Busan to build urban blockchain and digital asset exchange

Busan is well on its way toward building an urban blockchain and a digital asset exchange, a local South Korean outlet reported Thursday.

The South Korean city sits at the southeastern tip of the peninsula and has started to become something of a blockchain hub of the country.

The purpose of the urban blockchain is to unify all the various blockchain services currently offered on chains such as Ethereum and Cosmos onto a single citywide platform, News1 reported.

One well publicized use case is an identity management program called BPASS. Busan and Coinplug pioneered the program, which uses decentralized identifiers (DID) so residents can anonymously authenticate themselves when applying for public or private services. BPASS users can store their driver’s license, library card and even university graduation certificates on mobile devices.

There was no timeline given for the upcoming Busan blockchain, but the city plans for it to be public and interoperable with Ethereum and Cosmos.

A city digital asset exchange, initially announced sometime in January 2023, is also part of Busan’s recent blockchain push.

The exchange is set to debut tokenized precious metals and raw materials, with full-scale operations launching in the first half of 2024. The corporation overseeing the exchange will launch in November 2023, following a public offering in October.

News1 reported that crypto assets won’t be available for trade initially, but there are plans to expand tradable assets to global intellectual property rights, carbon emissions and tokenized securities.

To support all of this new building in the sector, Busan also announced a blockchain innovation fund. Its goal is to raise 100 billion won ($74.3 million) from public financial institutions, News1 reported.

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