The founder of Wicrypt, Aronu Ugochukwu, receives the Global Winner Prize of $150,000 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Wicrypt project. The award in the “Into the World Award Winner” category was given at the LEAP event in Saudi Arabia.
LEAP is a tech event held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for three days that attracts over 100,000 attendees from around the world. It is organized by Informa Tech (the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology), and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones.
The Wicrypt team led by Aronu was amongst other teams such as RiceAfrika, that represented Nigeria at the global event. RiceAfrika, founded by Ibrahim Maigari, also won a grand prize of $150,000 in the Tech for Humanity category.
Wicrypt is a decentralized internet-sharing project that allows users to share their hotspots for others to use while earning money from it. The virtual Internet Service Provider which started in 2018 is built using blockchain technology, and rewards users in its native cryptocurrency token, Wicrypt Network Tokens ($WNT).
The Wicrypt is made up of a network of routers and connected devices. The routers or nodes use the Wicrypt Operating System to share data over a geographical location which connected devices can access using in-built WiFi and the Wicrypt app. These devices can be smartphones, PCs, desktops, and any Wi-Fi-enabled system.
The Polygon-backed project has been downloaded by thousands of users, deployed in more than five countries for personal and governmental projects, and crossed the 8 million mark for the number of staked $WNT tokens.
Speaking about the prizes won by the Nigerian startups, Professor Isa Ibrahim, the Minister of Digital Economy in Nigeria, and the leader of the delegation to Saudi Arabia congratulated the team for their efforts. He also heralded the support of the Digital Cooperation Organization in Saudi Arabia and the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.
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