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Optimism abounds for crypto and blockchain adoption at virtual Blockchain Africa

Blockchain Africa highlights the remaining hurdles that stand in the way of widespread adoption of crypto and blockchain on the continent.
The first-ever virtual version of Blockchain Africa delivered an optimistic outlook for the…

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3 years ago

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Blockchain Africa highlights the remaining hurdles that stand in the way of widespread adoption of crypto and blockchain on the continent.

The first-ever virtual version of Blockchain Africa delivered an optimistic outlook for the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in the continent as the world settles into a new normal dictated by COVID-19.

The conference featured a number of well-known industry commentators, participants and thought leaders from around the world who addressed a completely virtual audience. The event attracted around 4,000 attendees online, according to organizer Sonya Kuhnel, despite going virtual in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A major highlight of the conference was an insightful keynote address from Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson on Africa’s burgeoning position as a hotbed for cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption and development. Hoskinson outlined his belief that the continent would drive innovation in the space and highlighted Cardano’s ongoing investment and work in various African countries.

Well-known podcast host Peter McCormack moderated a thought-provoking fireside chat focused on the arrival of institutional investments in the cryptocurrency space. This featured Dan Held from Kraken, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou, MineBest senior vice president Peter Tylczynski and Crypto.com U.K. general manager Teana Baker-Taylor, who all weighed in on the changing cryptocurrency landscape from a global perspective. Stani Kulechov, founder of popular decentralized finance platform Aave, gave an overview of the growing DeFi protocol’s role in the greater ecosystem.

Some prominent individuals from the African cryptocurrency and blockchain space tackled the industry’s progress on the continent in various presentations and panel discussions. Regulation and adoption was a major talking point that will be expanded upon later in this summary.

“All-you-can-eat buffet of progress”

Hoskinson’s address at Blockchain Africa painted a bright future for the continent, likening Africa’s position as an emerging economy to that of China in the 1980s. In the space of three decades, China became a global powerhouse, and Hoskinson asserted his belief that Africa could follow in its footsteps and even surpass the Asian powerhouse.

Key to this accelerated development is Africa’s position as a marketplace for completely new systems like blockchain technology, which will bring efficiency and lower costs, resulting in what Hoskinson described as a huge competitive advantage to nations that adopt them first:

“The first countries to hold national elections online that are credible, free, fair and auditable will likely be African nations. The first countries to have an end-to-end digital identity and economy, there’s a great potential for that to be African nations — not Germany, not France, not England, not the United States, not China or Japan. This is an all-you-can-eat buffet of progress and new systems.”

Cardano has actively invested and built digital infrastructure in Ethiopia and other African countries that are being used to service large-scale government deals. The rationale behind this, according to Hoskinson, is the fact that citizens in those countries will begin using this new technology and its tools.

The hope is that Africans take advantage of Cardano’s Catalyst funding system, which has over $250 million of grants for individuals and businesses to build infrastructure, applications, services and products in the Cardano ecosystem. Cardano will also look to establish multiple headquarters across Africa, and Hoskinson hopes to see the firm’s staff on the ground in Africa grow into the hundreds and even thousands. He also stressed the need to develop the right tools and systems that will make a difference:

“It would be a travesty if those systems allowed that wealth to only aggregate in one place. In my view, it’s incredibly important that we remember the first principle: that we are truly equal and there is no centralized power.”

Africa’s blockchain and crypto teething problems

While Hoskinson painted a bright picture of Africa’s potential to drive innovation in the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem, the continent still has some teething problems to address as it begins to adopt this new technology.

A panel of speakers with intimate experience working in an African blockchain and cryptocurrency context dissected the most pertinent challenges currently facing countries and businesses that are forging a path in the space.

This included Marius Reitz, general manager Africa at cryptocurrency exchange Luno; Marvin Coleby, co-trustee of the African Digital Asset Foundation; Roselyne Wanjiru, director of digital wallet Pesabase; Brenton Naicker, business development manager for South Africa and Kenya at Binance; Buchi Okoro, CEO and co-founder of Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange Quidax; and moderator Farzam Ehsani, co-founder and CEO of South African crypto exchange Valr.

