KAMPALA – Ahead of the two-day much anticipated Africa Block Chain Conference scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday President Museveni is expected to address delegates on emerging technologies.
His counterpart Mr. Julius Maada, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone will give a keynote speech on Africa’s digital revolution.
Mr. Museveni who officially opened the Africa Block Chain Conference last year said there is a need to study blockchain technology more to understand the risks it presents, how this can be reduced and enhance its benefits.
Blockchain technology, according to CryptoSavannah , is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.
Museveni highly supports Blockchain technology emphasising that this new system takes away opacity in the business and restores it with total transparency since users have full open access to books of accounts.
“These Blockchain members are people who trust one another and they are like universal SACCOS. The members have access to ledgers because we are aware how businessmen are inflicted by business secrets,” – Mr. Museveni noted last year.
Museveni also cautioned the public that blockchain technology should not be a substitute to the important existing sectors such as agriculture, Industry, services and ICT but rather a compliment to enable goods and services move smoothly and faster.
However, last week in Masaka, Central Bank deputy governor Louis Kasekende warned the public about the limited protections offered them when they invest in unregulated cryptocurrencies.
Dr. Kaskende who in Masaka, underscored the risks of crypto trading and adoption, stating that:
“[…] online cryptocurrency businesses are not regulated at the moment and therefore carry a significant risk of loss of savings, with no recourse to protection or insurance by government, like is the case with regulated financial institutions such as commercial banks.”
In his remarks, the deputy governor clarified that the central bank does not have comprehensive oversight of all financial services firms and institutions and that its supervision typically spans commercial banks, credit institutions, foreign exchange bureaus, and money remittance service providers.
