These three nations are embracing the power of digital currency and Blockchain to create a paradigm shift in government and financeThe relationship between countries and cryptocurrencies has been polarizing to say the least. Some countries have outright banned cryptocurrencies, while others have recognized their potential. In this article, we are going to look at three countries who have embraced and adopted this radical technology.
Estonia: bureaucracy disruptedThe Baltic nation wants to become a truly digital nation, and they are well on their way to being one. As strange as it may sound, Estonia’s growth as a digital powerhouse is a direct result of the cold war.
After the Soviet Union fell, Estonia started rebuilding their country when they bumped into an unexpected problem. Estonia had way too much land and very few people. They quickly realized that it is going to be impossible to govern so few people spread over such large distances.
This is why Estonians started integrating technology into their day-to-day lives since the late 80’s and 90’s. Instead of focusing on building offices and a governance system at each level, they focused more on creating e-solutions to solve their problems.
That attitude has persisted and it is a big reason why Estonia has become a Blockchain haven and a proponent of, what they call, e-residency. Let’s look at how they have incorporated the Blockchain into various sectors. We will look at two specific use-cases.
E-Health. Estonia became the first country in the world to incorporate the Blockchain into their healthcare system. Every Estonian has their health record digitized and stored on a Blockchain. This is especially critical in emergency situations where the doctors can simply use the patient’s ID to get information such as blood type and allergies without losing any time.
KSI. KSI is a highly ambitious Blockchain technology which aims to be deployed in the Estonian government networks. By doing that, all the governmental records will be stored in the Blockchain which will make them completely tamper-proof.
Along with this, Estonia is also planning to develop its government-backed cryptocurrency called “Estcoin” with the help of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Singapore: ICO hubSingapore has become the new hub for Blockchain startups. Singapore has always been a startup favorite for a variety of reasons such as:
- Tax-friendly rules
- Light-touch regulation
- State funding
Singapore has seriously stepped up to the plate when it comes to Blockchain adoption. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank, set aside $219 mln purely for the development of fintech projects and applications in 2017 alone.
MAS has also taken its love for cryptocurrency to a whole new level by rolling out Project Ubin which saw the Singapore dollar get tokenized and made available on the Ethereum Blockchain. The goal of the project is to understand Blockchain technology and its benefits. In doing so, MAS became the first central bank to successfully tokenize the national currency.
Singapore is also considered to be one of the most ICO-friendly countries in the world and the reason for that is two-fold. Firstly, as mentioned above, Singapore has always been a startup hub. Secondly, cryptocurrency regulation isn’t as strict as most of the other first world countries.
As a result of this, Singapore has been host to a lot of successful ICOs. TenX, the Bitcoin debit card, raised $80 mln in their ICO. Golem, the decentralized super-computer, raised $9 mln in their ICO.
In August 2017 MAS declared that they will bring in some form of ICO regulation. While they will not regulate all ICOs, they will regulate an ICO if it behaves like a stock or a security and falls under Singapore’s Securities and Futures Act. Along with ICOs, MAS will also regulate exchanges and any other intermediary services.
Many see this in a positive light, saying that not only does the government acknowledge ICOs, it also helps ease the doubts surrounding their legality.
Japan: friendliest jurisdictionJapan has emerged as one of the biggest crypto supporters in the world. In April 2017, the Japanese government enacted the
Virtual Currency Act which provided the following:
- Bitcoin will be considered a legal payment method. (Not a legal currency as most mistakenly think.)
- Virtual currency exchanges will be regulated.
- A tax reform was also issued separately which removed a consumption tax. This was stopping foreign investors from buying Bitcoins in Japan’s market.
Even before the act was issued, the crypto market in Japan has been extremely impressive. More and more young investors have been seduced by the possibilities that crypto presents. This is, in large part, because of the stagnation of the Japanese economy.
When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe got elected, he promised a myriad of economic reforms which were popularly called “Abenomics.” However, reception to these reforms has been disappointing, to say the least. Many foreign investors have outright dumped Japanese stocks. Their GDP growth is floundering at 0.6 percent.
This has led to the disillusionment of many Japanese investors, who have started looking at crypto as an alternative. In fact, competition between Japanese exchanges is so fierce that most of them are not charging any fees at all. Some have even implemented negative fees just to get a higher trading volume.
Since Bitcoin became a legal method of payment, more and more retailers have partnered up with Japanese exchanges to accept Bitcoin. Bitcoin is now accepted in over 260,000 stores in Japan. Some of the big players that have started accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment are:
- Bic Camera, the consumer electronics giant
- Recruit Lifestyle, which has partnered up with Coincheck
Apart from all this,
Cardano (ADA) is pretty much synonymous with Japan. Many people are calling it “Japan’s Ethereum.” Japanese company Emurgo is, after all, responsible for the funding behind ADA.
As we can see, these three countries are paving the way for others when it comes to cryptocurrency and Blockchain adoption. We can only hope that the other countries follow suit and embrace this amazing and innovative technology.
Source:
https://cryptocomes.com/profiling-three-crypto-havens-estonia-singapore-japan