Luno has become a popular option for South African, Nigerian, Ugandan and Zambian cryptocurrency users. Given that it operates in these African countries, Reitz addressed some of the pain points for crypto users on the continent and highlighted the simple fact that acquiring cryptocurrency safely remains a significant hurdle: “It’s still very much the early days. Exchanges often think that most people know about crypto and know how to buy and sell it safely — but that is really not the case.”

He went on to add: “One of the main challenges for us still is that we don’t have enough safe access points for people to use their local currency to buy crypto and vice versa across Africa.” He concluded, saying: “Infrastructure is still a challenge for us Africans.”

Wanjiru reiterated the fact that so many individuals across the world are completely uninformed about cryptocurrencies and that trust will be another stumbling block for adoption in Africa: “You can’t bypass trust. On the tech side of crypto, we could argue how mature it is, how ideal it is, how much of a yield it has, but on the people side of things, we have to build trust.”

Regulation, or lack thereof, is another challenge for cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers in Africa. Reitz highlighted the fact that banks are having to play the role of regulator at this nascent stage of cryptocurrency use in Africa:

“We’re seeing very little regulatory guidance across Africa and the result of that is that banks are being made the de facto regulators, and that’s a big risk to crypto businesses because customers can’t use your products effectively.”

On the flip side of the coin, heavy-handed regulation can completely stifle adoption as has been evident in Nigeria in recent months. The country’s central bank effectively banned local banks from servicing cryptocurrency exchanges in recent weeks. Operating in Nigeria, Quidax’s Okoro said the move has robbed citizens from enjoying the benefits of the ongoing rally in the cryptocurrency markets:

“Nigerian’s have been excluded from economic prosperity. When all of this happened, Bitcoin was sitting around $38,000, and people were saying: ‘hey, I want to get into Bitcoin.’ Now Bitcoin is sitting around $60,000, and all of that prosperity that someone might have received getting into BTC at that time has been missed.”

Binance’s Naicker identified a number of prominent use cases for cryptocurrencies in an African context. In comparison to first-world countries where demand for crypto is driven by investment purposes, Naicker noted issues such as currency devaluation and strict capital controls lending a hand to new use cases for cryptocurrencies across the continent:

“We see such an aggressive uptake in Africa because, in addition to the investment case, cryptocurrencies also solve some of our pain points — inefficiencies in payment systems, expensive and long remittances, being able to make and receive micropayments. We’re seeing a lot of these things occurring in the African market.”

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The most potent labor market indicator of all is still strongly positive

  – by New Deal democratOn Monday I examined some series from last Friday’s Household survey in the jobs report, highlighting that they more frequently…

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8 mins ago

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March 13, 2024

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 - by New Deal democrat


On Monday I examined some series from last Friday’s Household survey in the jobs report, highlighting that they more frequently than not indicated a recession was near or underway. But I concluded by noting that this survey has historically been noisy, and I thought it would be resolved away this time. Specifically, there was strong contrary data from the Establishment survey, backed up by yesterday’s inflation report, to the contrary. Today I’ll examine that, looking at two other series.


Historically, as economic expansions progress and the unemployment rate goes down, average hourly wages for nonsupervisory workers improve at an increasing rate (blue in the graph below). But eventually, inflation (red) picks up and overtakes that wage growth, and a recession occurs shortly thereafter. Not always, as we’ll see in the graph below, but usually:



As you can see, there have been a number of exceptions to the rule, chiefly where inflation outstripped wage growth, but no recession happened anyway. Typically this has occurred because of the entry of so many more people (like women in the 1980s and early 1990s) into the labor force.

And we certainly see that inflation outstripped wages in 2022, not coincidentally when there were several negative quarters of real GDP. But with the decline in gas prices, in 2023 inflation subsided much more sharply than wage growth, and the economy improved more substantially. That has remained the case in the first two months of 2024.

But an even more potent indicator is one I have come to rely on even more: real aggregate payrolls for nonsupervisory workers. Here’s its historical record up until the pandemic:



There’s not a single false positive, nor a single false negative. If YoY aggregate payroll growth is stronger than YoY inflation, you’re in an expansion. If it’s weaker, you’re in a recession. Period.

