Members of the Ethereum community rallied behind Ethiopia in the recently concluded Olympic games held in Tokyo after it was observed that Twitter’s hashtag-activated special emojis for Ethiopia coincided with the ticker of the second largest cryptocurrency. The twitter hashtag for Team Ethiopia, ETH, which activates the Ethiopia flag emoji, caught the interest of the Ethereum community as they strongly backed the East African nation by reposting the hashtag.
Ethiopian Team Goes Viral
Twitter CEO and bitcoin bull, Jack Dorsey was obviously fascinated by the hashtag too. His tweet – “ETH” elicited responses from Twitter’s cryptocurrency community and even one from the official account of the Olympic games.
“Great to see @Jack and the crypto community supporting the #ETH athletes!”
-@Olympics via Twitter
The episode birthed a decentralized autonomous organization, EthiopiaDAO, whose primary aim is to facilitate blockchain education in Ethiopia. The team has since taken to Twitter to call for Ethereum developers of Ethiopian descent to help build the DAO. Some members of the organization also reportedly suggested sponsoring the country’s Olympic team.
Beyond the social media frenzy, many blockchain enthusiasts regard the Ethereum community support as an opportunity to foster blockchain integration and rightfully place Ethiopia as one of the frontrunners in blockchain development in the continent and beyond.
Crypto opinion writer Edwin Munyui shares this view. He said,
“Ethereum’s community support of Ethiopia in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics is a big win for both communities. The African nation which holds the fort in marathon races stands a great chance of being exposed to opportunities, including funds to advance blockchain education, integration, and adoption.
Meanwhile, Ethereans can now scale the community outreach to upcoming African nations, starting with Ethiopia. The move to support Ethiopia will likely motivate more blockchain enthusiasts in Africa to explore the value proposition of Ethereum, especially in decentralized financial services.”
Blockchain Development in Ethiopia
The idea of blockchain integration and utility is however not new to Ethiopia. In April 2021, the Ethiopian government confirmed that it had partnered with Cardano to implement a national database for over 5 million students and teachers using blockchain technology. The concept was to create a decentralised digital identity which is verifiable and immutable, thereby making it a perfect means to store and access educational records.
Ethiopia’s minister of education, Getahun Mekuria expressed optimism in the project. In a video chat with IOHK (the company behind Cardano) Director of African Operations John O’Connor, Mekuria tipped blockchain technology to accelerate growth in the standard of education. He said,
“This initiative is about bringing technology to improve the quality of education. It’s very practical to think of blockchain technology as a way to improve the quality of education.”
The “ETH Magic”
Both communities sharing the ETH ticker appear to be faring well in their respective fields. Riding on the support of the Ethereum community, Team Ethiopia had a decent run, finishing with four medals in the Olympic games. On the charts, ETH has continued to wrestle Bitcoin’s dominance after recording significant gains in the wake of the EIP-1559 upgrade. The digital currency traded above $3400 for the first time since the May market dip which saw bitcoin and major altcoins record double-digit percentage losses.
