South Korea’s second largest city switches to blockchain

The authorities of Busan, the second largest city in South Korea, have announced plans to expand the use of blockchain technologies — the city administration has signed an agreement with the world’s three largest crypto exchanges: Binance, FTX, and Huobi.

According to the mayor of the city, Byung-sung Wang, the main goal of Busan in the short term is to create the world’s largest crypto hub. The city is planning to invite blockchain specialists from all over the world to the city, and tax incentives have been approved to allow developers to spend less money on legalizing their activities. Also, according to the local administration, Busan will create its own cryptocurrency exchange so that «owners of any business can make fast and cheap crypto payments.»

As for cooperation with global cryptocurrency leaders, Binance and FTX have promised to help create a well-coordinated blockchain system, and Huobi has already relocated 1500 employees to the city. Local officials promised to provide detailed details about the cooperation between Busan and crypto exchanges at the Busan Blockchain Week 2022 conference, which will start on October 27.

Interestingly, in August, the South Korean government closed access to 16 cryptocurrency exchanges and banned other crypto platforms from serving addresses associated with exchanges, which resulted in thousands of users losing access to their cryptocurrency funds. The list of foreign cryptocurrency exchanges that, according to representatives of the Financial Services Commission, do not have proper registration to operate in the country includes: KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal, CoinW, CoinEX, AAX, ZoomEX, Poloniex, BTCEX, BTCC, DigiFinex, and Pionex. Obviously, Busan hopes that ex-clients of the banned exchanges will use the services of the state cryptocurrency platform in the future.