If Africa is serious about trading as one, blockchain belongs at the centre, not the sidelines

Five years into the African Continental Free Trade Area, trade between African countries still accounts for only around 15 percent of the continent’s total commerce.

Africa is one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in the world, but it is also a continent that struggles to trade with itself.

The reason a trader in Accra who wants to pay a supplier in Nairobi must route the payment through a foreign currency, usually the dollar, and a chain of banks outside the continent is because the two banking systems share no common record they both trust.