Blockchain will be the Core Technology of the fourth industrial revolution: Seoul Mayor

By Chetna Phour

The mayor of the South Korean capital city, Park Won-soon has announced to give a funding of $53.3 million to develop blockchain regions in Seoul.

Park said that by 2021 the government is planning to set up two business complexes to settle around 200 blockchain related companies. Around 730 experts will be trained in the field of blockchain technology in Seoul over the course of the next five years. To invest in the research centres, local start-ups, and to train workers in the field of emerging blockchain technology Seoul has committed almost $88.56 million public-private funds. The value of $88.56 million is around 100 billion in the local currency, won. This is a huge amount which South Korea is investing to promote the blockchain technology in the country.

Park has a keen interest in the blockchain technology and believes that in the fourth industrial revolution blockchain technology will play an important role. Recently park has also visited crypto valley to explore the opportunities in the field of blockchain technology. Park with his 30 person delegation visited Switzerland, Estonia, and Spain. In this 10 days visit Park visited Switzerland’s crypto valley and Zug to study the business structure and atmosphere of the city. From here he understands the potential of blockchain hub which Park wants to implement in the Seoul.

During his 10-days diplomatic visit Park said that “There is no doubt blockchain is the core technology of the fourth industrial revolution, which will shape the future IT industry. I will make efforts to help Seoul become the centre of blockchain industry ecosystem,”

Park has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Zurich to lay the foundation of blockchain tie-ups. The state-backed cryptocurrency which Park is planning to launch is tentatively called S-Coin. Park is a strong advocate of digital ledger technology for public and government services. The main focus of implementing digital ledger in the city is to offer social services to the citizens. S-Coin is a result of the Korean government’s plans to fund public welfare programs or compensate private contractors. The blockchain technology will enable the Seoul municipalities to put expenditure details in public.

Last year under the mayorship of Park, the Seoul government entered into a partnership with Samsung SDS. the main aim of this partnership was to create a blockchain development framework for Seoul. Samsung has already started to test its proprietary blockchain protocol, Next Ledger to integrate it into entire municipal cooperation of Seoul by 2022.