And here is its record since the pandemic:



Real aggregate nonsurpervisory payrolls are positive, and they got more positive in 2023 compared with 2022. Currently they are 2.6% higher YoY than inflation.

In addition to the YoY comparison, real aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls have always declined, at least slightly, from their expansion peaks before every single recession in the past 50 years except for when the pandemic suddenly shut down the economy:



Not every slight decline means a recession is coming. But if real aggregate payrolls are at a new high, you’re not in a recession, and one isn’t likely to occur in the next 6 months, either.

And in case it isn’t clear from that long term graph, here’s the short term graph of the same thing:



Real aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls made a new all-time high in February. Despite the negative metrics in the Household survey, this is *very* potent evidence that not only are we not in a recession, but one isn’t likely in the immediate future either.


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Spread & Containment

KIMM finds solution to medical waste problem, which has become a major national issue

A medical waste treatment system, which is capable of 99.9999 percent sterilization by using high-temperature and high-pressure steam, has been developed…

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March 13, 2024

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A medical waste treatment system, which is capable of 99.9999 percent sterilization by using high-temperature and high-pressure steam, has been developed for the first time in the country.

Credit: Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM)

A medical waste treatment system, which is capable of 99.9999 percent sterilization by using high-temperature and high-pressure steam, has been developed for the first time in the country.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Seog-Hyeon Ryu, hereinafter referred to as KIMM), an institute under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science and ICT, has succeeded in developing an on-site-disposal type medical waste sterilization system that can help to resolve the problem caused by medical waste, which has become a national and social issue as the volume of medical waste continues to increase every year. This project was launched as a basic business support program of the KIMM and was expanded into a demonstration project of Daejeon Metropolitan City. Then, in collaboration with VITALS Co., Ltd., a technology transfer corporation, the medical waste treatment system was developed as a finished product capable of processing more than 100 kilograms of medical waste per hour, and was demonstrated at the Chungnam National University Hospital.

Moreover, the installation and use of this product have been approved by the Geumgang Basin Environmental Office of the Ministry of Environment. All certification-related work for the installation and operation of this product at the Chungnam National University Hospital has been completed, including the passage of an installation test for efficiency and stability conducted by the Korea Testing Laboratory.

Through collaboration with VITALS Co., Ltd., a corporation specializing in inhalation toxicity systems, the research team led by Principal Researcher Bangwoo Han of the Department of Urban Environment Research of the KIMM’s Eco-Friendly Energy Research Division developed a high-temperature, high-pressure steam sterilization-type medical waste treatment system by using a high-temperature antimicrobial technology capable of processing biologically hazardous substances such as virus and bacteria with high efficiency. After pulverizing medical waste into small pieces so that high-temperature steam can penetrate deep into the interior of the medical waste, steam was then compressed in order to raise the boiling point of the saturated steam to over 100 degrees Celsius, thereby further improving the sterilization effect of the steam.

Meanwhile, in the case of the high-pressure steam sterilization method, it is vitally important to allow the airtight, high-temperature and high-pressure steam to penetrate deep into the medical waste. Therefore, the research team aimed to improve the sterilization effect of medical waste by increasing the contact efficiency between the pulverized medical waste and the aerosolized steam.

By using this technology, the research team succeeded in processing medical waste at a temperature of 138 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes or at 145 degrees Celsius for more than five (5) minutes, which is the world’s highest level. By doing so, the research team achieved a sterilization performance of 99.9999 percent targeting biological indicator bacteria at five (5) different locations within the sterilization chamber. This technology received certification as an NET (New Excellent Technology) in 2023.

Until now, medical waste has been sterilized by heating the exposed moisture using microwaves. However, this method requires caution because workers are likely to be exposed to electromagnetic waves and the entrance of foreign substances such as metals may lead to accidents.

In Korea, medical waste is mostly processed at exclusive medical waste incinerators and must be discharged in strict isolation from general waste. Hence, professional efforts are required to prevent the risk of infection during the transportation and incineration of medical waste, which requires a loss of cost and manpower.

