Carel de Jager obtained a BEng in chemicals and a MEng in management from North-West University. He is currently the research group leader for the CSIR Centre for Emerging Digital Technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

De Jager is interested in distributed ledger technology (DLT), especially in the applications of open public blockchains to conventional financial systems.

He began his career as a chemical engineer in the energy industry before transitioning to pursue his passion for DLT in 2016. Since then, he has coached numerous executives, including those in law firms, insurance providers and commercial banks, both locally and abroad.

His hands-on experience in building blockchain products has given him a deep understanding of the underlying protocols. Some of the software he has successfully delivered includes smart dashboards for crypto-asset service providers, cryptocurrency payment rails for e-commerce and remittances, algorithmic bots for high-frequency institutional traders and Self-Sovereign Identity protocols.

De Jager is a thought leader in the South African blockchain industry and frequently speaks at conferences, on radio and national television.

His current focus is on steering the DLT research group in the EDT4IR emerging digital technologies for the fourth industrial revolution research centre at the CSIR. Its goal is to be a reliable source of capability within the highly specialised field of DLT software development.