Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency like “Bitcoin”, in order to avoid international sanctions and to overcome the US-dominated global financial system.
On Wednesday 18th September 2019, a Special Representative of the Foreign Ministry of North Korea and the official in charge of the North Korea’s Cryptocurrency conferences, Alejandro Cao de Benos states;
“We are still in the very early stages in the creation of the token. Now we are in the phase of studying the goods that will give value to it,” adding that there are “no plans to digitize the [North Korean] won for now” according to the Vice news report.
Alejandro Cao de Benos who works with the Committee for Cultural Relations for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), reported that it is yet to be named and will be “more like bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.”
Pyongyang’s interest in Cryptocurrency
Kayla Izenman, Research Analyst at RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, reveals the huge interest shown by North Korea and they are well equipped in mining, hacking exchanges, cryptojacking, and more. Kayla further adds;
“There is absolutely no doubt that they have the technical expertise to develop and utilize almost any iteration of cryptocurrency, whether that means laundering a previously-established coin such as Bitcoin through foreign unregulated exchanges or creating a nationalized cryptocurrency for themselves.”
By launching their own Cryptocurrency, North Korea will be able to control how it works and will analyse who has access to it. Previously the UN Security Council’s accused North Korea of showing interest in Cryptocurrency in order to steal money for funding its weapons of mass destruction program. According to a UN report, North Korea’s sponsored hackers have netted nearly $2 billion from such activities. On the other side, North Korea denied the claim and accused the United States of spreading such rumors.
Moreover, the government of North Korea signs contracts with foreign companies to develop blockchain systems in different industries such as finance, education, and medicine – as claimed by Cao de Benos.
In a nutshell, you can see North Korea’s rising interest to launch its own Cryptocurrency, but they will have to go the extra mile to convince the international partners to get any entry.
Image Source – Flickr
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