If medical waste is processed directly at hospitals and converted into general waste by applying the newly developed technology, this can help to eliminate the risk of infection during the loading and transportation processes and significantly reduce waste disposal costs. By processing 30 percent of medical waste generated annually, hospitals can save costs worth KRW 71.8 billion. Moreover, it can significantly contribute to the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) management of hospitals by reducing the amount of incinerated waste and shortening the transportation distance of medical waste.

[*Allbaro System (statistical data from 2021): Unit cost of treatment for each type of waste for the calculation of performance guarantee insurance money for abandoned wastes (Ministry of Environment Public Notification No. 2021-259, amended on December 3, 2021). Amount of medical waste generated on an annual basis: 217,915 tons; Medical waste: KRW 1,397 per ton; General waste from business sites subject to incineration: KRW 299 per ton]

As the size and structure of the installation space varies for each hospital, installing a standardized commercial equipment can be a challenge. However, during the demonstration process at the Chungnam National University Hospital, the new system was developed in a way that allows the size and arrangement thereof to be easily adjusted depending on the installation site. Therefore, it can be highly advantageous in terms of on-site applicability.

Principal Researcher Bangwoo Han of the KIMM was quoted as saying, “The high-temperature, high-pressure steam sterilization technology for medical waste involves the eradication of almost all infectious bacteria in a completely sealed environment. Therefore, close cooperation with participating companies that have the capacity to develop airtight chamber technology is very important in materializing this technology.” He added, “We will make all-out efforts to expand this technology to the sterilization treatment of infected animal carcasses in the future.”

 

President Seog-Hyeon Ryu of the KIMM was quoted as saying, “The latest research outcome is significantly meaningful in that it shows the important role played by government-contributed research institutes in resolving national challenges. The latest technology, which has been developed through the KIMM’s business support program, has been expanded to a demonstration project through cooperation among the industry, academia, research institutes, and the government of Daejeon Metropolitan City.” President Ryu added, “We will continue to proactively support these regional projects and strive to develop technologies that contribute to the health and safety of the public.”

 

Meanwhile, this research was conducted with the support of the project for the “development of ultra-high performance infectious waste treatment system capable of eliminating 99.9999 percent of viruses in response to the post-coronavirus era,” one of the basic business support programs of the KIMM, as well as the project for the “demonstration and development of a safety design convergence-type high-pressure steam sterilization system for on-site treatment of medical waste,” part of Daejeon Metropolitan City’s “Daejeon-type New Convergence Industry Creation Special Zone Technology Demonstration Project.”

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The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Since its foundation in 1976, KIMM is contributing to economic growth of the nation by performing R&D on key technologies in machinery and materials, conducting reliability test evaluation, and commercializing the developed products and technologies.

 

This research was conducted with the support of the project for the “development of ultra-high performance infectious waste treatment system capable of eliminating 99.9999 percent of viruses in response to the post-coronavirus era,” one of the basic business support programs of the KIMM, as well as the project for the “demonstration and development of a safety design convergence-type high-pressure steam sterilization system for on-site treatment of medical waste,” part of Daejeon Metropolitan City’s “Daejeon-type New Convergence Industry Creation Special Zone Technology Demonstration Project.”

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Government

Buyouts can bring relief from medical debt, but they’re far from a cure

Local governments are increasingly buying – and forgiving – their residents’ medical debt.

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1 hour ago

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March 13, 2024

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Medical debt can have devastating consequences. PhotoAlto/Odilon Dimier via Getty Images

One in 10 Americans carry medical debt, while 2 in 5 are underinsured and at risk of not being able to pay their medical bills.

This burden crushes millions of families under mounting bills and contributes to the widening gap between rich and poor.

Some relief has come with a wave of debt buyouts by county and city governments, charities and even fast-food restaurants that pay pennies on the dollar to clear enormous balances. But as a health policy and economics researcher who studies out-of-pocket medical expenses, I think these buyouts are only a partial solution.

A quick fix that works

Over the past 10 years, the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt has emerged as the leader in making buyouts happen, using crowdfunding campaigns, celebrity engagement, and partnerships in the private and public sectors. It connects charitable buyers with hospitals and debt collection companies to arrange the sale and erasure of large bundles of debt.

