On September 4, an official for the Marshall Islands announced that the island nation is about ready to implement their national cryptocurrency project. This announcement comes ahead of the Asia 2019 conference, which was probably by design.
The island nation, which became an independent democratic nation in 1979, had announced in June their intent to move away from the U.S. dollar, choosing to create their own digital currency as the basis for all transactions on the island. This plan was to exclusively use digital currencies instead of a form of fiat currency and had been floated as a plan since May 2018.
In an essay presented as part of a series heading up to the Asia 2019 conference to be held in Singapore, the Hon. David Paul, minister in-assistant to the president, explained that they were continuing to progress in their plan to issue their own digital currency using blockchain technology. The goal for the sovereign nation was to have their own currency which would be free from the control of any other nation.
In the essay, Paul explained that the Sovereign Currency Act that was passed in 2018 had declared that the nation fully intended to create a currency of their own. That it would initially be used alongside the US dollar, but the ultimate goal would be to separate themselves from any other currency.
Currently, a board of seven members, three of whom are elected, have been working on how to launch the new coin. The two directors, who were nominated by the government, have been working with local banking and monetary management system, as well as professionals in blockchain technology to help fully develop and implement the new currency.
This includes working to find an appropriate financial institution to back the currency so that users will be able to conduct business. Paul explained, “Every individual using SOV must be identified by an approved verifier of their choice, such as a bank or an exchange.”
The primary concern now is to assure users that the system is safe and that their information will be kept secure. This is one area that the minister wanted to assure individuals that this was a top priority for the seven board members. “It is crucial that individual users should have a reasonable expectation of privacy – specifically, the ability to choose when to disclose your information, what exactly to share, and with whom.”
In addition, he added that there will be a set amount of the currency that will be issued. “We chose to create a fixed money supply with fixed growth because fiat currencies can be remarkably unstable…The policies of major central banks are not reassuring, as the gold and SegWitCoin (BTC) prices attest. We as governments need to take a more sustainable approach to money, and not treat it as a limitless resource.”
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