Three days at Bab Jdid.
We came to Marrakech a month after incorporation, with a panel, a table and one question we wanted to hear answered by the people who run market infrastructure on this continent. GITEX Africa was in its fourth edition, from 7 to 9 April, with more than 1,450 exhibitors and startups from more than 145 countries and more than 55,000 participants over three days.
Our booth was 23B-65 in the Morocco 300 pavilion, the national startup showcase, in the blockchain section. The panel used the words we had at the time: formal mathematics, blockchain engineering and artificial intelligence. Most visitors read them, sat down and asked what that means for a bank.
So we talked about proof. Testing samples behaviour; a proof establishes it. A bond that behaves differently on every venue is not a platform problem but a logic problem, and a logic problem can be solved once. That sentence did more work at the booth than any slide.
We are flying home with a list of instruments people would like to see modelled first, a list of teams to meet again, and a clearer view of where the continent's infrastructures stand on ISO 20022 and tokenization. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, and to the Morocco 300 team for the place in the pavilion.