlines the creation and launch of these platforms in the coming months.

10. Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is an off-chain Bitcoin scaling solution that has found a comfy home in Africa. This second layer protocol introduces the concept of private payment channels to reduce congestion on the mainnet. These channels can send and receive unlimited payments and only post to the mainnet when they close.

The Lightning Network has been an influential factor in driving crypto adoption across the continent. For example, the retail giant Pick n Pay recently integrated crypto payments across its 1,682 stores via the CryptoQr Lightning Network infrastructure provider.

This integration is seen as one of many scheduled for the year as the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) recently changed the classification of cryptocurrencies to fall under financial products. This decision has sparked innovation and helped to drive up interest.

The Lightning network has been proven to be Bitcoin's top scaling solution. It reduces costs, improves payment times, and enables micro-transactions. It also adds functionality to the network and has even given the blockchain smart contract capabilities. All of these factors make it an influential network in the African market.

African Blockchain Initiatives Drive Adoption

The more you learn about blockchain technology, the more obvious it becomes that it’s a viable solution for many developing economies globally. The removal of the need for expensive infrastructure and its transparency and security make these options the right solution for many of the continent's woes. As such, you can expect to continue seeing Africa embrace blockchain technology.