Kenya drops 30M academic credentials on Avalanche — sorry, fraudsters, snow's closed for business ❄️

Kenya has placed more than 30 million academic credentials on the Avalanche blockchain through a new verification system operated by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), the organizations announced on Monday. The platform is designed to allow employers, universities and other institutions to confirm academic records onchain, a step the partners say is intended to combat the thousands of forged certificates reported in the country each year.

KNEC and Avalanche said the verification system is now live, enabling third parties to check the authenticity of academic credentials directly on the network in a manner the partners describe as tamper-resistant. Neither KNEC nor Avalanche disclosed how widely the system has been adopted by students, employers or educational institutions since going live.

"KNEC is bringing tamper-proof e-certification to Kenya on Avalanche," Avalanche said in a video announcing the initiative. The rollout is one of the blockchain's largest public-sector deployments to date, extending its use beyond decentralized finance and digital assets into government record verification.

The announcement did not specify whether the deployment is expected to generate demand for Avalanche's native token, AVAX. AVAX was down 1.1% on Monday and remains roughly 69% below its level a year ago, according to CoinMarketCap.