BITCOIN, THE BLOCKCHAIN AS AN OPPORTUNITIES FOR NIGERIANS

There has been ample media coverage on Bitcoin, and many contradicting opinions have been
portrayed in the media. However the opinions on Bitcoin have been polarized between optimists
and skeptics. Seemingly, the perspective of the later is a more convenient view to accept for fear
of the unknown or for those who have been a victim of cyber related fraud or Ponzi Schemes.
Certainly, Bitcoin can be difficult to grasp, even for technology professionals cause not all of them
are familiar with it's components such as cryptography,mining and the blockchain. Furthermore,
Bitcoin is proving to disrupt some of well established and thought economics principles of
monetary policy due to the fact that there is no central issuing authority like a central bank. The
decentralised nature of the Bitcoin network (blockchain) makes it a more trusted system than the
traditional centralised authority. In addition, their is more harm been done to the new phenomenon
by a handful of pyramid schemes that present an unrealistic commission for clients turned agents
repeatedly up until everyone wants their money back for a festive celebration then we see a
shutdown of service. Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme, which is organised by a central operator.
Bitcoin is a digital asset (crypto-currency) that can be earned through mining, bought as a store of
value, transferred and sold.
Like many other technology companies, at Leapsoft Limited, we see digital assets like Bitcoin as a
technological breakthrough that is revolutionising the Internet from a medium of information
exchange to a medium for the exchange of value. Bitcoin and the blockchain, is a unique type of
peer-to-peer ledger that provides a secure, public and trusted record of transactions. It enables
addition of new transactions while preventing historical transactions from being tampered with.

Periodically, a new group of accepted transactions, a block, is created, added to the blockchain, and
broadcasted to all nodes. This allows bitcoin software to determine when a particular bitcoin amount
has been spent, which is necessary in order to prevent double-spending. Not until Bitcoin, transmitting
money electronically had always required intermediaries often charging lofty fees which majority of
the masses cannot afford and hence the high rate of the unbanked. Bitcoin allows electronic payments
over the Internet as you would when you send an email.
The most important feature of Bitcoin is its solution to the double spend problem. The problem arises
when a digital currency represented online by a serial number of a fiat-currency note, this can be reused since digital information is easily duplicated or prone to easy attack at a central location. Bitcoin
solves this problem perfectly with the most advanced used of cryptography for security based on
public- private key pairs. In a Bitcoin wallet, the public key is used as an address to receive value
while the private key is secret and required to spend the Bitcoins available to the wallet.
Today, the emergence of digital assets like Bitcoin has created a paradigm shift from traditional rare
and precious assets like gold to digital assets which are more secure, cheaper and faster to transfer than
money. Global financial services firms like UBS, JP Morgan, HSBC and Bank of America are adopting
the technology for more secure and faster settlements, while improving capital efficiency and trade
finance. On November 29, 2016 the UK's Telegraph featured the state-owned Royal Mint plans to start
accepting trades by June 2017 on its Royal Mint Gold platform, which will log each transaction using a
blockchain, a transparent and tamper-proof method of keeping records. The onus is on Nigerians and
our government to take advantage of it's opportunities in wealth creation, digital advancement and
secure a position of strength in the new revolution. The alternative is a repeat of the catch-up game as
we continue to lag behind as we do in in the telecoms and Mobile Money sectors. Today MTN
operates in 21 countries across 3 continents with group income of R45 Billion (N900 Billion) in 2015
i.e. 22.5% of Nigeria's 2015 budget (N4 Trillion). Likewise, Kenya's Mpesa which operates in 3
continents enabled higher penetration rate of financial empowerment of the unbanked than Nigeria.

As a people, we must embrace opportunities presented by technological advances like that of Bitcoin.
For an instance, the blockchain also allows users to add-in additional information, such as
instructions required for executing smart-contracts, a software that represent a business arrangement
and execute itself automatically. Ethereum, also a digital currency but focused on allowing developers
to program smart contracts, and even entire Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs). DAO
like bitcoin, do not need centralised management and cannot be influenced by the likes of selfinterested politicians who head institutions such as in governments. Perhaps, the advent of Bitcoin
could positively transform the way we manage our Institutions, economy and government.