The Telegraph
Marshall Islands to be first to issue own sovereign cryptocurrency
The move is seen as a way to bolster local budgets
Samantha Herbert
1 MARCH 2018 • 3:12 AM
The Marshall Islands is to make its currency the world’s first legal tender issued as a cryptocurrency.
The parliament of the group of more than 1,100 islands passed a law Wednesday, declaring that its new currency, named Sovereign (SOV), will be distributed and exchanged as a digital coin.
The Marshall Islands, a sovereign nation in the south Pacific, halfway between Hawaii and Australia currently uses the US dollar as its currency.
The President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Dr. Hilda C. Heine said: “This is a historic moment for our people, finally issuing and using our own currency, alongside the USD. It is another step of manifesting our national liberty”
Sovereign is expected to be issued to the public later this year with an Initial Currency Offering (ICO), with every resident of the Marshall Islands to receive a free allocation.
Soon after, the government will allow global investors to participate.
In sharp contrast to Bitcoin and other non-sovereign cryptocurrencies, SOV users will identify via an SOV blockchain, and when they choose so, will be able to easily demonstrate and verify the sources of funds.
SOV will be based on a ‘Yokwe framework’ that requires users to identify via the blockchain and solves the anonymity problem that plagued bitcoin and precluded its mainstream adoption.
President Heine said: “The RMI will invest the revenues to support its climate change efforts, green energy, healthcare for those still affected by the US nuclear tests, and education. In addition, SOV units will be directly distributed to citizens.”
The move is being presented as part part of a broader ‘E-Conomy vision’ to create a society that uses blockchain intensively to run the cryptocurrency and securely recoed biometric IDs.
The government hopes, in time, this will transform licensing, ownership, as well as their voting system.