Blockchain can fix the broken proof of education. I was stuck in traffic recently in Lagos, Nigeria, in what is popularly known as a “Danfo”. Just so you know, a Danfo is a generic public bus for passengers in Lagos, Nigeria. That day, it was business as usual. The Lagos chaos, the blaring horns, and darting hawkers. Everything was just as noisy as always. Meanwhile, the driver of my bus was arguing with a customs officer janitor at a particular checkpoint. (The janitors help customs officers search vehicles, for reasons never clear to anyone.) And the driver was furious that the janitor, who seemed to be harassing him, was unlearned. After the heat of the argument, I think he eventually tipped the janitor some money just to be able to move on. Then, as he drove on, he continued ranting about what had just happened. While doing that, he said something that stayed with me. “If not for life's situation that got me in this kind of job, I wouldn't be harassed by this unlearned," He added, "As you're looking at me like this, I have a degree”. Believe me, those words struck me hard, and I could only shake my head in pity. In my thoughts, he’d probably studied mechanical engineering, endured five tough years, and then graduated. Yet, he found no job, no opportunities, just a dead end. So he resorted to driving a bus for survival. Probably the only proof he had, which was his certificate, got soaked in the rain or was lost in a fire accident. Who knows? But the reality at that point was that his hard-earned certificate was now useless. And while I was having those thoughts, it dawned on me… If the proof of learning can vanish or be doubted, then there's no hope for many graduates. If the proof of learning can vanish or be doubted, then there's no hope for many graduates. Many brilliant people go through school but still struggle to get jobs because their certificates were lost or damaged. And that’s deeply frustrating. It is now obvious that the way we track and prove what we’ve done is quite wrong. While I was thinking about the solution, I asked myself, what if blockchain isn’t only about Bitcoin or NFTs but also about fixing the proof of education? Or what if blockchain is the key to making sure the proof of our knowledge and hard work can’t be erased? I want you also to think about it. Degrees Are Dead. Proof Is the New Power. Degrees Are Dead. Proof Is the New Power. If, for example, you grind through four years in the university, write numerous exams, read through late nights, and have crippling debts. And after you walk across that stage, you get your certificate, laminate it, and do whatever you need to do to keep it safe. Then suddenly life happens. You lose it. Or they make you jump through hoops to verify your degree. Listen, I’ve heard stories of people emailing registrars and never getting a reply, people paying extra fees, and people waiting weeks for a transcript. Those complicated issues are the reason the conventional way of proving you’ve learned is so fragile. But if a university, or an online learning platform, or whatever the learning platform is, could give a digital credential instead of only a certificate. Cryptographically signed, time-stamped, and slapped onto a blockchain where it could be saved in your digital wallet. No one can take it away, and any employer or school can verify it in seconds. There'll be no issues around certificate verification any longer, and we're all just going to be okay. It’s Already Happening. It’s Already Happening. Thinking of blockchain and its possibilities, one would realize it is not just limited to the financial aspects of it. So after a little bit of research, I discovered that MIT has been issuing blockchain diplomas since 2017. There’s also this platform called OpenCerts that’s making it happen. Even the EU’s getting in on it with this thing called EBSI, trying to build a system where your skills and education can be verified across all EU countries. Seamless. No bureaucracy. Though it is not perfect yet because of slow and patchy adoption, and not everyone trusts a technology they associate with crypto volatility. But undeniably, the pieces are there. The tech works. And it’s growing. Why Blockchain, Though? Why Blockchain, Though? In the current system, you often have to beg for proof of your own work, or if lost, you often don't have any chance of securing a job. But with blockchain, you own your credentials, and you can take them anywhere in the world. And it’s not just about degrees. You can stack everything—online courses, on-the-job training, everything goes into one verified digital wallet. That's where your whole portfolio of skills, each one provable with a cryptographic hash, is saved. It’s like a resume that can’t lie. That’s power. It’s like a resume that can’t lie. That’s power. You might be wondering, what’s the catch? Would it be scalable? What would be the cost? Will big institutions fight it because they lose control? Maybe. Regardless of what your doubts might be, the issue of proof here is what blockchain eliminates. Who’s Winning Here? Who’s Winning Here? The people who get screwed because they don't have a certificate for what they studied. Like some of my guys who are self-taught coders here in Lagos and some other parts of the world. Some of them built many projects and crushed different online courses. If they have their credentials on blockchain, where the proof of every course and every project is saved and verified, they could confidently walk into any interview without the fear of being dismissed for lack of proof. With this, blockchain gives people a shot where they've lost hope of ever securing a job. With this, blockchain gives people a shot where they've lost hope of ever securing a job. The conclusion. The conclusion. If most schools lean into this blockchain thing, if they provide their graduates with credentials that are portable, permanent, and provable. Then we’re talking. I’m still figuring this out, though, but damn, it feels like we’re on the edge of something big. What do you think? Meanwhile, I still pity that danfo guy whenever I remember him, but what could I do? Only blockchain can help people who have similar problems to him. I AM QUIPTIK. I AM QUIPTIK.
