How Networks Leapfrog Nations – Keynote Address by Dr. Patrick Njoroge, Former Governor, Central Bank of Kenya

August 25, 2026

As Prepared for Delivery at the Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum

We meet today at this node of the Silk Road, inspired by generations of travellers. We envision their courage, grit, and adaptability, as they crossed vast distances without modern comforts. They set out to exchange goods, but their legacy includes ideas and cultures. Today, commerce has shifted from physical caravans to digital channels, but the foundation of human exchange remains unchanged.

Around 1750 BC the dishonest practices of a merchant in the city of Ur inspired the oldest recorded customer complaint, a buyer protesting the poor-quality copper and the mistreatment of his agents.¹ Four millennia later, this episode is also proof that while technology, politics, and borders change, commerce and human interaction remain rooted in trust, fair exchange, and the integrity of an agreement. Today trade and human interactions take place at the speed of light, yet our core objectives have not changed. But achieving them is not guaranteed, so we ask: What infrastructure is needed in today's digital world to ensure fair exchange, integrity of agreements, and trust between parties?

Success begins at the foundational level, requiring a robust Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). As is now widely accepted, governments and central banks must collaborate in building the DPI on the following four pillars:

• A unique, verifiable, and privacy-preserving digital identity for every citizen.
• Low-cost, real-time interoperable payments systems.
• Explicit authorization and consent mechanisms with clear regulatory guardrails.
• Secure, consent-based data exchange by individuals and businesses.
  
  

¹ The artifact—the Complaint Tablet to Ea-nāṣir—is a small clay tablet written in cuneiform script. It is preserved in the British Museum though currently on a long-term loan to the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Archaeological excavations also uncovered other business documents and letters, among them other complaints, proving there were many victims of this merchant's scams.

This foundational DPI is the bedrock upon which all other digital services, businesses, and societal innovations are built with the right incentives. A health ecosystem will emerge if governments implement robust regulatory frameworks that allow innovation but secures data protection and interoperability, while ensuring no citizens are left behind. Success requires getting the fundamentals right by adopting global benchmarks without reinventing the wheel, leapfrogging directly to best practices.

Today, we are inspired by our host's ambition in the Digital Uzbekistan 2030 strategy. It outlines the modernisation of the digital infrastructure, public services, and overall economic competitiveness. The strategy envisions transforming this historic crossroads into a modern global hub for fiber-optic data routing, next-generation connectivity, green computing power, and financial technology.

We congratulate His Excellency President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the bold vision, the Ministry of Digital Technologies which has primary responsibility for the Strategy, and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan for driving the digital financial infrastructure. We welcome the National Fintech Development Strategy (2026–2030) to turn Uzbekistan into the region's digital economy and financial technology hub. We note the effort to learn the best practices from global leaders, and the ongoing work on projects such as open banking, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), asset tokenization, and blockchain payment networks. There is much work to be done, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.²

Another important observation is that travellers on the Silk Road were also the eyes and ears in their world. They didn't just trade goods, they studied how things were made, observed agricultural techniques, medical remedies, and administrative systems. Technologies like papermaking, gunpowder, and printing were disseminated through these trade routes. Merchants carried physical commodities and the ideas that shaped their time. Hubs of intellectual and scientific exchange developed anchoring these trade routes, integrating knowledge from different civilisations and disciplines.

² In 2024, 60% of adults in Uzbekistan had an account at a financial institution or a mobile wallet, up from 44% in 2021. The historical distrust of the banking system and the absence of Islamic financial instruments were key obstacles addressed by a law that came into force on June 29, 2026, establishing a dual banking system. Digital financial services have a strong foundation as 82% of adults own mobile phones and 69% own smartphones.

We remember the native son Al-Khwarizmi who invented algebra and algorithms, the foundations of our modern digital economy.

As we convene today, we are acutely aware of the difficulties reshaping our world. The urgency of sustainable finance comes to mind as we witness the ravages of climate change. Vast populations excluded from the financial system or are unable to use it to improve their lives. We see small and medium-sized enterprises that are the backbone of many economies unable to expand. Agriculture in many places remains vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather and distant markets. And governments unable to find adequate resources for health and education. These are some of the challenges that will shape the discussions at this event and in the period ahead.

Today we examine frontier technologies such as tokenization, artificial intelligence (AI), open and embedded finance, and quantum computing. Yet, we grapple with the age-old questions and assess whether these technologies will drive our objectives. For instance, will tokenization reinforce fair exchange and the human connections that ground trust, or will it foster imbalances as seen in the crypto world? Will AI deliver its promise in solving our difficult problems, beyond coding and drafting memos? Will quantum computing help overcome the persistent compute bottlenecks, instead of amplifying security risks? The following three principles can help frame this assessment.

