I was shocked today while scanning the news related to cryptocurrencies to find out that the tiny nation of Marshall Islands is creating a digital currency in an effort to pay bills and boost the economy. This news should certainly bring some excitement back to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets in general!
This is big news in my opinion as any nation to do this is setting precedent for nations to follow its lead!
The Pacific island nation said it became the first country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender when it passed a law this past week to create the digital “Sovereign,” or SOV. In the nation of 60,000, the cryptocurrency will have equal status with the U.S. dollar as a form of payment.
The reason this news is so spectacular is because up until this point no other country has actually gone as far as to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender. This means the government will have to stand behind the currency and treat it no differently than real money because by law, it is.
Venezuela last month became the first country to launch its own cryptocurrency when it launched the virtual Petro, backed by crude oil reserves. The Marshall Islands said the SOV will be different because it will be recognized in law as legal tender, effectively backed by the government.
Venezuela took a big move in creating a government backed cryptocurrency as well last month but as the above statement makes clear the crypto asset created by Venezuela is a security backed by oil whereas Marshall Islands is making their cryptocurrency a nationally backed one, unprecedented in the world and an accomplishment for the history books!
What do readers think of this new development? Should we be expecting other countries to follow suit with this bold move to create national cryptocurrencies which will be used as legal tender?
Go ahead and leave your thoughts below!
Source:
This Is the First Country to Adopt a Cryptocurrency As Its Official Currency - Time
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