National cryptocurrency Marshall Islands capped at 24 million

The Marshall Islands is moving forward with its plans to create its own national cryptocurrency. Sovereign (SOV) is the name this blockchain-based asset. The government decided to launch the coin with a fixed supply of 24 million coins. The financial news website Finance Magnates reported this earlier this week.

SOV circulates alongside The Marshall Islands current currency, the US dollar. An independent, non-profit organization called SOV Development Fund governs the national cryptocurrency. Citizens can obtain their first SOV through an initial coin offering. After that they can use the cryptocurrency to pay taxes and do groceries.

Criminals and terrorists will not be able to use SOV. “Every individual using SOV must be identified by an approved verifier of their choice, such as a bank or an exchange,” said David Paul, minister-in-assistance to the president of the Marshall Islands.

A Switzerland-based hardware-wallet company is creating physical blockchain notes. Citizens of The Marshall Islands can use these to pay for their daily expenses.

National cryptocurrency gaining momentum

Late last year Tether lost is 1 dollar value. Even though the project survived this PR fiasco, it gained a lot of competitors. From the aftermath came stable-coins like True USD, USD Coin, Gemini USD and Paxos Dollar. Now even Facebook is developing a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency token called Libra.

So far companies are always backing these stable-coins, instead of governments. This is changing. Despite a negative stance towards cryptocurrencies, the International Monetary Fund is seeing the necessity.

Countries are getting more interested in launching their own cryptocurrencies. The Marshall Islands is a small example, but China is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency later this year.

Of course we should also mention Venezuela. The controversial oil-backed Petro is the countries way to avoid US sanctions. The local government forces the use of Petro in government building, but the people prefer to use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dash.

In Dubai citizens can use Emcash. Citizens can use this cryptocurrency for government services, a daily coffee, school fees and utility charges. Estonia, Russia, Sweden, and Japan are also working on their own national cryptocurrency.

Originally published at NEDEROB.