It is an age of disruptions and rapid changes. Like wildfire, the wind of disruption is sweeping across continents, countries, sectors, industries and the rest. The emergence of blockchain since 2009 has impacted the world more than any other industrial revolution ever did. Time is seeing most services initially provided by centralized authorities being moved to the community based blockchain technology structures.
The (Bitcoin) Blockchain was initially designed as an open ledger for financial transactions. But this has evolved overtime with the emergence of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) which made it possible to build Decentralized Applications on top of the blockchain. This smart contract feature paved the way for deployment of various services with the aid of blockchain.
There are different chains trying to improve on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The Near Protocol is one of such. The Near Protocol is a Blockchain mainnet that is an emerging smart contract platform which seeks to solve the scalability problem associated with other platforms with similar use cases, i.e Ethereum etc.
Africa can take advantage of the easy features available on the Near Protocol to improve financial services across the continent. The following are ways the Near Protocol can improve financial services in Africa.
EASE IN FINANCIAL SERVICE DEPLOYMENT
Building decentralized applications is made easy by the modular components feature of the Near Protocol. This feature makes building of the decentralized applications a whole lot easier and less technical. This is a huge advantage to African firms who seek to provide financial solutions through the deployment of DApps.
DRIVE MASS ADOPTION AND BRING FINANCIAL SERVICES CLOSER TO THE UNBANKED
The Near Protocol is designed to be user friendly. Thus, DApps built on it can be easily used by complete blockchain amateurs. This is capable of driving mass adoption for the services of financial service providers who will deploy their services using DApps built on the Near Mainnet.
Such mass adoption implies bringing banking and related financial services closer to the unbanked in Africa.
IMPROVED INTERNET BANKING
The Near Protocol will bring an enhanced dimension to internet banking in Africa. Financial technology companies as well as traditional banks and associated government institutions can make access to financial services a stress free process by deploying their services using Near.
STABILIZATION OF TRANSACTION FEES
A stabilized transaction fee rate is another feature that makes Near an attractive platform for the deployment of financial services to all strata of African society. The stable fees feature would build the confidence of end users on any financial service application built on near. Near also makes it possible for application owners to pay the fees on behalf of their end users. This flexibility gives power to developers or financial service businesses to implement incentives that will make their platform attractive to end users and expand the user base.
CROSS BORDER TRANSACTIONS
Applying the Near Protocol to cross border transactions will eliminate the bottlenecks and exhorbitant transaction costs associated with cross border transfers. This will particularly enhance commerce, as much as it will ease up the difficulty of loved ones sending money to each other beyond national borders.The Near Protocol is a decentralized cloud platform that is open to the deployment of different kinds of implications, including applications targeted at bringing financial services closer to the human population. With an easy to deploy and easy to use DApps features, African financial services providers are encouraged to take advantage of the platform to deploy their solutions for greater reach and engagements.
