Priviet Social Sciences Journal
Vol. 6 No. 7 (2026): July 2026

Governing blockchain in Africa: Regulatory capacity, fragmented authority, and digital sovereignty

Kudakwashe Zhou (Nusa Putra University)
Thomas Sheku Marah (Nusa Putra University)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Jul 2026

Abstract

Blockchain technology is transforming financial governance and regulatory authority across Africa. However, existing scholarship often treats blockchain either as a developmental tool or as a technical and regulatory problem. This article argues that such approaches overlook the way decentralized digital infrastructures reconfigure the institutional distribution of governance authority. Drawing on a qualitative comparative analysis of blockchain governance frameworks in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa between 2017 and 2025, this study examines how African states regulate decentralized financial technologies under conditions of fragmented authority, uneven regulatory capacity, and technological dependency. Using regulatory governance theory and digital sovereignty scholarship, the analysis demonstrates that blockchain governance increasingly operates through polycentric regulatory arrangements involving state institutions, private technological actors, and transnational financial infrastructures. This article advances governance scholarship by conceptualizing digital sovereignty not primarily as territorial control over digital space but as the capacity to exercise infrastructural and regulatory authority within decentralized technological ecosystems.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

PSSJ

Publisher

Subject

Economics, Econometrics & Finance Education Environmental Science Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Social Sciences

Description

PSSJ: Priviet Social Sciences Journal is an open access, monthly peer-reviewed international journal published by PRIVIETLAB. It provides an avenue to academicians, researchers, managers and others to publish their research work that contributes to the knowledge and theory of Social Sciences. PSSJ ...