The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has moved 15 million academic records onto the Avalanche blockchain as it rolls out a blockchain-based certificate verification system aimed at reducing forgery and speeding up credential authentication.
The first phase covers examination records dating back to 1989, with the council planning to expand the platform to approximately 35 million academic credentials over time.
The new system allows institutions, employers, and other authorized parties to verify certificates digitally through a blockchain-backed registry, eliminating the need for lengthy manual confirmation processes. Because records stored on a blockchain are tamper-evident and time-stamped, KNEC says the platform is designed to provide a more secure and transparent method of confirming academic qualifications.
Certificate fraud has long been a challenge in Kenya’s education and employment sectors, where employers and universities often require direct verification from KNEC before recognizing examination results. The blockchain rollout is expected to reduce verification turnaround times while creating a permanent digital record that is significantly harder to alter or counterfeit.
Avalanche, a high-throughput blockchain network known for enterprise and government applications, will host the credential infrastructure underpinning the verification platform.
KNEC’s digitization initiative is part of a broader effort to modernize public records management and expand the use of secure digital identity and credential systems across government services. As additional historical and current examination records are added, the platform is expected to become one of the largest blockchain-based academic credential repositories in Africa.