The buyouts focus on low-income households and those with extreme debt burdens. You can’t sign up to have debt wiped away; you just get notified if you’re one of the lucky ones included in a bundle that’s bought off. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviewed this strategy and determined it didn’t violate anti-kickback statutes, which reassured hospitals and collectors that they wouldn’t get in legal trouble partnering with RIP Medical Debt.

Buying a bundle of debt saddling low-income families can be a bargain. Hospitals and collection agencies are typically willing to sell the debt for steep discounts, even pennies on the dollar. That’s a great return on investment for philanthropists looking to make a big social impact.

And it’s not just charities pitching in. Local governments across the country, from Cook County, Illinois, to New Orleans, have been directing sizable public funds toward this cause. New York City recently announced plans to buy off the medical debt for half a million residents, at a cost of US$18 million. That would be the largest public buyout on record, although Los Angeles County may trump New York if it carries out its proposal to spend $24 million to help 810,000 residents erase their debt.

HBO’s John Oliver has collaborated with RIP Medical Debt.

Nationally, RIP Medical Debt has helped clear more than $10 billion in debt over the past decade. That’s a huge number, but a small fraction of the estimated $220 billion in medical debt out there. Ultimately, prevention would be better than cure.

Preventing medical debt is trickier

Medical debt has been a persistent problem over the past decade even after the reforms of the 2010 Affordable Care Act increased insurance coverage and made a dent in debt, especially in states that expanded Medicaid. A recent national survey by the Commonwealth Fund found that 43% of Americans lacked adequate insurance in 2022, which puts them at risk of taking on medical debt.

Unfortunately, it’s incredibly difficult to close coverage gaps in the patchwork American insurance system, which ties eligibility to employment, income, age, family size and location – all things that can change over time. But even in the absence of a total overhaul, there are several policy proposals that could keep the medical debt problem from getting worse.

Medicaid expansion has been shown to reduce uninsurance, underinsurance and medical debt. Unfortunately, insurance gaps are likely to get worse in the coming year, as states unwind their pandemic-era Medicaid rules, leaving millions without coverage. Bolstering Medicaid access in the 10 states that haven’t yet expanded the program could go a long way.

Once patients have a medical bill in hand that they can’t afford, it can be tricky to navigate financial aid and payment options. Some states, like Maryland and California, are ahead of the curve with policies that make it easier for patients to access aid and that rein in the use of liens, lawsuits and other aggressive collections tactics. More states could follow suit.

Another major factor driving underinsurance is rising out-of-pocket costs – like high deductibles – for those with private insurance. This is especially a concern for low-wage workers who live paycheck to paycheck. More than half of large employers believe their employees have concerns about their ability to afford medical care.

Lowering deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums could protect patients from accumulating debt, since it would lower the total amount they could incur in a given time period. But if the current system otherwise stayed the same, then premiums would have to rise to offset the reduction in out-of-pocket payments. Higher premiums would transfer costs across everyone in the insurance pool and make enrolling in insurance unreachable for some – which doesn’t solve the underinsurance problem.

Reducing out-of-pocket liability without inflating premiums would only be possible if the overall cost of health care drops. Fortunately, there’s room to reduce waste. Americans spend more on health care than people in other wealthy countries do, and arguably get less for their money. More than a quarter of health spending is on administrative costs, and the high prices Americans pay don’t necessarily translate into high-value care. That’s why some states like Massachusetts and California are experimenting with cost growth limits.

Momentum toward policy change

The growing number of city and county governments buying off medical debt signals that local leaders view medical debt as a problem worth solving. Congress has passed substantial price transparency laws and prohibited surprise medical billing in recent years. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is exploring rule changes for medical debt collections and reporting, and national credit bureaus have voluntarily removed some medical debt from credit reports to limit its impact on people’s approval for loans, leases and jobs.

These recent actions show that leaders at all levels of government want to end medical debt. I think that’s a good sign. After all, recognizing a problem is the first step toward meaningful change.

Erin Duffy receives funding from Arnold Ventures.

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