Marshall Islands President Has National Crypto Plans, Faces No-Confidence Vote

By Kapil Gauhar

The President of the Republic of Marshall Island, Hilda Heine faces no-confidence vote because of her administration’s plans for introducing a national digital currency, reported by Radio New Zealand News (RDZ) on November 5.

The parliament of Marshall initially endorsed the development of national digital currency, that would be called the SOV (Sovereign), in February 2018. Set to be implemented before the end of this year, the SOV would be used along with the USD, the country’s official currency. Heine said that the introduction of the SOV is “another step of manifesting our national liberty”.

A group of eight senators, on Monday, reportedly introduced a vote of no-confidence in the Heine administration. The constitution of the Marshall Islands needs that a vote is held between 5 to 10 days after a no-confidence motion is introduced in the country’s parliament, the Nitijela. The motion was introduced after being passed by a simple majority on the last of 50 sitting days of the parliamentary session this year.

Casten Nemra, the former president, stated in the vote that the plans of establishing a virtual currency as legal tender had an unfavourable impact on the country’s reputation. As indicated by Casten Nemra, the plan also resulted in criticism from reputed financial organizations, including IMF (International Monetary Fund) as well as the US Treasury Department.

Heine’s declaration about the introduction of the virtual currency of the state came at the same time when Venezuela launched its national cryptocurrency known as Petro. The currency was allegedly designed to skirt the EU and US sanctions which negatively influenced the economic growth of the nation. Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, subsequently declared the launch of a Petro-financed cryptocurrency bank for the purpose of supporting the initiatives from youth as well as students.