Nairobi-based NEAR Kenya regional hub has won the Web3 Community in Africa Prize at this year’s Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (AIBC) awards in Dubai.

The hub was awarded at the AIBC Eurasia Summit that took place between March 13 and 16, when Web3 policymakers, developers, and investors met to promote technical innovation and Web3 education in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

“We got this award for being the most active blockchain community in Africa. It means there big community based on what is possible in our protocol. Near will soon be in the top five most active layer 1 blockchain protocols in the continent,” Kevin Imani, head of NEAR Kenya Hub and CEO of Sankore 2.0 told Nodo News in an interview.

The award acknowledges startups that exhibit dedication towards supporting blockchain development and Web3 ecosystem building across Africa.

What is NEAR Kenya?

NEAR Kenya was established through a collaboration between the NEAR Foundation and Sankore 2.0 in May 2022. It supports the African blockchain community building on the NEAR Protocol, which is “a high-performance carbon-neutral blockchain that is designed to be super-fast, incredibly secure, and infinitely scalable.” The NEAR Foundation is a Swiss non-profit organization that supports the growth of the NEAR Protocol.

In a press statement, the hub says it coordinates “funding and grants for exciting projects throughout the continent, whilst also organizing meetups and hackathons to create a tight-net ecosystem of like minded developers.”

Imani plans to give blockchain protocols being run by Ethereum, Binance, OpenSea, and Solana a run for their money. “The idea is to showcase what is possible with the NEAR Protocol. We want to know within our audience the different applications which make more sense for them to use build a bigger community.” In February, the platform had more than one million active accounts, according to data seen by Nodo News.

(Photo: The Burj Khalifa building in Dubai / Unsplash)