New Coin In Town. ‘Civic Currency’ Introduced By South Korean City
[inlinetweet]After Venezuela’s own national currency and JP Morgan Coin, now, South Korean city of Gimpo plans to launch their own civic currency or cryptocurrency.[/inlinetweet]
The digital currency will be developed by KT Corporation, a leading telecom firm in South Korea. KT Corporation was selected as a preferred bidder who proposed a blockchain-based solution to develop digital currency.
The test phase of digital currency is planned in March and if all goes well, it will formally be introduced in April 2019. A total of 11 billion Won worth of cryptocurrency will be released each year. During its initial stages, the use of new cryptocurrency will be limited to use with local merchants.
Transaction of new cryptocurrency will be performed via the mobile app-based QR payment system. Merchants after receiving the payments can exchange it to its equivalent fiat value through their bank with no fee on conversion.
The use of blockchain to issue currency will help to tackle issues like forging and fake circulation currently experienced with local fiat but more importantly act as a [inlinetweet]Civic currency or Society currency designed to promote local economic development and sustainability.[/inlinetweet] It also helps to foster active citizenship and local community unity.
How do civic (or social) currencies work:
Often, the city will pay civil servants with local civic currency. They can use the local currency to pay taxes or to shop for local goods or services. Since the use of crypto is limited in city boundaries, it fosters economic development of the region.
A proportion of every currency spent or created goes to
- Build community projects, including for those who are unemployed or homeless.
- Support social Innovations.
- Promote good social behaviors. For example, an incentive program for eco-friendly behavior or reward for using recycled products.
- Increase civic participation where citizens are rewarded in local cryptocurrency to perform volunteer work for charitable and non-profit organizations.
- Also, incentives can be used to attract more and more diverse people to participate in local lawmaking or community programs.
Cryptocurrencies earned by citizens in exchange for help contributed to the social welfare can be used to pay their taxes or pay for parking tickets or use in public transport or shop for local goods.
Such use benefits cities to build an increased sense of community unity and participation which otherwise is not possible. Second, no cash crunch if spent responsibly to support key development plans of cities e.g. funding for building shelter for homeless.
Reference: Forbes and zdnet.co.kr
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ETH : 0x73e45CcFf73259EbC403a96987C58a32490b641D
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