The Nigeria Blockchain Alliance Conference 2017 – organised by the Cryptographic Development Initiative in Nigeria (CDIN) – was held on the 23rd and 24th of November in Lagos. The conference brought together blockchain entrepreneurs, policymakers, and cryptocurrency enthusiasts to discuss how blockchain technology and decentralised digital currencies can be leveraged to boost the economy in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

The Deputy Governor for Economy Policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Joseph Nnanna, gave the opening speech. He stated that the theme ‘National Development in the Era of Distributed Technology & Digital Currency’ offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the impact of financial technologies and digital currencies on financial system stability and economic development.

He also expressed confidence in how the distributed ledger technology can help Nigeria improve payments, system efficiency, and help eliminate incidences such as counterfeit currencies.

Nnanna, however, also stressed the need for an appropriate regulatory framework as the government is mindful of the potential challenges such technology could pose.

“Distributed ledger and digital currencies can lead to boom-bust in the domestic assets market. Cyber crimes and other security breaches in payment system platform can be amplified if we’re ill-prepared in developing an appropriate framework for seamless utilisation of the technology,” he said.

Also speaking at the event was the CBN Director for Banking and Payments, Dr. Dipo Fatokun who stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria is excited about the opportunities and prospects that comes with blockchain technology, especially for financial inclusion.

“The CBN is currently holding broad industry consultations on distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrency use cases and regulation, innovators forums hold regularly and it is planning to implement a Regulatory Sandbox regime,” Fatokun said.

Another Speaker from the CBN was the Chief Information Security Officer Dr. Rakiya Mohammed who is part of the committee set aside by the central bank for distributed Ledger technology (DLT) and digital currencies. She also reiterated that the CBN recognises what is happening and stated that announcements will be made early next year in regards to digital currency regulation.

“We’re about to receive an approval of the framework for regulating the top players in the bitcoin ecosystem in Nigeria,” she stated.

The two-day event attracted over two hundred attendees from different backgrounds which included experts from Microsoft, Stellar, and blockchain startups.

One of the interesting topics discussed was the high growing interest the Nigeria’s bitcoin ecosystem is witnessing. According to the research carried out by Lucky Uwakwe, co-founder of Blockchain Solutions Limited, Nigerian trade around 10 billion nairas worth of cryptocurrency each month.

Paxful CTO, Artur Schaback, stated that 35% of their traffic comes from Nigeria which amounts to one-third of the Paxful’s peer-to-peer exchange community.

Furthermore, Earnest Mbenkum, founder of Fintech Ltd based in Cameroon, expressed optimism saying that 2018 will be the year that Africa puts itself on the map in terms of blockchain technology and innovation, which will offer African economies a golden opportunity to catch up with top economies.

“The difference between then and now is that this is the first time that a revolutionary technology and invention is no longer limited to Western countries. Blockchain technology is available to anyone all over the world at the same time including the African continent,” he stated.

The conference was brought to an end by closing remarks of the founder of CDIN, Fadele Adeolu, who said that he is astonished at how fast the blockchain ecosystem has grown in Nigeria to become what it is today.

“I must confess that the activities in this space today are far beyond my imagination. As a cryptographer, I could not imagine that terms like public and private keys could become a discussion of the general public in 2017. The reason being that even IT professionals don’t usually find those terms friendly. Believe me or not, crypto trading and investment did the magic.”

The Nigeria Blockchain Alliance conference showed that Nigerian policymakers are open to new innovation from the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, which, of course, bodes well for the local crypto community and its startup scene.