Blockchain Week ZA in Cape Town, South Africa, is just a few days away, and representatives from the MakerDAO team will be there to present and lead workshops. Here are some of the most exciting events scheduled:

DeFi Cape Town Decentralised Financial Inclusion

3-8 p.m., April 18

The University of Cape Town

Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa

In our efforts to reach out to DeFi, blockchain, and crypto enthusiasts in South Africa, we, along with Centrifuge and Linum Labs, will open Blockchain Week ZA with a DeFi event focused on decentralised financial inclusion. Offering more than a display of DeFi projects, the event will serve as a platform to challenge the status quo of financial exclusion in the region. Whether you’re a hacker, businessman, student, or a curious observer,  we encourage you to attend and take a step toward joining the effort.

Attendees are especially looking forward to Mariano Conti’s’ presentation, Dai Credit System: The Backbone of an Open Financial Ecosystem, at 5:30pm. Conti, who is Head of Backend Services at MakerDAO, and one of the developers of the system elements that keep Dai stable, will not only discuss how Maker fosters financial inclusion, but also share his personal experiences as an Argentinian living in a broken economy with hyperinflation.

At 6:30 p.m., a diverse expert panel, which includes Gustav Arentoft of Maker’s Business Development team, will address the very essence of the event: Financial Inclusion: Frontier Tech in Africa. Topics will include emerging technologies and why they matter for the region, and how decentralization can unlock innovation, make previously inaccessible data available, and enable new ways to do business.

Maker joins an ecosystem of partners that include local NGOs as well as global fintech and payments businesses involved in some of the most exciting DeFi projects in the world.  

ETH Cape Town Hackathon

April 19-21

The Lookout Waterfront

Granger Bay Blvd, V & A Waterfront

Cape Town,  South Africa

As a co-sponsor of the very first  ETH Cape Town Hackathon, we’re confident that the developer community in the region can begin addressing many of the financial pain points Africans experience and build awareness of Dai. The adoption of Dai can mean improved disaster relief efficiency, better loan and savings conditions, and the proliferation of emerging technologies that build on top of Dai to bring financial services to people excluded by the current system.

Here is the overview of how we plan to inspire seasoned developers, as well as educate and mentor aspiring builders of a more inclusive future on the blockchain.

Friday, April 19

9:30 p.m. —Learning by Example from DeFi Projects Using Dai
Engineer Sean Brennan from MakerDAO will lead the API Prize workshop, which is open to all hackers. The grand prize winner will receive 3K Dai; individual challenge winners who use Dai in their hacks will receive 200 Dai.

Saturday, April 20

1:00 p.m. —New Forms of Money

Members of the Maker team will join Unicef and Bounties Network in leading this Surge Youth Learning event aimed at teaching South African youth about cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and how they can help address everyday problems. Surge offers a series of immersive events that offer young people new skills and opportunities to explore how the blockchain can play a leading role in addressing global challenges.

2:30 p.m: Setting the Premise for Financial Inclusion with MakerDAO

Gustav Arentoft has been very active setting up partnerships across Africa the past few months. He will share his experiences building those relationships and discuss the possibilities around open finance in Africa.

3:00 p.m.—Stopping Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases with IKU's Neuro DAO

Gustav Arentoft retakes the stage, joined by Michael Kisselgof, co-founder and project lead at IKU DAO, to discuss how decentralised research organizations like IKU can use the blockchain to help address the problems of neurodegenerative disease research.

Learn more about MakerDAO:

Website:https://makerdao.com/

Blog: https://blog.makerdao.com

Reddit：https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/makerdao