Mayor of Seoul Announces City Cryptocurrency

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is to launch its personal cryptocurrency, in response to a a report from CoinDesk.

The plan was introduced by metropolis mayor Park Won-soon in an interview with CoinDesk Korea on the 30th of March.

He mentioned: “As Seoul is the world’s leading city in the field of information and communications, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution, I think we should study new technologies such as blockchains.”

He mentioned that blockchain know-how might be built-in into facets of metropolis life reminiscent of public transportation and welfare programmes for state staff.

Park added: “I’ve met blockchain companies, and I think our companies are not seeing the light because of the various regulations. Actually, [the] technology is as advanced as any other country. By creating clusters that will allow blockchain companies to build up, and startups to develop new technologies, we are working to develop and spread blockchain technology around the world.”

Cryptocurrency regulation in South Korea is a blended bag. The business is massively widespread amongst the individuals, with hundreds of thousands commonly utilizing cryptocurrency purposes on their cellphones and the nation estimated to be accountable for 20 p.c of the world’s Bitcoin buying and selling volumes.

The authorities have been slower to heat to it although, and the official method has been haphazard. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon famously expressed his nice private concern over the recognition of Bitcoin final yr, and the federal government banned ICOs in September 2017 and all nameless transactions in January 2018.

At the identical time, many South Korean banks have cryptocurrency-related accounts obtainable to clients, and up to date strikes from locally-headquartered cryptocurrency trade Bithumb have led to 50,000 resorts within the nation now accepting a wide range of cryptocurrencies as authentic fee.

As Park mentioned within the interview: “The last time the Ministry of Justice announced regulatory measures, there was tremendous resistance, and the government seemed to think deeply about it.”

Regarding Seoul particularly, the mayor’s feedback at this time are a part of a plan to combine blockchain know-how within the metropolis, a plan which started in November 2017 with a partnership with Samsung SDS, in response to CoinDesk.