Island

Palau’s Ripple-supported stablecoin pilot achieves positive results

The U.S. dollar-pegged Palau Stablecoin was used by 168 volunteers for $100 of retail purchases in three months.

The first phase of the Palau Stablecoin (PSC) Program has been declared a success by the country’s Ministry of Finance. More work on the United States dollar-pegged national stablecoin is planned, with the goal of introducing the PSC on a national scale, according to a report released on Dec. 7.

The three-month PSC project was carried out with the participation of Ripple and used the XRP Ledger central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform. The Finance Ministry recruited 168 volunteers from among government employees, who were able to spend 100 PSC at participating local retailers. Both the volunteers and retailers responded positively to their experience using the PSC.

Purchases were made using a phone and a QR code or by manually inputting a wallet address. Only the retailers were able to redeem the PSC for U.S. dollars, which is Palau’s legal currency. The PSC was fully collateralized by $20,000 in “a Tier 1 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) United States bank.”

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Sri Lanka against Bitcoin adoption, rejects Draper’s anti-corruption pitch

Central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe believes that adopting decentralized cryptocurrencies would worsen the country’s economic situation.

On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, American billionaire Tim Draper pitched the idea of adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender to fight against the corruption that contributed to hyperinflation in the island country. However, a key Sri Lankan authority — central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe — believed doing so would worsen the country’s economic situation.

Taking time from a TV shoot in Sri Lanka, Draper met President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Weerasinghe to recommend Bitcoin as a viable option for getting out of financial problems.

Tim Draper in Sri Lanka speaking about economic development. Source: YouTube

During the meeting, Draper pointed out a key concern staring right at Sri Lanka:

“Have you seen Sri Lanka in the news? It’s known as the corruption capital. A country known for corruption will be able to keep perfect records with the adoption of Bitcoin.”

As he recommended using “decentralized currency” to the head of Sri Lanka’s central bank, he received a short “we don’t accept” reply. Weerasinghe further stated:

“Adoption of 100% Bitcoin won’t be a Sri Lanka reality ever.”

Instead, Weerasinghe believed that having Sri Lanka’s own fiat currency was critical for monetary-policy independence and would ensure efficient inclusion and disburse electronic welfare payments.

“We don’t want to make the crisis worse by introducing Bitcoin,” Weerasinghe concluded.

Related: Australia introduces classification for crypto assets

MicroStrategy, a software analytics company co-founded by Michael Saylor, shared plans to continue offering BTC trading services despite incurring an unrealized loss of $1.3 billion in 2022.

During a Feb. 2 earnings call, MicroStrategy’s chief financial officer, Andrew Kang, said:

“We may consider pursuing additional transactions that may take advantage of the volatility in Bitcoin prices, or other market dislocations that are consistent with our long-term Bitcoin strategy.”

According to Kang, MicroStrategy held 132,500 BTC (worth $1.84 billion) as of Dec. 31, 2022. Of the lot, 14,890 BTC were held directly by the business and the rest by its subsidiary MacroStrategy.

Island nation turns to metaverse to preserve its disappearing heritage

The island of Tuvalu said it plans to build a digital version of itself in order to preserve its history as it faces erasure due to climate change.

In the South Pacific, the island nation of Tuvalu decided to turn to Web3 technology in order to make sure its culture and society are preserved in the future. 

On Nov. 15 the country’s foreign minister, Simon Kofe, told the COP27 climate summit that it is looking for alternative ways to protect the county’s heritage against rising sea levels brought on by climate change. One of those ways is through recreating itself in the metaverse.

In a video broadcast, Kofe said, “As our land disappears we have no choice but to become the world’s first digital nation.”

Allegedly up to 40% of the nation’s capital district is underwater at high tide and the entire country is forecast to be underwater by the end of the century.

As Tuvalu builds itself into the metaverse, it will become the first digitized nation in the metaverse. Kofe said the country’s land, ocean and culture are its most precious assets and no matter what happens in the physical world they will be kept safe in the cloud:

“Islands like this one won’t survive rapid temperature increases, rising sea levels and droughts so we will recreate them virtually.”

Although Tuvalu could become the first sovereign nation to recreate itself in the metaverse, other countries have already begun their own explorations into the digital frontier. 

Related: Ecosystem is bullish on the metaverse, no matter what the numbers imply

In 2021, the Caribbean island nation of Barbados opened up an embassy in the Decentraland metaverse and was the first to do so. An indigenous tribe in Australia had also laid out plans for opening an embassy in the metaverse earlier this year.

Other countries have begun offering services in the metaverse. Norway recently opened up a branch of its federal tax offices in the metaverse in order to reach its next generation of users. The United Arab Emirates set up a new headquarters for its Ministry of Economy on virtual land.

Major tech-forward cities such as Seoul, South Korea and Santa Monica, California have also created digital counterparts.