Myanmar’s first fully cryptocurrency-based banking institution announced its beta launch on July 22 — a move that could see the country’s shadow government given greater access to financial services and finance.
The Spring Development Bank is named after the Spring Revolution, an opposition movement led by Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government (NUG) against the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) – the military junta that took control of the country in February 2021.
The bank’s target demographic is not only the 55 million Burmese living in Myanmar, but also the two million “Burmese diaspora,” who live and work outside Myanmar and frequently send money into the country.
Established on the basis of Polygon, the main objective of the bank is to make domestic and international payments faster and more efficient, as well as to provide international access to a wide range of financial products.
An official at the Rabie Development Bank, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, told Cointelegraph that crypto is the obvious solution for providing financial support to Burmese citizens as well as the exiled government.
“The Spring Development Bank and the blockchain technology it supports is the natural progression in terms of NUG’s fundraising strategy.”
The new crypto bank has not been launched directly by NUG, but the official indicated that it has been launched with its full support and resources. In addition, the bank is licensed and regulated by the Interim Central Bank of Myanmar which is under the control of the Government of National Unity.
The bank’s CEO, who goes by the name Calvin T for security reasons, told Cointelegraph that the launch of the new institution marks the first step in returning financial freedom to Myanmar.
Tin Tun Naing, Myanmar’s interim central bank governor and acting minister of finance and industry, described the bank as an essentially “revolutionary” institution.
“We can’t just move money into a banking system that is controlled by the military, so we have to provide this alternative financial system that is based on trust and guaranteed by the government.”
Naing claimed that the military financial system was “collapsing” and that the Rabie Development Bank would help secure citizens’ financial assets.
The fees currently charged for sending money into the country by traditional means can be as high as 30%.
“Everything was built on Polygon for reasons of cost but also because we felt the Polygon ecosystem was likely to survive in the long term,” the official explained.
The bank will issue a number of new stablecoins pegged to the fiat currency, including Myanmar kyat, Thai baht, Singapore dollar and US dollar. Users can connect these assets to the bank’s “swap coins” feature, built on UniSwap V3, which will allow stablecoins to be exchanged.
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In Myanmar, residents who show support for the NUG group — which could be something as simple as having the wrong app on their phone — are routinely “made by example” by the public. Displays The official said that violence and imprisonment.
As such, the bank’s user interface is designed as a “web only” platform.
“The bank’s interface will look like an app, but we encourage everyone to access it using an incognito window so it doesn’t store any browser history,” the official explained.
On December 31, 2021, the Government of National Unity announced the legal tender for stablecoin tether (USDT) pegged to the US dollar in a bid to speed up international trade.
It was officially NUG a favour As the official Myanmar government by many members to the United Nations and the European Parliament in October 2021. However, the exiled government has not yet been officially recognized by the United States.
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