First, technology and innovation must be people-centricity. Technology should help solve the pressing challenges and uplift lives and livelihoods. The true value proposition of innovation must be in solving the public's problems, according to their priorities, rather than market positioning or branding. Internalising this principle is critical, given the divergence between the interests of technology companies and the public, requiring innovators to take a keen interest in the real world.

The COVID-19 pandemic exemplified the divergence of private interests from societal goals. While the rapid development of lifesaving vaccines was driven by public funding and patent protections, the limited technology transfer created monopolies that constrained their manufacture, locking poor countries out of early supplies. This diverged from the desired outcome of protecting humanity with equity.

Second, innovations must be technically sound and resilient. We have seen minor flaws in critical platforms triggering massive failures, such as enabling hackers to bypass security and drain customer accounts. Similarly, outages by major service providers have halted business operations, destroying market reputation and customer trust. To survive these risks, innovators must adopt Steve Jobs's relentless pursuit of technical perfection, building platforms on solid architecture.

We applied this approach at the Central Bank of Kenya when our team envisioned a mobile platform for citizens to invest in government securities. Previously, individuals visited the central bank, navigated physical paperwork and a lengthy enrollment process. It took five years of rigorous work before launching DhowCSD, which made investing fully digital, paperless, and globally accessible. It also expanded the investor base for government securities and gave ordinary citizens a secure savings channel.

Third, effective collaboration and partnerships are essential. In a world that celebrates aggressive free enterprise, moving fast and breaking things, remembering that we are travellers on a long journey is crucial. Cooperation is the key to success as an old proverb says, if you want to go far, go together. In this regard cooperation is needed between the private and public sectors, including regulators, and other stakeholders in financial services. This contrasts with the traditional adversarial engagement between regulators and the regulated, or a race-to-the-bottom by competing businesses. Rather, the successful transformation of financial services requires leveraging synergies between financial institutions, regulators, policy makers, and other actors, across sectors and jurisdictions. Ultimately, it is the well-coordinated ecosystems that will deliver for the citizens.

Nowhere is cooperation more urgent than in cryptocurrency and stablecoins. Although stablecoins are better anchored they link traditional finance with the virtual asset ecosystem, introducing risks about financial stability, fraud, and illicit flows. Additionally, conflicting US and EU regulatory frameworks exacerbate these risks, creating spillovers into other jurisdictions. Coordinating regulations globally is imperative before a crisis materialises.

Before concluding, it is important to address the subject of AI. This field is moving incredibly quickly, driven by the promise of enormous transformative power. Countless businesses are working to integrate AI into their workstreams. Countries have published AI policy papers, tech companies are racing to meet the surging demand for data centers and cutting-edge chips, training institutions are scrambling to change their content, and journalists write about the valuation of leading tech companies. In fact, a recent article in The Economist highlighted that AI-related capital expenditure is becoming the largest investment boom of all time.

AI is already transforming finance by automating repetitive tasks, improving predictive accuracy, and accelerating strategic decision-making. We have seen positive outcomes in customer service, fraud detection, and anti-money laundering systems. Early results in fields as diverse as healthcare, biomedicine, autonomous systems, and agriculture have also been encouraging though more work is needed. Yet, recalling the corporate computer boom four decades ago and the long wait for its impact on productivity growth, we watch and hope that the timeline will be shorter this time around.

However, AI's soft underbelly reveals critical vulnerabilities that cannot be ignored. These include possible financial bubbles from unsustainable capital expenditures, operational dangers like hallucinations, and ethical concerns regarding bias and security.³ For instance, AI-powered smart glasses are pitched as an innovation for seamless support. Yet, the public consider them an invasive tool that compromises personal privacy. The concentration of power in a tech oligarchy in a world with broken public trust is also a source of concern.

³ Recently, AI models escaped their test environments and hacked external systems, fuelling fears about AI safety and cybersecurity. In a new study by MIT researchers, 272 AI experts were asked to prioritise AI risks, offering a view of where mitigation is most urgent. Soberingly, many risks could have catastrophic outcomes. Additionally, practitioners are increasingly reevaluating the value of AI coding assistants, the poster child for AI's potential, because their crisp-looking output masks flaws that are slipping through standard reviews.

To ensure long-term success, the AI risks must be managed with robust governance and safety measures. Encouragingly, a recent statement by global experts called for urgent action, "to understand the economics of transformative AI and to build the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society." Immediate action is imperative as the stakes are exceptionally high.

Fellow travellers at the intersection of finance and technology, the journey ahead is long and arduous. Ultimately, we will be guided by our shared insights, and every traveler's efforts contribute to expanding our collective reservoir of knowledge.

I wish you safe journeys!