The future of ownership and learning

Mail & Guardian

30-04-2025

How tokenization and blockchain will reshape our world
Last month, Microsoft revealed plans to invest an additional R5.4 billion (approximately $297 million) to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure in South Africa. This investment includes funding for technical certification exams for 50,000 individuals, aiming to enhance digital skills in high-demand areas such as AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. ​
This initiative builds upon the company's earlier commitment, announced in January 2025, to train one million South Africans in AI and cybersecurity skills by 2026, targeting a broad audience, including companies, government entities, and the youth, providing them with skilling opportunities and industry-recognized certifications. President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed Microsoft's investment, highlighting it as a vote of confidence in our economy and a significant step towards positioning the country as a leader in AI innovation.
An era defined by exponential technologies, fuelled by artificial intelligence
This is one of many examples that indicates how rapidly the landscape of knowledge, skills, and ownership is being reshaped by artificial intelligence, challenging traditional ideas about who controls information, how it is acquired, and who benefits from it.
In an era defined by exponential technologies, AI, robotics, 3D printing, blockchain, crypto, and the metaverse, the pace of change is no longer linear. It's accelerating exponentially. As these forces converge, they are reshaping every aspect of our lives, from how we work and connect, to how we learn and own.
Two powerful, underappreciated breakthroughs at the heart of this transformation are tokenization and blockchain-based certification. Together, they are setting the foundation for a future where ownership of physical and intellectual property is democratized and education is verifiable, portable, and truly borderless.
Tokenizing the physical world
Imagine a future where ownership of real-world assets such as art, property, vehicles, even intellectual property, can be divided into digital tokens. Each token represents a fractional share that can be easily bought, sold, or traded globally.
Tokenization makes assets liquid, accessible, and programmable. It allows a teenager in Nairobi to invest in a commercial property in New York, a retiree in Cape Town to own a piece of a Picasso, or a start-up founder to raise funds without giving up full control.
Beyond access, tokenized assets bring transparency and efficiency. Transactions are faster, intermediaries are reduced, and records are immutable, all secured on the blockchain.
This is not science fiction, it's happening now. And it signals a fundamental shift: ownership is becoming democratized and decentralized. BlackRock, one of the largest investment firms in the world, predicts that RWA's (Real World Assets) will soon become a $10 Trillion industry.
Certifying skills in a trust-less world
At the same time, another revolution is unfolding in education. As learning becomes increasingly digital and decentralized, traditional certifications are struggling to keep pace. Fake degrees, unverifiable skills, and fragmented learning journeys are creating massive friction. Enter blockchain-based certification….
By anchoring educational achievements, degrees, diplomas, skills badges on an immutable blockchain, individuals can own, display, and verify their credentials anywhere in the world, instantly. This approach will eliminate fraud and empower lifelong learning. It levels the playing field for talent globally, whether you learned at a university or through self-paced online courses.
Just as NFTs proved that a digital asset can have indisputable ownership and value, blockchain certifications (soul-bound NFT's) prove that knowledge, too, can be owned, verified, and trusted in the digital economy.
A New era of digital empowerment
The convergence of tokenization and blockchain certification points toward a broader truth:
We are entering an age where value, in all its forms, can be digitized, democratized, and distributed globally.
This seismic shift is about more than finance or education. It's about empowerment.
It's about enabling billions of people who were previously excluded from traditional systems of ownership, of learning, of recognition, to finally participate on a global stage.
In this future, your portfolio might include fractions of skyscrapers, song royalties, and sports teams. Your résumé might be a wallet address with immutable proof of every skill you've ever mastered. Your educational journey will be as dynamic, borderless, and verifiable as your ambitions demand.
The technology is ready. The future is calling. The only question that remains: How will you own your value, and how will you prove your genius to the world?
Explore the future at Singularity South Africa Summit 2025
These groundbreaking ideas and more will be explored in depth at the Singularity South Africa Summit 2025, in collaboration with Old Mutual and metaverse partner UBU (formerly Africarare), taking place in Johannesburg in October this year.
Bringing together some of the world's foremost thought leaders in blockchain, AI, education, and finance, the summit will dive deep into how exponential technologies are reshaping ownership, learning, and opportunity on a global scale.
Join us as we #FutureproofAfrica and build the foundation for a digitally empowered, decentralized future.
To visit the UBU metaverse, go to