Kenya launched a nationwide blockchain-based registry for academic certificates on Avalanche. The system is designed to reduce the risk of document fraud and prevent records from being altered once they’re entered into the registry.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) launched an e-certificate system built on the Avalanche blockchain, allowing academic records to be verified within seconds. During the first phase, more than 15M academic records were added to the distributed ledger. The total is expected to reach 35M over time.
The new system is designed to replace lengthy academic credential verification procedures that previously took from 1 month for individual requests to as long as 6 months for employers conducting large-scale candidate screenings. Records of issued certificates are now anchored on Avalanche C-Chain, making them tamper-proof and available for instant verification through a dedicated secure portal.
The project covers several levels of Kenya’s education system, including:
- primary and secondary school credentials;
- advanced diploma programs;
- government teacher certification programs.
The project digitized all historical and current examination records dating back to 1989. KCSE documents for nearly 1M students who graduated in 2025 are already available through the e-certificate platform.
According to KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere, graduates no longer need to rely solely on paper documents. They can securely access, download, and verify their certificates online, making academic credential management faster, more convenient, and more reliable.
Ava Labs said the initiative could serve as a model for digital public records management, allowing academic credentials to be verified quickly and securely across borders without lengthy administrative procedures.
The company said the Kenyan initiative reflected a broader trend of government agencies adopting Avalanche. California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) previously digitized 42M vehicle titles, while more than 700,000 land records in India’s Dantewada district were digitized, reducing verification times from several weeks to less than 1 day.
Another Avalanche-based initiative is underway in Bergen County, New Jersey, where the largest blockchain-powered property registry project in U.S. history covers 370,000 property deeds representing about $240B in real estate value.
