$230 Million to Be Invested in Blockchain Technology by South Korea

On 21st June 2018, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT revealed that it is in the process of development of a blockchain technology development strategy and has earmarked a total of 230 billion Won (USD 200 million) for the same. In its endeavour to further the development and advancement of Blockchain technology, the Government aims to raise the required funds by 2022 and to nurture more than 100 companies and 10,000 professionals. The main aim is to give a boost to the competitive edge of South Korea in blockchain technology by streamlining investments in a few different avenues.

Pushing of Pilot Projects

From next year, there are plans from the ministry to extend support to six pilot projects and expand the scale of Blockchain technology across varied fields in order to highlight the benefits of Blockchain technology across various industries. The focus of the project is on the following industries: –

Online voting
Electronic document distributions between countries
Management of livestock records
Personal customs clearance
Marine logistics
Easy real estate

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)

The main goal of South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT is to extend support to companies specializing in development of Blockchain technology in order to develop Blockchain as a service (BaaS). Under this initiative, the ministry would be providing 10 purchase vouchers every year to guarantee payments to the small and medium enterprises from the government.

As per the announcement, the ministry would be deploying research teams to strengthen the existing laws in the country which are hampering the widespread adoption of the blockchain technology.

The main priority is to sort out the legal differences between conventional legal contracts and smart contracts based on Blockchain. There was also an indication towards purported tax benefits for Blockchain technology developers.

This sets a great opportunity for the Blockchain and cryptocurrency in the country as the government is setting a friendlier environment and the blockchain applications are becoming an integral part of the IT landscape in the country. In the month of May last year, the South Korean National Assembly gave recommendations for allowing ICO’s legally but with certain restrictions to protect the interests of the investors.