Sierra Leone rolls out Blockchain Identity platform

Sierra Leone will become first country in Africa to have national blockchain-based ID system. On August 21, the government rolled out a decentralized National Digital Identity Platform that is based on the distributed ledger technology (DLT). The platform was designed by both the National Civil Registration Authority and KIVA. The launch happened at Radisson hotel in Freetown and was headed by President Julius Maada Bio.

 The aim of this launch is to achieve the promise that was made by President Julius during the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in the United States in 2018. During the event in New York, Julius revealed that his government is planning to collaborate with the UN and KIVA, an American multinational financial services nonprofit company, so as to roll out a big novel project that will help offer more than 7.5 million nationals access to effective financial services, in a secure and transparent manner.  

The President said that “I am informed, and I announce with pride that this is Africa’s first Blockchain and decentralized NDIS.” Julius is optimistic that advent is going to completely transform the country’s financial sector and enable to access and provide massive business opportunities to potential citizens. Citizens and other organizations will also use this facility to authenticate identity and form credit histories.  

The government will use the infrastructure to digitize identities of its citizens by giving each one of them a unique countrywide recognized identifier known as the National Identification Number (NIN), just like how the National Identification Authority ( NIRA) of Uganda did it.