There has recently been a worldwide boom in the appeal of cryptocurrencies. By becoming digital, nations of all sizes are striving to incorporate blockchain and cryptos into their economies. Numerous central banks are attempting to launch their respective central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), whereas others are concentrating on stablecoins.
Palau, which has a population of around 18,000, is certainly not the initial country that springs to mind when several people think of technically advanced countries. Nevertheless, the small Pacific island government is engaged in an intensive drive to create cryptocurrency’s official permission and acceptability. As per the president of the Republic of Palau, Surangel S. Whipps Jr., the country’s information technology experts have been examining the possibility of building a sovereign stablecoin alongside blockchain business Ripple Labs.
As a means to improve the standard of living for Palauans and reorient the economy beyond tourism, which before the COVID-19 health emergency represented for almost 50% of the archipelago’s gross domestic product, the president has campaigned for the establishment of a stablecoin. The U.S. dollar is the national currency of Palau, which does not have a central bank.
The purpose of the national stablecoin initiative is to establish a USD-backed stablecoin. Whipps described the stablecoin plan as a “approach to our native central bank digital money.”
Whipps also mentioned Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s latest visit to the island country and their conversations on how to harness the cryptocurrency exchange’s payment framework to enable remittances for the nation’s digital population.
Whipps was quoted by Watcher Guru as saying, “This is a new area for Palau […] and among the benefits we possess is that we’re tiny, so maybe we can mobilize our government and be better adaptable to the adjustments that must be made in this rapidly changing climate.”
Palau President Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. said the country’s IT team is working with Ripple Labs to explore creating a “national stablecoin.” As previously reported, Palau will issue ID cards to its digital residents in the form of NFTs on the BNB Chain. https://t.co/WM1k9DFZvJ
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 26, 2022
As per a study conducted by the Graduate School of the United States of America, Palau’s GDP declined by 8.7 percent in 2020, mostly as a result of the decline of tourism owing to the pandemic. Whipps said at the start of the preceding year that he anticipated individuals buying things with their cellphones and government workers receiving immediate pay instead of having to wait days for the trades to be completed by their domestic bank.
Whipps also said that he held a virtual discussion with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, where they explored the prospect of introducing an R&S ID environment to the programmers and assessing “how Palau’s electronic residency may intersect with the notion of so-called restricted ID systems.”
The president said, “We are also considering offering additional services, like as creation of e-corporations, so that digital citizens may conduct worldwide business via Palau’s user-friendly R&S site.”
