Philippines ICT department partners with US firm to explore blockchain

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The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in the Philippines has partnered with a U.S. blockchain firm to explore the use of the technology in the country. The two signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see them work together to deploy blockchain technology to enhance the government’s effectiveness.

The memorandum was signed by DICT and Monsoon, a company that offers a blockchain-based decentralized storage network powered by its native Monsoon Coin. The company has offices in New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio and the Monsoon CEO Donald Basile signed the MoA according to a report by GMA News. The two entities will partner to “enhance capacity development and institution building on the effective use of blockchain technology.”

Monsoon will provide the government with complimentary courtesy consultation, advice, cost-benefit, and socio-economic analysis on the use of blockchain technology, the report indicated.

“This partnership will directly benefit our continuous effort to address the country’s issues on ease of doing business and cybersecurity,” Rio commented.

Monsoon will also gain from the partnership, with the DICT promising to assist the company to disseminate information on blockchain technology as well as capacity-building activities.

Monsoon offers its decentralized data storage solutions on an Ethereum-based platform. It enables its users to not only store their data but to also analyze and optimize it. The company’s founders have extensive experience in the data storage industry, having been core members of the teams that built data and cloud infrastructures for Box, Apple iCloud, Oracle, Amazon, Alibaba Cloud and EMC.

The Philippines’ blockchain and crypto industry has boomed in the recent past. Crypto sales in the country doubled in 2018, despite the market going through a bearish season. This was also despite the constant warnings by the country’s central bank to consumers to avoid holding or trading in cryptos as they could lose their money. In 2018, the Philippines saw over $390 million in crypto sales, up from $190 million in 2017.

The country’s securities watchdog also recently announced that it intends to issue ICO regulations this year. This is in the wake of an investigation by the regulator and other government departments into Kapa Community Ministry, a crypto scam that’s alleged to have made away with $960 million in one of the biggest crypto scams of all time.