The FinHub team recently attended the ninth edition of the Blockchain Africa Conference in Johannesburg. The conference has been attended by more than 9000 individuals from 160 countries since its inception in 2015, making it one of the most prominent blockchain-oriented conferences on the continent.

The theme for this year's conference was "Ready for Business," indicating that blockchain technology on the African continent has advanced beyond mere speculation and hype to practical applications in both the public and private sectors.

During the conference, the team had the opportunity to learn from prominent figures in the industry, including Irene Kiwia, the Co-Founder of Adanian Labs, who discussed her organisation's efforts to build blockchain capacity in Africa. Given their research and thought leadership pillars, this session was particularly relevant to the team.

The team also heard from Carel Van Wyk, the founder of CryptoConvert, who presented on the Pick 'n Pay crypto payments project. The project has enabled over 1500 Pick 'n Pay outlets to accept Bitcoin via the lightning network, serving as a testament to the conference's "Ready for Business" theme and demonstrating the widespread adoption of blockchain technology for various use cases nationwide.

Overall, the Blockchain Africa Conference was a valuable and informative event for the FinHub team, providing excellent networking opportunities. Participation in conferences such as these is critical to the thought leadership pillar of the FinHub, as it seeks to establish itself as a platform for enabling significant conversations between academics, entrepreneurs, and leading industry experts.